Happy 5th Birthday Garrett!

I can't believe that five years have passed since you were a tiny sweet little boy cradled in my arms. I am so proud of the bright loving young boy that you have become. Every day you amaze me with the things that you know. You are always teaching me about bugs, dinosaurs, trains, weather, and plants. You are a huge helper in the kitchen, the garden, and a good workout partner on your bike! You take good care of your sister and your dog. You are always telling me that Casey listens to you better than anyone else! You are a busy active boy with a wonderful imagination and I'm so lucky that God chose me to be your mom. Happy Birthday, Garrett! We are so proud of you! Love, Mom, Dad, Avery, Casey & all of our critters.

Garrett's Biggest Fan

Soccer!

Garrett had a blast at soccer clinic this fall! We enjoyed cheering him on.

Big Girl Bed

Just Like Mommy

This girl knows how to travel!

Summer Vacation

Here's a quick glimpse of our summer vacation to KC. I had more pics to post, but can't for some reason. The kids were good travelers as usual. We had a blast at the T-REX restaurant (although the food was overpriced!) and loved Schlitterbahn, the new waterpark. We were there for 9 hours straight with only 1 meltdown when Garrett tasted Avery's slushy and she was NOT okay with that!

Momentum

We went on a hay rack ride last Saturday during a gathering with members from Greg's parents' church. The kids enjoyed it although Avery seemed more wiggly than her 1 year old cousin. As we were going down a big hill, Garrett said, "The heavy people make us go really fast downhill!" I guess he already understands 'momentum!'

A Train in the House?

Last weekend we visited Greg's parents. Since Avery is now sleeping in a "big kid" bed, Greg and I split up and each snuggled with a kiddo both nights. Greg slept with Avery the first night with the windows open since the weather was beautiful. At about 7:30 in the morning, a train rolled through. Greg's parent's live quite a ways from the tracks, but the train sounded pretty loud and almost echoed through their house with the windows open. Avery sat straight up in bed with Greg and said, "Daddy, there's a train in here!"

New PDR

I set a new PDR (personal distance record) last Saturday. I was highly motivated to get a long run in, with the idea that if I could meet my goal of 7-8 miles, I will sign up for a 15K this coming weekend with my friend, Julie. Thanks to my beloved Casey (who ran the first 4 miles with me), my sweet Garrett (who rode along for 3 miles), and my sport beans, I ran a total of 7.5 miles in 85 minutes (averaging 11 min miles). When it comes to running, I can either be really "on" or really "off" so I'm hoping that on Sunday, I'll be "on!"

Swimming Lessons

A Boy, A Frog, & His Dog

Nature Lover

Our little girl is a nature lover. And a collector of nature items. So far her collection includes feathers, rocks, sticks, many acorns of different sizes, and pine cones. She fills her pockets with her collectibles on our walks. On Sunday, she said, "I can put these in my pocket." I noticed that what she was holding was very round and thought I should take a better look. Sure enough, it was rabbit poop!

She also loves to pick up bugs. On Saturday at the Sunken Gardens, she said, "Wook it Daddy, wook it, wook at what I caught." She had a bee in her hand! As Greg was trying to brush it off, it kept sticking to her, but thankfully it didn't sting her.

Yesterday as we were tearing out our garden in preparation for fall/winter, she showed me a giant grasshopper that she had caught. I wondered how she could have caught it. Since I was wearing my gardening gloves, I thought I'd take a better look. The poor thing had it's back legs pulled off - probably the victim of a neighbor boy. The grasshopper was more than happy to hang out on Avery and slowly crawl up her arm into her hair. She would just giggle and say, "He wikes me, Mommy. He wikes me!" We kept him overnight in our bug zoo and released him into the great outdoors today, after she held him again, of course.

Mollie & Willie

Avery is nuts about the cats. She can't quite get their names straight though. She takes Mollie & Willie and combines them into "Milwie." When she sees both cats, she actually says, "Look Mom, there's Milwie. And there's another Milwie."