July 4th parade and some randomness

Our neighborhood has an annual Forth of July Parade. Neighbors decorate their cars or bikes and go through the neighborhood. The start is 2 houses down the street from our house, so we made the trek to watch this year. 

The boys were excited to see the firetruck leading the parade!

Colt really liked watching the cars and having candy thrown at him. He said that next year he wants us to decorate OUR car so we can participate. We shall see...

In a bit of randomness, this sleepy boy continually uses his shirt as a napkin. Can you tell?!? This has prompted me to make 6 month goals for the boys. #1 on Levi's list? "Learn to use a napkin." Since I have the benefit of hindsight while writing this particular post, I must say that Levi is doing much better with this 4 months later. And, actually sitting down and thinking about goals for our kids has also been extremely beneficial. I sometimes feel overwhelmed when looking at all of the WORK that needs to be done to raise these boys into real, God-fearing/loving/serving men. But, making short-term goals that are focused on how they can better learn, love and grow really gives me a manageable grasp on this thing called parenting. In a future post, maybe I'll share their goals and their progress towards them. 

My mom bought these blocks for the boys. I must say that these blocks are an absolute necessity to any family with kids. My kiddos play with these things NON-STOP! They make all different creations  (today's creation is a train in case you can't tell. Colt is the engineer). I love these Melissa and Doug blocks so much that I just bought a whole other set so they can make even bigger creations. Ty thinks I'm crazy because these blocks also take up quite a bit of space, but the boys are great at stacking them back up when they are finished playing, so we'll just have to continue to enforce that rule now that we'll have 2x the mess! 

Colt's family party

We also had a family party for Colt on his actual birthday because we LOVE celebrations!

Colt loves trains and has started to express an interest in legos, so we got him a Lego train set! He loves this set and still (in November) plays with it regularly. It IS a hassle to put together, but fortunately, on this particular weekend, we went to see Nana in Marble Falls for the 4th of July weekend, so SHE had the pleasure of assembling it! (Thanks, Nana!)

You can somewhat see the burn mark on Colt's chin in this picture. The day before this, we were making cookies. He got excited that they had come out of the oven and ran up to grab one off of the hot cookie sheet, but burned his chin on the edge of the cookie sheet. Gotta learn the hard way sometimes. Ouch! (Nov update: There is still a small scar there that keeps going away slowly but surely. Hopefully your young body will fully erase this one!)

We had recently gotten the boy's hair cut in these pictures. They look so different now (again, in November... I know, I'm a blog slacker, but at least I'm trying to make up for it now!). Their hair is really long now. I actually just trimmed Colt's hair the other day because he kept complaining about it getting in his eyes. He was hesitant to let me cut it (partly because he likes to go to the kiddie cut place because they have a big train table there that he likes), but I think it looks great now. Plus, we are planning a trip to Germany in the spring, so we put the cash we saved in our "Germany jar." Yes, all of our impulsive spending money is going in here... no more late-night Sushi (they deliver to our house!), late-night pizza, Starbucks, etc. Hmm... this could be a good thing... maybe we'll even lose some weight with no more late night eating :) Anyway, back to the celebration....

Both of the boys have really been into the Toy Story movies lately. We have saved Toy Story 2 on our tv and they ask to watch it constantly. We got Colt a Woody doll and Grandma got him a Buzz Lightyear doll, so now he and Levi can play with them together. In November retrospect... Levi is the one who loves playing with these toys. Should've known... Colt has never really been a doll kinda kid. 

The cupcakes were Colt's favorite part of the evening. Mine too as the cupcakes were from my favorite cupcake bakery in town... Delish. Yummy!

Yay for Colt turning 4! 

Colt's 4th b-day party

My baby turned 4 in July! It's cliche, I know... but time has really flown by. We are loving being Colt's parents. He is a good kid - he's quiet until he gets to know you, then he's just a silly little boy who likes to get attention. He's generally obedient to others but can be quite crafty around the house, so keeps us on our toes. Lately, Colt has taken a real interest in Tatum (he's been climbing into her crib to play with her). 

Last year, Colt went to a birthday party at Kiddie Acres that he hasn't stopped talking about ever since. I finally wised up to the idea of having a party at a place that does all the work for me. I even ordered Colt's cake this year (from Sugar Tooth Bakery - vegan for Chez!) instead of stressing out about making the perfect creation for Colt. 

Levi and Owen rode this ride together. 

Close up of Levi - he loves wearing sunglasses. Pretty much wears them all the time, yes indoors as well. 

The boys in the boat. 

Friends in the airplane

The train was a big hit! 

