Ginger Bread House

Hanging with my BFF's

I love hanging out with my best friends, Katy and Alicia. We always have a great time. I am really lucky to have such wonderful friends that are like sisters to me. It is fun to see how far we have come together over the years and to see where we are going. They are always more beautiful every time I see them.

My little Liam hanging out at the hotel. We had a good time in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Jake and Alicia cheesing it up for the camera!!! What a touching moment. They are usually fighting like cats and dogs!!!

Show those guns Scottie!!! (Katy's hubby and cute little Chloe)

Chloe was having a blast in the pool.

Hot Tub!!! Relaxing.

Beautiful Sadie

Beautiful little Sadie. This is my best friend Katy's little girl Sadie. She is so adorable, just like her older sister Chloe. I was so excited and thrilled to meet her. She is so sweet. Congratulations Katy and Scott.

Liam's Photo Shoot

I decided to have a photo shoot with my little Liam. He smiled so well, so well that his little cheeks hurt all day. I'm a little rusty on my composition, but for the most part I think they turned out cute.

Neighborhood Gang

Here they are, the neighborhood gang. Always together, always out and about running from one yard to the next, in one house out the other. Trinity (in the red), Riley, Liam, Canon (in the middle), and Coby. They are a good group of kids, but boy do they have a lot of energy.

This is usually how they are!

The boys! Playing legos as usual.

Fun Run

Liam got to take his good friend Hailey to Fun Run. They had a blast playing on all of the blow up slides, bouncy houses, and little town. They always play really well together and chat up a storm. It is so fun to watch the two of them together. I hope they will remain friends for many years to come. Hailey is such a sweet girl.

This was their favorite slide.

Lots of pictures, but they are just so cute I couldn't resist.

Snoozing

Liam and Jarjar Beans taking a snooze. They are best buds. It is so sweet how much they love each other. Liam calls him his furry brother.

First Day of School!

Liam woke up in a great mood for the first day of school. Little Liam started Kindergarten August 17th. Of-course we had to get a picture with Jazz and Jarjar before we could start our day.

Liam requested a special breakfast to start out the first day. So I did a portrait of him out of pancakes. Pretty good, right? What a way to start the day.

It really does look like him!

It was a rainy first day. Normally Liam walks to school with is Daddy, but this day was a mess. Liam didn't seem to mind. He happily posed for one of many pictures outside his classroom that day. He had his new Transfromer backpack and lunch box.

Here is where it went all down hill. Poor little Liam was a lot more upset than I expected him to be. He didn't want us to leave him the first day. I was doing fine until he cried a little and kept saying, "Good bye Mommy, Good bye Daddy." It about broke my heart. However, I am happy to report that I didn't cry until after we left the room.

Jake was trying to cheer him up.

My little Kindergartener! He is going to have such a great year and so much fun in Mrs. Roeder's Class!

Special Treats For School

These are the special treats Liam and I made for the first day of school. You have to have something special in your lunch! They are oreo cookie frogs. We made so many that we gave some to our neighbor friends. Everyone seemed to love them and it was a fun and easy project thanks to kraft.com.

We Had Twins!

Jarjar Beans and Jazz Abu

Liam looks a lot like Jarjar. I think it's the hair!

So they shouldn't be on the couch, but Liam put them up there to watch cartoons with him. I thought this looked so funny. He tried so hard not to move.

Ok, so we really didn't have twins, but we got some puppies that are brothers. They are both Lab and Australian Shepard mixes. Liam did the honor of naming the boys. The yellow puppy is Jarjar. (Star Wars name) The black puppy is Jazz. (Transformer name) Very fitting! Good job Liam. They have become a big part of our family. I know you probably think we lost our minds, and I agree with you. We have! One of Jake's good friends told us about these puppies and the family they came from, so we decided to go check them out. We thought it would just be something fun to do and a chance for Liam to play with some puppies. Little did we know that we would strongly consider getting one. When we were there we fell in love with the little black puppy. We decided to claim him as ours but wouldn't be able to pick him up for several more weeks and if for some reason we decided not to get him that was fine. When he turned 6 weeks old we made a trip to go pick him up. We were all really excited. We had bought all the appropriate things for one puppy. However, when we got there our little puppy and the little yellow puppy were the only ones left. All of the others had been picked up and given to other families. Liam really wanted to take the little yellow puppy home too. He didn't want him to be the only one left with no family to go to. Then to top it off the family we were getting them from told us we should consider getting two because it might be easier and then our dog would have someone to play with. Jake was so hesitant, but of-course Liam and I won! So we brought home two. Can you believe that. We really did lose our minds. I did not grow up with dogs, so this was all new to me. I am happy to report that we have had such good luck with these guys. It was a lot of work the first couple of months, but they have turned out to be so good. Ever now and again they have their moments, but we got some pretty good puppies. Liam loves them so much. I feel like our house is really small now with these huge dogs, but they have been so fun to have.

Jake's 29th B-Day

My hubby turned 29 March 18th!!! We got him tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert. Liam got him a Superman shirt and made him a cute card. Here is the birthday cake I made him. It was angel food cake with a chocolate pudding frosting and heath bar in it. Yummy! I think it turned out really well. Liam loved it. Happy Birthday Jake!!! We love you.

Hanging out with Aunt Jenny

Liam had such a great time at Aunt Jenny's house. He got to learn how to play the Wii. He got it after a little while and I think he liked it. Of-course they always spoil him. They were nice enough to watch him so I could meet up with my girlfriends, Katy and Alicia, in Des Moines.

Watch out!

He got the hang of it.

They pretty much wore him out!