Tractors and Gators...and a little bit of random

This post is a whole lot of random! Here are just a few of the many pictures I have of the boys playing on tractors...and a gator...and other fun stuff at Grandma and Grandpa Day's house. I know it's a lot of pictures...but I had to include them all. Some are from summer, some are from fall...like I said - random!!

I have a post planned all about Austin and his love of driving. I'm not kidding - rarely does a day go by that he doesn't ask to "drive mommy's car?" or "drive daddy's truck?" with the cutest face like it's just what he does! He loves to drive tractors...the gator...just sit on our riding mower at home. If it has wheels, he's in love! Here are a couple picture of Austin on Grandpa Day's tractor...

So happy!


Aiden likes to get on the tractor and Gator, too - but nothing like Austin! Sometimes I let them get in my car to pretend drive and Aiden is content just to be in there - front seat, back seat up in a car seat - he doesn't have to drive.

Big smiles!


Landon's more indifferent about it - he'll get up there, he'll take a ride, but it's not crucial. He just this past weekend drove the Gator all by himself for the first time (Makayla inspired him) but he can take it or leave it. But here are a few pictures of him!

Look at those red cheeks! Obviously this was in the hot summer months!


Taking a ride on the Gator with Grandpa. Austin is of course in the front seat...Aiden and Landon in the back.




Landon and Aiden in the back of the Gator.


Austin checking out his cousin Grant! Love Grant's smile!!!


One evening we were there this summer we had the boys racing. Ready....set....


GO!!!!


Aiden thought he was big stuff up in this apple tree! Say cheese!!!


Landon is all smiles in the same tree!!! Love this picture!

Just a random picture of all my boys!!! What a good looking crew!!!

Cousins

I'm a little behind on my order of posting things, but I guess since it's my blog, the order doesn't really matter! At this point, I'm most interested in sharing pictures, but mostly just recording different stuff the boys are doing.

Anyway, back in September the boys and I made a trip up to my parents woods. It was a nice, hot day in late September and the boys enjoyed running around....and playing with their cousins Steven and Owen. I shared some pictures a while back of the boys together...but here are some more.

My Mom has an awesome Geo Trax set and the boys - especially Landon - love when she gets it out! Setting up the track...


While the big(ger) boys played with the track, Owen was busy showing me what he could do. Here is he crawling around with a tractor, making his tractor noises...



And showing me how he had mastered standing up! (Keep in mind this was over a month ago - he is now all out walking all over the place! Go Owen Go!)


Here's another group shot - I love this because all the boys are laughing! Aiden wasn't so sure (he's at the top), Austin (in red) had the giggles, Landon and Steven were laughing and Owen just thought he was big stuff looking up at all the boys! Thanks Aunt Suze for holding Aiden (notice the arm!). Fun!

And time was spent running to all the fun equipment that was out there!!! Austin and Aiden following Landon and Steven...

And of course we had to eat!!! That's a good looking table of boys!


Owen showing me the food he was eating...

Such a cutie!!!

I want to remember...

I love this picture of the boys. It was from back in May, one Sunday morning when Dave was at school and it was just the boys and me. They were being silly and I wanted some pictures. I asked them to hug and here's what I got. Just precious.

I want to remember...time goes so fast. Just looking at this picture from May, I can see how much they have changed. I always think "I need to write that down" when they say something funny, or do something cute, and then I forget.

This past week, I was out of town for work for 2 nights, 3 full days. A long time to be away! Dave was great with the boys and they did pretty good while I was gone. I got home after they went to bed, so I was very excited to see them in the morning. They each got up at different times...

• Landon was first at 6:00...he came walking into our room, slowly to my side of the bed and once he realized I was in there, he gave me a huge hug. Loved it!! Later in the morning he said "I love it when you are home, mommy." Melt my heart.
• Aiden was next around 6:40...I went in to get him out of bed and when he realized it was me, he jumped up and gave me a big hug. He sat on my lap for a long time, snuggled up into my neck. Heaven!
• Austin was sleepy today and woke up after 7:30. He jumped up and said mommy and gave me a big hug. He sat with me for a while but it was funny- he kind of got shy after that. Austin tried hard not to smile or talk to me until I sat down with him at breakfast. Then he started sharing! It was great!

I'm so glad to be home!!!

Survivor!

My mom, Karen, is an 8 year breast cancer surviror! Last Saturday we attended the "Stars of Pink" Fashion Show Luncheon put on by the Pink Ribbon Connection. It was a wonderful event - a luncheon and fashion show where all the models were SURVIVORS!!! Very moving!


