Beautiful Labor Day weekend

It was another beautiful weekend up north over Labor Day. We almost had more animals than people up there. Good thing uncle Mike doesn't mind the puppies because they all wanted to snuggle with him on the sofa. Matt is getting into a bad habit of wanting to roast marshmallows every time there is a fire. That wouldn't be so bad except there is a fire going almost all of the time. Matt is getting to be such a big boy, he even gets his own seat on boat rides now. He is also able to start playing cards at night. He taught uncle Mike a new game...it's called Zingo and it is quite addicting!

Camping in Matt's Room

It takes up a little space, but Matt likes to "camp" in his bedroom now. Hey, we figure whatever works to get him to sleep in his own room!

Mr. Fix It

Daddy is teaching Matt how to fix cars with pretend tools right now. We can't wait until he can actually help with the real cars.

Fun at the State Fair

It was a beautiful weekend and although many other people had the same idea as us, we decided to go to the State Fair on a Saturday. Matt got to ride a bus for the first time...he was pretty excited. We like the Birth Center at the Fair because there are all sorts of baby animals to pet. We just missed a baby cow being born by 5 minutes! Matt was a little shy around the police dog, but that dog was a gentle giant. Our mistake was to push Matt in the stroller for 5 hours and feed him mini donuts...he had a lot of energy to burn when we got home!

Dress like a Rock Star at school

Friday was dress like a Rock Star day at school. Good thing mommy and daddy can come up with a cool idea at the last minute. Matt even learned the rock star hand signal...thanks daddy for teaching me.

Visiting with Grandma

Grandma from Arizona came to visit. We had fun at the zoo on Sunday. Matt wanted to use his own camera to take pictures of the animals. The butterfly house was open so we decided to check it out. It's pretty cool, but Matt didn't want them to land directly on him. He tried really hard to get them to land on his paper, but it is harder than it looks.

We had a nice dinner the night before grandma left. Cousin William and Matt were having fun together. I'm not sure what they lost, but I think it fell through the cracks on the chair.

Matt's 3rd B-Day Party

We got very lucky and had a beautiful day for a birthday party! Thank you to all of our friends and family who came and made it a special day for Matthew!

Matt is already 3!

The dogs are never very far away when Matt is doing something. They wanted to help him with his cupcake, but settled for helping him when he opened his presents.

Teacher Ashley made Matt a cute little crown for his 3rd Birthday. They told me he wouldn't even take it off at nap time. We brought cookies in so the kids could frost and decorate them by themselves. There were multiple tornado warnings during snack time so things didn't go exactly as planned, but at least mommy and daddy got to experience what exactly happens during a tornado drill at daycare!

Who is the better influence?

Matt is learning how to eat cake like his daddy. No plate needed, just sit on the counter, eat straight from the pan and mostly frosting vs. cake! I'm not sure why Lilly is hiding behind the pillow, but it may have something to do with the mess in the living room. Most likely created by Matt, but don't let that cute puppy face fool you, she likely contributed. I'm not sure who is the worse influence...daddy or mommy. I let him "color" the driveway with his feet, but daddy is teaching him how to drive!

Matt loves the trampoline

Although Mommy can't do too much jumping, we can still wear Matt out be letting him go wild on the trampoline. Can you tell he loves to jump on it!

Changes in Ely!

We enjoyed another beautiful weekend in Ely a few weeks ago. Daddy spent a lot of time entertaining Matt by catching frogs and picking blueberries. It is always nice being up north because the dogs are so exhausted, they'll make a bed out of anything. The new "log cabin" is finished. It looks great on the inside too, but I didn't get any pictures of that. The new deck also works out well at mealtime.

Bathroom renovation

Jeff has been very busy remodeling the upstairs bathroom. Here are a few before and after photos. Not bad for the very limited budget I put him on!

Getting ready for baby!

We finally started working on the new baby's room! So far we have the crib set up and a dresser...it's a start at least. Matt hated his crib when he was a baby, but now, he likes to jump in it and call it his again. I think I'm ready for the baby because I've started trying the baby clothes on the dog again. Jeff hates it when I do it, but Bailey doesn't seem to mind.

Matt is getting to be a big boy!

Look who is riding his first big boy bike!! It is tough to keep up with him these days, but he keeps himself pretty busy in the backyard. He loves the bridge daddy built for him so he can get a closer look at the cows. Also, thanks to Matt's love of the hose, Lilly has had an "outside" bath almost every night in July!