Joey's birthday day

 Joey's actual birthday was on Friday.  I happen to be off on Friday's, so it was fun to get to spend his actual birthday with him.

I made it a fun birthday day for Joey:  he got to pick everything we did that day.

First up...pick up Connor and Audrey for the morning.

Next on the birthday boy's wish list was to head to Krispy Kreme for donuts: check!  :)

Joey thought it was so fun that I was letting him pick all of our activities (within reason, of course...)

Next we headed to a fun park.  The boys got to explore in the creek, and the girls had fun running around together.  Norah (still refusing to walk) scooted around and climbed on the play equipment.

Next up on the wish list: root beer from Sonic...check.

Next we headed home for swim gear to head to the splash park. The birthday boy wanted to go to the fun "bucket splash park", so we went to the one in Rogers, and not the one by our house.  Only for the birthday boy!  :)

Next up:  lunch at Steak 'n Shake.  The boys couldn't believe they got a "big" shake to share!  :)

After that, we took Connor and Audrey home, and then headed home with a Redbox (of Joey's choosing) to have a little down time before daddy got home.

After daddy got home and a yummy dinner of biscuits and gravy (second year in a row that Joey has picked that for his birthday dinner...), then it was time for cake and presents!

Joey was surprised by a DQ cake!

Gotta love the sibling hugs after they get a gift.  I had to do this when I was little!  And, can you see Joey's rug burn on his shoulder.  That's courtesy of Uncle Jeff!  :)

Thanks Norah!

Grandpa was here working on the Adair house, so we saved the gifts from him and Nana for Joey's actual birthday.  He loves Legos right now.  Thanks Nana and Grandpa!

Uncle Josh was here as well, and he got him another Lego set.  Joey does not get tired of Legos, and he loves to take his time putting them together (and he can follow the instructions all by himself now!)  Thanks Uncle Josh and Aunt Val!

Joe and I got him a scooter and this new backpack for Kindergarten.  It is a Mario backpack with a lunch box, and he loves it!

Joey and Kylah got Uncle Josh a Pez.  I think Kylah's exact words after he opened it was, "you can share that with Joey and me, Uncle Josh."  :)

I think Joey had a great day, and it was fun to spoil him for a day.  :)

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In other news...

I put Norah's hair in her first pigtails yesterday!

She looked so grown up!

Visitors...the party...and a climber

So, I'm a little behind on the blogging.  I think I counted almost 30 pictures in this post!  :)

To start, this was a cute Sunday morning picture a week and a half ago. 

We have had so many visitors lately...we love it!

To start things off, we had Jeff and his fiancee Courtney come to visit us a week and a half ago. It was the first time I had met Courtney (the rest of my family got to meet her in January when they stopped to take my kids up to Kansas.)  We love her and are so excited for her to become a part of the family in October.  And...I didn't get a picture of her.  Oops!

But I did get one of Norah cuddling with her Uncle Jeff!  She loved him!

Then on that Tuesday Joe's brother Jake and Katie came to visit with little Naomi.

Norah and Noami are still little buds!  :)

I love this sweet picture of Joe and Jake with their girls.

We had a great time with Jake and Katie here. Joe's parents were even here at the same time!  :)

Jennifer was recovering from surgery, and she got a little bored at home all by herself.  :)

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My parents made the long drive from Ohio to come see us last Friday.  They got here late on Thursday night, so they were here when the kids woke up on Friday morning.

They were so excited!

Joey enjoyed watching cartoons with Papa. 

My parents brought birthday gifts for Kylah and Joey.  You would have thought it was Christmas!

Kylah loved her barbie (and many many other gifts...)  :)

These Nintendo DS games were the first ones that Joey opened, and his reaction was priceless.  He was so excited!

Friday was a georgous day, and we went for a walk on the trail and to the museum.

Kylah was having a blast with Papa and Gramma.

Only in Arkansas will you find a statue of a pig along the trails.  :)

Later that day, Norah had a little accident and fell while climbing the air mattress (more on the climbing in a bit...)

