LOVE THE WEATHER

We have been blessed with an extremely warm spring. It was time to bring the kids back to the park. They were so glad to be back!

Alex's Birthday Party (TWO-TWO)

We celebrated Alex's 2nd birthday with a two-two train party on Saturday! It was so much fun to watch little big guy get into the spirit of his birthday. At the end, he was even singing happy birthday to himself.

Cousins Katelyn, Brooklyn & Logan were able to come; as were Haley & Lucas and Nolan Peterson. Other guest included grandma & grandpa; grandma Haertel; auntie Kiki & her "little sister" Beatrice, Craig & Tiffany; Kim, Jim & Kevin; Sam & Michele; Rod; Sarah; J-Glo, and Maren.

Presents included a remote control race car, puppy scout, tool bench, thomas the train swim trunks, batman car and bucket of little army people, and 2 bubble mowers (1 for the lake & 1 for home!!).

24 months old!

Alex turned 2 years old recently. He weighed in at 28 pounds, some ounces (the book that has this information has been packed for our upcoming remodel so I'll get it updated once I find it again). He is such a joy. He has really blossomed these last few months and has increased his vocabulary and it's so much fun to hear him put together sentences now...such as "where'd daddy go?" Here he is a few days after his actual birthday, for his traditional couch picture.

Birthday Boy

We went up to Deer Lake the weekend of Alex's birthday for a requested family weekend together. After being together all summer, we get lonesome for each other! Unfortunately, Tim & Kate weren't able to come up because they're house shopping as they sold their house. But, Pam, Katie & Smokey and my mom & sister were there. Of course, we had to celebrate Alex's birthday. Started with pancake breakfast (in the birthday prince crown).

We had a small birthday celebration for lunch...with a cake and presents.

Alex loved the cake. He especially liked digging around in it!

He got such fun presents from everyone---a golf set from Grandma, balls from us, twins outfit & cars book from Pam & Dick, train puzzle and cute clothes from Katie & Smokey and a car ramp from auntie Kiki!

Even though we weren't able to be outside much, we still had a great reprise to the lake. And, lots of spoiling from my family (of course!!)

Time with Cousins

Uncle Craig was out of town for a few days so Paul, the kids & I went over to see Tiffany and the kids. The big kids thought it would be fun to all pile into the egg chair. They just can't get enough time together. It's so fun to watch them together.

Day of Fun with each of my kids

With daylight savings time, I let Paul sleep in and agreed to take the kids to church myself. He does it basically every other Sunday, I figured I could do it one day. Anna was in no mood to wake up, so left her & Paul home and had some 1 on 1 time with Alex. When I called after church was over at 10:45, they were both still sleeping!!!

I came home, and headed to global girl "dinner" at Maren's for lunch...every once and a while, we like to mix things up :) I brought Anna since she knows Maren has toys and I knew she wouldn't nap. We had a great time together and was happy to have her along. And, we had matching outfits! She was so polite during lunch!
We didn't have much time before having to pick up my mom at the airport, so we shopped for Alex's birthday present. We headed to the airport and drove around for a long time, waiting for my mom. I called Paul and he couldn't find a flight that she was on and said he didn't think she was going to get in for 45 minutes. So, we drove away from the airport and had to wait again. Was a little crabby. Thankfully, I just happened across the cell phone lot where people can wait for people and watch the planes. Anna saw the rest of the people sitting on their cars and wanted to do that too. It was gorgeous outside (65 degrees), so had to agree. What fun! We watched the planes go up & down and talked about going to Denmark and tried to look for Grandma's plane. Since then, she hasn't stopped talking about watching airplanes...I think it was a hit. To top it off, my dad used to love watching airplanes, so I know he was sitting there right with us watching with us. He would have known what each plane was, guess I have a lot to learn and teach. Here's my favorite picture of Anna in a long time-haven't gotten one where she looks so natural!

Bath Time is Fun Again

We're relieved to have bath time be fun again at the Mattson house! Alex went through a 2 week phase where he just cried at the top of his lungs about bath time. So, thanks to friends suggestions, we brought out the bubbles and it was fun again! SO GLAD!

More Open Gym Time

The kids love our Saturday morning ritual of dance class and then open gym. Most of the time, they stay out of the chaos-either at the sensory table or up in the little play area for 1.5-2.5 year olds. Otherwise, we might get run over by little boys on their bikes :)

But, at the end, they're 2 of the first kids to line up for pickles!

Day at Green Lake

After dance class, we headed up to Green Lake for a day with grandma, grandpa and Craig & Tiff's family. We enjoyed a day together. Alex has figured out that he doesn't have to chase after all the girls and he has another boy he can play with :) It was so cute. And you know the girls always have fun together. It's so great to watch them together.