Me Be TWO!!

Today was Reuben's 2nd Birthday! He was quite excited and when we asked him who's birthday it was, we heard "My mon-key cake day!" Tonight we celebrated with cake and ice cream and had lots of fun.

The birthday boy - I can't believe he's two already!

Sitting with Grandpa and Meleah (for just a minute)

Levi made his own "card" for Reuben this year (it was a set of drawings he did) and wrote most of the note on the envelope: LOVE LEVI - DEAR RUBN - I LOVE YOU

Checking out his new dump truck, quilt and bike (below)!

A monkey cake for our little monkey!

Levi thought we needed the lights out for singing

Happy Birthday Reuben - We love you!!

Happy Halloween!

The boys had plenty of opportunities to wear their costumes this year! We started on Friday night at my parent's house and then on Saturday we went to a church "Trunk-or-Treat", as well as some trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Here are some pictures from our Halloween activities:

Levi was The Cat in the Hat
Reuben was the Fish (from The Cat in the Hat)

The fish in his fishbowl

Gotta love that cat!

Trunk-or-Treating with Larry the Cucumber (Henry) and Bob the Tomato (Meleah)

Matt & I joined in the fun on Saturday
(Thing 1 & Thing 2)

Another picture of the Dr. Seuss Family

The fish minus his fishbowl

Off to some more houses!

Trick or Treat!!

Thing 1 got a little creative with his costume!

Culture

Last night, we decided to take advantage of the great autumn weather and take in some culture. I'll let Reuben tell you where we went:



The Top 10 were announced last night, but we didn't find out which ones they were until after we got home. As it turns out, we saw five of the Top 10 (including the Elephant Walk outside the Children's Museum last week). Every time we got in the van today, Reuben asked "ArtPrize?" and Levi keeps asking if we can go back. Hopefully we can get back downtown soon - 1.5 hours was not enough for us!

Here are some of the entries we saw last night:

Helping mom one penny at a time (Top 10)

SteamPig (Top 10)

A Dragon For Jonas

Dancing with Lions (Top 10)

A HUGE greeting card - the front of the card

Trying to find a spot to add our names

The inside of the card

Another Visit to the Gardens

Last week, the boys and I went with my sister, her kids, and my mom to the Frederick Meijer Gardens for the second time this summer. The kids love the Children's Garden and we wanted to check out the Chihuly exhibit another time.

Here are some pictures of the fun time we had:

Three out of four looking at the camera - that was the best I could do!

A new favorite! I missed this one the first time through.

Cousins checking out the Koi pond.

The whole gang...

...plus Reuben - wishing he could get out of the stroller!

Levi by a sculpture in his favorite color!

Freedom from the stroller for Reuben...finally!

Grandma is the BEST!! Thanks for taking us again!

Chillaxin'

This summer, we have been taking full advantage of the HOT weather by spending most weekends at the cottage. This past weekend, we were able to enjoy a nice pontoon boat ride around the lake before the little boys' bedtime.

Here's how we're spending our summer -- chillin' and relaxin' = chillaxin'!!





The budding photographer, Levi, and his picture (below) of the lake.

Happy Mother's Day!

I have the best job in the whole world! Sure, sometimes (daily?) I need to remind myself of that fact...but I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything!


The boys who call me Mom:



And an updated family picture:

Flutter-bys

Today, the boys and I went with my mom to the F.M. Gardens. We had a fun time looking at the butterflies and playing in the children's garden -- the boys' "frav-it" (favorite) part!

Here are my handsome butterflies:




And here are a few of the real butterflies we saw:


The boys love their Grandma!


We managed to get a decent picture of the boys with me (on our one and only try).

When asked what his favorite part of the day was - this was Levi's response:

"We can hear you, Grandma!"

This was the first time we walked up close to the big horse.

"But Grandma, I can't get wet with the boats from up here!"

Another fun trip to the gardens comes to a close...

Thanks for a fun day, Grandma!