She hurt her little wrist, and we had to watch her for a little while to make sure it wasn't hurt worse than we thought.

So, when you have a daddys who's a physical therapist and a baby with a hurt wrist, what do you do?

You get an ice pack and bandage it on so she can't get it off.  She didn't like it, but I think it helped!

She was all smiles laterthat night with Papa!

She loves reading books.

Saturday was the day of Joey's birthday party.  I rented a room at a local motel with a pool, and we had a pool party!

Joey requested a Mario and Luigi party and cake, so I did my best. 

The party table with the food and goodies.  It turned out to be a fun, stress-free party.

The boys loved swimming and playing games in the pool.

And daddy did some fun launching games!

Kylah liked to be launched too!  She's our little fish.

I "swam" with Norah.  Actually, I didn't have to really get in the pool since Joe was there.  It was great!  :)

I love the look on Joey's face here as he's waiting for his cake to be lit.

Unfortunately I forgot something to light the candles with AND it was windy, so we had to borrow a lighter from some random (nice) man, and Joey basically blew out the lighter instead of the candles.  Oh well, we tried!  :)

Cake with his buddies.

Back at the house, Papa played school and restaurant with Kylah.  He was speaking her love language! She even got him and Gramma to sit on the floor for story time!  :)

Bedtime snack.  Love those sun-kissed cheeks.

Joey cuddling with Papa.

And being silly.

And playing games.  :)

 We had a great time with my parents here, and we really appreciate them driving so far for just a few days.

We spent the last few days in Kansas at Joe's grandpa's funeral. It was an amazing funeral for an amazing man.

We got back last night, and we have more visitors!  Uncle Josh came to hang out for a few days before he heads up to New York to be with the rest of his family.  (Grandpa is here also working on the Adair house.)  :)

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And the there's this little crazy thing.

I don't quite understand it.  She can't walk yet, but she can climb up onto this table all by herself! (And she is climbing everything she can now!)  My other two were not climbers at all, so this is new territory for us.

She is a stinker, but we love her!

Well, if you made it through all those pictures, congrats!  :)

Tomorrow is Joey's birthday (and Josh's birthday!) so we have a fun day planned.

So long

Joe's grandpa passed away peacefully last night, surrounded by his family. 

He was known as Joseph Harold Manthe Sr. (the first of the Joe's!), Dad, Grandpa, and Great Grandpa.

Joe made it up to Kansas last night to see him before he passed, and we are so grateful for that.

Grandpa will be remembered for many things, but one of them is his saying "so long"  instead of "good-bye."  Joe's dad now does the "so long" with his grandkids, so that will live on!  :)

Here is the last picture we have with Grandpa/Great Grandpa taken in March.  

We will greatly miss this wonderful man of God!

swimming and blueberries

 We have had some fun pool days these past 2 weeks on my days off.  We have gone to the public pool, and to Meredith's neighborhood pool.  The kids have had swimming lessons all this week, so they are getting more and more confident.

Popsicles are always a fun treat at the pool!  :)

Norah is not too sure about the water, but she usually warms up to it after a while.  Unfortunately she hates the little baby floaties, so I have to hold her the whole time in the pool or be in the baby pool with her.

Last Friday was actually a cool morning, so we thought it would be a great morning for blueberry picking. We found a blueberry farm not too far away, and we met up with Christine and Meredith (I'd link to their blogs, but I'm pretty sure they've both given up on blogging.)  :)

The girls were great pickers.  Ok, actually I think Kylah ate more blueberries than she put in her bucket, and Norah wasn't too helpful.  :)  But don't they all look so cute?!

Jakin and Joey were both great pickers, and they had a blast together.

We ended up with some great blueberries.  I made fresh blueberry muffins that night, and then I froze the rest of the blueberries.  I'll have to do some more baking soon!  :)

fizz

 Did you know that if you put a mint Mentos in a 2 liter of pop...

 ...it will explode?!

Well, now you do!  Go try it with your kids!  Best $1.50 I've ever spent!  :)