Zach is 4!

It's official. Zach turned 4 last weekend. We had such a busy weekend for his birthday weekend, but we had a blast. On Saturday, we had his first birthday party with friends. We pretty much kept it to friends from his preschool. Turns out his class has 15 boys and 4 girls. The teacher said that on Monday's 3 of the girls aren't there. God bless those teachers! :)
We had the boys over for Power Ranger Training camp. I had a lot of fun coming up with activities for them to do to "earn" their Ranger badges. They had to complete 6 tasks, earning them a colored piece of the pie for each activity. They colored masks, decorated walkie talkies, crossed an alligator river, did hopscotch, bounced balls in a bucket and threw bean bags at the "bad guys" (or stuffed animals). After all that fun, we had cake and ice cream and opened presents. It was somewhat controlled chaos - okay, at times it was just complete chaos. :)
The boys did really well and I think they all had fun. I know Zach had a blast showing his friends his toys and his room, etc. We are officially not doing friend birthday parties except for every 4th year - 4, 8,12 and 16. It's just too much otherwise. Next year, I foresee a trip to the movies with one or two friends and a family birthday party.
Sunday was the craziest day by far. We let Zach "open" his birthday present from Craig and me which was a new (you guessed it) Power Ranger bike. He was pretty excited, but it's a bummer having a winter birthday. We turned on a space heater in the garage and he got to ride in circles for 45 mins or so before we were too cold to stand out there any more. He keeps asking every day to do it more and it keeps getting colder every day. Craig had to leave to go watch his friend Brad coach his Blinn College team to a national championship - winning in the last seconds by running back a 90 yard punt return (but I digress). Zach and I packed up and went to his first gymnastics meet. Dylan stayed with CeCe and got to take a nap. Zach did a little routine and did such a great job. I thought he might be too nervous, but he was a champ. He ended up placing 1st in his group (they divided them all up so they each got a medal, but he was first in that 3 person group). He scored a 9.5 and I believe was the 3rd or 4th highest score. He just missed a trophy by .1 of a point. I really was just proud of how brave and confident he was to get out there in front of a very large audience and do his routine!
After that, we headed to his preschool open house and saw all the projects he had been working on all semester. Then the finale was a birthday party with the family. He had a great time and got to open up more presents. He was exhausted and thrilled.
I will definitely post pictures as soon as I get them downloaded. We are too busy writing thank you cards, Xmas cards and making teacher gifts...but someday I will download my little Power Ranger/gymnasts pictures!

Zach B-day 2009 (19 photos), by Jill Ward

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

I went ahead and just posted the pics on Snapfish. Browse away. Zach had fun doing this, although he has some goofy faces in the pics! :)

Picture This!

I stole a great idea from my friend Christel and her blog. She had her son do his wishlist for his birthday by taking pictures of whatever he wanted and posting them on her blog. I loved this idea because I always forget what he's said he wants when family asks what he wants for his birthday. The funny thing about Zach is that he never has been too extreme about wanting toys. Last year, Grammy and Granddad took him to Target to pick out (within reason) whatever toy he wanted. He looked for 20 minutes between the 5-6 aisles and could barely commit to anything. We will never do that again - plus it was the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving...agh!
So we went through Walmart taking pics, but truly didn't get as many things that I thought he'd want. But he did pretty good and was very selective as I mentioned. Last night, Craig was watching TV with Zach and a commercial came on for some remote control car for littler guys that when it hits the wall it turns over or something. Zach showed Craig and said, "We need to take a picture of THAT!" Today I did spend some time discussing how we might not get everything we took a picture of...I'll let you know how that turns out on his birthday. :)
Downloaded pics of presents to come...

Dylan's First Steps - 10/26/2009

Dylan waited to walk until the day before he turned 13 months. He was about 2 weeks behind Zach's first steps. I was a little concerned, but not too worried. I could tell he had it together he just wasn't "ready" to walk. The biggest difference between the two boys was their style of preparation. Zach would hold on to your hands and walk for a really long distance. He would want to do it for so long that you would literally have to lean him back to force him to sit down. Otherwise, he would just hold on and never let go. Dylan, on the other hand, rarely wanted to walk while you held his hands. He preferred to walk behind a push toy or step stool and scoot his way around. He also started just standing up in the middle of the room by himself and not need any support, but also not take any steps. I kept saying, Dylan is just going to stand up on his own and walk. Right before I did this video, Craig and I were trying to get him to take some steps between the two of us. He refused, buckled his knees and crawled. The minute we turned away and stopped paying attention to him, he started trying to stand and take steps. I ran and got the video camera because I could tell he was close. Sure enough, he just started walking. This video is literally 5 mins after his first steps. He went from 1 step to 5 steps in a matter of minutes. Zach took his first steps and then we didn't see him walk again for another week. Dylan wasn't ready to unveil his skill until he knew he was ready! :)
Another proud moment for the parents of Dylan Ward!

