Zachary Turns 3!

Oh I love this little boy!  He is strong willed, independent, ridiculous, gets into everything, and challenges me every day.  He also is sweet, kind, smart, loves to play with mom, and makes me laugh every day!   It is very hard to stay mad at him, even though he does plenty of things to get mad or frustrated about.  He definitely has a personality all his own!  We love our Zachy Pants!!

For Zach's birthday, he really wanted a party with his friends- just like Colton and Katie did.  He couldn't decide between Paw Patrol and Curious George-so we did both!  On Friday (the 19th) I gave him a simple Pirate Pups birthday party complete with a treasure hunt and cupcakes!  It was fun!  Then on his birthday (the 20th) I took Zach to pick out a birthday cake (he picked a giant cookie), we took the kids to play at Jungle Bungle, then we had chic-fil-a chicken nuggets with chic-fil-a sauce (zach's request) and then we had a Curious George cookie-cake.

We ended up switching it to our house the day-of because the weather was up in the air!

Madison is not wearing pants because she had a major blow out in her car seat right when we got to Jungle Bungle!

Zach's Birthday also marked 1 week of Zach going without his pacifier!!  Yay!  Three years old and finally pacifier free!!  We let him pick out a new toy at the store to celebrate (and a bonus birthday present!)  He picked a paw patrol scooter.  And, since I'm writing this late, we've spent the last week finally potty training!  My little boy is getting so grown up!  He is rocking potty training too!  I'm so proud of him!

Favorite Things:  Building with Lego Duplo blocks, Going for walks, riding his tricycle, climbing, spiderman, baking with mom, curious george, paw patrol, treats, chic-fil-a chickent nuggets with chic-fil-a sauce, toys that are loud or make noise, nerf guns, pretending to be a pirate and wearing his eye patch

Least Favorite Things: Eating dinner, being bored, cleaning anything

Blessing Baby Madison

With all of our summer travel, we didn't know when or where we were going to be able to bless baby Madison.  When Jon's brother Matt got engaged and scheduled his wedding in Minnesota on Labor Day weekend, we decided to just wait until then and bless her with all of the family!  We're so glad we did because it was a great weekend with family and Jon was able to have all of his siblings there as well as his parents and his oldest nephew, Tyler, for Madi's blessing!  All the men were able to stand in the circle and bless Madison and it was really special.  Jon did a great job with the blessing and Madison didn't cry or spit up or anything!  She wore a beautiful white blessing dress made for her by her Grandma Rider.  We are so grateful for little Madison!  She is a very special part of our lives and our family. 

Back to School!

The kids are back in school and it's wonderful. Both kids are so excited to be going to school together and to get to ride the bus home this year!  Colton is in 1st grade with Ms. Carstens and Katie is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Hansen (different Mrs. Hansen than Colton had for Kindergarten)!

Unpack Your Backpack

Colton's First Day of School

Katie's First Day of School- She about biffed it off the bus!