July 4th

Jake and Henry had a good 4th of July. We watched our county's fireworks last night and went out on our boat, too :) We also did our own small fireworks in our yard, which Jake really enjoyed. Henry, on the other hand, did not like the loud noises that they made. He got very scared and wanted me to hold him and take him back inside. Today, we were going to go watch fireworks on the river from our boat, but bad storms are passing through. So we are waiting for them to pass so we can light more of our own fireworks out in the yard :)

Henry asked today if we could get a ladder and go see Poppy. He knows that Poppy is in Heaven and know that Heaven is up in the sky. I wish we could go see him, Henry! At Poppy's Shack, we found tadpoles in an old pot Dad had that he used to keep goldfish in. We caught 9 and brought them home to raise into frogs - then we will take them back to the Shack to release them :)

The boys were also excited because we have had 2 rabbits in our yard recently, which is a new thing for us. They took carrots out and left them in the yard for them :) We will go check and see if they ate them, soon :)

1st tropy

Jake's TBall All-Star team won 2nd place in their tournament and Jake received his very first TROPHY! He has wanted a trophy for a loooong time. In fact, he kept one of Steve's old baseball trophies in his room, and found one of my old science fair trophies. But now he has his very own and he loves it :)

June Stuff

Henry is talking lots and lots. When he says thank you, he says "bink you" - he got a ride on toy for his birthday that he calls his airplane and he loves to scoot around on that outside. In fact, he loves being outside in general, to swing, play in the sand-table, or ride on the lawnmower while Steve cuts grass. The other day the trailer was at the house from the farm and Henry drug his play tractor up on the trailer and left it there for many days - it was very cute :) He also likes to help me water our plants and flowers and the child sure can EAT - he has a big appetite! He loves "mute nacks" from Grandma (fruit snacks)-

Jake got asked to be on the All Star Tball team and we have had 3 games so far. Jake is the 2nd string, so to say, but he got a great hit today and got to second base before the inning was called. We are working with him on running fast to 1st base because he tends to slow down as approaches the base - we told him to just plow through the people if he feared they were in his way :)

We also went to the beach at Nags Head for 2 days, with my Mom, and the boys enjoyed it. Although Henry was NOT fond of the waves, water, or sand, and preferred to sit on the towell or

in the chair :) Jake built sandcastles and dug for sandfiddler crabs. Cousin Luke came with us one day and spent the night with us in the hotel. We also ate dinner with him, Kristen, and Baby Anna at the Black Pelican restaurant :)

Kids can say the cutest things!

This morning, Henry woke up, sat up in bed, and said "I want chip dip - have some downstairs?" - How cute is that? I guess he was hungry for some chips and dip :) In the middle of the night, we said "patchie-boo" which is our nickname for our cat Patch. He must have been dreaming of him. And then when Steve jokingly asked Henry "How is your hair?" (because it is always wild in the morning when he wakes up), Henry replied with "pretty" :)

Jake has been practicing catching "pop flies" with Steve to get ready for Tball All Star practice (he got chosen for the All Star team and got Best Infielder) for the regular season. He was catching them in his glove really well today!

odds and ends

Jake likes to play McDonalds Drive Thru and the other day he ordered a pretend salad. I asked him what type of dressing and he said "Chinese" :)

Henry calls fruit snacks Moot Nacks~

Henry's 2nd 2 year molar is coming in on his bottom right~

Jake's size 7 pants are getting tight on him! He is 60 pounds now~

Poppy and Heaven

On May 18th, 2011 at 10:19 AM, our beloved Poppy was taken to heaven by the angels of the Lord. It was a sudden, unexpected death that has left us all in sorrow and shock. We love him so very much and our hearts are broken. We know that we will see him again in Heaven, but that is such a long time from now. Poppy was not just our father and grandfather, but also our dear friend. We are going to miss him more than words can express. Our hearts will have a void that will never be completely filled. We love you Poppy! Thank you for all of the memories you left with us, and everything you did for us when we still had you on Earth. You are the greatest man that we have ever known -

April Updates

Jake started playing TBall this Spring and he loves it! I can see he has alot of interest in it and he is pretty good for just learning to play! He catches ground balls with ease and is what his coach calls a "power hitter" on the team :) He looks so cute in his Tball uniform! On the field during games, he does alot of twirling around and skipping :) Very cute!

For his 5th birthday party, he invited all of his classmates and buddies and wanted a hunting themed party! The cake was super neat, with a deer, hunter, and tree stand on it :)

Henry is growing so fast and know his colors orange and green very well! He also counts to 12 (skips around a little) and loves to ride with his Daddy on the tractor :)

The boys enjoyed picking the first red berry of the our 12th strawberry season at our farm (College Run Farms) :)