Stats from his last Dr's appt:
(will get measurements soon, but these are percentiles for now)
25th percentile for height (better than 5th)
25th percentile for weight
75th percentile for head circumference (my, I have big headed boys!)

Fun little notes about Dylan at 13 months:

• His favorite word is "ba" for ball. Halloween was challenging, every pumpkin was "ba. ba. ba." Our trip to Hobby Lobby down the pumpkin decoration aisle was hysterical. Ba. Dylan, that's a pumpkin. Ba. Ba. Leaning out of the cart trying to throw the ba's.

• He says Uh oh really cute. It's uh...pause. ooh....pause. Very clearly and very separate. Still trying to get it on tape. He uses it in the right context too.

• He loves wrestling with his big brother and Dad. Although, I get a lot of love in the form of pushing me over on the floor too.
  

• He gives great hugs and his learning to give kisses too. He hugs all of us and even his stuffed animals.

• Dylan loves being outside and cries every time we come in from the car and go through the garage without riding his little push toy bike.

• I hear he is really good with the other babies in his daycare class. They always tell me he is such a good and happy baby.
  

• He also loves animals. Our cat, Kitty or Buster (whichever you'd like to call him/her), Craig's parents dog, Sugar and any other dog we pass on the street...he even was calling to the squirrels in the backyard today.
  

Pumpkin Carving Party - 10/17/2009

We hosted the First Annual Ward Pumpkin Carving Party. I hope to make this an annual tradition. We had lots of families come join us to carve their pumpkins and enjoy some chili, hot dogs and cider. Some of the kids painted pumpkins but many went the traditional carving route. My brother was able to come up from Tulsa for the party and bring his kids (Jen had to work.) My mom came in town to help out. Thank goodness she did since I ended up getting a migraine about an hour into the party and spent the rest of the afternoon in our bedroom. (I was bummed to say the least.) But my mom and Chris kept the hostessing duties going and got everyone to take goody bags and all.
We had a great time and like I said, I hope to make this an annual event. Everyone is welcomed to travel and see us next year. I promise not to wait to take my migraine medicine next year! :)
I put a lot of my mom's pictures on Snapfish and put a link on a previous posting. Here are some of my pictures from before people arrived. I took some of the decorations and set up for the carving (maybe I'll remember next year, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel!).

Aren't the propane heaters nice?!?!
It was a little chilly and Brian let us borrow them from his bar, McCarthy's.

Easiest decoration ever, candy corn in glass votive - going to reuse with peppermints for Xmas

Goody bags, want better bags for next year, but these worked in a pinch

Our front porch with pumpkins and mums...I love fall!

Pumpkin Carving (101 photos), by Jill Ward

Here are pictures from the Pumpkin Carving party. I'll write a post later, but here are pics my mom took - 101 of them, so you will want to skim through! :)

Willkie 8 Reunion # 10 (?)

Willkie 8 Does Bell Buckle, TN
10th Annual Reunion

So here's a post about me for once, not about the kids!
Despite the fact that we have all lived all across the country, my girlfriends from college have been getting together for a reunion almost every year for 10 years. We refer to ourselves and now our husbands (aren't they lucky) as Willkie 8 or W8 for short. We all lived on the same floor in the Willkie dorm at Indiana University. Bet you can guess which floor - 8. Hence the name and yes, the dog came after the dorm. My dog Willkie was named in honor of my friends and our fabulous first year of college together.
The first couple of years of reunions were easier because, well, we had no children and it seemed somebody was getting married every year for awhile so that took care of 4 years. The last 3 years have been more difficult with the addition of 4 kids and everyone is married so no wedding to have as an excuse. I'm going to try and remember the years and locations of our reunions so we won't forget. Willkie girls, email me if I missed one or get the year wrong, I know I'll need help.
1998 - Graduated - some in May and others, ahem, me in December.
1999 - Okay, maybe we didn't physically see each other in 1999 - Liz may have come to Denver and visited Jamey and me.
2000 - Steph's Wedding in Washington, DC - Bethesda
2001 - Belton, TX (out on the town in Austin, TX) Steph was living there while her husband Chuck was stationed there with the Army.
2002 - Columbus, IN - My wedding
2003 - Liz's wedding in December at a beautiful inn in Illinois - Liz, remind me of the name - Lake something - cute little town
2004 - Did we miss this year? - I'm drawing a blank, although I remember Steph coming to Aspen and Jamey and I meeting her at the Ritz??? but Liz didn't make that one. ? Is that the right year?
2005 - Chicago, IL - stayed at the Kelsch's and then at Jamey and Mark's - Cubbies game
2006 - Jamey's wedding in Memphis, TN - Steph didn't make it due to hospital bedrest for the birth of her two beautiful little twin girls. She was missed and included in pictures regardless.
2007 - Chagrin Falls, OH - Location provided by my parents - their house. Everyone drove except Craig, Zach and me.
2008- Ocean City, MD - Stayed at Steph's cousin's beach house

