Friends!

These two little friends have not gotten to play together this summer as much as they would've liked to.  Sarah, Zoey and Charlee stopped over to play and visit for about an hour one day last week. Zoey and Austin ran upstairs to dress up as superheroes.  These two laid down on the floor together . . . Charlee to play a game and Colton to watch her!  Their friendship is so adorable! 

Birthday Weekend!

 Gavin is 3 months old already!  This past weekend we celebrated my birthday which was a lot of fun.  The only thing I wanted for my birthday was to NOT travel. . . and I got my wish!  Annie and Papa came over to Cedar Falls on Saturday afternoon so Brian and I went out to dinner on Saturday evening.  On Sunday we grilled and then had homemade angel food cake and homemade ice cream.  The boys were excited about getting to help blow out the candles.  I asked Austin and Colton how old they thought I was . . . Austin "Probably like 15" and Colton "You're 8 Mama!"  So, I'll go with those numbers for this year! 

First Day of School!

 Austin is starting 4-a-day preschool this year!  He will go to school M, T, Th and F afternoons!  He is very excited to get back to school and play with his friends!  This was the best smiley face I could get from him . . . as you can see from the eyebrows, he is EXTREMELY excited!  So, when I asked Austin what he wanted to be when he grew up he said, "A Ninja or a Space person who flies in rocketships!"  The following pictures are of my two little ninjas!

Summer Vacation!

 

Well, Austin had a summer vacation bucket list that had many different things on it.  I feel like everyone in the entire family pitched in to help make everything on his list hapen.  One of the things that was on the list was jumping off of a dock.  Well, that one ended up being an easy one to cross off because Grandma and Grandpa Kliegl put a dock in the lake by their house!  We got to go spend a few days in Emmetsburg and they were very relaxing and very fun days for all of us.  Austin and Colton spent quite a bit of time running and jumping off the dock.  They also enjoyed the beach and the park while we were there.  Austin helped pick snap peas and green beans out of the garden too.  Gavin enjoyed all of the cuddle time he got with grandma and grandpa while we were there!

 

Gavin turned 2 months old on July 22nd!  He is growing so fast.  On July 22nd, he weighed 14.5 lbs and was roughly 22 inches long!

We drove to Monument, CO in the mini-van to visit Jon and Clare for nine days at the beginning of August.  Annie and Papa drove with us so we had a packed car!  The boys were great travellers.  As long as we were watching a DVD or reading books the two big boys did a great job.  Gavin also travelled really well and only got really fussy when the trip was almost over . . . everyone was tired of being in the car by then so you couldn't really blame him for wanting to get out of his carseat.  The below picture is Clare and Colton doing the dishes.  They are making cupcakes together!  The cupcakes turned out great and Colton loved all the special attention he got from Aunt Clare!

 One of the other items on Austin's list was climbing a mountain.  So, we went to the Garden of the Gods one day and climbed around on all of the big rock formations.  It was a lot of fun and both Austin and Colton did a fantastic job getting up and down the different rocks.  It was beautiful scenery and we enjoyed a picnic lunch here as well!

 

After the Garden of the Gods we went to the Cave of the Winds.  This was a really neat tour and something that we all really enjoyed. 

 I gave Gavin a bath in the sink in the guest bathroom while we were there.  Gavin loved staring in the mirror and looking at everyone through the mirror.  I thought this was a cute picture that captured not just Gavin checking things over but also Colton, who was keeping a close eye on his little brother.

 We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and got to feed the giraffe's!  So cool!  It was amazing how close to them you could be.  We were able to actually pet the giraffe's and feed them lettuce!  The entire zoo was a lot of fun.  All of the animals were really active and up close to us.  It was a really neat day.  The boys also enjoyed the carousel with Clare while we were at the zoo!

And then my camera battery died . . . .

We also celebrated Papa's birthday with a cake and candles, went to the airforce base and the boys got to go to The North Pole, which is a Santa-themed amusement park one day.  So much to see and do that Austin and Colton have already asked when we get to go to Jon's house again!!  Sad that summer is over but so happy to have gotten to do so many fun things in the last three months!