Scrub-a-dub-dub...

The boys in the tub!

Ethan and Colby love to take baths. They usually end up taking two a day, and they ask to take even more!

A "Shell" of a Party

This weekend we had Ethan's 4th birthday party! I cannot believe he is already that old! He wanted a Ninja Turtle Party. We just let all the little ninja turtles eat a lot of pizza! Here are some of the pics. Thanks to all of you who came a spoiled him rotten! I still haven't found room for all the new toys!

Yikes!

Zak was really proud of this cake. He's taking all the credit for it. I think I helped out a lot...anyway, it did turn out pretty cute. (Tammy--are you impressed?)

Happy Birthday to our big 4-year-old!

It's a good thing he's so cute!

Colby can cause so much trouble around here! He is constantly into things he should not be. By the end of the day we are worn out! Although it is sometimes hard to do when we are in the middle of dealing with him, we just have to laugh at how quickly he can manage to find the next thing to explore. I used to think it was hard to keep my house clean because we have toys out...now I get to deal with a variety of random objects left all over the house. Some of his favorite things to dig out and drag around: cell phone chargers, my shoes, Zak's belts--usually with a pair of pants still hooked on, spatulas or whisks--or both, a bag of quilt batting (why do I even own this???), a curling iron, a box of Kleenex--which he loves to unload throughout the house, and anything from the pantry. People probably expect to see toys in my family room when they stop by, but some of the objects that often litter my floor may be a little more surprising. I guess if anyone is disappointed by the mess on my floor, I will just have to distract them with my cute boys.

Tuckered out

I always think the boys look so cute when they fall asleep in their car seats, and when they both fall asleep at the same time, it is the best!

Bug Ugly!

We found this bug right outside our front door the other night. It was huge! That is Zak's hand in the picture to give you some perspective. We also recently found out we have a snake and a family of quail living in our yard. It's like a desert zoo around here!

Standing room only

Colby now refuses to sit in his booster seat, but he can't reach the table when he sits in the chair, so he just stands up to eat. It's not too much of a problem for him because he will only focus on his food for about 2 minutes anyway, and then he is off to more exciting things!

Ethan Rocks!

Ethan loves to listen to Zak's mp3 player. We finally made him his own playlist and he just sits and rocks out! His favorite song--The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song, of course!

AZ Summer Vacation...

What a crazy couple of weeks we have had! On the 4th, Zak's Aunt Jan (his Mom's sister) came to visit us for a few weeks. She lives is Florida, so it is not often we get to see her, and we were really excited to have her here again. We tried to plan some exciting things to entertain her while she was here, but that turned out to be a difficult task. It is just too hot to do much besides sit and stare at each other! We did go to the Desert Museum after dark, the Children's Museum, and we drove up to Mt. Lemmon to get out of the heat one afternoon.

Of course we also spent time at Dairy Queen, Eegee's, and Wendy's for frosties! Ethan and Colby loved having her here, and Ethan especially thought she was here just to entertain him for 2 weeks! He wanted her to read to him constantly, especially when she spoiled him with lots of new books!

To celebrate the 4th, we went to a fireworks show in Saddlebrooke, which is a retirement community a few miles north of us. We had an inside scoop (thanks Mike!) and went in the back way to watch the show. We sat on the golf cart path right off and just above the golf course. We ended up being so close to the fireworks that they were too bright to even look at at first, and it was so loud! It scared the kids! After our eyes and ears adjusted, it turned out to be so cool. We will be there again next year for sure! We just hope the word doesn't spread about it, because we liked having the whole place to ourselves. So Shhh!
While Aunt Jan was here, we had other visitors coming in and out. We had some of Zak's family and some of my family as well. It was good to catch up with everyone.
We got to really enjoy the AZ summer when our AC went out! We first noticed it was not working right on Saturday, and trying to get anyone out here to fix it turned out to be a challenge. We ended up being without air conditioning until Monday night. As our house quickly got up above 90 degrees, we moved out! Thanks to Nate and Melinda for letting us all crash there for a couple days! We now know that AC is nothing to take for granted!