Birthday Celebration

Happy Birthday to my brother Eric!!!

Saturday night Eric and his wife hosted us over for a barbecue and we were able to celebrate Eric's birthday. It was a nice time with family, good food and we played rock star for a few minutes (which anyone who knows me knows I think I am a rock star).

Eric and Lauren were showing us how it was done and my grandma and mom were really interested, but we could never quite convince them to play!

Had to add this picture... guess I am not the only one who thinks they are a rock star!

Hopping all the way...

On Saturday we went to the Kangaroo Farm with our friends the Caceres family (we missed you Mr. Caceres!!). There are so many pictures to share and we had a great time. It was interesting to take this tour and learn more about the differences between the Kangaroo and the Wallaby. In addition the farm had several other animals that we all got to pet and feed!

This tree was huge and it had two large swings and some hanging ropes which provided ton of entertainment; the kids loved it!

Samuel feeding this little Kangaroo, who was actually a mommy with baby in her pouch. We never saw a joey, but it was pretty amazing to know they were carrying their tiny ones with them!

Sadie holding the paw of this little Wallaby as Syrah fed her some nibbles of bread.

These are Kangaroo Jacks front paws... they were amazing. This was a five year old Kangaroo who stood over six feet tall and the owner said that he has about another foot of growth to complete. I knew that they were strong, but to see how large they are is pretty amazing!

This donkey has Micah's entire hand in his mouth; both the donkey's were super gentle and the owner insured us that he does not bite!

Towards the end of the tour we all got to feed the lama's; they preferred to eat the food from your mouth... here is Katrina feeding Mr. T who was very gentle, but didn't want to be petted at all! Doesn't it look like he is giving her a big kiss??

The last part of the tour we all got to hold a baby Wallaby; this is me and Bella. She was the sweetest little girl and I can see how people could fall in love and want to bring them home. She was giving me little kisses and was just a joy to hold and spend time with.

Even Billy fell in love with this little girl (I think he wanted to take her home!). We had a great time and even better to spend it with great friends. We would recommend this tour to others and see ourselves heading back some day!

Maplewood Madness

Sadie & Syrah's new school has a once of year carnival fundraiser. Being that this is our first year it was all new to us and we didn't know what to expect, but it was GREAT! We had a ton of fun and I even worked the "face painting booth" (I didn't cause anyone tears over my face painting abilities - or lack there of). The girls had a great time and now that we know more about how the event is run we look forward to inviting family and friends to the fun next year.

Syrah is at the fishing pond! This was her class booth (each classroom creates a booth and you use a number of tickets to participate).

Sadie doing the bean bag toss!

We are all ready looking forward to next year!

One big cupcake

Long over due we had Billy's Uncle Dave and Aunt Stephanie over for dinner. We didn't get to many pictures we were busy catching up, but Stephanie baked a HUGE cupcake for us... we all loved it and it was super nice of them to bring that AND a huge plate of brownies!!!

More frog fun~

We had some great impromptu family time with our friends the Caceres's this weekend... we celebrated the end of summer with a barbecue and they put up one of the water slides for the kids to play in (which they LOVED!). Samuel and Sadie were bug hunting when they found a frog, this isn't an unusual event, however this frog was HUGE and just as beautiful as can be. We each spent a moment holding the frog, we enjoyed it's beauty and then the kids released it back to the trees! What a fun treasure the little guy was!!

Samuel and his froggy find!!

Micah admiring the little guy!

On Sadie's arm

Can you tell how pleased she is to be holding him?

I love this shot because you can see him starting to climb up Katrina's arm!

Her first goal!!!!

Syrah got her first goal at her game on Saturday; it was so exciting and she was thrilled! She took the ball all the way down herself and scored!! She had so much fun and really has gotten into the game much more then even last week!

Just love this action shot!!

After each game the kids line up and give each other five and congratulate each other on a game well played!!

Soccer Star

Syrah had her first big game last weekend. She had a ton of fun and was so excited that some of her family and friends came to cheer her on! I have given her a new name... Tigger; she bounces through the entire game. The kids are cute and it isn't about who scores the most goals, but about how much fun they all have together.