Cloud Nine

or
Seventh Heaven
or
Ecstatsy
or
Every boys dream come true

This is some phrases that Keagan and Deker might use describe an outing we did on Sunday evening. 

Andrew's really good friend, Marshall, recently started a job where he works on tractors (or as Andrew says, he works at Western States CAT as a heavy equipment Mechanic).  Since Marshall knows how much my boys LOVE tractors, he took us all to his work yesterday afternoon to see the tractors.  Keagan and Deker were in heaven seeing, climbing on and even sitting in a few tractors.  There was even one smaller tractor that Marshall started and helped Keagan lift up the blade of the tractor. 

After seeing the tractors outside, he took us inside to see a couple that were being worked on and also showed them his tool box which Deker thought was really awesome.  Enjoy the pictures!

This is one HUGE blade (or in Andrew's words it is a D-10's blade).

Of course, Deker finds a big bolt.

By the time we left, Keagan could get on and off this thing all by himself.

Each boy taking a turn on the skidster.

What an amazing time was had by all the boys.  Deker had so much fun that before we even left, he told me he wanted to come back again.  Thanks Marshall for making my kids week!

All Boys

You know you are a mom of boys when:

-At breakfast you hear "my spoon is the tractor's scoop scooping up the cereal" and makes tractor noise while eating cereal and holding the spoon by only two fingers.
-At lunch you have to say, "your sandwich is not a car/train/tractor, etc., it is just to eat".
-You hear "my fork is a Jackhammer, jacking the noodles and putting them into the dump truck (their mouth)".
-While waiting for Dad to get home to go somewhere and you tell your child they can't dig in the dirt because we have to go somewhere and they have a complete meltdown.
-Your child's hand gets caught in the door while going outside and while you are trying to console them they start cry even harder, only to find out that they are just mad because you are stopping them from going outside to dig and the moment you realize that and let them go, said child immediately stops crying and runs outside to dig.
-While getting dressed you hear "My hand is the claw of the tractor" and makes tractor noises while very robotically picking up each item of clothing with claw-like hands and putting them on.
-You come home from the library one day and realize you have 15 tractor/truck/train books and make them each pick out 4 to keep and take the rest back. 
-Your kids know exactly where in the library to find the tractor books and you tell them, they can each pick out 2 tractor books and that is it, but somehow when you start checking out, at least one child sneaks in an extra book. 
-You decide to make the boys personalize T-shirts and let them pick out their own design to put on their shirt and this is what they pick out:

Keagan chooses an Army tank.

Deker a track hoe.

 They choose a train for Bauer.

And just because...a Picture of my three boys swinging and enjoying one of rare beautiful days.

Houston, we have a problem...

I guess I should have chosen a different pair of pants to put on Bauer this morning.  Here is what has happened today.  It actually happened twice (so far) which is why I actually have pictures. 

Birthday Boys

Thursday (May 5) was my oldest and youngest child's birthday.  Keagan turned 5 and Bauer turned 1.  I started the morning off by singing Happy Birthday to Keagan, then Keagan and Deker helped me sing Happy Birthday to Bauer, it was very cute to hear them.  For breakfast, I made a "5" and a "1" pancake for the birthday boys. 

Deker wanted his picture taken with his pancake (a regular circle one) too.  Notice the bite already taken out of it, even though we had not prayed yet. 

The boys and I packed a picnic lunch and headed to Andrew's work to have lunch with him.  While I was getting the boys loaded into the van, Keagan said to me "Mom, I LOVE being 5."  For dinner, we went to Red Robin.  

On Saturday, we had their party.  It was really hard trying to come up with a theme for the party that wouldn't be too old for Bauer, but not too young for Keagan.  So, I finally settled on just a color scheme which ended up being blue (Keagan's favorite color), yellow and brown.  I really love how it all turned out.  Here are several pictures of the party. 

Keagan's cake

Bauer's cakes.  The big one was for everybody to eat and the small one was his own special "smash" cake. 

All the cakes.  To go with the color scheme of the party, I layed Chocolate cake, yellow cake and white cake tinted blue.  I did not frost the edges so that everybody could see the colors.  Which also made it so much easter and faster to decorate.  Then of course, Keagan's cake had to have blue writing which he tells me everyday or that it is his favorite color. 

 The weather actually cooperated and we were able to have the dinner outside.  The back porch decorated. 

A close-up of the banner Andrew and I made using my Silhouette.

My Birthday boys.  I used my Silhoutte to cut the numbers out and then also used the same material to cover party hats. 

5 year old Keagan

 1 year old Bauer

Blowing out the candles.  

 

Bauer being very happy and silly after eating all the frosting and some cake. 

When the boys got up from their naps on the day of the party and they saw the presents for Keagan and Bauer, Deker got really upset that there wasn't one for him.  We had been explaining to him that he would get his own party for his birthday, but he never got it.  I was really worried that he would have a meltdown during the party, but he didn't which made me extremely happy. 

Keagan, we love you so much and are very grateful for the boy that you are.  You are a good oldest brother. It has been fun this week to watch you excitedly tell everybody we saw (even complete strangers) that it was your 5 birthday and Bauer's 1 birthday.  You can write your own name and count to twenty (and beyond if I tell you it is 30 not thirty-ten or 40 not forty-ten, etc.).  You are very excited to ride a school bus and start Kindergarten. 

Buaer, are such a joy and a great addition to our family of boys.  It warms my heart to see how much you try to play with your older brothers.  I love to see the pure love in your face when you watch your brothers.  We love you so much and can't wait to see what you are going to learn to do next.  You are crawling all over the place and walking along the furniture very quickly.  You get so excited when you push the chairs around the kitchen, but you get even more excited when we take your walker outside and you push it up and down the driveway.