That brings us to 2009 in Bell Buckle, TN - Our first girls only trip and we had a blast.

So here's my little posting about this year's trip. We all met in Nashville, TN. It seemed to be the cheapest flying option and Jamey could actually drive there. We rented a cute little cabin although they called it a Chalet. The Liberty Gap Chalet. It was very secluded but really quite pretty. Everyone brought something (except me so I became the photographer). Liz brought the Trader Joe's wine (courtesy of her husband, Vince's job at Trader Joe's). Jamey brought the beer (courtesy of her husband, Mark's job at Sweetwater Brewery) plus she made my favorite tortilla roll-ups, Chex Mix, did all the grocery shopping and had the place ready to go when we arrived! Steph made her now famous, 6 layer cookies and chocolate chip cookie bars and of course, her banana bread. Yummy! To sum up the weekend, we ate, drank, and talked our way through Friday and Saturday. It was a great time. I learned how to play Apples to Apples and even learned the rules of Ping Pong. It took me awhile but eventually I caught on! :) Saturday we toured downtown Bell Buckle and saw the little antique and gift shops. We could have eaten our weight in Moon Pies, but none of us were really fans. I almost forgot our "hike" around the Chalet's land. Liz was her usual trooper and braved the woods for the rest of us. The trail was pretty overgrown and I believe we saw the largest spider I ever need to see in my life. We declared it was time to turn around and say we got some exercise. We ate Saturday night at Miller's Grocery. It seemed to be "the" restaurant in town and served excellent Southern food. Yum! Fried Green Tomatoes and some yummy Snickers dessert. Everything was fried or creamed, I love the South! :)

The mural in downtown Bell Buckle

The rooster/chicken? running free with his friends around the houses near our Chalet.
Gotta love TN!

Let the Apples to Apples game begin.
It was a fight for the bedrooms. Winner takes the suite.
Jill and Liz
Jill and Jamey - The Original Roommates

Liz and Steph - proof we used the ping pong table

The Ladies posing in downtown Bell Buckle
The donkey and pony? literally outside our back door.
They spent most of the weekend just like this.

I always love seeing these ladies. We can talk openly about everything and don't have to fill each other in on our history because we know it all. We just have to catch up on the year that has just past. I know we will continue to make our get-togethers a priority. Eventually, I see us taking just our husbands and doing a cruise or something more exotic. For right now, we are having fun making due with crazy schedules and limited budgets!
Here's to Willkie 8! Cheers!

Dylan is 1!!!

Look who turned 1 today!

My baby turned one today! He had a great birthday despite the fact that he woke up last night with a fever of 102. No other symptoms, but I'll probably call the doc tomorrow if it doesn't resolve itself overnight. I'm sure I'll be up every 6 hours to dose him up on some baby Motrin. So his birthday video, he's a little sluggish and not quite his smiley self, but he had fun nonetheless.

We did just a low key party for his 1st birthday, much like we did with Zach. We just had the local relatives over and did a quick cake and ice cream. I figure there will be plenty of time for the huge festivities with multiple children in the future. Dylan got a couple of cute PSU Gorillas t-shirts, a new swing for our swingset we got for Christmas and a fun little push truck that also teaches you things and sings songs. Now if he can just keep his big brother away from it, I'm sure he'll enjoy it. Our present to Dylan is coming on Monday because I can't even get my own kids gifts here on time. Blah! Amazon, I will not pay your ridiculous shipping prices! He is getting a neat little car track set and some matching egg game from us too.

You would have never guessed he was running a fever. Bring on the cake!

The cake was from Sweet Designs Cakery and I just loved it.
She does such great work and it tastes good too!

