Not fair!

We went to the ottawa county fair the other day. The kids really enjoyed the animals. Boden even had some slight interest in the rides (at least looking at them) Maybe next year we will be able to get him on.

Jim

Boden really likes his new "fast and friendly" undies.

Jammin'

bday book reading

albums

caught up on some pics. still have some on my phone i need to load up, but check out the new albums on the left: may, june, and july! enjoy!

pictures from our bode man's 4th bday!

below are a bunch of pics from boden's 4 year old bday party! for whatever reason, i had a super hard time getting them to load properly, so they are all in random order and i am not going to rearrange them :) hope you enjoy anyway! in case you can't tell or weren't there, boden had a thomas bday party. boden is SO into thomas as many of you know!

boden and grammy intent on watching the electronic trains go around the thomas cake that daddy set up. boden spent a great deal of time here before the party.

three generations! it really struck me with this picture the resemblance between them all. seems like it stands out more with the three of them together.

one of the very first presents were thomas books from amma. boden wanted to drop everything and read his books. we gave in to him (as it was HIS bday and all), and grammy, our in house professional reader, treated us to a reading of 'thomas the runaway.' boden wanted to do more. had to 'force' him to finish opening up his presents. how many four year olds to you know like that??? ;)

silly daddy!

silly aunt nae!!

heidi wanted her own reading from auntie liz!

silly boden!

cousin shane was so excited to be here from oklahoma! so were we!

is heidi doomed? she has been playing a lot with thomas since boden's bday party. she also loves bob the builder..... hmmm, she does like dolls.....

the two mommies that made this day possible!!! hugs and kisses to you both!!!

aunt nae all the way from oklahoma!

we let boden choose the menu for his bday:

curious george gummies

yogurt

pudding

noodles with parm cheese (we added some sauce for the less hearty adults ;) )

thomas track right down the middle of the table!

boden is serious about his thomas play.

4 years old!!!

much time was spent looking at the thomas cake that we picked up the day before....

:)

miss carolyn (soon to be AUNT carolyn!!!) and uncle robbie came up for the weekend too!

birthday countdown!

thank you to all that celebrated our sweet boden's bday, both in body or in spirit! you are all special to us! thank you for loving our wonderful boy with us!

Gma

Quality time on the porch with grandmas.

swimming lessons

boden started his first real swimming lessons this week. he was a
little aprehensive, but we got there a bit early and watched the kids
from the group before him. he was getting atsy! he wanted so bad to
go in! in one of the pictures, you can see that he is trying to stick
his toe in and they had to keep making sure he didn't go in to soon.
enter now sweet little innocent looking girl on the left on him. they
started to take her in first. she begins to scream and cry and try to
get away. boden watches horrified and panic starts to fill his face.
boden's turn. he begins to cry and fight his way to freedom. after a
little 'pep talk' on the side of the pool, I turn, take heidi in her
stroller and leave. he stayed in the whole time, making it known that
he didn't like it, and wasn't coming backnext time. of course, we came
back next time. we had talked it thru, prayed about, etc. thought he
was going to be fine. we sit one minute. they say it's time to get in.
panic resumes. bloodcurdling, someone is chasing me with a knife
screams. he clings to me saying: "mommy I love you! please don't
leave me!". seriously? try to reason to him. getting frustrated.
about to throw in the towel. one of the lifegaurds comes over and says
to give him to her and to leave. she peels boden off me and I leave.
when I came back at the end, his teacher was pulling him off the side
to help him jump in and go underwater. seems to be doing fine. cries
most of the way out to the car and home. we'll see what next time
brings.....

Snipe hunting

Tonight boden and dad are camping in the backyard. Boden has had a lot of fun. We even snuck in some ice cream.

Nature class

Boden took class at the nature center this week. He really enjoyed learning about owls, animal footprints, ponds, roots, and much more. This photo shows one of the several snakes they have in the center.

Charlotte

Heidi has gradually increases her acceptance of swing'n. I wouldn't say she is embracing it, but we are making progress.

Sand paper

I was changing heidi's diaper this afternoon, and it was particularly difficult to get all the remnants cleaned. Then I remembered this occurring at the beach yesterday, and it all made sense.

Not for the faint of heart

Heidi has been picking at my toes today. It is gross but it is too funny not to share.

Boden quote for Thursday

"I don't like you to tease me, I just like to talk about letters"