T-ball

Gavin was old enough to play t-ball this year! He got to be on the same team as his preschool buddy, whose dad happened to be the coach! It was a great season, and we definitely preferred playing in the summer over the spring (as we had done in the past with Jacob). This made for some gorgeous, sunny t-ball games instead of rainy, muddy ones! ;)
High five!


Making a tower for the kids to run through after the game.

Team huddle!

Gavin was so proud of the medal he got. :)

Casey wanted to play so badly with his big brother. He followed him around the bases during practice, wore his helmet, and his Grammy showed him how to hit the ball across our backyard already! Two more years buddy!


The funniest part though had to be when the photographer accidentally photoshopped Gavin's face onto another boy's body in their team picture! Well, maybe not so funny for the boy who got cut out of the picture... but seriously! It will make for a funny twin story someday. :)
So he is actually on the bottom right of the picture and was photoshopped into the top left as well!

Woodland Park Zoo

My husband isn't the biggest fan of going to the zoo, and I'm not the biggest fan of taking all three boys anywhere by myself... so I was super excited to go to the zoo with my mom! The boys did so well and we really had such a fun day together. I think this picture best describes how my boys felt about it. :)


Jacob was our little map reader. He loooved figuring out where we were and what we should see next. Since he is very adament about following rules, he also made sure to read all of the signs to Gavin.
Like when Gavin was climbing the fake cow...


Gavin seemed to find every bench along the way to give his feet a little rest...

Sometimes, his brothers would join him. :)


Casey pretty much stuck with Grammy. He stayed in the stroller for awhile, but mostly wanted to either hold hands with her or be in her arms.




Casey's favorite part was the penguins. He was infatuated with watching them swim and was pretty upset when it was time to leave them. :)



I love that Woodland Park has tons of different climbing activities and caves between the animals... perfect for my little boys!!






We really did see some animals too. I just happened to take way more pictures of my boys!



This story cracks me up! We had given Casey some Dippin Dots, not thinking about the fact that he had never seen them before. He immediately thought they were little balls, dumped them all over his stroller tray, and started playing with them! It totally makes sense though... after all, why should he think little balls are ice cream? It was a big melty mess, but totally funny! :) Once we showed him it was ice cream, he figured it out fast!


Of course, ending our visit in their little play area is always a big hit...



I have this same picture of me and Jacob when he was Casey's age. I wish I would have thought to take one with Gavin when he was this age too!


Now I have one of all three of my boys though. :)

Casey's 2nd Birthday

Casey has developed a recent passion for trains. I'm not sure if passion even describes it, obsession is probably a better word. He eats with Thomas, sleeps with Thomas... and pretty much clutches onto him wherever we go. At least it made it easy to come up with a birthday theme! :)

Train tracks...

My sweet Maddie girl was quite the party hostess. She greeted everyone outside with party hats, party blowers, and train badges. She also drew little pictures of Casey and taped them all over the house. :)
I remember reading online about trackless trains and immediately thought it would be fun to have one for Casey's party. I didn't think it would be possible... mostly because I didn't know how much they were, where I could rent one, and it was only a few weeks before his birthday. Imagine my excitement (and Casey's excitement :) when it all came together and ended up working out!!

Here it is!! The conductor said we had an ideal little neighborhood loop to take the kids for a ride.

Casey had a great time and I think his friends did too. :)






It didn't take long for Casey to find his cake!
I think all he really wanted to do was take the Thomas off though. :)
Choo! Choo!

Mommy showing Casey how to blow out the candles.

He needed some help though...

Then he got his trains!!

His daddy convinced him to try the cake too. :)


Time for presents!


Thanks for barbecuing Daddy!
The girls my boys are going to marry!

Of course, Red Robin was the unanimous vote for Casey's birthday dinner. :)

These people are singing for me?!

Some for me...

some for my daddy!

We love you Casey Josiah! Hope you had a super special birthday because you are super special to us.