I just asked her to do a whale since we did some whales in Dylan's room.

Here's his "smash cake".

You can see why they call it that.

The new swing and playing with cousin Lilli

What is Dylan like these days?
(For Dylan to read when he is Zach's age and wants to know, "did I do that when I was a baby?")

Let's see. He's not walking yet. I thought he'd be early, but he seems just fine crawling everywhere and is quite fast too. He stands really solid and then slow and controlled he lowers himself to the floor. Today he started saying, "Uh, oh" and I think it's adorable. He also says "ba" every time we go into a room where there is a ball or any other round object that might be considered ball like. Even at the top of the basement stairs because he knows the two big exercise balls are down there. When you say, "ta-da" he throws his arms in the air and smiles really big. He just got a new carseat and is thrilled he can see out. Even though he's rear facing still (and probably will be until preschool at this rate) he loves the new seat and actually was making himself laugh on the way home. Dylan can climb stairs like it's no one's business and absolutely loves bath time. He's the first one in the water and can not get enough of splashing his brother even though we've said "stop" a hundred times. He has 8 teeth and is working on his one year molars. He's really a great teether just like Zach was. A little grumpy at times, but never miserable with the teeth. He loves to be outside and ride the Little Tikes car or his little push toy/ride on car he has. The swing will be a great addition to the backyard since I can now have my hands free with him contained within the seat! YEAH! Dylan is really into his big brother and doing anything he can to be near him and doing what he's doing. It's great to see and I hope they keep it up! I can't believe I almost forgot Dylan's dancing skills. He is a mover and a shaker. One morning I looked over at the high chair and we had the song Pokerface playing by Lady Gaga and Dylan's hands were literally in the air and he was bouncing in his seat to the beat like it was Disco night at Club 616! HA! I've never laughed so hard. Anytime there's music on, he's bopping. We went to Grand Lake with Craig's parents and ate at a little outdoor restaurant. They were playing that Mambo #5 by Lou Vega and Dylan immediately starting dancing in his high chair. He had the whole deck watching him and laughing. Later we were told that they had a little camera on in the kitchen and they were all laughing too! He's just a riot with the dancing.
What a great 1st year it has been with our little guy! Craig, Zach and I just love watching him learn new things and become his own person. A year ago I would have said you were just being nice or optimistic if you would have described life a year later like it is today. Here we are with a "perfect" child as if nothing ever happened. Something I prayed for continuously has come to fruition. Wow, God is good and miracles can happen!

Happy 1st Birthday, Dylan! Here's to many more birthdays ahead of you!

More Birthday Pics:

Lilli checking out our slide

Dylan just chillin' in his new swing!

The family

First, First Day of School

Monday was the big day for Zach. He had his first day of preschool. He is a Little Gorilla at PSU. After playing with Grant in the afternoon on Saturday, he was all ready to see his new friend and go to his new class. (unfortunately, Grant doesn't go on Mondays...oops, forgot to tell him that) Another oops, I had a massive migraine (the worst I've ever had) to the point I was getting sick every 10 mins. I managed to stumble downstairs to find his backpack, the camera, a change of clothes to throw in the backpack and his clothes for his first day. I tried to ask Craig nicely to take a pic of him outside with his backpack on. I'm not sure if it came across nicely or just pathetically. I think he did a great job capturing the moment that I missed. Maybe it was a good thing, since I couldn't get emotional, I had other things to worry about.

I don't know why, but I think the backpack makes him look so old!

He loved his new school and three days later he's still liking it a lot. He has made new friends and has already made a beaded necklace for his Mom. I'm so relieved that the transition has gone so smoothly.

Paint the Town Red Week

Last week was a busy week in Pittsburg. We had Paint the Town Red week. Now, to be honest, I don't remember much about Paint the Town Red week last year. I was a little too focused on having getting my house ready to have a baby and getting my contractions to start kicking in. So this year was like the first year for me!
The Ward house did not get into the act until Friday (although there were many other things going on in town prior to Friday). Zach, Dylan and I enjoyed a nice lunch at Ron's in the Cafe with our friends who all wore red and I didn't have one PSU t-shirt to wear. So sad. I wore a worn out old t-shirt that looked more pink than red, but oh well. After lunch, we decided to stop over at the stadium and watch the 3rd graders from all the schools have a balloon release. It was pretty neat to watch and Zach and Dylan liked watching the Jungletron (get it, Jungle, Gorillas, Jumbotron). My little dancing baby started bopping up and down and I didn't even notice the music playing - it was Bon Jovi. He's not particular about what he dances to. It still cracks me up.

