Fall 2011 Highlights

{A few more highlights from 2011...}

Tanner started 1st grade in August. We prayed for a good teacher...and God gave him an awesome, Christian teacher that we all love! He is doing great and loves school.




Tanner tried a new sport this year and played little league fall ball. He loved it and we had fun watching him!




In October, Colten started walking. Tanner was 15 months when he started walking, and Colten was 13 months. Apparently I have slow walkers...and I can honestly say I am ok with that! Here are a few videos of Colten figuring it out:





On October 31, our church had their annual Chili Supper. We decided we would do Bible costumes this year and after much discussion, we landed on David and Goliath. It was almost impossible to get a good picture with the squirmy Colten!











We went to Colorado for Thanksgiving to visit Christian and Diane and the kids. Meme went with us and we were all really excited about the trip. As soon as we got there, a nasty stomach bug started going through the house and it went through all 9 of us! It was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember. We did manage to get out one day and go to the zoo there in Colorado Springs. It was a beautiful zoo right at the base of the mountains! Despite the less than ideal health conditions (LOL!), it was great to see family and hopefully we will have a sick-free visit next time!

Tanner gets baptized

{September 18, 2011}

This had to be one of my proudest Mommy moments...watching Tanner get baptized in the river. It was back in March, March 5 to be exact, that Tanner asked Jesus into his heart. It was something he initiated and there was no doubt that he was ready and understood what he was doing. My precious little boy...I love his heart! Since then, he has been eager to get baptized and finally the opportunity came. Our church has several baptisms a year in one of our local rivers {which I love!}. The baptism was held on Sunday, September 18 after church. It was a beautiful day and my heart could not have been fuller. Tanner was so excited to make his public declaration of his love for Jesus!













Here is the video:

Colten Turns One!

(still working on 2011 catch-up posts...)

Hard to believe that our baby is already one!
Colten turned one on August 30,
and we threw a Dr Seuss party for him on Sept 3.

I have been just a little obsessed with the turquoise
and red color combination lately,
so I had a lot of fun with this party!



(The Dr Seuss printables came from the Etsy shop Photo Designz)

I made some cat-in-the-hat cupcakes and
tried my hand at fondant for Colten's smash cake.
(I found a recipe for marshmallow fondant on Pinterest and
used that for the smash cake. It was a little messy to make,
but much cheaper than buying it and
I could make it any color I wanted.)

I made a photo banner with Colten's monthly pictures.
I used photoshop to convert the pictures to black and white and
just colored in the number on his onesies.
In fact, I loved it so much that it is now on display in his room!

I also made him a special hat and shirt.
I wasn't sure how Chris would react to the foo-foo hat but he obliged me!!

Big brother had to wear the hat too!

After some lunch and presents, it was time for cake!

Happy Birthday to our precious baby boy! We Love You!!

Tanner's 7th Birthday

{Bear with me as I continue to play catch up on 2011 - this is from July 2011}

Every year we do a themed party for Tanner's birthday. This year he wanted an "army" party. So we pulled out the camo gear and GI Joe's and what a party it was!

Tanner dressed the part and eagerly awaited the arrival of his guests:


I borrowed some old army gear from my parents and used it on the food table, along with some vintage GI Joe's with their jeep.








When the boys arrived, we had them check-in and get their gear (an army hat, dog tags, and face paint). We then had a table set up for them to make cards for the troops. Tanner's uncle is currently serving in Afghanistan, so we sent him all the cards that the boys made.




Once the card making was finished, Boot Camp began. Chris and Darren had the boys running various drills and it was pretty entertaining to watch!!












After the drills, we had the land mine walk. We had water balloons on the path and they had to walk through them blind-folded. This was a big hit!


They then had a water balloon and water gun fight and it was total chaos...just the way boys love it!





We then ate lunch and had cake and ice cream. I made an army tank cake and Tanner loved it. When I was working on the camo effect the night before, I was a little concerned since it was looking more like smashed green bugs than camo. But in the end it was a recognizable army tank...success!!

The whole crew of army boys (and Lena Jane!):

Happy 7th Birthday Tanner! We love you!!