HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRUCE!!!

Well, it's Bruce's birthday today. Hailey ran up to him when he got home this morning and gave him a great big hug saying, "Happy Birthday Daddy". She was so excited to give him his gift too, she couldn't wait till later when we had cake and icecream. Yesterday, I took her to the store and let her pick out something from her and Max. She picked out an "airplane" (an X-treme Wings Glyder). Last nightafter she helped me wrap it, she thought we should hide it too, so she went all around the house looking for a good spot. She kept trying it in different spots, but everywhere she put it it would stick out a little bit. She finally found a spot under the table in the living room. Then I decided I might as well give him my gift then too. He really liked the mug I got him. I had Kimmy pick up a mug that a guy in Copper Harbor makes. They are really nice and they're his favorite mugs. Hailey, Max, and I then made a cake and decorated it. The kids had fun helping and they loved licking the frosting bowl afterwards. After Bruce went to bed , I went with my mom and Kimmy to the mall to get Adam's pictures taken. I got Max all dressed up too just in case they had an opening right after Adam's appointment. They lady was very nice and said she could do him right after Adam. It took a while for all of us to pick the pictures of Adam we liked best. He smiled for every one. They all turned out perfect, so it was very hard to choose. Another couple showed up for there pictures, so we had to wait a little longer. At least they had toys to keep the kids occupied while we waited. My mom was also a big help watching Hailey and Jacob. She pushed them around in the stroller when they got too bored waiting. When they were finally ready for Max, he did so good. He did everything the lady asked him too. She would have him put his hands in his pockets and sit and put his hands a certain way and he always stayed where she told him too. He was also smiling lots and even laughing at her. He thought she was pretty funny. It only took a couple of minutes to get a bunch of really good pictures of him. She couldn't believe how easy he was. She said that this is usually the most difficult age. I think it was just as hard to pick his pictures as it was Adam's. I ended up getting more than I had planned because it was so hard to choose. When we got home, I made roasted chicken for Bruce's birthday dinner. Bruce did help a little though. He of course added some things to it to "add some flavor" as he would say. It was very good and so was the cake and icecream.

Video of Max talking

I did it! I posted my first video. And it didn't take me very long at all to figure out. I must be getting better on the computer. Before I would have been scared to try anything like that on my own. I would have just waited for Bruce to help me.

Bruce worked midnights last night so he went to bed shortly after he got home. I put a movie in for the kids to try to keep them a little more quiet so he could get to sleep easier. When their movie was over, I took them outside to swim. The water was pretty cold, but they had fun anyway. They swam until lunchtime, and then I decided to have a little picnic in the back yard to keep the house quiet longer. We spread a blanket in the grass and made grilled cheese sandwiches. They thought that was fun and they both ate really good. After they were done eating, I let them play on the swing set for a little bit before nap time. Bruce woke up soon after I got Max down for a nap. He only got about about five hours of sleep. This evening we all went for a walk pulling the kids in the wagon. And then let them play outside again before bedtime. Max has been really talking alot more lately. Today he would run around the yard and say "I runnin". Then today he also started pointing to things he wants saying, "I wan it." He's been saying it all day today. When I ask him to tell me what's in the sky, he'll list a bunch of things saying,"airplain, kite, bum(that's how he says bug), bufly( butterfly), moon, stars". He also likes to list his favorite things to play with like tractor, car, truck, motorcycle, boat. Then he always says "boat water bubbles" , like he's trying to say that the boat goes in the water and makes bubbles. This whole last week he's really started to talk alot more. I took a video with my digital camera of Max talking today. It turned out really good even though it's pretty short. Those videos use up the memory card in just a few seconds. But at least I got some of him talking on it. Now I just have to figure out how to post it on my blog. I guess I'll go try that right now.

More cute pictures

I didn't take any pictures today because I used up my memory card when I tried to take a video with the digital camera. All these pictures I copied off my mom or Kimmy's blog. I thought they were cute so I wanted to put them on my blog too. Today we went wver to my mom's house for a cookout. My grandpa and both of my sisters and their families were there too. We all had a nice time together. We cooked hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill. The kids all had fun together as always. It was a very nice day.

More pictures from our fun day yesterday

These are all pictures from our day yesterday. Kimmy sent me them last night, but I forgot to check my email untill after I had already finished my blog for the day. I was too tired to add them last night, so I'm just going to put them on now. She took some really good pictures. I like what she did with the picture of Max and Celeste. She has a really nice program that lets you do all kinds of neat things with pictures.