Friday night we went to see the movie, Up on the Jungletron with some of our friends. Before the movie, we were able to have pizza and ice cream at our friend Leah's house. It was nice to get to meet up and then carpool over to the movie. We got to sit our blankets out on the field and watch the movie while it turned dark. A great perk to living in a college town. Zach and I were the only ones to go. Craig stayed home with Dylan since he would have been a handful to walk around the stadium with. Also, Craig had his fantasy football draft to pay attention to on Friday. :)

Zach with his new friend, Braeden.

The crowd before the movie - it filled up a lot more.Leah and her little one, Logan

The movie on the Jungletron

I was excited to see the end of Up since we had to leave early from the theater when I took Zach. He got too scared at the end chase scenes. It is such a sweet movie. I believe I will have to own it when it comes out on DVD. I love the talking dogs! I'm easily amused. :)

Saturday we went to the game. It was the first home football game for the Gorillas. We played Central Oklahoma and the Gorillas won. The Ward family went to Jock's Nitch on Saturday morning to get a new t-shirt for Zach and a new t-shirt for me. It was a zoo. Gorillaspirit was in the air!
The whole family went to tailgate. Zach ran around like a crazy man playing football with his friends for about 2 hours before the game. Craig and Zach went in the game and lasted almost to half time. I'd say that's pretty good for a 3 1/2 year old. Dylan and I hung out around the food and tent and people watched. He did really well considering he was tired and I never let him crawl further than about 15 feet. One of the neat tradition that they do here is have the team walk through the tailgating area on their way to the stadium. The kids and adults line up on the path and get high fives from the players as they pass through. Zach thought that was pretty cool and again Dylan started clapping when everyone started to cheer. I didn't get any pictures, but maybe next time I'll be better prepared with my camera.
All in all, it was a fun weekend to be a Gorilla (although we all know I'm still a Hoosier at heart!). :)

A Busy Thursday

Zach had a busy Thursday this week. We started off the morning by going to visit his new preschool. He's going to the University preschool four days a week. The whole family made the trip to go check out the school and meet his teachers. It's an interesting preschool because it's the lab school for the students studying Early Childhood Education. Zach will have a lot of different teachers and one lead teacher all year. They have a nice facility and the teachers were very welcoming. Zach was excited to see that his "friend" Grant was there too. He had only seen a picture of Grant and been in a two week swim class with him. That's all he needed to say Hi and follow Grant around the entire time we were there. His first official day will be on Monday. I can hardly believe that my "baby" is going to preschool already.Craig, Dylan and Zach @ Zach's new preschool

Zach and Grant on the tire swing

Later in the afternoon Zach got to go to his new session of Gymnastics at the YMCA. It's amazing the difference a year makes. This year Zach jumped into class (without Craig or me) and participated readily. He seems to like his class. What's not to like about climbing and jumping around for an hour?
Finally, I had to put in a little blurb about Zach's newest request. I was in the other room, but from what I can gather, he was tired of Dylan trying to get a little ball that he had gotten at the grocery store that afternoon. He came searching for some paper and his pen. Zach wanted to write a note to set the record straight. He dictated to me what was to be on the note.

Is this smile a sign he's enjoying this a little too much? :)

Summer Trip to Indiana

The Indiana Crew

Three quarters of the Ward family just got back from our annual summer trip to Indiana to visit family and friends. Zach and Dylan did great. My brother was nice enough to drive the three of us (his family wasn't able to go because they were starting school on Monday so needed their rest). Off we went on a 10 hour drive each way. The ride wasn't as bad as I had imagined it could be. Zach was happy as could be to sit and watch movies the whole way. Thank goodness they had Bolt in the car and we don't own Bolt so it was a new movie to watch. Not to mention Alvin and the Chipmunks that he must have watched 4 times in a row....why? I'm not sure. He was pretty funny on the ride up. The headphones to watch the movie made him sound like your older relatives at Christmas, talking way louder than everyone else or any reasonable person needs to talk! I think my brother was reminiscing about the "old" days when his kids were that little. Probably the first hour he kind of missed the young age, but by hour 2 we had him thankful he could ride in peace with his children now that they are old enough to play video games and listen to Ipods!

