Joey's had a birthday

Joey was so excited for his birthday. And it finally came! First he woke up to a present on the table:

It was his birthday cereal (we don't usually have dry cereal in our house anymore, so that was very exciting for him). Then, we had a dance party:

I didn't even make Joey get dressed! When daddy was home for lunch we let him open some birthday cards and one present we got him. The cats had a hay day with the envelope pieces:

That night, we went bowling:

Joey had to show us both shoes:

We went with our friends, the Whipples:

Daniel's strunnin' his stuff:

Then, CAKE!:

And homemade strawberry ice cream:

more presents!

I love my joey. He is the sweetest boy. He loves to cuddle and he will often tell me he loves me. He gets concerned when he can see that others feel bad. He loves to take care of and play with his little brother. He's incredibly smart. He is learning to write his letters, took a sudden interest in drawing (to be posted later), and loves to play the piano. He can play Iron man, Once there was a snowman, I'm am a Child of God, and this old man, Mary had a little lamb, etc. He just sits down and tries to figure them out and then asks for help. Joey loves his daddy and loves to play with him. He likes running errands with me, likes riding in the car, and loves playing with his friends, especially when he gets to go to Jace's house. He already knows everything, lucky boy, but still asks me questions to make sure I know the right answer, if I don't, he'll make sure and tell me the real answer (aren't I lucky to have a 4 year old who already knows everything?). He has a great memory and Nate and I can ask Joey somebody's name, etc, if we forgot it.

We love Joey!!!!!

A Cool Trick with the Blender

My friend, Jenny, will go down in my history book for showing me this. I just wanted to pass it on:

Take this part of your blender:

and one of these (quart size with an average sized lip):

Put your blending ingredients inside the jar and then put them together:

Blend! Then you can just put a lid on it and store it in the fridge or take it with you to work, etc.

It's freakin' awesome. Everyone tell Jenny "Thank you" for such a wonderful idea.

These guys belong to us now

They are sweeties! Joey has named them Kiki (left) and Scooter (right). They actually look kind of ugly in this picture, but they're cute, I promise.

Summer Fun

Joey is a little fish. He now swims with only the arm floaties on. Daniel now swims with arm floaties and a noodle.

Joey's first photography attempt:

Joey informed Nate that Nate was broken and needed to be fixed. It resulted in extensive renovations:

This is the face Daniel makes when shooting Baddyes (bad guys):

They have been into interesting outfits recently:

A week at Great-Grandma's house

Some of my aunts and uncles wanted to meet with Nate and get some financial plans set up and see where they could save money. So, we went to Roosevelt for a week while Nate worked.

We went to an Indian ... (brain fart) thing and watch them dance:

They also had toddlers rides and boys got to go on one. They love it!

They loved hanging out with Grandma and playing in the big yard! They also loved the huge living room.

For the 4th of July, we had a breakfast with aunts, uncles, and cousins. I made, for the first time, and with Grandma's supervision, DOUGHNUTS! Don't they look delicious? and they were! I don't think I can ever be satsified with store bought ones again (except Krispy Kreme).

Grandma also taught me to Crochet, because she makes these and I wanted some of my own:

I made that one. I did it too tight, but it turned out okay. I also helped grandma go through photos and scanned in a bunch of pics of my ancestors. I got to spend a little time with my Aunt Jodie, who is lots of fun. She had just got a cow and sent us home with milk! and cream! which we shook into butter! Homemade butter. It took about 20 mins of shaking in a jar and Wah Lah suddenly bright yellow butter! It was pretty cool.