Cole is 5!!

My baby boy turned 5 today! I can't believe how fast the years have gone.

 Cole was so excited for his presents he woke us up to open them first thing :)

He was thrilled with all of his presents, but especially his first set of legos and the John Deere semi he has had his eye on!

Cole blew out candles on his birthday waffle this morning since I forgot them for his cake at his party :)

Cole wanted to go to the zoo for his birthday to ride the train and the carousel! Our good friends Kim and Iylie came with us. It was sweltering hot, but worth it!

 Cole even got to feed the fishes and Sam the giraffe today!

After our fun day at the zoo we stopped at Target so he could do some birthday shopping with birthday money from the grandparents. He was in heaven being able to pick whatever he wanted!

We went to his favorite restaurant, Red Robin, for dinner. He loved the attention when the waiters sang to him and brought him an ice cream sundae! 

Hope you had a fantastic 5th birthday my sweet, funny, loving, smart, sensitive, imaginative, friendly, handsome, cool, precious boy! You bring a smile to my face every day and you warm my heart with all of your hugs and kisses and sweet compliments. I love you so much and I am so glad that you are mine!!

Fire Station Party!!

Cole wanted his birthday party at the fire station again this year. It was a blast!!

We toured the fire trucks:

We sprayed targets with the fire engine hoses:

And we took a ride in the fire trucks! 

Cole got to ride shotgun and honk the horn:

After our awesome tour we went to the park for cupcakes and presents.

Cole wanted a John Deere tractor cake this year. I guess he is an Iowa boy :)

Being the space case I am 36 weeks prego I forgot the candles! But everyone still enjoyed the cupcakes...especially the plethora of frosting :)

Thanks to all of our awesome Iowa friends that came and celebrated Cole's 5th birthday with us!!

Kids at Heart

I'm always saying that I have three kids to take care of because Ben is just a kid at heart...and here's the proof from our last trip to the store :)

Hey, kids will be kids.

And I love ALL of my kids!

Tball Guy

Cole is playing another session of tball and he had team pics:

This kid LOVES baseball! I'm so glad that he gets to play.

Wiped Out

This was too precious...I couldn't resist!

There's nothing like a good nap on a hot afternoon :)

So glad that Ben was home to enjoy it with the kiddos!

Happy Birthday America!!

We had a fun filled 4th of July!!

We started out with the Urbandale Parade. The kids were thrilled with all of the police cars, fire trucks, John Deere tractors, and of course the candy :)

We had festive BBQ with our friends the Pettits and the Pfeiffers

 And we couldn't miss the fireworks!

We went to Centennial Park for the awesome view this year

And even made a few of our own :)

I am so grateful to live in a free country!

And so glad that we get to celebrate this fun holiday!

Happy 4th of July!!