Charlotte's day

For Charlotte's birthday lunch we were going to go to Chick-fil-a, but as I was going through some coupons Charlotte saw some for Chuck-e-Cheese. She said "Let's go there!". Brooke wasn't very excited about it because she doesn't like the mouse, but I said it's Charlotte's day and we're going to do what she wants. So we had lots and lots of fun and thankfully Aunt Lauren came with us since Daddy was working. Brooke had fun too until she saw the mouse and freaked out a little bit but stayed FAAAAAR away from him.

Charlotte LOVED this horse and rode it several times.
Charlotte didn't mind the mouse.


Brooke loves to dance.
After Chuck-e-Cheese I went and bought a new sprinkler because I thought the kids might like it. We already have a slip and slide but they aren't very good at "slipping and sliding" and it's a hassle to set up. Mostly they just run around it so I thought this would be a good idea. I guess I was wrong. They didn't really like it all that much. Brooke was annoyed her feet kept getting so much grass on them, but my dad had just mowed. Hopefully that won't always be the case. Maybe I didn't have it set up good enough. I don't know. I did get a cute picture of Charlotte just sitting there.

Then, this evening we had a little party at the park. The rain stopped just in time. Yay! We just had family and we invited one friend.

She was so excited to get bubbles. She wanted to blow bubbles the other day, but we didn't have any. Now we do!
Her and Adelle sitting in all the dandelions.
Hugs!


I have lots more pictures that I might post later. They were all so cute it was hard to just pick a few.

Brooke lost another tooth!

Brooke lost her second tooth the other day. I didn't even realize it was that loose. She had been wiggling it all day and she was standing right next to me when she kinda shrieked. I thought something was wrong, and she said that her tooth fell out. It fell out on grandma's carpet. So the Tooth Fairy got to come to Grandma's house.

Here is a random picture that Brooke took of Grandma's backyard. Isn't so pretty and green. Lots of room to run and play.

My baby's 3!

Charlotte is 3 today. I can't believe it! She's not a baby anymore!! What do we love about Charlotte? She is very loving and loves to give kisses and hugs. She LOVES LOVES LOVES babies. Maybe a little too much. She likes to help mommy clean up. She likes to play with Brooke. She talks so much and amazes me everyday with things she says. She is so funny! We love you Charlotte!!

9 months pregnant with Charlotte. She was a big baby. 8 lbs 1 oz. (Compared to Brooke who was only 5 lbs 6 oz)
Her first picture in the hospital. Brooke was so excited!
Happy 1st birthday!

Her new wardrobe on her 2nd birthday!
Her best friend, Peyton that she talks about 10 times a day. She is in Michigan and Charlotte misses her very much!
And here she is on her birthday today with her friend Adelle, Brooke, and her cousins Ty and Cade. We did lots of fun things today. I'll post that separately.

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

Fun with cousins

Yesterday, cousin Ty's kindergarten class had a big wheel race. Here's Ty coming around the corner in 2nd place. I think Brooke was a little jealous she didn't get to participate.

Our neighbor is taking care of 6 baby birds whose mom left and never came back. She is quite the lover of animals. She brought them out tonight to feed them. The kids thought it was so cute. My girls were content with watching from afar, but the boys wanted to hold them.
Here is Spenser and Ty holding some.
Uh oh! The bird pooped on Spenser!! Ha Ha!

Start your Engines!

It's that time of year again in Indianapolis. The Indy 500 has come to town. Honestly, I don't really care that much. But, today was Community Day and you got to ride around the track in your own car. That only happens once a year. It would be much more exciting if you were going around in a race car, but we'll take what we can get. My mom, dad, and sister all piled in our van (minus Nathan who was working...I think he was a little jealous) and headed to the track.Here is the start of pit row.

The finish line! The Yard of Bricks!

Standing on the bricks. It's kind of a big deal, if you didn't know. The racetrack was originally all brick, and this is what's left of it.
Brooke got to sit in a pink car!

The winner drinks milk!

Going under the track to leave the Speedway.

I don't plan on going to the race. I never have and probably never will. Way too crowded and way too many drunk people. This was more family friendly. They even had inflatables and games for the kids, but we didn't have time to do that. But I would recommend Community Day to anyone for next year.

Nauvoo

After we arrived in Indianapolis on Thursday, we left Friday morning to drive to Nauvoo, Illinois to attend a wedding there. We were going to take our kids with us, but the thought of all that driving with them wasn't sounding very fun to me. We called up Nathan's sister's and between the three of them and my sister, they could all take care of them. We didn't get a lot of sight seeing done, but we've seen it all before. We did see one show with the Senior Missionaries that was cute. We were mainly there for the wedding and I was so glad I was able to go! The wedding was great, Taralee was more beautiful than I could've ever imagined, and the luncheon afterwards was delicious! Thanks Blands for letting us crash your party!

I just love the Nauvoo Temple. It is so beautiful and has so many great views.


Looking at the Mississippi River.
The beautiful bride and handsome groom


The whole Bland family.
All the brides nieces and nephews minus a few who couldn't make it in Texas
It is so beautiful!!

Birthday party round 2

We already had a big blowout birthday party for Brooke in Michigan before we left, but we still had to do something on her actual birthday! We decided to go to the park and play and have cake. Her cousins came and we invited a few of her friends to come too. She and her friends were so excited to see each other. They seemed to pick up right where they left off. The kids enjoyed playing on the playground and Brooke let us know when she wanted to do the cake and open presents. It was very low maintenance and it was great because the kids still loved it!