A new cousin

My sister had her first baby on July 6th! We were all so happy for her and excited to meet the little guy. We got our chance last weekend, and he did not disappoint. He is a real cutie, and the boys especially were very enamored with him.

Bentley (love the name, BTW), 

We think you are very cute and can't wait for you to grow up so we can teach you all kinds of boy things (like jumping, throwing a ball, and playing duck, duck, goose). 

Love, your cousins (Brayden, Logan and Preston)

Logan's baptism

I have had no prouder moment as a parent than to watch my two older children get baptized.  On July 10, Logan did just that.  I was so proud of the decision he had made to accept Jesus in his heart, and the courage he showed in showing others about that decision and being obedient to God in believer's baptism. 

Logan, my prayer for you is that you will learn to love God more and more as you grow up.  I pray that you will never forget the day you asked Jesus in your heart, or this day, when you made that decision public.  I love you Logan and I am very happy you have given your life to Christ! 

More like a big girl everyday

Every day, Ashten is more and more little girl and less and less baby.  She is our last baby - for sure -  so while I am excited to see her grow, mature and learn new things, there is a part of me that misses the baby things.  Not all the baby things, but things like holding a sleeping baby, watching a baby smile for the first time, two naps a day(!!), breastfeeding, the cute little feet.....

One of the big "baby" things that Ashten just recently let go of was breastfeeding.  The last time I nursed her was July 7th.  I was down to nursing her just once a day already, in the morning when she first woke up.  On July 8th, I gave her a bath when she first woke up and she forgot all about nursing.  Since then, she has kind of whined for it a couple of times, but I know she's ready to be done.  I really miss that time with her though, and it is even more sad knowing I will never breastfeed again.  So now we have a new morning routine....I bring in her sippy cup of milk and we cuddle in the rocking chair with her blanket.  It's not quite the same, but I'll take it!

Playing in the sink

Only a grandpa would be patient enough to sit there while a 1-year-old splashes and plays in the sink.

Ashten and Daddy

  

New favorite pastime

The boys have a new favorite pastime that they LOVE to do.  They do it at least once a day.  Sometimes they do it for hours at a time.  Can you guess?

Bike riding!  Riding bikes to the park.  Riding bikes to 7-eleven.  Going on a long bike ride with daddy.  Riding around our house in the street.  I think ti's a combination of Logan learning to ride without training wheels and getting new (used) bikes just a few weeks ago.  Brayden's new bike is a 7-speed with handlebar brakes, and Brayden feels so grown up on it.  Logan's new bike looks like a dirt bike and it has shocks, which Logan really thinks is cool. 

And what does Ashten (and sometimes Preston) do when the older boys are busy on their bikes?  Well, sit aorund and look cute, that's what!

Pigtails

I am horrible at doing girl's hair.  I have a lot to learn.  Anyone want to teach me?  Until just recently Ashten's hair wasn't even long enough to do anything with and I could just put a headband in - that was nice and easy.  Now it's getting long enough that I feel like I need to do something with it, but not long enough to where I can put a ponytail in or anything.  But I did pigtails the other day and I thought they were pretty cute!

Like I said - a lot to learn!

The 4th

We went over to my parents' house in the afternoon of the 4th of July.  They got out the kiddie pool and the slip-n-slide, which all the kids loved. 

My sister had bought a few fireworks that the boys had fun doing too.

After dinner, Chris was so nice to take Ashten home for her bedtime and give the boys and I an opportunity to go with my mom, sister and niece to watch fireworks in Golden.  This was the first time the boys have ever seen fireworks in person and the first time I had been to see them since Brayden was born.  It was really fun. 


Preston got a little tired waiting for the fireworks to start

Waiting, waiting, waiting....



Brayden, Logan, me, Madison (my niece), and Preston



#2 on 2

Logan can ride his bike on 2 wheels now!!  It took him about 20 minutes to get the hang of it and about 2 days to really get it down to where he can start on his own and everything.  Great job Logan!

Celebrating Preston

We had Preston's party with our families a few weeks early this year.  With Chris' basketball schedule and some traveling conflicts, we just figured we'd get it done.  The best part was we got to surprise Preston with it.  He woke up from his nap and we took him outside and everyone was there.  It took him a little while to fully wake up, but I think he really liked it!

Preston's acutal birthday was kind of low key this year, which was really nice considering Chris was away at a basketball camp for most of the day and we were just coming off VBS week - very tiring!  I still gave Preston the choice of what he wanted to do, things like the zoo or park or bike ride or Jumpstreet, but thankfully he chose to just get out the slip-n-slide and the little kiddie pool and relax at home.  He also wanted to ride bikes to the park close to our house, which we did later in the afternoon.

New birthday toy!

Chris got home about dinnertime and we went out to eat at Preston's choice - Mcdonalds!

Brayden's silly face