Around Here: Mid-August to Early September 2013

 Wearing Parker's swimsuit.

 Super Taters!

 Tate turned 18 mo. old in August and this was his first Sunday in Nursery.

 The R.S. was sad to see their "mascot" go, they said. Since I am in the Primary Pres., the women in R.S. watched Tate for me. Mostly Amy Langston but he got passed around too. Every Sunday, he came home smelling like 3 different perfumes. It gave me such a headache that he always got a bath on Sunday!

 Tate did fine. I thought he would love it in there. He was anxious and sad when we left and stayed close to the teachers but didn't cry.

 Parker opening his birthday gift on Skpe with G &G Lindsay

 On Parker's actual birthday, Kellen was in town with Annie. So, we met at Como Zoo and had a lot of fun. Nana came with as well.

 Tate the handyman.

 Look out! The Sheriff's in town!

 Parker loves his pirate ship from his birthday.

 Little Matey, Tate loves hats and dressing up.

 Cooling down on the porch. Even though we have a neighborhood pool, it was easier to do this than watch the kids at the pool.

 I found an old episode of The Lone Ranger on T.V., I thought is was cute that Parker was so into all the good guy/bad guy thing.

 A neighbor boy dented our garage door with his bike by accident. I was impressed he told me through tears what happened. His parents were good about it and paid to replace the panel. I took pictures just in case though.

 Playing on the google pad. They really only play with this about once a month or less, but they looked cute.

 All cleaned up for church.

 When Reese gets frisky, she attacks this chair and does somersaults around the handle. It's really funny.

 Fishing game with Kevin.

 When Cam and Madi came in late August, we had an impromptu nerf gun war.

 Trying to reload.

We had a lot of fun.

 I feel like I have a ton of pictures of the boys watching T.V. In my defense, I am pretty strict with how much TV time they get. I think the fact that they are sitting still and not fighting makes for good pictures :)

 cute

 See? more tv pictures.

 Tate went through a phase of taking this softball everywhere, even the store.

 Pirate sword in the pants :) and more tv...

Everything is pirates and cowboys and guns and get-the-bad guys around here. It's pretty cute.

MN State Fair 2013

 Brett, Courtney, Sarah and I went to the Internet Cat Film Festival at the State Fair. It was really fun, almost everyone was wearing cat shirts and such. If you can't tell, my shirt has cats on it :) It was also fun to enjoy the fair without the kids. We went back with the kids several days later when Cam and Madi were in town. It was Madi's first time and we were happy that she was impressed.

 Excited for a fun day at the fair!

 We tried fried alligator, Parker liked it! I did not.

 Tate liked it!

 A fair favorite; the kids get to work on a farm, sell their produce and buy something with their hard earned money!

 Getting the dirt ready with the tractor.

 Planting seeds.

 Looking cute.

 Taking care of the cows, chickens, sheep...the boys bought ice cream with their money.

 Parker loves to sit on all the trackers!

 The boys picked one ride...since the car rides had long lines, we talked them into dinosaurs :)

It was awesome as usual, we left 10 lbs. heavier and happier!

Parker's 4th Birthday

 Anne and Kevin let us use the lake house for Parker's party. It was a pirate themed party.

 The weather was perfect!

 Parker and Logan

 Joel, Parker, Logan

 Turner, Tate, Joel, Parker, Logan decorating their telescopes.

 Getting their pirate gear on for the boat ride.

 My mom and Courtney even made the boys hooks for their hands. They all LOVED them. Logan's mom told me he slept with it on, haha.

 The boys were all really cute. They all played wonderfully and no one got upset over anything! Boys at this age are just adorable.

 Owen, Logan, Parker

 Parker and Turner

 They boys got to take turns helping Kevin drive the boat. They were all very confident in their skills. We drove in a lot of circles, haha.

 This is what I got when I asked for a pirate face.

 We saw a bald eagle, but the boys were not impressed...

 ...they were impressed with some ducks though.

 When we came back to shore, we found a treasure map that led us here to dig for buried treasure!

 Lunch time, pirate ship hot dogs, sail boat jello cups, grapes, strawberries, chips and juice boxes

 Tate and Brighton

 This was the biggest hit of the party! The fishing game. Each boy got two turns to fish for a prize. The boys loved it so much they threw their prizes back over so they could fish for them again.

 Happy Birthday my sweet boy!

 I couldn't believe that they don't make pirate ship or boat themed cakes. They were lots of fishing and hunting related cakes though, haha.

 This was Parker's first party where he was allowed to have gifts from friends.

 After the party, we stayed and played in the lake.

THE END, hehe.