Independents Day Water Wars....

The 4th of July in Pennsylvania continues to be a HUGE disappointment for me as I want to have all the festivities that I grew up with in Blanding.  I read on another friends blog that she misses Blanding but it is the company you keep that makes the party not the location.  I have to agree.  Darin and Nash started the morning off by joining the Lees family at Dorney Park for some rides and water fun.  My mom, Asa and I stayed home and prepared for a fun Potluck dinner with friends.  We invited a few friends from church, club mom, and the residency. (I apologize that most of my pictures are blurry from this night.  I had a really off day with my camera!  Maybe it was me trying not to get wet.)

 Asa was sporting a new outfit and he was feeling a bit like a super hero in it. :)

 

 We had a ton of yummy food and A LOT of leftovers.

 I spent the majority of my day filling up close to 500 water balloons.

 Nash was so excited for the party.  He loves playing with water!

 Darin was equally excited.  I LOVE Darin for the fact that he is ALWAYS the life of the party.  He knows how to have fun and he makes everyone laugh.

 Cece was not as enthusiastic about getting her water-balloon popped on her dress.

 Christine and Aaron avoided the water chaos as much as they could.

 Kevin tried but Bella wasn't having it!

 Riley, Bill and Darin were right in the middle of the water war.

 Darin was a bit TOO aggressive....sorry about the bat Bill.

 After we exhausted the water balloon supply and everyone was done getting wet we headed down the street to do some fireworks and eat rootbeer floats.  We are not allowed to them in our complex so we set them off at the elementary school down the street.

Darin was the ring-leader for the fireworks and he was making me a little nervous at times.  I had to crack up when I saw him running across the parking lot with a firework yelling "I'm lady liberty!"...ummmm seriously???!!!  You would think he was a drinker or something. haha.  Bill was a crack up too as he was always lurking in the corners ready to pull a prank. 

We LOVE our friends and are so grateful we are surrounded with such fun people out here.  THANK FOR CELEBRATING WITH US!  Thank you mom for watching Asa while we played. :)

June 19th - 1 month old

Bath-time...

Asa loves his bath time.  I bought this tub at a yard sale over a year ago in hopes this would be the year that we had a baby.  It was in Darin's car trunk the entire year...shows how often we clean his car! lol

Nash thinks it is often to take a bath at the same time as his brother.  I love that he has a sibling now. :)

Good-bye Barnes Family...

I am so not a fan of good-byes.  I had been dreading the day we would say good-bye to the Barnes family for months.  Codi had become one of my greatest friends over the past 2 years.  She is originally from Orem, Utah and went to school with Darin's brother Trevor.  I have to admit the first time I met Codi, I was sure I didn't like her. (lol)  I sent a text to Stacia that day saying so.  Boy, am I happy I didn't stick with that snooty attitude!  I am going to miss our early morning runs, pregnant work-outs, trips to NYC, Olive Garden lunches, and park play dates with the kids.  Codi was my go to person for everything, she babysat, gave rides, cooked meals, fixed Halloween costumes, sewed dragon tails, etc.  But most of all she was my friend and showed my family love and kindness!  Thank you Codi!

Nash misses the Barnes girls very much.  He talks a lot about them.  When I asked him what he remembered about each of the girls this is what he said:

"Iris is nice, she play with me." -this is so true.  Iris is one of the sweetest little girls, she would really try to help Nash in whatever they were playing.

"Willa, bossy pants!" -this made me laugh.  I love Willa because she knows EXACTLY what she wants and she isn't afraid to tell you. LOL

"Oli my friend. I miss her."  -Nash asks about Olive all the time.  I think Nash started calling Olive "Oli" because Olive always thought he called her "Owl." haha

I think we are a little lost right now with out the Barnes family.  We miss them a ton!  Good luck in Chattanooga, Tennessee!

Soccer Play...

 Nash participated in a fun Soccer league this past spring.  It was every Tuesday but just our luck most Tuesday's were rainy!  The days they did have soccer it was so fun!  Their coaches name was Ben and we are not sure were here is from but his accent was awesome!

 L to R: (back row) Cole Stamps, Gwen Stamps, ?, Elliot, Morgan, Eli Schaadt, substitute coach

(front row) Riley Nemitz, Alex Tripoli, Nash, ?, Sydney Schaadt

 Coach Ben was so good with the kids.  He taught them how to kick and dribble by playing games like Soccer Island, Safari Lion Hunt, etc. 

 I was pretty bad at taking soccer pictures...I am going to have to borrow some from my friends. :)

We had so much fun playing soccer we are doing soccer camp in August!

Nash Turns 4...

Nash turned 4 years old, 4 days after Asa's birth. I had a party planned for him and invitations were already out.  I knew adding a child to the family would be a HUGE change for Nash so I really wanted to give him a great party before we rocked his world!!  Luckily I started the preparations for the party well in advance and everything was almost all completed.  I am sure glad this party was planned before the birth because Nash wasn't too excited about getting a brother for his birthday.  He really wanted a SHARK-BIKE...and a party with his friends. SO that is what he got!

  

  

 

This castle was something I never finished.  It turned out cute but I had such bigger plans for it! The crazy contraption to the right of it is what Darin rigged up for the pinata. I don't think it worked out too well because Darin was so sore the next day from running it.  Although he tried to blame it on me saying the pinata had too much candy...ummm and maybe it did...oops!  

The guest list! Minus our Josh friend who was not feeling well. :( 

 I made each child a dragon tail.  THANK YOU to CODI for finishing some of them for me!

 Darin was the star of the party.  He helped me out so much.  We both were going to be vikings who trained the dragon but I wasn't feeling up to the challenge 4 days after giving birth.  So Darin was the party entertainment and was AMAZING!

 The kids thought he was awesome. My friend Kristi's son Alex told her "that sure was fun when Nash's daddy was the bison!" haha.

 Darin taught the kids how to use their swords by fighting the bubbles.

 Then they learned how to blow "fire".

 They had a good game of hide and go seek.  When they were found the would fight the Viking with their swords.

 My friend Betsy provided us with this cute pinata! She also gave Nash a dragon that hangs on the wall that you can put toys or whatever in.  We used it at the party as well for a bean bag toss. THANK YOU BETSY!

 Emory was the one that brought the pinata down and busted it open for us!

OKAY...so there was too much candy in the pinata.  The kids got sick of picking it up.

 Thanks to Pinterest I found this cake and it was SUPER easy to make.  Once again I am happy I planned ahead because Nash was so excited about the cake.

 Nash received so many great gifts for his birthday.  I belong to Club Mom and they put together a huge gift basket for Nash.  They were afraid I wasn't feeling up to a birthday celebration so they wanted to make his day special.  It really was great and I am so thankful for every ones kindness to Nash and our family!

 Nash's dream came true and he got a "shark bike."

 ...we are finding out that Nash isn't a bike rider, he just wants to run! (that's my boy!)

 Then the dinosaurs were brought out and the kids had fun playing together.

 Olive kept her tail on the entire time.  It looked so cute on her.

A BIG THANKS TO EVERY ONE THAT HELPED OUT WITH THE PARTY!  It was a great success and I am sure I will NEVER do another party with 12 children, 4 days after giving birth! NUTSO!!!
P.S. Thank you Codi for being the Party Photographer!