Super Sam turns one!

Can you believe this guy turned one?! I can't, but just look at that sweet face, he turned 1 on Friday. A year ago at this time we had major flooding and it took Mike 3 hours to make a 20 mile trip. This year we've had crazy storms, so perhaps Sam's bday will always coincide with some weather incidents...We had a nice family celebration on Friday night as we prepared for the arrival of our friends Meera and Jason from California with their 3 year old twins Kali and Kirin.
Noah picked out a special toy for his brother. No shocker here, it's Captain America. I think someone is hoping his younger brother shares with him...
Then yesterday (Saturday) we had the big party. We didn't go theme crazy, but we did sport the Superman shirts for our Super Sammy!
We did get a respite from the rain for awhile so the kids could rock the slip n slide.
Kirin played with the silly sprinkler as well. It was SO humid but the kids loved being out in the yard.
Inside the little babies played together and entertained the crowd.
The big boys Fred, Kirin, and Noah trashed his room and told "spooky" stories. Not sure how well thought out the stories were, but at least they had fun.
All the kids at Sam's party from left to right: Nick (Spiderman), Sam, Francesca, Calvin, Evie, Fred, Noah, Kirin, and Kali. Whew, I can't believed we managed to get them all in a picture.
Some awesome parenting going on by the lot of us. It's not like he had a bottle opener, sheesh!
Big Man gets his smasher cake, provided by Bamma (my mom). He was all about it, as he loves to eat.
It's so pretty, but I must dig in. There was some close supervision by Noah and the rest of the kid crew.
Daddy helps him shovel some in. He was a VERY happy boy to get his own cake.

The ice cream cake the rest of us enjoyed!
Nick sports his mom's shoes. This picture will come in handy in about...oh...seven years!
Hard to believe a short 2 years ago we were celebrating Noah's first birthday in this same house.
Sam and his Godparents, Cliff and Philie. He is so white he could almost be their child, right?
Uncle Cliff, I love you...
He was a very lucky boy and received some great gifts. Including his own Spiderman shirt.
Not to be left out, Noah got his own Superman shirt with cape included.
Sam with Uncle Josh and Tia Tia.
Superman rocks the fleece Mickey crocs while stealing some Cheetos. He looks so big!
My muscle men. The day was fabulous, the night was fun, and we're all enjoying a calm morning with lots of new toys. Thanks to all who came, we had a wonderful time!

Zoo Ninjas!

So trying to wring every ounce of possible fun out of our summer, we headed to Brookfield Zoo yesterday. Ryane came with her two girl Meryn (4) and Piper (1) and my mom joined us for some much needed back up. It was HOT, but the beauty of having a zoo membership means you can be zoo ninjas. That means, you can move in and out quickly without feeling guilty about missing anything. We were there at opening around 9:30 and busted out of there by 12:30. It was a great morning! The big kids Sponge Bob ice cream which melted in about 2.5 seconds.
Sam missed out on ice cream because he was too tired. But as you can see by the rolls on his legs (which now have lovely tan lines) he doesn't miss out on too many eating experiences.
Piper is such a cutie pie, look at her big cheeks. Noah could not help himself from squeezing them from time to time, it was really funny!

So successful zoo venture completed, goats fed, 3 & 4 year old worn out, babies tolerated strollers, all in all it was a good day!

Des Moines!

Michelle and I braved a 5-6 hour car ride with Noah, Sam, and Evie on Thursday afternoon to go visit our friends the Richmonds in Des Moines, Iowa. Of course the babies didn't cooperate with the "nap for 2-3 hours" plan. It was a bit of a hairy car ride highlighted by a near catastrophic Noah-Mommy meltdown at McDonald's in Coralville, Iowa. But we made it out there and had a blast! Noah immediately started hanging out with Ayla, who is also three, on Friday morning.

Kyndal joined in the fun with the big kids. She's two and despite her small stature has VERY strong ideas about who should be doing what, babies or big kids!
Kyndal spent some time trying to style Sam's hair. He didn't cooperate a whole lot.
Hold still baby!
On Friday we went to the local wading pool/sprinkler pad. It was awesome. Don't the girls look like future leaders of america in their goggles?
There were two trips out for ice cream, at Ayla's recommendation. Good call Ayla!
Only the big kids made it out for ice cream on Friday night, the babies were too cashed to make it. But everyone went out for ice cream again on Saturday night.
On Saturday we hit the Ankeny Summerfest parade. It worked out fabulously as we arrived at the very end of the route just as it got underway. Being at the end meant feast or famine with candy as people were either out of it or had so much they just dumped it in front of us.
"Mom, when do I get to have some candy?"
Noah and Ayla patiently waiting for some candy...
Kyndal joined curbside, I think all the kids' cuteness helped them get oodles of candy!
Noah got a whole bunch of necklaces towards the end of the parade, he kept saying "I'm a king!"
Back at the house, Evie figured out how to put together some steps to officially start walking! Ayla was more than willing to help her out.
And Sam enjoyed all of Aunt Andrea and Big Uncle Nic's cooking! We had an awesome time! The trip home yesterday was much better! We miss our friends so much, but it was good to come home to Daddy and our own beds. The boys both slept way more last night than they have in awhile. Enjoying all our summer trips and visits! More to come soon!

July Baby!

We went up to the lake for the holiday weekend. It was the usual, boat rides, do-dos, dinners with 20+ people, crazy cousins, etc....The boys both happen to have monkey shirts, Noah chose for them both to match once this weekend.
We went over to the island to celebrate the spring/early summer birthdays (noah and sam were included as birthday guests.
Sam took advantage of all the attention as the "baby" of the family now. There was some "cousin kissing!"
The birthday kids from left to right: Addie (8), Noah (3), Sam (1), and Ella (11).
Sam got his first crack at a birthday smash cake (or cupcake in this case). Daddy had to help him to start out with.
Once he got into it, he was very happy to do it on his own. There was even icing up his nose by the end!
Kate fell for her dad's "smell this" trick...
So here's to July baby! And the first of a few 1st birthday celebrations for Sammy!