Truman's birthday bash!

We spent our Sunday afternoon celebrating Truman's 1st birthday!

Check out these sweet pup-cakes that Tawnya made! Aren't they the cooliest thing you've ever seen! Great job Tawnya! They looked awesome and were tasty too!

The birthday boy!

Hanging out with friends!

Out for a stroll!

Saturday afternoon, the boys went golfing and us girls went for over an hour long stroll so I could get in my exercise for the day and also to enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

Normally we have the double stroller and Ataly is in her car seat. So I think this is the first time Ataly got to take it all in sitting up, looking out! She fell asleep half way through.

Katie spends the night!

Katie's parents were going out of town, so they asked her who she wanted to spend the night with. She thought she wanted to crash at our place for a night and then with Brianna since they had to get off early to a band event on Sunday morning.

Katie's mom dropped her off after school and then we went to pick up Brianna from tennis practice around 5. We ate supper together before Luke was off to the Youth Center for the evening. The girls, the kids and I played until it was bedtime. Then the girls read Traeger stories and he was off to bed. Elizabeth came over then and the 4 of us girls watched a movie. We enjoyed hanging out, eating junk food and watching a movie. We started watching Definitely, Maybe, but if you've seen it you know why we turned it off and we decided to watch School of Rock, a much better choice!

Traeger had a blast playing with the girls!

Saturday morning after breakfast, Traeger thought we should all play memory! Katie is such a champ and does such a great job loving on our kids and is a huge encouragement to me! She calls us her second family!

Green Beans!

We've entered into the world of solids!

Ready to take her first bite of green beans!

She thinks this is fun!

Can't get enough!

Full of it!

Today as I was finishing up the dishes from lunch I could hear Traeger in the living room grunting, which typically means he's pooping. I walk into the living room and ask him if he wants to go potty on the big potty?

His response,

"It's not a big deal Mom!"

I couldn't stop laughing and still am laughing about it now! I have no idea where he learned that and then to use it correctly! What a crazy kid!

House projects!

Funny story...our friend Chelsea's dad is very particular about his lawn. Luke asked Chelsea if she thought he could borrow her dad's edger. Since her dad is so particular, borrowing isn't something he would be interested in. So while we were home Luke took his parent's edger to use and then we'd return it. On Thursday morning Chelsea calls from her parent's house where they were having a garage sale and asked Luke if he wanted to buy her dad's edger for $10. It's in great conidition, he just wanted a gas one! It all works out in the end :O)

Putting the edger to good use!

We weren't sure if we wanted to do the leaf blower method or the rake to corral our leaves. Luke bought a leaf blower but I was still skeptical. Before we opened ours up, Luke's friend just happened to drop off his for Luke to use. After one use, I am sold on the leaf blower method. It's not perfect but neither would our raking and it's a lot easier!

Batter up!

We love garage sale finds like this one...$.25 for a baseball tee and hours worth of fun!

Birthday party!

The kids and I went to the Hoffman girls birthday party at McDonalds. I enjoyed the time to connect with other moms and Traeger enjoyed his playtime with his friends!

Traeger and his friends!

The boys chowing down!

6 months old!

Ataly 6 months old!

Traeger 6 months old!

Ataly weighs in at 18 lbs. 3 oz. (84 %)!

Ataly stands 27 inches tall (85%)!

And like both of my kids, they top the charts with thier head size of 45.2 cm (97 %)!

We are praising God for continued health for Ataly! She is growing big and strong.

In her 6 months of life we have grown to love her sweet giggle, her contagious smile, her wet sloppy kisses and her non-stop chatter. Recently, she started to eat solids and is working on sitting up by herself!

Simple pleasures in life!

We are enjoying as much outside time as possible while we can! The weather has been so wonderful! Last night, we enjoyed some fine dining out on Traeger's picnic table.

After supper, Traeger was hitting around the golf ball!

All this outside play is wearing the kiddos out!

Whirlwind trip-part 2!

Monday morning, we had time to spend as a family before Luke had to practice with the band on their set for the funeral.

The kids and I went for a walk Monday morning and stopped by the church to hear Luke, Jon, Matt, and Jeremy practicing before the funeral.

