Fun in the Summer Sun!

OK so I spent like 20 minutes putting cute captions on all these pictures and blogger deleted them all, but at least they didn't delete my pictures.... so now my captions will be much shorter and quick in hopes this will post correctly.

We've had a crazy week! Trooper and Megan took us to Botanical Gardens on Thursday morning... Look at how stinking cute this picture is...!!

Couldn't find the snuggly... no worries! Evan fits right in the sling still... maybe. You can think it, we did, "Ummm... where exactly did his body go?"

Evan was measured last Tuesday at the Pediatricians office and he is now between the 95th and 97th percentile for length! He is still in the 55th for weight, but he's getting up there! So, we decided he was ready to try rice cereal for the first time!

Nearly knocked over with excitement. Not really. He didn't really like it, but what kid does at first?

John was a fabulous Daddy and set up a slip'n'slide for Brody. He and Brody played outside for at least an hour. John would sometimes let him ride him like this or he would take Brody and sling him down the slide like a baby bowler. It was hilarious.

Check out the awesome action shot-

Papa John and Aunt Sybil came over for dinner Saturday night. Brody wanted John and me out of the room, but to Sybil he would pat on the sofa beside him and say, "you can sit right here".

Big baby or little lady?

The boys and I were invited to lunch with Poppa and Grandma on Friday, but we didn't realize that meant we got to go to Chuck-E-Cheeses! Brody and Poppa ran around riding on games, taking pictures, laughing and eating "bolicious"(delicous) pizza. Evan certainly had a good time too!

Until overstimulation caused him to promptly fall asleep.

This horse ride was Brody's favorite. He must have ridden it 5 times at least.

Oh and yes...he rode in a monster truck. He was a little freaked out.

Shortly after that we drove out to Lexington to go to the pool with the Ty Tyler girls.
This pool was a part of Gold's Gym and had a great little kiddy pool section with fountains that Brody really enjoyed running around in.

Tristin can now hold her breath and swim under water. I am totally impressed. Maybe she can help Brody figure this out during our family beach trip this year.

Evan loved it too. He chilled with whomever held him. Stayed awake the whole time until I thought he might turn into a giant prune baby. Once I got him out and dry, he fell right asleep in his car seat. No amount of pool noises kept him from sleeping either... not even a screaming kid that came and screamed RIGHT BESIDE him. No worries for this kid.

and finally... something totally funny has occurred in the life of Evan. He has discovered his feet. He will sit in anything that is slightly leaned back and check them out forever. SO fun.

Anyone else want to play soon? We're always up for it!! :)

Back to the Beach!

So, the Smith family kindly invited us to the beach with them last week. Their parents have a beach house down in Amelia Island, Florida. Since the men folk had to work, Jamie and I loaded up the kids into the van and off we went!

Sorry, these pictures will be a little out of order, but here we go!

One day we decided to let the kiddos go to the beach in their clothes. It was a nice evening and we wanted to take the babies with us in the snugglies. So, the kids had so much fun getting dirty and playing in a tide pool. Here are the babes working hard at what they do. They spent a lot of time in this little contraption together though I'm not sure that either one realized the other was there...

One night we decided to have a semi movie night. We put in an episode of Mickey Mouse and popped some popcorn. They were zombies for a while, but it worked out nicely for Jamie and me! haha

Back to the water...Brody and Madeline also had a lot of fun at the community pools, but sadly I didn't take any pictures of that. They did really well together just swimming around in their floaties.

Of course a little sand throwing is necessary.

I think Madeline was a little hesitant in this picture due to feeling so dirty... Brody meanwhile lives his life in a constant state of smelly and dirty...

I don't know why this was sideways, but these boys sure are cute, right?

We also had some good old book reading times. Jamie and I sort of took turns with the kids. She'd take the older ones in the morning and I'd stay with the babies and then we'd switch for the afternoon or whatever. It actually worked out really well.

There were some crazy stairs to and fro the beach, but the kids didn't mind one bit.
and back to those adorable babies. So fun.

Thanks for a wonderful trip!! We had so much fun with you guys.

Family Beach Vacation

Before we get started I just wanted to share: I came back from brushing my teeth one morning, and this is what I saw. Evan really needs to quit playing with his brother's shoes.And now the Family Beach Trip!! So the Zaepfel family loaded up and all met down in Isle of Palms for our annual beach trip. It was loads of fun except that we missed the Dirks clan terribly.

Evan mostly sat around chilling with different people for the week. He sort of preferred to be indoors. One day, little guy-you will LOVE the great wide open air and the ocean waves!

Trooper managed somehow to grow into a little toddler (almost) this week. While he was there he learned how to crawl on his hands and knees, start really waving and saying stuff like "mama" and pulling up to stand on things. I like to sit back and watch as Peter and Megan realize that they will soon have their hands way more full. ;)

This is the first day out on the beach. Unfortunately the next day I was doubled over in stomach pain that lasted all day and into the night. I couldn't really eat anything and Evan was not too happy about the wimpy milk supply, but he survived.

Trooper didn't enjoy the beach at first, but as soon as they showed him the tide pools he totally digged it. He even got a little tan!! what the what??

The only way to travel at the beach.

Still trying to figure out these wave things.