I had to stay back with Hailey in her Sunday school class today. When I dropped her off at her class, she started crying as I walked away. She had a hard time last week too, so the teacher called me back. I decided to stay for a while, and then the teacher asked if I wanted to help. I had fun helping. All the kids were so cute. Hailey was really quiet and clinging to me at first and wouldn't participate in any of the games, but after a while she started to join in and talk. The teacher she normally has just moved away, so she's had a different teacher the last couple weeks. It just takes her a while to warm up to people. But it was nice for me to get to help in her class. After church, we went to a baseball game with Kimmy and Jared and their kids. All the kids had fun running around in front of us. They were clapping and dancing to the music. And they liked to stand on the fence to watch the game. They all shared a bag of Cheetos and there hands got all orange. Max was looking at his dirty hands in the picture above. He can't stand to have dirty hands. They also had a nice playground so the kids can play and you can still watch the game. It was waterworld day today so they had a bunch of little kiddie pools and sprinklers for the kids to get wet and cool down. There were all kinds of little boats in the pools which Max loved to play with. And Hailey had fun with the squirt guns and running through the sprinkler. Ater the game was over, we picked up a pizza and went over to Kimmy and Jared's house. We had a nice visit with them and let the kids play together some more. We went out to see Sammy, our favorite horse. He has been loosing a lot of weight recently and we were getting pretty worried about him. Kimmy had a vet come check him out the other day and the vet said he'll be just fine. He fixed his teeth and gave him some arthritis medicine. He even thinks he'll be able to be ridden again. We haven't really been able to ride him in a while because he's been tripping alot lately. I just love Sammy and I'm so happy he's going to be ok. We also tried to get some pictures of Hailey with Celeste, another horse of Kimmy and Jared's. She is a very big but gentle horse. She is always the first horse to come running when we call them, and she loves to get hugs and kisses on the nose. We got some treats to give her, and tried to get Hailey to give her a kiss. But Hailey is a little timid around the horses. Max wasn't scared at all though. He calls them over and loves to pet their nose. When celeste would rub his head on him or smell him , Max just laughs thinking he's tickling him. Hailey gets very nervous when they do that to her. Jacob and Max are both very brave around those big horses. We really have to watch those boys cause their not afraid of anything.

Bruce has the next three days off. Yah! He made a bunch of spagetti sause with all the tomatoes we picked yesterday. He also makes his own salsa which is really good. We always make sure that we can enough to last us the whole year. I don't even like the store bought stuff any more. His tastes so good. This is the first year he's tried spagetti sauce and it's very good too. After he was done with that, he mowed the grass. Max loves to watch out the window while daddy cuts the grass. He always runs over and climbs up on the stool to watch. While the kids took there naps, I went through piles of clothes, and Bruce helped me put them away in the shed. Our utility room was getting too cluttered. I had two clothes baskets of stuff that had to be put away. Every time we go to a garage sale or to Salvation Army, I add to the pile. It's all stuff that doesn't fit yet or is warmer stuff for the winter. It had been that way for a while now so we were very glad to get it all put away. The kids didn't take a very long nap today. I wasn't quite finished when they woke up and Max started to throw the clothes out of the bucket, so Bruce decided to take the kids around the block while I finished up. Hailey rode her bike and Max rode his car. When they got back we all went for a bike ride. Bruce pulled Max in the cart and Hailey rode on the back of Bruce's bike. We rode over to the school to let them play at the playground. Then on the way back Bruce was trying to rub his tire against my tire and ended up tipping over on his bike. He caught the bike so Hailey didn't hit the ground , but it really scared her. After a few minutes of Bruce trying to convince her that he wouldn't fall again, she was OK and ready to ride again. She did however ask me to ride daddy's bike instead of him. I don't quite trust myself to ride with the kids. I just told her I would ride behind them so daddy wouldn't run into me no more and she was ok with that. When we got back, we let the kids run through the sprinkler to cool off. We had spagetti for dinner. The sauce Bruce made was very good. Bruce also made a squash pie, which I actually thought tasted good. I don't like pumpkin pie so I didn't think I would like it. Max loved it and Hailey just liked to lick the whip cream. In the pictures above, Bruce is feeding Max some bites. Then when Max saw Hailey licking the whip cream, he stuck his fingers in too.