Brenden's 4th Birthday Party

Brenden had a great birthday, we had a fun time celebrating with so many friends & family. Can't believe he's four. Now he keeps saying, next time I'm going to be five! Slow down a little, Buddy. Here are a few pictures from his party...

Daniel, Brenden & I during cupcake time. He wanted to put his jumbo cupcake on top of his new skateboard we got him, so that's why it's on the table :)

Opening presents. Got some spending cash, along with so many great presents! It amazes me, that from all his birthdays (all four of them ;)), he has only gotten one duplicate item!

Some of the friends & family...

With his new skateboard...

My mom, my aunt & my grandmother, getting some baby love :)

Playing out in our backyard. We love being out here!

We love you little man, we hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Blueberry Farm

anyone need some blueberries?? we've got plenty! two gallons worth to be exact :) this past weekend we went to my boss' in-law's place. they have a blueberry farm with a ton of beautiful blueberry bushes!! first time we had gone & we had a good time! made a little day trip out of it.

they grow them organically there, so we would just eat as we picked :)

this little man was pretty smart, he knew where the good food was. can you find him?

we got there around 11:00 & it was already pretty hot. so i was glad brenden would find bushes, plop down under them & start pickin'. he would partly be in the shade.
daniel & i, courtesy of brenden crow...

little man & i with one of our buckets.

daniel & brenden running through the bushes. brenden always says "i'm faster of you." cutest thing!

he stole my camera as we were taking a water break. i found so many cute & good pictures once i looked at it. here's one of them, he did this himself. i just giggle every time i see it. such a ham!

and this is how he looked (and we felt) on the way home-before we stopped at dairy queen!!

am i four yet?

First thing I heard Friday morning...whispering, "mom, am I four yet?" Yes, little man, you are four.

Yesterday my baby boy turned four. Could you please pass the Kleenex?? Oh, the love we have for this little man is unbelievable! No words.

Friday was his day. We went for donuts before school (which we do every Friday, but it was his birthday so it made it more special). Friday was silly hat day at school, so that would explain the hockey helmet :)

I made dirt cupcakes for his school...

Saying the blessing before eating the cupcakes :)...

Couldn't pass this up. I'm sure one day he will be a bit embarrassed...

To be even, I will embarrass myself...

Then, we needed to go get his blood drawn for his endocrine appt next week. We felt awful doing it on his birthday, but thought with all the other things we had planned, he wouldn't think about it too much. He took it like a man :)

On to the bounce house place!

My cousin, his wife & their 3 kids met us there. Here's Brenden & Wes acting like monkeys...

Got home, after eating dinner at one of his favorite places-Chick fil A, and opened the things Daniel & I got for him. One of which was a pair of roller blades. He loved them & had to try them out immediately. Getting ready for the ice hockey skates :)
We had also planned on mowing because he loves doing that-and we needed to. And he wanted to take the training wheels off his bike & try riding it without them, for the first time. But, this rolled in & rained on our parade...We had a wonderful day! His party is Sunday, so I will post then!

Meet Booster!

We got a new puppy (yes, this is a puppy)! He is a great dane/catahoula mix, and he is so handsome ;) They think he is almost a year old, but we will never know for sure-we got him from a shelter. Right now he is only 58 pounds & stands to my hips when he is walking. So, he's not too big, yet! The vet really doesn't think he will get much taller, only fill out a bit. He is such a good dog! He was a stray, so he didn't even know how to sit when we got him, but now he already knows sit, lay down, off, down, & stay (for about two seconds-we're still working on that one). He does like to bite butts & we haven't been able to get him to learn not to do that just yet. It sure is funny though!What ball???
Big kisses...

Somebody knows the rules-can you guess who...

Love 'em!

get a new girl!

after dinner, bren & i were finishing up the cookies we were baking, then he sat on the floor by easton.

bren: he started saying...three boys! then counting all of them-him, daniel & easton
me: how many girls??
bren: only one, you!
me: what am i going to do about being the only one?
bren: get a new one!
we both couldn't stop gigglin'

then, he said, just get an extra one! :)

the projects begin...

we love spring & summer. love the warm weather & love being outside. not much gets done in the house (projects, straightening...), cause you can never get us to stay inside for any length of time. we like doing projects outside, in the yard & with the house. daniel & brenden started it last night-we got top soil for our grass to make it more full & so it can grow better...and i was about to go crazy with my allergies. we had gone to home depot earlier in the night & i think it all got to me. i was miserable!!! love his faces...

and what better way to finish off some hard work-but with an ice cream treat! i bought those mini drumsticks & they are the perfect size! i think it may have been the first one brenden had ever had, so he was trying to find the yummy chocolate at the bottom ;)...

Great Wolf Lodge

We spent this past weekend at Great Wolf Lodge! I think the best part of the mini vacation was having to drive only 20min to our destination :) Not really, but it was a plus! This place is so much fun. And, everything you need is there, so you never have to leave. Daniel plays on a Christian Hockey League & they were having a tournament this weekend, so they hosted everyone at Great Wolf (at a discounted rate)! Teams came from Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota, around here...so it was pretty neat having everyone come here.

We got one of the rooms with a 'Wolf Den' fir Bren. Here is his little cave that he slept in (it had a bunk bed & his own flat screen)...

Painting a snake at one of the activity places(tongue always helps)...

Following are some pics from the indoor water park at the hotel. Sorry-they do not do this place justice. My camera is awful!!!

Brenden & I went to the 'Clock Tower' before bed one night, while Daniel had a late game, to hear story time. Here is the wolf...

At the arcade...

can you tell im really not into this post. i think thats why it has taken all week for me to put it up. just new it would take a while to upload all the pics. whatever...the weekend really was a lot of fun though!

Bubba & Bren playing hockey. Bubba played in the tournament too, on Daniel's team. It might as well be a family team. daniel, bubba, and my twin cousins play on it.

Brenden & his second cousins playing. They stayed at the hotel as well, & had a blast swimming & playing together.

The teams pray together after each game...

Daniel's team. If you can see through the darkness of my flippin' camera. Daniel is standing up on the far left, Bubba is on the ground second from the right, my cousin, Evan, sitting to the left of Bubba (he is the goalie), and my other cousin, Justin, standing fourth from the left. It was a nice weekend & a good tournament-they got second place! A couple side notes...friday & saturday night, while we were there, brenden woke up around 1:00 in the morning. he did not know what was going on. he would not respond to us when we talked to him. he got upset when i tried to move him or lay him down-we found out he was sleep walking both nights! even though he stayed in his bed, they still call it that, & it can be caused by being so exhausted. so, that was interesting. he has not done it since :) and, daniel bought a brand new stick the thursday before the tournament & the second game, he broke the thing! now, this is one of the new one piece composite sticks, so he couldn't go replace the blade or anything like that. my heart sank when i saw it happen. this thing costs almost $200! the second it turned 10:00am, i was calling the hockey shop to see if there was a guarantee or something-there is!!! yay!!! we had to ship the thing to the manufacturer & will receive a new one. whew. and what else...oh, my grandmother went to the hospital saturday night, thinking she may have had a heart attack. at 5:00 in the morning they found out she had a stomach virus & anxiety :) we were very happy to hear that's all it was.

hope all you mommies have a blessed mother's day!