Just want to say I love my kids

A friends daughter went to heaven yesterday after a very short life of 11 years. I can't help but love my kids more today than yesterday. So I wanted to post some pictures of us having some quality time last night. They were pretending and playing restaurant. They broke out in song when one of their favorites came on the radio. I am a lucky mom.

Whitecaps

Last night we took Carter to the Whitecaps game for his birthday. Papa and Grandma Van Wieren came along with us and it was a great evening. It felt like October but at least it was not hot?!?!? The game was exciting and the CapCaps won. Carter brought his glove in hopes of catching something, either a ball or a hot dog. He was trying really hard. We stayed for the fireworks after the game too.

Sad day for Riley

Riley had to say goodbye to her Jeep today. Riley spent two straight years...seriously all the time she could...driving her Jeep around the yard. It stopped working and we tried fixing it (it was in the wiring not the battery) and after looking at it in Papa's garage we parted with it today. She really was sad as I walked it down the driveway. So before leaving Grandma and Papa's she had her picture taken with it one last time.

He did it

Carter is doing really well in the pool. I could watch him swim all day long. He is trying to dive in and he loves to put a mask on and swim underwater. Most times he has swimmies or a life jacket on and cannot get down deep. But I let him try to retrieve something and he did it. He was pretty excited about his new trick.

Birthday activities

Carter was given the choice of what to do on his birthday. He wanted to go to the driving range and use his new golf club so Matt and Riley took him. I sent the camera along and they took some great pics.




After he got home from golfing he wanted to swim in his new pool in the backyard but we knew it would take all afternoon to warm up. So we blew it up, and yes Matt blew it up himself without a compressor, and filled it. We told him we had to run to the mall and then we would go swim at Grandma's while we waited for his pool to warm up. However, we surprised him and took him to Chuck E Cheese's for lunch and to play. He was really not expecting it and it was fun surprising him. He just kept saying thank you. :) Then we went swimming at the big pool. He had a brownie and wanted to put a candle in it. Well, Grandma didn't have any birthday candles so as you can see in the pictures, she improvised with four random candles she had in the house. Carter thought it was great.


When we got home his pool was a little warmer so they tried it out. They had a great time before they were shivering.




We ended his day by camping out in the camper in the driveway. It was fun and I know he had a great time.

Happy 4th Birthday Carter!

Carter is 4 today. I cannot believe he is already 4...where have the last 4 years gone? We had a birthday party for him last night and he had a great time. I watched Emily and Mason Friday afternoon so Emily helped me make the cupcakes for the party.



Yesterday we took Carter out for lunch before the party. We let him choose and we went to El Rancho. Then we went stove shopping and ran out of time so no purchase was made. We picked up my grandma and came home for the party. Carter wanted a Lightning McQueen party so Aunt Abby made him a LIghtning cake.


Carter is so lucky to have such great family. He loved all of his new toys. He is such a character, it is hard not to laugh at him constantly. HE was opening his cards and trying to read them himself. He would rattle off the generic birthday message and say who it was from. One time he ended it with AMEN. It was so funny. I love that he is so animated and he expresses everything he is feeling/thinking.

His first golf club. He is off to the driving range this morning to use it. He loves to golf.




He got a new helmet with Lightning McQueen on it and he tried it on with the packaging still on.

This is his reaction when Papa brought out his new bike and he spotted it. It was precious.






A very tired boy after a wonderful party.


Today, we are letting him decide how to spend his day. He wanted to go to the driving range so that is first on the list. I will hopefully post some pictures of that later because I sent the camera with them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY BOY!

Zoo

Yesterday we went to the zoo with Aunt Alli, Lila, Tyler, Mason, Emily and Aunt Abby. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time. Aunt Alli was very nice to bring some brownies and we celebrated Carter's birthday since they cannot come to his birthday party. We had fun and Carter got the cutest game!! We played his new game a couple times after we got home. He also fell off his bike yesterday afternoon. He tore up his lip and it looks like he hit his front tooth. He was a mess :( Today both his bottom and top lip are swollen and he looks funny. He is cute when he is trying to eat because he tries to move his lips to the side so he can put food in his mouth. It is hard to explain but really cute to watch.

4th of July in Wisconsin

We left last Thursday to spend the holiday weekend with Aunt Joni and Uncle David at their cottage on Green Bay. We had a really smooth drive Thursday night. We got in about 11pm central time and went to bed late. We got up and the kids helped Uncle David build a trail in some woods by the cottage. They had been so excited to help him work on the trail. I bought them some new boots to wear and they really liked making it. The kids also went tubing and loved it. Riley went last year but Carter didn't want to try so this year he decided it looked like fun and he loved it. They also did some kayaking and fishing while we were there. Grandma and Papa Hughes got there later in the afternoon on Friday. We tried to go salmon fishing Friday night but it was too rough on Lake Michigan so we tried walleye fishing in the bay and had no luck. Saturday morning I got up with Dad H. and Uncle David and went out for salmon. We caught two and lost two. It was so much fun and it was so beautiful out on the lake. I truly could get addicted to that kind of fishing! We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and enjoying the company. We are so lucky to have such great family! We took our time coming home today. We stopped in Chicago and showed the kids around downtown. Riley was excited to see the American Girl store and Carter thought the big buildings were exciting. We slowly headed home and had a safe trip. We stopped at moms to swim before coming home. We are now unpacked, the kids are in bed and Matt is at his softball game. What a great relaxing weekend. Can't wait until next year!!!!