We never tire of train rides :)

The men and the boys enjoyed some putt-putt

Kendal shared some big news with us at the party... baby #3 on its way!! Yay!

Someone's happy he'll be a big brother!

Trying to stay cool - it was hot out there!

Eliza was just chillin'

Malachi and Colt - friends forever :) I never got a picture of Colt with all of his friends, and we never got a family picture either. Gotta get better about that!

Happy Birthday, Colt. We love you so much and are blessed to be your parents. We pray that God will continue to work in you to grow you into a young man who loves Him with all your heart and seeks to honor Him with your thoughts and actions. You are a joy to all who know you and a good friend to your brother and sister. We can't wait to walk with you in your next year of life. 

Love, Mom

Taterade

Here I am playing around with web boards again. These pictures are back when Tatum was 8 months old (now she's 10 months!!). She had just gotten her first 2 teeth and kept making funny faces as she was getting used to the feel of them in her mouth. She now has 4 teeth and is working hard on a 5th. Girl has never needed a bib before this current tooth - drool galore! 

My little brother's wedding!

One of the highlights of this summer was being able to celebrate my brother's marriage! Andrew and Amy were married in June in San Antonio. It was such a fun, hot weekend! We were able to reconnect with family that we haven't seen in years and years, create new family memories and show our love to Andrew and Amy. 

Here is everyone having fun kicking off the weekend with the rehearsal: 

Andrew and his groomsmen

My boys practicing to be the ring bearers.

One more of my little cutie!

Me and my Grandma, which I sadly haven't seen since my own wedding 9 years ago!! It was so nice to be able to see her again and spend some time with her (and my aunts who we'll get to in just a sec). 

Also, this isn't the best picture of them, but these are some of my parent's LONGtime friends who made the trip to the wedding from New Hampshire. It was really nice for them to come all the way to Texas for the wedding and it was so great to see them again!

The rehearsal dinner was at Guadalajara Grill on the Riverwalk and was a fun party! I especially liked hearing all of the stories and character affirmations from my brother's groomsmen. 

Here's my crazy Tatum! Clapping up a storm and putting on quite a show :) For some reason I didn't take too many pictures at this event - probably because I have 3 kids that I have to chase around. After the festivities, the boys wanted to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride (the horses were parked just outside our restaurant and they were patiently watching them from our party room), so Alethea, Abbey and I accompanied them on a nice ride around the Riverwalk. 

As for the actual wedding day... we had lots of fun swimming at my mom and aunt's hotel. We really tried to spend as much time with them as possible since we haven't seen them in forever either. I think it's seriously been about 15 years since I've seen my Aunt Sarah! :( My mom's sisters are always soo much fun to be around - they are hilarious and we laughed the whole time! 

We were so thankful that my Aunts and Grandma made the long trip to Texas for the wedding. It definitely will not be another 9 years before we see you guys again!! 

As for the ring bearers.... well, they did just fine at the rehearsal (and when we practiced the week before at our own empty church building). However, when the actual wedding day arrived, they were not too happy to have a pillow to carry down the aisle. I already suspected that Colt may have some jitters walking by lots of people he didn't know, but figured that Levi's people-charming personality would help calm Colt's nerves. Boy was I wrong. When it was time for them to walk down the aisle, they kept hitting the pillow out of Ty's hands and refused to carry the pillow or walk down the aisle. 

To compound matters more, they were supposed to be walking towards me at the front of the audience, but Tatum began loudly crying just as the Maid of Honor walked down, so I had to leave my seat with her, giving the boys no one to encourage them at my end of the aisle! All in all, it was one of those funny and cute ring bearer stories for my brother and Amy to remember. But now the boy's resume is tarnished, so getting more ring bearer gigs in the future may be more difficult. :) 

Eventually, the boys walked around the outside of the audience to our seats with the family in the front. Levi then walked the pillow over to my brother. I love this picture because Colt is playing in the rocks and you can see how Levi's boutonniere is already messed up. He unraveled it completely about 14 seconds after he finally sat down in his chair. Too bad too, because Amy made them herself and were SUPER cute (along with everything else Amy handcrafted for the wedding)! 

As for other pictures...

My mom dancing with Levi

I really like this picture of my mom. I think she's standing when Amy walks down the aisle here.

I love how this shows the detail of the back of Amy's dress. 

Anyway, I know this is a long post with lots of pictures, but hey, it's my little brother's wedding, so I can post as many pictures as I want. We LOVE Amy and her family and are so excited that she is now a Dillman. Amy and Andrew, we love you both and are looking forward to walking with you guys as the Lord leads us all on this journey called life.