Happy 3rd Birthday, Zan Man!

Happy Birthday to my little Zan the Man! You are an absolute joy and you make me smile each and every day! Here is just an example: A couple weeks ago when Zoey was at Nature Camp, Zander and I bonded a little at a park. We were swinging on a tire swing, just talking and I decided to ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He thought about it for a bit and then said, "I want to be a tire swing!" So that is where he is at at this time--not really thinking ahead, enjoying the moments he is in.

Zander celebrated his birthday today with family and friends. It was a fantastic day and we were able to spend a lot of time outside in the backyard.

Zander had a guitar cake for his birthday. He devoured the cake and asked for more!

I love the hand made cards. This one is from the Derrs.
Zander was blessed with many nice gifts. He really didn't know what to play with first!
Zoey was very proud of her gift to Zander (which was also from Mommy and Daddy). She and I went to the store this week to pick it out. Zoey spent a lot of her own money to buy Zander his own talking Woody Doll from the Toy Story movies. She worked really hard to keep everything a secret from Zander. The night we went to buy the gift, she kept telling Zander that we were going to get shots. (We figured that he wouldn't want to go to the doctor's to get a shot, so it was a safe bet.) Zander really didn't care where we were going, but I was impressed that Zoey kept the secret all week long. She also decorated the wrapping paper with a special picture of our family.


Zander got a golf set today also and seemed to know just what to do with it. He is a natural! He is looking forward to golfing lessons with Poppa in the near future.
Cousin Kylie was really hamming it up at the party!

Hazel had a good time also!

Owen was very interested in the spiky squishy ball that Zander got. It was a big hit!

Thanks to everyone for spending the afternoon with us and helping us celebrate Zander's birthday! I know that he will be talking about it for awhile!

Let's Get Down to Business!

Here are both kids doing their best Mulan dancing and singing in the backyard.

The words: "Let's get down to business, to defeat the Huns. Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons? You're the saddest bunch I ever met, and you haven't got a clue. Mister, I'll make a man out of you."

Little Gems

Zoey has been at Nature Camp every morning this week, giving Zander and I some quality time together. It has been fun, he is quite the conversationalist, that is when he isn't asking for "daddy juice in a sippy cup." (Which by the way is 75% of what he says in a day.)

Today as the two of us were talking about this and that, he said, "Call me Thunder. Thunder is scary." I think that it could work for him as a fun nickname!

Zander is also in a little bit of a hitting phase. But he doesn't quite understand the terminology or the severity of the situation. When we catch him hitting (usually Zoey), he says, "I not hit. I punched!" Tyler jokes about showing him a continuum of hits, hoping that it may show him the differences.

A few weeks ago, I was reading the Mrs. Wishy Washy books to Zander for the umpteenth time and started to ad-lib to make it more interesting for me. The read words say, "Just look at you she screamed." I said, "Just look at you she screamed from the top of her lungs." Zander matter of factly told me, "No she didn't, she screamed from her mouth."


Because I don't feel like I do this enough, here are some lists about the kids at this time in our lives.

Favorite Movie: Mulan (for both kids)
Favorite Song: I'll Make a Man Out of You from Mulan (for both kids)
Favorite Book: Zander asks for the Mulan book all the time lately. Previously he likes all 5 Mrs. Wishy Washy Books and when we read them, we have to read ALL five!
Zoey is still partial to all of her princess books and Fancy Nancy.
Favorite Colors: Zander likes blue. Zoey likes pink.

Family Vacation

Tyler was off of teaching last week, so up to the lake we went. We left on Thursday and stayed through Sunday. We had beautiful weather and lots of fun! Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the weekend. They bought a fire pit so that we could teach the kids the fine art of making s'mores. Zoey was ready for the beach each morning at about 7:30 am--although we held her off until about 9am. Tyler and I even celebrated our 6th year anniversary by going out to dinner on Friday night! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!


As an extra bonus, Tyler and the kids "camped" outside for two nights in the tent. I passed on the experience and enjoyed a lovely time inside! They sure seemed to have fun, though. There was a HUGE storm really early Sunday morning (like 4am) that woke most of us up--but the kids stayed sleeping in the tent.




Last Wednesday we had family pictures taken at Como Park. It was fun and afterwards we went to the Como Zoo and Amusement Park. Zoey went on her favorite ride and so did Zander.

4th of July

On the 4th of July, we had the Livingstons and the Plumbs over for a bbq. We had a lot of fun just hanging out. The kids enjoyed their first experience with sparklers. Zoey really enjoyed them, until she grabbed the wrong end. As you can see in the photo below--Tyler was having a blast!
This is as close as Zander got to having one.

Tammy was a little cautious also. . .
Then there was Eric. . .

Zoey showed off her sword to Nana. Ever since she went to Mulan with Nana for her birthday--it has been a little bit of an obsession.


Zoey, Daddy, and Poppa went to the firework show in Roseville that night. Zoey wanted to be dressed like a flag, so she agreed--just this once--to wear a pair of jeans, since they were blue.
Zander taught Uncle Eric the fine art of Hungry Hungry Hippo.