Evan and Jaden's 4th Birthday!

Evan and Jaden had a Dino-mite Birthday!!

 Evan was very animated and excited for his pink circle cake! Jaden wanted a green triangle cake. Okay-easy enough boys! 

There was a '4' on the cakes with sprinkles......everyone kept asking why there was an 'h' on the cakes:) 

 The boys were spoiled with gifts- including, books, super-hero capes, and scooters. 

Evan just wanted to stand on the 3-wheel scooter and be pushed around:) While Jaden made it his mission to figure out the scooter and go faster and faster. 

We met our families in Des Moines for the birthday weekend. Since the boys have a pass to the Normal Children's Museum, we were able to use the pass to check out the science museum in downtown Des Moines. I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids!

 The kids all enjoyed going to the splash park and swimming in the hotel's pool. 

Thank you to all our family who drove to Des Moines for the boys' special day!!

 At home, the boys celebrated their actual birthday with their best bud, Tucker! They started their day with their last swimming lesson of the summer!

 This picture is for my co-workers- who think I'm crazy for having the boys stick to their 'chore chart' each week! It's similar to my weekly to-do lists:) But honestly--it is great! They get very excited to earn stickers for doing chores......let's hope we can keep this motivation up for a while!

Evan and Jaden's August Adventures

We enjoyed much time outside this summer. Thanks to a video monitor app, we could play in the backyard during Kylie's naptime. 
Nathan enjoyed grilling on weekends. Here the boys are showing off their muscles from eating their protein!

 If anyone's looking for Christmas gift ideas, these National Geographic books have provided hours of entertainment to the boys- such great pictures and information. They got two new ones for their birthday- animals and planets. 

 Where were these fun parks when I was growing up?! 

August 7th- we 'ran errands' (which is a confusing concept since we didn't exactly 'run'!) The boys were SO good waiting in line at the post office that the staff gave them a box of color crayons! They enjoyed coloring pictures - with their Daniel Boone hats.  Then we ventured to the zoo. 

The last friday night of the Fun Run was trophy night. This year they ran the full way around the track each friday night of the 10-week summer program. However, with Kylie, it was challenging to have both Nathan and I run with each of them. Jaden typically runs faster, so we often just had him hang back with Evan. Next year they should be able to run on their own.....with some training:)

 August 9th was Nathan and my 12th wedding anniversary! To celebrate we spend Saturday walking to Uptown Normal for breakfast while the boys road their balance bikes. It's about 1.5 miles there.....oh, and 1.5 miles back! 

The boys were SO tired when we got home. It was actually pretty amusing! They went to the freezer and got ice packs to cool down.

 We attempted without luck to get a babysitter for the evening. Instead my co-worker watched Kylie while we took the boys mini-golfing for the first time. Back in the day of dating, we would mini-golf, so it seemed like a fun anniversary activity.....except for those two little 3-year-olds that were tempted by the water, why of course, the balls should be thrown in the water! Needless to say, we did not keep score:)

 Evan has been very into dinosaurs this past year. 'Jurassic Quest' is a traveling dinosaur exhibit that Nathan and Evan went to visit in Urbana. Evan was very excited to go, but was overwhelmed with the size of the dinosaurs.....they don't appear that big in books!

While Evan was meeting dinosaurs, Jaden, Kylie and I went to the Sweet Corn Festival in Uptown Normal. We did share our kettle corn in the afternoon with Nathan and Evan!

Evan and Jaden enjoy writing in their workbooks. We have been working with them on letter identification, tracing, identifying the states, and counting. It makes me appreciate my career choice of adult education!

 Just another typical day with E & J!

Crawling!

Yes, in August Kylie started to crawl!

What great form on her plank!

In turn, we have made sure the house is not just toddler-proffed, but baby-proofed. Baby-proofing with toddlers is a whole different game. Our gate it up, yes. But is it always closed?? Hmmm. Like one day I hear Evan saying, 'Kylie's upstairs!' Um, okay! I guess she can climb stairs! (video from Aug 29th)

It is very fun to watch her follow the boys around and fun to see how the boys try to include her.....even if it is in their booby-traps:)

Kylie's 6 Month Pics!

On August 24th Kylie turned 6 months old!

These pics truly attest to what a great baby she has been. With the boys, I never seemed to 'rock' either of them.....as there was always something that needed to be done with the other baby, or let's be honest, bottles to wash. So, yes, you may say she is getting spoiled with being rocked and held, but that's okay:)

First day at her new day care August 3rd! I think she adjusted well!

Freeport Pretzels!

In August we spent a day in Freeport, IL and got to see extended family members!

Emma (2 months) and Kylie (5 months), second cousins. 

 The carousel at Krape Park! Yes, the boys convinced Grandpa they needed to ride it a second time!

 Ethan, Evan and Jaden climbing on the firetruck. 

 Who's having more fun?!!

Kiddos with Great-Aunt Sally and Great-Uncle Joel!

  Grandma Pam had her (unidentified number) class reunion:)