What a wonderful way to celebrate how far Mom has come! Go Mom!!!

Here's to many, many more years!

Is there a cat in the house?

When Austin and Aiden were learning the letter "C" at daycare, they came home one day looking like little kittens. Aiden didn't want his face painted, but was cute with his blue ears on. Austin was all decked out...it was pretty cute!

Here kitty...so cute! :-)

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day - October 15

I love you, Devin and Elizabeth. Always...

Football

One of Dave's greatest hopes is that his boys...or atleast one of them...will play football! We love watching soccer games, too (although we don't get to as many niece/nephew games as we would like - sorry guys!)...but when Dave found out our nephew Justin was playing tackle football we had to go!

We went down one Saturday in September to watch a game and have a picnic. I don't have very many good pictures of the game or the picnic...but we did get two with Justin, the big football player, with Austin and Aiden. Way to go Justin! :-)

This one cracks me up - they are looking at Justin like "what IS that??" They weren't too sure about his shoulder pads...


But we were able to get them to sort of smile! One day they can be just like Justin!

Mommy and Boys

Back in July, we were playing outside one evening and Dave got a picture of me with each of the boys. I'm not real good at making sure I have pictures with the boys, so I thought I would post these for fun! I love my boys!

Landon and Mommy


Austin and Mommy


Aiden and Mommy

Saturday Morning Fun

Last Saturday morning, the boys were being crazy. It was a rainy morning and it's amazing how they almost knew because in no time they had the family room (and entire downstairs) full of toys! I commented on it and Dave said "well, they are getting older - they can hold a lot more!" So we had a lot of picking up to do that day - but it was fun!

There's nothing special about these pictures - just capturing some of the fun times the boys have playing together. As they get older, they tend to "fight" (push, yell, get frustrated) with each other more, but they are also having longer stretches of play time all together. It's fun to watch!

Aiden being silly for the camera...so cute! :)

Here are a few fun shots I got while they were "watching football" - i.e. using their imaginations. Landon pulled out the piano bench and "the brothers" (as Landon calls them - cute) were soon to follow and wanted up. I asked what they were doing and Landon said "watching a football game...down there!" (pointing to the floor) Good idea!

Silly faces! (Don't mind their mis-matched outfits. They were dressed...then I went to Kohl's and came home with a new shirt for each of them and they HAD to put them on! It was a very colorful day!)

And the best shot - such handsome little boys!!! I love them!

Landon's Creation

Landon is turning into a little artist. He loves to draw, he loves to color and he is always asking me if he can paint!! I'm always shocked when he comes home from school, eats his snack really fast and then stands (yes, stands) at the kitchen table drawing, cutting, coloring...after doing that all day at school!!! I'm so curious to see how this keeps up as he gets older!

Lucky for him he had a creative project for school...for a display, they were to decorate a poster titled "It's All About Me Tee" - they could color it, add pictures - whatever they wanted. So one week, that was our project for the week! (I saw our because Landon and I tackled it together - he did the writing and coloring...I helped find pictures!)

Here is Landon hard at work on the poster on the first day...lots of white space to fill:

Here is the final product...pretty good for kindergarten!!!

Full poster (sorry it's sideways!):

And here is the result of one of his sessions standing at the kitchen table. He was quiet for a while, then started asking for his scissors and tape. The long one is a train, the shorter one is a line of boats all taped together. Very creative...good job Landon! :)

More Family!

Recently, we've had times where the boys have had pictures taken with their cousins and grandparents on both sides of the family. Here are some of the shots....


My side of the family...at my parent's woods:

There are 5 grandsons in my family...(l to r) Aiden (2), Landon (5), Owen (1), Steven (5), Austin (2). Owen kept grabbing Landon and Steven's heads in the above picture - they were cracking up!



The boys in Heaven on a Bobcat...(l to r) Aiden (2), Owen (1), Austin (2), Steven (5), Landon (5). They all thought they were pretty big!



Dave's side of the family...at his parent's woods:

There are 11 grandkids on this side of the family...10 boys and 1 girl! We'll divide this into 3 rows...(l to r) - Front row: Grant (4), Makayla (6), Trent (6), Nate (5), Landon (5). Middle Row (and on laps): Blake (3), Austin (2), Aiden (2), Brad (5). Back Row: Justin (9), Evan (11).




And the whole crew!!! 10 adults and 11 kids!



Great times with family! :-)