the long bike ride

little man and m1 had a random wednesday off school, so we loaded up the bikes and headed to the oceanfront.  we parked at 42nd street and rode on the boardwalk until we reached the park at 31st street. 

this is such a great spot to play this time of year.  during the summer it is much too crowded and too hot!  there are monkey bars and things to climb on and the slides end right on the sand.  all three had a fun time climbing and sliding and running around.  we even ran into the strickland family (grandma and her young ones) which was nice. 

 

 

 we walked down to the beach to look for shells but had no pockets to put them in.  aww, shucks! the highlight was seeing pods of dolphins right up close to the shoreline.  there were so many of them!

after we finished playing the ride continued down until we reached the dairy queen at 27th street.  so of course we had to stop for a treat!  m2 enjoyed her "oreo lizzard" as she called it. 

the children all wanted to continue farther down the boardwalk but i knew we had the long trek back to 42nd street.  m2 started to get tired around 35th street but she was such a trooper!  after getting the bikes loaded up and m2 strapped in we started home.  she was asleep within three minutes. 

i heart my family

of course the children love action pictures ~ so we had to include some of those. 

happy birthday baby girl

oh my, how this little girl has brightened our home!  she is funny, loves her sameredith (yes, she combines their names), adores her daddy and gives me numerous hugs and kisses each day.  we all have our patience tested by answering  472 questions daily, having lego creations taken apart and  polly pockets broken.  but we all agree that she makes up for it with her laughter and joy! 

hard to believe that when we discovered she was on the way we were so shocked we did not even speak about it for an entire week!  not because we were not excited but because after all we had been through with infertility and ivf it was just a shock to realize we were having a third.  God is good. 

john david borrowed a bounce house from the milligan family (thank you very much!) so a few minutes before the party we headed outside with just our family.  the bounce house was not blown up and just laying on the grass and m2 completely ignored it ~ we would later find out that she thought it was several blankets for the picnic lunch with her friends.  as john david started inflating it she looked intently and had the greatest expression once she realized what it was. 

john david looks relaxed as the children bounce behind him... the grandparents chat before the other guests arrive.  as always i think about pops on a day like today ~ he is missed greatly. 

john david and little man set  up the back yard for some relay games.  after dividing up the teams we were ready to go.  m2 and her friend cmc (m2 is her middle name ~ funny huh?) are at the starting line with their boiled eggs in large spoons. 

and they are off... running towards granddaddy and passing off the spoons... running towards the grandmom's who are holding a rope to climb under...

grabbing stuffed animals from the deck and running around the house and finally tagging the next person waiting in line. 

landon and kayliegh are up next... run guys run! 

as the older kids waiting in line i pulled out tea spoons for their eggs ~ little man groaned.  seriously dude, did you think i was going to let you run around the back yard with the egg in the pasta spoon?  you need a challenge boy!  

i did not get pictures of the younger kids doing this, but after crawling under the rope they had to run and make some ball tosses into buckets on the ladder.  of course little man excelled at this part! 

last up was m1 squared.  (cmc's older sister shares m1's name)  go m1's go!

crawl m1's crawl!

run m1's run!  our m1's team won but they all had such a fun time they wanted to run the relay again and again.  while they ran and ran some more i came inside to set up the food ~ typical birthday fare: hot dogs, chips, fruit salad, and lasagna soup in the crock pot for the adults.   present time was next.  the grandparents went in together for a new bike with training wheels.  such a great gift since morgan has so many hand-me-downs!  little man and m1 wrote clues and sent her on a hunt around the house for it... this is her running back into the family room. 

m2 making the loop around the downstairs... she did very well except for the braking part.  her tricycle goes forward and backward so she has to get that skill mastered. 

cupcake time!  the birthday girl's cupcake looked like a flower; the others were all purple, which little man loved! 

thanks to the two families that shared our day with us...  we appreciate your friendship! 

grandparents ~ thanks for the love and encouragement you lavish on our children.  they love you and are blessed by you! 

happy birthday sweet baby girl mgw!

pitching in

little man and m1 pitched in (after m2 went to bed) and created this happy b-day banner out of scrapbook and construction paper.  i was putting the icing on the cupcakes and they were working together on the kitchen floor ~ they were so excited and came up with the idea themselves.  after cutting the scrapbook paper they hung it on baking twine using a stapler.  they safety pinned the construction paper letters to the banner paper because we were out of glue sticks.  pretty good job guys!

getting ready for the party

who doesn't love some fun colorful cupcakes!?? with m2 as my helper it took twice as long but it was fun to complete.  mmm, where did she disappear to when it was time to clean up the mess?  and how much batter did she end up eating?