Anna's Masterpiece

This little girl got her first chance at the "big kid" crayons today.  She had so much fun.  Giggles, squeals, and shouts of joy erupted from her from the minute she began until she was finished.

This is a look at pure JOY!

 Studying every color, she moved them back and forth from hand to hand and made both dots and lines on the paper.

 Anna's masterpiece!  We both had so much fun!

Angry Bird Night!

I officially declared last night Angry Bird Night! in our house.  We were in need of a little family fun and the kids had a blast!

 We had Angry Bird Pizza for dinner.  The boys were so excited.

 Pizza!  I covered the whole pizza with sauce and cheese.  The topped the parts I wanted read with pepperoni.  I used a slice of american cheese cut to size for the beak, more cheese for the eyes, and sausage for the eye pupils and eye brows.  Super easy and fun!

 Brady shouts "Mom!  You made a level!"  ...of the game that is.

This pig snack was made of pea pods, carrots, pretzels, cheese and cucumbers.  It was gone in minutes and the boys thought it was great.

 Alex was pretty excited about our plates.

 Following dinner we played three Angry Bird games - no video games either.  Our first was Bird Ball.  No pictures of this one unfortunately, there was just too much going on!  We used our stuffed birds and basketball hoop to play Bird Ball!

Game 2: Angry Bird Bean Toss

 Game 3: Angry Birds Slingshot 

Brady especially enjoyed this one as he tried to know down all of my pig creations.

A super fun, family night!

A Day at Bear Lake

Saturday we headed north for a day at Bear Lake with the Koxliens, Lenzs, and Cedarblades.  Brady was so excited to use his new fishing pole to go fishing.  It was the first thing that he did when we got there.  Within minutes he pulled this sunny out of the water.

 Proud of his first fish with his new pole.

 Being silly...in the baby pool.

 Anna was not the biggest fan of her life jacket.  Poor thing lost her sense of balance so she was tumbling down all the time.  It was so high up on her neck too, that it was hard for her to move her head around.  Here she is "relaxing" in a chair.

 Brady, Alex and Josh enjoying their picnic.

 Big brother Brady helping to give Anna a little push.

 Boat rides we among the highlight of the day.  Captain Mark did a great job giving these boys wonderful tubing rides.  Do you think Brady and Josh are excited?

 All ready to go.

I just love the look on their faces.

 Anna enjoying the ride with daddy.

 On the boat.  If only Alex's eyes were open...

 My little fish swimming in the lake.

 Brady and Josh enjoyed jumping off the dock and swimming.

 Alex wanted to jump too, but Andy and I just weren't ready for that with him.  Andy's solution was a chair in the water where he could help him jump.  Worked great.

 Tubing, spinning fun.

 Part of our crew.

 My girls Tricia and Ellen.

 Having so much fun!

 Snuggles on the boat.

 Anna wasn't such a fan of the wind.  Andy's solution was the wrap her up in her blanket and let her little feet dangle.  Whatever works!

 A bit windy, but having fun with Ellen!

 The Koxlien cabin.  Beautiful!

 Ellen and Charles

 Fishing round 2 - another good catch.

 Alex enjoyed some fishing fun too.

 Too cute not to post.

 A little less windy this time.

It was a great day on Bear Lake spent with wonderful friends.  Thanks to Mark and Kaye for hosting!

Brady Loses a Tooth!

Brady lost his first tooth on Saturday morning while sitting in a time out.  What else do you do while sitting there doing nothing?  :)  He was so excited!

 Brady got to put his tooth in the tooth pillow that Andy used when he was a little boy.  He was pretty pumped about that.

 The tooth fairy brought him four quarters for his piggy bank.

 One excited little boy!

Fair Fun

Last Thursday night we headed out for the Northern Wisconsin State Fair.  It was a wonderful night of rides, animals, fair food, and lots of giggles!  The boys favorite ride by far was the race cars.  They rode them several time throughout the night and those smiles never left their faces.

 Anna thought it was pretty fun to watch her big brothers on those rides too.

 More cars.

 and motorcycles too.

 Our carousel ride.

 The boys pitched baseballs to win these giant inflatable bats. 

Just what we need around the house, right?

 Brady got his first chance to ride the bumper cars.  Grandpa Johnson took him and even let him do some of the driving.  Brady thought that was pretty awesome.

 Me and my cutie.

 Anna loved the frozen chocolate covered banana!

 What else do you do with a giant bat?

 Love this one!

 The biggest tractor at the fair.  The boys even got to climb up in the cab.

 Daddy's shoulders are way better than the stroller.

 This one is for my dad.  Thumbs up to the Allis-Chalmers WD-45!

 Another great pic!

 Brady played a balloon dart game and did really well!  He popped four balloons!

 And won himself a giant bowling pin!

 The roller coaster ride.  It was Alex's first.  Both boys loved it!

 Alex got to play a fishing game.

 He won a light saber (aka life saver according to Alex.)  :)

 Family fun.

 The end of our night...tired and happy.

 Tired legs needed a ride out to the car.  It was a great night at the fair!