We then headed over to Cousins subs to meet Nana over her lunch hour. She was so sweet to meet us and spend a few more minutes with us while we were in town.

A few last cuddles!

We love our Nana!

We then went home, showered up and then attended the funeral! After that we went to the Hatfields to pack up and we were off for home but we had one last stop...

My family is the half way point between our house and the Hatfields.
So we couldn't be on the way through without stopping by to see my family too! Cori was so kind to make us all supper.

Which one is my Mommy?

We always joke about this because one time when Kieran was a baby he was sitting in his car seat and we asked him, "who's your mommy?" He thoughtfully looked at me, then at Cori, then at me again. To him we must have looked pretty similar and he was having a difficult time deciding :O)

I'm not exactly sure what game these crazy kids were playing but Uncle Luke had the 4 boys running around, giggling and falling all over the floor. Grandpa Bruce took refuge on the couch.
It's always a fun time when Uncle Luke is around. I know when I go home without Luke sometimes, the boys are disappointed that Luke didn't come too. They love me but I'm not nearly as much fun as Uncle Luke.

The Bohn girls, Grandma Jo and Miss. Ataly

(check out the puke coming out of Ataly's mouth, she's got good timing).

It was such a pleasant surprise to have Grandma Jo show up at Cori's for supper!

The boys!

Even though it was a whirlwind trip and under unfortunate circumstances, we appreciated the unexpected visit with our families.

Whirlwind trip- part 1!

On Sunday after church we packed up our bags and the kids and were off to attend Luke's friend from high school dad's funeral. It was expected because he had been battling cancer for the last 3 years but unexpected in the fact that within 3 days he went down hill really fast. It was a huge honor for Luke to sing at Jon's dad's funeral. Jon's dad requested that Jon's band (the Refuge band, a group Luke was a part of when he was in college before we headed off to TX) play for his funeral.

The kiddos are such good travelers! They slept 2 1/2 of the 3 1/2 hour trip! Luke and I always enjoy car time together so we can catch up and really talk without distractions.

On the way we got to enjoy the fall colors!

After the visitation, we ate supper at Tim and Laura's and then were off to Uncle John and Auntie Nicole's house to hang out and watch the Packer game. Annabelle, Madison and Traeger had a great time playing together.

Birthday celebration!

We took Mr. Owen out for ice cream for his 6th birthday!

Out and about!

We have had a nice stretch of beautiful weather and are taking advantage of it while it's here! So we took a walk and had a picnic down by the river!

Ataly enjoying the beautiful weather from the view of the stroller!

Traeger was having fun with his plate blowing away in the wind! As you can tell, he thought it was hilarious!

Batting practice!

While we were hanging those decorative balls from the ceiling in the 3 seasons room, Traeger decided he liked hitting a ball on a string. So instead of ruining all my decorative balls, I thought putting a tennis ball on a string and hanging it from Traeger's basketball hoop would be the same idea! Traeger's loving it!

He swings and...

misses!

Making our house a home!

For those of you who have been asking for pictures of what we've decorated, here are the pictures of the rooms we've finished. My sweet friend Chelsea came over to help me decide where to put stuff on the walls! She did a great job and I love what we've done so far! It's fun to be able to do all of this! More pictures will be coming as I finish the rooms! We are so grateful for this special place we get to call home!! God is good!

Friends!

Last week Thursday, we had the Briggs kids over to play with us while their mommy and sister went to a doctor's appt. The boys had a great time playing together in our 3 seasons room and in the backyard!

Memory!

A favorite past time of mine has now become my sons! Traeger has been enjoying playing memory with Luke and I. It's a great game for all of us to play and educational at the same time!

Small group!

Since every couple in our small group were expanding their family (4 new babies in 8 months), we decided to take a break from meeting for a book study around Feb. 'til now! Now that we've adjusted to life with the new little ones, we are starting to formally meet again. During the spring and summer months, we got together a few times to just hang out and catch up. We're looking forward to our time of encouragement and fellowship with our dear friends who love the Lord and are in the same stage of life we are in. It's great to be on the journey with y'all!

The Huffman's opened their home to us and made some delicious chili! Luke chowing down on bowl #2!

For the most part Simon and Traeger played really well together! Here they are camped out in Simon's fort!