I love my life!

Chase wanted to have a pirate birthday party this year, and he had a pirate birthday party alright. My mom, being the amazing mother and grandmother that she is worked very hard to make his party the best. She made the coolest pirate costume ever, and a matching one for Mason. She even made a pirate skirt for Karson so they could match. She helped pick up hats and treats for all of the kids that came to the party, she slaved over my house to get it ready for the party. Of course she does stuff like this everyday for her children and grandchildren so it is nothing new, but I thought she deserved EXTRA special thanks for all of her hard work for this party. Thank you Mom, We love you so much!

Here are a ton of pictures from his fun day!

Here is Erick with his sisters all dressed up for the occasion!
Chase's Birthday party wouldn't be complete without his best friend, Karson!

Chase's Great Grandpa came in for the party too, which meant so much to Chase, Erick and me!
Here's my Daddy, being a good sport and pulling a bunch of kiddos around in a boat.
I really went all out for the party, getting both of my arms completely tattooed and all :)

Here are my boys walking the plank!

The kids hunted through the woods to find the hidden treasure chest.

Thanks to Erick, Uncle Ronnie, Granddaddy, Grandpa, Denton, Ashley, Emily, Heather and whoever else helped to "build" Chase his own pirate ship!!!

Going on a ride in a pirate ship in a field, probably a first for everyone!







Here is the birthday boy, parrot and all!
Here is the awesome cake that Larie made! She is incredible!!

Chase making his wish

Chase and Mason in their pirate ship

My mom even made Bailey a costume for the party. We aren't "dog people", my mom is just amazing like that.

Amy was over last week and said that she wanted to get the boys' picture together while they were 4,3,2 and 1. Since Chase turns 5 TODAY!!!, we only had a few days to get it done! This is NEVER an easy job which is probably why we put it off like we do. So, Monday we got the boys coordinating-ly dressed (yes I made that word up) and took them up to Western's campus to get some pictures... Didn't turn out so well, but this is as good as it gets at this age, I suppose.

This is the van ride over, can you tell which two are our rowdy ones??????












This must be our sign to give it up, it's not happening!!!



The go-kart that we got to borrow for the summer (By the way Thanks for letting us borrow it, Ben!!!), had to go home so Erick is just dying to buy another age INappropriate toy for our boys. This is the latest and greatest. I don't think we are going to buy this particular one but here is Chase giving it a test drive!


I wasn't overly anxious to go for a spin, but Chase so wanted to take me for a ride on it to show me how big he is!


Brave Nana!!

The boys and I took Erick to Beech Bend today. He had so much fun. Just look at him on his favorite ride, The Elephant Ride. Yes, he is in there by himself!!!! No, really it was Erick's company picnic on Saturday and they held it at Beech Bend this year. The boys had a blast, we will definitely be taking them again next summer.
We definitely had a fun family day!
This is Chase and I going on our first roller coaster ride of the day.

It was actually a little scary... it wasn't the safest I've ever felt.

This is me when I realized we weren't done and had another lap to go!

My boys going on a ride together, this is such a fun age!


We all rode this together at first but Erick and I wouldn't let the boys spin our cart since we were already feeling sick from the ride itself spinning, so we let them ride again by themselves and boy did they spin!

Chase has been obsessed with going to Granddaddy's farm in Allen county lately, so yesterday I promised him that we could take Tucker there today. He was in my bed at 8:00 this morning saying "Wake up Mommy, it's time to pick up Tucker and go to Allen County!" Larie brought Tucker over here and they all got their overalls on and were ready to go! We had so much fun, they wanted to have an adventure, and boy did we have an adventure! I love that Chase is making so many memories on this farm, because I have the best memories of going there from the time I was just a little kid his age all the way until now. But I must say, as many times as I have been there and as many stories as I have heard about the farm, I really learned some stuff about it today that I never knew :) For instance, I did not know that sharks live in the stream down the hill, and that if you throw big rocks in the water, it will scare them and keep them from coming up and attacking. I mean, that is very useful information and I never knew it!

I did know that a long time ago, Indians lived on the farm. However, I did not know that the reason they left was because a pirate ship crashed landed on the farm and the Indians had to jump the fence and hide down the hill to escape. (By the way, Chase isn't sure if the Indians died or if they are still living safely down the hill on the other side of the fence) This is what is left of the pirate ship. They are standing right by the door that the pirates used to go in and out of.

This is the treasure box that the pirates left behind, they took the treasure but just left the box.

They had so much fun today. Running around the farm being boys, getting dirty! They solved mysteries, discovered stuff no one has ever discovered :), crossed logs, went hunting....... It was a great day!





This is the indian hole, it can be filled with muddy water but when you clean it out, the water runs crystal clear through it.. Chase had to splash the water on his face because that is what all farmers do.???


Chase and Mason had to open the gate for me to drive through, Tucker is helping Chase shut it back. It's so funny to see Chase get all excited when we pull up because he wants to get out and open the gate for me because I remember always getting excited to get out and open the gate for Daddy. He thinks he is so big!!

Last night Ashley called me at like 6:00 and said "Ummm, we pretty much need to have a bonfire tonight and roast marshmallows." So I said, " Go buy the marshmallows and we're on." Then she said "Yeah, I already bought them!" So, we had a very impromptu bonfire last night. It was so fun! I love this weather, I got to put on jeans and a sweatshirt and it felt so good outside! Ashley brought the marshmallows, Kurt brought the graham crackers and chocolate, and I made the coffee... (and milk for some).
Here is well, mine and Julie's kiddos

Here is Ashley with her friend, Trevor

And here are Kurt and Steven posing so pretty for me