Our Heroes :)

So it's only been for about 5 years that I've been trying to talk my husband into one of those Sunsetter retractable awnings for our deck. We have a great space but it is on the SW corner of our house and so needless to say for the second half of the day and evening it is sweltering. Finally he said yes if I found someone to "help" us install it.

I invisioned a few hours of help from the handiest couple we know (and the greatest friends) which turned into 6 hours of "fun". Let me just say that we would have been divorced by Step #2 if we had tried it alone. Stacy & Christian - you guys are the best!

Here are Thad & Christian doing Step #3 I believe. Christian working and Thad coaching? A little post-nap help from Bubba The finished product

My Baby with her Biter Biscuit

SBG's new favorite thing :)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=342840463904815337

Freedom Parade

When I was a little girl it was the 4th of July Parade but now it's the Freedom Festival Parade. Aunt Katie got all of the kids matching shirts from Old Navy. Thanks Aunt Katie. Bubba's popcorn bag turned into his candy collection bag. Bubba & Nanny (Mia peeking in the background) SBG & Papa

Here's what the curb looked like at the end of the parade before we cleaned it up.

Today it's your birthday! NaNaNaNaNa It's Thad's & Kurt's birthday too yah!

It's Thad's 36th birthday today! (It's also Kurt Warner's 36th birthday) He was born at 9:44AM at Methodist Hospital in Des Moines. Here's a little prebirthday shot from Karoline's last night. Notice the "cake"! It was specially requested by my husband and was accompanied by fresh strawberries and ice cream.

We also celebrated the arrival of some of our favorite Arizonians - Mikele and Kate! They're ready to make the move too after a night of badmitton, fireflies, and thunderstorms!

Playing Hard

I left SBG for little play time while I got a few things done this morning. Here's what she looked like the last time I checked in on her.

A (Little More Than A ) Week in Review

1. Bubba's favorite pal Lydia has the coolest blowup pool I've ever seen. Earlier in the morning they swam in their suits. Then they said they were done, got into their clothes, and had a snack. Then as their mothers chatted and fed babies, they decided it would be a riot to push each other down the slide in their clothes :) How could we not giggle?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3576453051995086458

2. Here's Mommy & SBG on our way to the wedding of our great friend Mary Sandberg to Weir Nelson. 3. This week we were able to see Thad's brother and his family from Colorado and Thad's aunt and uncle from California. Thad's Grandma Berneta passed away at age 92 from pneumonia. What a blessing to have had such a loving, wonderful grandma for almost 36 years! We're so thankful for her life, her 65 years of marriage to Gramps, and that we know she is in heaven with Jesus. Here's a picture of one of SBG's girl cousins, Keely, cuddling her with Aunt Patty supervising. 4. Here's Bubba during one of our many car rides this week. We couldn't find his sunglasses so this is how he kept the early morning sun out of his eyes - with Daddy's hat. 5. SBG tested out the big kid carseat yesterday for a short jaunt. Love that cock-eyes bonnet! 6. Today Bubba, SBG and Mommy went to see an old friend of Mommy's from her days as a campaign volunteer for Tom Tauke's race for US Senate in 1990. Boy she must be old! Anyhow, her buddy Johnny the bus driver (and owner of a fleet of these custom charter buses) and his wife Brenda were in town working for Sam Brownback's Presidential Campaign. We had a great time reminiscing and Bubba loved checking out that big bus. "Mr. Williams you have a great bus!" We got the meet Senator Brownback but he hurried off to a tv interview so my camera didn't make it out of it's holster. He did tell me we have a great "start" to our family and to keep on going because he and his wife have 5 kids. Johnny the bus driver shared that Mr. Brownback is the "real deal" - a strong Christian and a great guy so I encourage you to check out his campaign and support him if you like what you see.

7. What's up Doc? A great teething chew toy recommended by Aunt KT. Oh and remember in my last post when I promised her 6 month well child stats? Well here they are - 28 1/4 inches and 19 lbs. 10 oz. - the 90th precentile for a 10 month old. We had 24 hour dreams of her being a player in the WNBA or a volleyball player until I checked my baby book and the stats were almost identical to mine except I weighed 6 oz. more so we'll just have to see what God has planned for this sweet body :)

Fun Days

Saturday was the annual Fun Day in our little bedroom community. The committee putting it together worked really hard this year to try some new events and get some town spirit going. Some events were a bigger hit than others.


We started the morning at the Pancake Breakfast at the Methodist church. Then we strolled around one of the developments looking for the route of the first annual non-motorized parade. Daddy and SBG goofing around as we waited for the parade.

We didn't see any other spectators until about 3 minutes before the parade was supposed to start. Our neighbors - Grace and DrewThere were around 12 of us cheering on the less than 12 people in the parade. Good thing was they were prepared for a larger crowd so Bubba and our neighbor buddy Grace raked in the candy.(here comes the parade) Tootsie Rolls anyone?

After a break to play at the park, we headed for the Little League Park where there were real firetrucks, a hose spraying contest,

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-57049807750862028and lots of bouncy things for the kids. Bubba was in heaven and kept going until he was so tired he had no jump left.

Sittin' Pretty

Yet another skill acquired by our SBG who is growing up all too fast. She looks pretty proud of herself. She gets so mad when she tips over and yells until someone comes to sit her up again.Tomorrow is her six month appointment so we'll let you know what she tips the scales at and how tall she is.

Blue Buddies

Couldn't pass up these rompers for my two favorite girls - SBG and her buddy dubbed "Polly" by her big sister? (Thanks Tara for the pictures!) I just need to keep my camera in the diaper bag. What kind of blogger am I?

Happy 1/2 Birthday to SBG!

6 months ago today our precious SBG entered the world! Here she is posing after doing her new favorite thing - eating rice cereal. She's wearing a shirt that (although it has a pink stripe) caused two Sam's employees to call her a cute "little guy". So what do I do? Add on the hand-me-down bib from Bubba and she might as well be called SBB :)

Motorcycle Mania

Our kind friend Miss Peggy asked if Bubba might like their Power Wheels motorcycle. Easy answer! The ultimate hand-me-down! She said she asked her boys who might like it and our sweet Bubba was at the top of their list! Thanks Jonathan and Matthew!

All that little Harley needed was brand new batteries and it was ready for a road test on Sunday. Our street just got paved so he's loved making the loop around our neighborhood circle whenever he can talk one of us in to it. He's got the reverse and forward buttons figured out and there's a turbo button too.

Thank you, thank you guys!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8077995564366244481