Brody had a BLAST. He loved everything about it. He loved the waves, the sand, the animals on the beach, the running around and he loved the grandparents. If you asked him if he wanted to do anything that involved the beach, he would always say , "YESS!" as if that was the greatest idea ever. :)

All this beaching it made the little man extremely tired. He and John must have spent 7 hours on average at the beach. In the mornings they went on bike rides and a little snoozing occurred. Meanwhile in the afternoons is was not uncommon to realize "hmmm, Brody just took a 4 hour nap." He was run ragged.

Brody was so happy to learn how to wipe the water from his eyes and to float on the top of the water (with supervision). He felt like such a big boy and well, he sort of is now. If only we could get him to be potty trained... :)

This is how Evan like the beach best. Pretty much as a noise maker. :)
Brent surprised Megan and came up for a few days. He loved seeing how big Trooper had gotten and (unlike his daughter-got to give her a hard time about it) thoroughly enjoyed the card playing that took place.

Brody kept saying that he was sad, sad, sad to leave the beach. He cried when he and John said goodbye to the ocean. Of course, it didn't help that when we got home we discovered he had a 102 fever. But, he's fine now! :)

Thank you Mom and Dad for a lovely week. Looking forward to next year already and hoping that the Dirks can join us again next time!

Random Pictures

Please feel free to add any commentaries on what you think is happening in all these photos. :)

Lot's happening lately!

To be honest I don't really have time to put up all the pictures I want to! There have been so many keepers. You can check out my facebook and John's facebook pages for some other pictures too.

Brody is such a sweet older brother (despite the fact that he throws rocks at Evan here and there and likes to poke him). He may be rough sometimes, but generally it's all because he wants to cuddle and hug and play with Evan. This picture is Brody "reading" to Evan from his favorite Veggie Tales book.
It was my birthday last Thursday, so what else would a mom want to do but take the kids to the zoo! :) No really, it was fun. We had those all inclusive passes so I got to go climbing on the wall. It was fun even though I'm afraid of heights.

Here are the kids enjoying a snack with Grand-Mama.

We recently went and visited the Dirks clan. Brody and I wanted to squeeze in as much play time as possible before they leave (this Friday!!!) for Berlin. They'll be gone for 2 months. We'll miss you guys, but we trust God will use you all in a powerful way.

had some awesome pool time. Took all of 2 minutes for the water to turn completely brown.

Brody happily gives Evan a bottle. He likes to help me in any way that he can. Doesn't he look like such a big kid in this picture?

Finally, Evan just wanted to say, "Yo. Word." He's the sweetest little baby. So happy and content. If anyone needs to catch some baby fever, he is REALLY good and spreading it. He loves to talk to anyone who will smile at him and he'll smile right back. So cute.

A Mother's Freak Out

SO-
Brody is such a sweet boy and it is so hard to believe how big he has gotten. He is completely good about going outside all by himself (we leave the screen door open) and going downstairs to the back yard and playing with Churchill. I will pop my head outside or look out the window every now and then to check on him, but I can usually hear him inbetween. SO, on one such occassion I went into the laundry room to check on the boy with Evan in my arms. Brody was apparently coming to check on me at the same time. So we happily met in the laundry room and exchanged a joyful smile and Brody decided he wanted to play outside some more. I said OK and off he went. WELL- as I was standing there looking at him and smiling at his cuteness he backed up and fell down the stairs. Now- I'm watching all of this and those stairs are concrete and they are a full story high. So, I run back inside and drop off the baby and screaming I run back out and check on Brody. He's crying profusely and I'm shaking it was so scary. But, praise the Lord He is fine. He rolled down a few stairs and then off the side onto the pinestraw and fortunately that was enough cushion for him to be absolutely fine. I'm pretty sure I will attribute that to the Lord sending guardian angels to keep him safe. THANK YOU LORD. I don't know if my heart can take this whole mothering a tough little boy that get's hurt. Please God give me strength. I was more upset than Brody! man-that was scary.

Evan's Baptism and 60th Anniversary Celebration!

Grand-Mayme and Grand-Daddy Earle celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary over the weekend. It was so wonderful to see all the people who came out to celebrate with them. Also exciting was that they weren't the only couple present that had been married at least 60 years! There were at least 3 other couples. :) This picture is only the Joe Tyler family.... there were LOT's of other Tylers present! Here is the John Tyler family. :) Brody was so funny at the party. The food tables were sitting right at his level and he just helped himself. I'm pretty sure that not a single person got away with food that hadn't been at least poked by him.

Evan had his big day on Sunday. The church hired a photographer and fortunately (by the grace of God) we made it on time for the 8:30 service and got our pictures taken.

Our small group that meets on Thursdays had three boys getting baptized together. Evan, Bradford and Bradford were born within a month of each other. We are so blessed to have gotten connected right away with these friends.

Evan, we are so excited to see how you grow up. God has His hand on you. You have an amazing Christian heritage from your family on all sides and to whom much is given, much is required. I pray that God fills you with His Spirit and that you never know a day without His presence in your life. We love you so much.

Psalm 103:17,18

"From everlasting to everlasting

the Lord's love is with those who fear Him

and His righteousness with their children's children-

with those who keep his covenant "

and remember to obey his precepts