Happy Birthday???? Yes, Yes! Happy Birthday to my 5 1/2 year old and my 3 year old....in JUNE!

 Okay, so I am not a great planner.  Planning parties should be left to those that have the skills and desires to do so.  I have been talking about having a dual birthday party for the boys since we moved to Louisiana.  Two in a half years later...I did it.  And it will more than likely be two more years before we do it again!  We had fun.  It was a full day to say the least.  

 We rented the water slide which was the high light of the day for all three of my boys.  

 Kids played on the playground that Karl built....

 and slid for hours...

 We had a great turn out (more than I had imagined...)

 We are super blessed to be a part of such a wonderful congregation at Jackson Street.  The friends my boys have for life make me happy for the future.  Love all of these sweet smiling faces and their parents! 

Kaden wanted pizza and Leland wanted hot dogs.  We went with Leland's recommendation for lunch and pizza for supper.  

 Le Cookie

 NO WAY I could have pulled this off without help from so many...Thank you to Jana, April and Katie...love these ladies!

 The boys had a blast and were super excited to get so many cool toys.  

 Kaden 5 1/2 (Birthday: 12/4/07)

 Leland 3 (Birthday: 3/23/10)

Oh....the loot.....

 Ellie was super helpful in getting the smaller kids introduced to the slide.  She was a great helper.

 Then, after the birthday party peeps had vanished and we had time to sit for about an hour, 6 other girls show up for our LTC party.  Karl and I were blessed to coach these girls during Bible Bowl for LTC this year.  So, they came over and partied on the slide and spent the night with us.  Thanks to Leonard and Diane, we all got to church on time and safely!

We've Been Everywhere Man - Trip up north (stops in IA, IL, TN)

 So, camping was fun and the next activity was to head up north.  We went to Paris, sold my car of 8 wonderful years and headed up north in Karl's work car for some John Deere time for him and some family/friends time for the boys and I.  

After a long drive on Sunday (after morning worship), we headed straight for the ZOO on Memorial Day.  SUPER planning!  It was not crowded and the Des Moines Zoo is nice like Tyler's! We struck gold twice so far with the zoo luck!

 My hunk of love man is wonderful!

 Kaden was showing off his magic trick to Ms Deb and Mr Mike at the Memorial Day Cookout at the church building.  

 The next few days in Des Moines FLEW by.  We swam EVERY DAY!  Lisa brought over her kids on Tuesday and then Peyson joined us on Wednesday.  It was so nice.  Kaden enjoyed his time with Peyson.  They are pretty good buddies.

 Lisa (as if she doesn't have enough to do already) fed us every night.  The boys played, held Guinea pigs and played.  They slept so well...every night!

One whole big bed and these two cuddled up and kept each other company every night.  Kaden is a touch me not (even as a baby he didn't like to be rocked to sleep).  Leland is not.  He is all about hands on and rocking.  He moves a lot in his sleep and likes to cuddle.  Kaden was too tired to fight...apparently.  

Our next stop was GrandMa Hazel's house.  This is Karl's maternal grandmother.  The boys have seen her once a year since Kaden was born.  We try to keep that one stop every year going.  Grandma Hazel lives in Lincoln, IL and she doesn't travel south.  So, she is always a planned stop anytime we are up north.  

After seeing Grandma Hazel for a couple of hours we headed south(ish) to St. Louis, IL to see some very good friends of ours that we met when we lived in San Antonio.  Tyler and Becky have three sons and while we lived in San Antonio, they taught us how to love each other and truly helped make our marriage better.  Tyler sat me down more than once and helped me to see Karl's way.  

When we arrived at the Yager home, the storm during the day had blown over one of their big willow trees.  We arrived on a Thursday.  The plan was to leave on Friday morning so we could get back home....but it's always hard to leave the Yager home (this happens almost every time).  We stayed one more day.  On Friday, the four boys climbed EVERY branch of the fallen tree.  Alec and Sam took care of the boys and they played so hard.  Karl worked on the chain saw most of the day (in between JD phone calls) and finally got the saw running.  Apparently there is something very manly about using a chain saw.  

That evening, there was a tornado that touched down pretty close so we got to spend about 30 minutes in the basement.  These poor boys have it so bad....

 The Yager's have outstanding children.  Sam (glasses) and Alec are growing too fast.  They are two of the best mannered young men I have ever been around and wish my kids could spend more time with them.  Love this family.  We steal/borrow/use ideas every time we leave the Yager home.  Tyler is military and Becky grew up on a farm....they expect/maintain a wonderful household of strong Church of Christ values and their kids are just super.  Kaden has asked more than once (in our very bustling summer of going) if we can go back and see Alec and Sam.  The Yager boys followed our boys around all day and played with them.  At one point, Sam came in and laid down on the couch (he had been out of school for about 2 weeks) and said babysitting was hard and he was ready for a break.  He said school was easier.  I laugh...

Saturday morning we get up early to leave and Becky had gotten up to fix us breakfast (against our will) we shared one more meal with this family we love!  We headed south (yet again), this time for a 5 hour drive to Memphis, TN.  Jennifer had asked a friend where to eat and we stopped at one of the recommended spots.  This restaurant (Huey's) happens to have free toothpick shooting.  In the picture above (of Karl), you can see the toothpicks hanging from the black ceiling.  They bring you plenty of toothpicks, a straw and you can shoot them straight up and try to stick them.  I missed 3 times and stopped.  Kaden missed once and stuck one.  Karl stuck one the first try.  Leland tried...

 Super fun lunch and the hamburgers were great!

 Our next stop (with full bellies) was to pick up my new ride.  It's used, but new to me.  It has EVEY bell and whistle on it that can be imagined.  Kind of scary to think about (long term).  All I knew was it was an expedition.  I didn't know it was a King Ranch.  It has a sun roof, navigation, running boards, cooling seats, dvd's in the head rests and all power EVERY THING....sigh....  My husband spoils me and I am thankful!

After being gone 10 days, we come home to this...Kaden thought it was super cool (it was a spider web to him).  It was 10pm after being gone for 10 days and I laughed...until I found the glitter.  I loathe glitter.  I hate glitter.  I don't even like the thought of glitter.  It makes my blood pressure go up.  There is glitter in my carpet....arggggg....We did end up leaving some of the 'spider web' up for Kaden and Leland to play around and all of the balloons got to stay but we vacuumed the floors and cleaned the coffee talble up.  I sat down and text my little friend and said, "Do you know how much I loath glitter?".  His response, "Oh, so you turned the fan on!".  WHAT!  I look up and the fan is off.  The fan that we had Kaden crawl under all of the webbing to turn on (fans are all on at my house, if the light is off the fan is on.  If the lights are on the fans are on...all fans are on).  I should have known.  Kaden flipped the switch but the light nor the fan came on.  Lucky Paul David.    So, I told Karl about the text.  He grabbed a ladder and plastic bag and begin cleaning off the ceiling fan.  40 ounces of sparkles later, we vacuumed again.  This time we turned the fan on and went to bed.  I love all of our friends (even the ones that break into my house and put nasty lsu stickers on all of our lovely A&M paraphernalia.  WE are blessed....sigh...lol