Zach and PJ - Fast Friends

We arrived in Indiana and went to dinner with the Chambers. Then after Zach "drove" the table in honor of Paul, the "adults" went to the Chambers house and dropped the kids off at the hotel with the grandparents. The story was that while my Mom put Dylan to sleep in one of the adjoining rooms, Granddad was entertaining Zach in the other room. My Mom reported that she went in to find Granddad sound asleep and Zach wide awake watching TV. No one was too surprised. Meanwhile the "adults" were learning the rules of the Chamber household and enjoying an adult beverage or two.Zach showing his bottom after he sat in the Lightning McQueen bubbles

After a late night at the Chambers and a 5:00am "wake up call" from Dylan, I started Saturday a little groggy. Zach, Dylan and I swam in the hotel pool, then we all played at Aunt Betty's for awhile. We got to visit with Aunt Betty for a bit before heading out to Uncle Terry and Aunt Stephanie's for a fabulous cookout and lots of playtime for Zach. He had a great time playing with PJ in the pool. Lightning McQueen bubbles were a hit as well as the bubble airplane!

Grammy, Dylan and Zach
Swim time for Dylan

After a long two days, we woke up on Sunday and headed back out on the road to come back to Kansas. The trip home was longer, because it always is for some reason. The last half hour, Dylan decided he had had enough of sitting backwards staring at nothing for 20 hours and was going to cry until someone did something about it. The someone was Dylan and the something was falling asleep. Of course, it was about 5 mins from our exit where we switched cars and he woke up. Zach refused to sleep even though he was working on about 6 hours of sleep each night. He finally gave in when Craig picked us up in Joplin and he slept in our van and then continued to sleep for another 17 hours. He only woke up to have Craig change him into his pj's and get a drink of water. We were all beat, but had such a fun time seeing all our friends. We miss you all and are so happy that we still get to see you, even if it is only once or twice a year!

Granddad entertaining Dylan or maybe the other way around?

Summer Activities 2009

Zach has had a fun summer this year, since his Mom has not been growing a baby in her tummy all summer like last year. Last year, that seemed to be about all I could manage (oh, and moving houses). This year however, we managed to do two sessions of swim lessons, make it to the library about every other week and some times every week. We have had a weekly swim play date with our friends at the Davis' house. And managed to fit in two weeks of day camp at the YMCA. It's all about keeping a little 3 year old busy and wearing him out. We even managed to make it to family swim night at the Aquatic Center last night. Zach and I got to take a ride around the Lazy River while Daddy and Dylan watched from the "shore". I hadn't been able to take Zach before because there was no one to hold Dylan and I couldn't manage both of them in the river itself. I brought my camera to the pool to take pics and was bummed to find out I left the memory card in the computer. No fun pics at the Froggie pool (as Zach likes to call it).Swim Lesson Certificate - 2009

The library has a summer reading program like most libraries and we have taken full advantage of it. We missed the end of the season program they do, but Miss Gayle was nice enough to let Zach pick out a book when we were at the library yesterday and he got some crayons and a certificate for reading so well. He really was excited to go every week and get his weekly prizes for reading 10 picture books. This summer Zach has really gotten into reading books about insects, beetles, fish and sharks. I think this is a fun new area to explore in the library. I like watching Zach get excited about discovering the world around him through books and of course, the internet and the best part "hands-on discovery" (i.e. digging in the dirt in the backyard and catching all kinds of bugs). Little boys really are so much fun to watch!

Fun Little Monster Craft from Library Story time

Certificate for Summer Reading program

On that same note, I've included some fun pics of our day with capes and the inflatable pickle. Dylan (Dill) got the pickle from Grammy. And the cape was for Zach. The cape was from a Jaycee convention back in the day, that my mom and dad attended and for some reason needed to have costumes for everyone. Anyway, of course, Gaynell kept the capes and sent them to Zach when she was cleaning out the storage unit. (Special note: there were pockets sewn in the cape for cigarettes (gotta love the 70's/80's). Also there were velcro closures so you could play volleyball, so versatile.) Zach ran around for days with the cape and really wanted to take it to swim lessons and his "school".

Zach w/cape and the pickle
At least he can wrestle with the pickle without getting hurt.

Super Zach
Caught this pic mid-run around the living room...what a ham!

Dylan has enjoyed watching Daddy mow the grass and Zach "help" by driving his car around. He has literally stood/sat by the front window watching them go back and forth for 20 minutes. You just know he can't wait to get out there next year!
Here's the fabulous Mater that Aunt Shannon got Zach for Christmas and now Dylan is using it to ride on too. Too bad Mater is "broken" and you can't hear all the great sound effects he makes. :)
Zach's first year of preschool will start at the end of the month, so just a couple weeks left of summer for us!