Summer Pictures: JUNE

sound effects...

Levi may only be 17 months, but he definitely keeps up with his big brothers...

A few days ago I was watching Caleb and Ethan play "Kung fu Panda"...for those of who haven't seen the movie or don't know what I am talking about, K and E are are kicking and doing martial art type stuff. Well little Levi joins in with "high kicks" of his own, as well as the lovely sound effects..."hi-yah". Then today K and E are playing Stars Wars...using Light Sabers and squirt guns. Well Mr. Levi goes and finds this rattle like toy and starts using it as a gun to shoot K and E. Not only does he shoot he makes the sound effects as well "pew-pew". It just cracks me up!! Levi's has the same vocab of what K and E had at this age, but to add to it he has a huge "sound effects vocab" that they didn't! :) It's so funny what Levi picks up on!

Happy Father's Day...

...to all the special dads out there! I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who is the best dad ever to our boys! Thank you Kevin for all you do for our family. We are so thankful for you and glad we can celebrate you not just today, but always!!

the big 4...

Four years ago today we welcomed Ethan William Hart into our family. Weighing 8lbs 13oz and 21 inches long. Our second precious son and a wonderful gift from God!

What fun we have had watching him grow! He didn't stay in the "baby stage" long...he had a big brother to keep up with!

Ethan has brought so much joy and laughter to our home. He loves to be silly and have fun! He gives the best bear hugs ever..."so you can't breath"!! :)

One of our favorite things about Ethan is his "easy going" personality...he will eat almost anything, loves every sport, is willing to be the good guy or the bad guy when playing Star Wars, and just goes with the flow, as long as he has his juice! :)
Of all our boys Ethan has the most nicknames...E-bugs, E.W., Baby E, Bigs, E-biggins, Buga, The Biggins Buggins, Bugs, and just plain E. We sure love him and the special boy that he is! He lets his light shine for Jesus by singing and doing the motions so well. He is quite verbal, so you always know what he is thinking. It brings us so much joy to see his love for his brothers and how he always wants to be with them. So Ethan as you turn 4...may the force be with you!! Happy Birthday Buddy!

Puppy Time...

For those of you who know Ethan well, you know he loves stuffed animals or as we call them "lovies". He has tons of them! So for Christmas, when he was 1 1/2 years old we got him a huge(bigger than him at the time) dog stuffed animal...known as "Giant Puppy". Of course he loved it and had to have it with him all the time! He had to sleep with it, but he was still in the crib. So I would let him fall asleep with it and then go take it out of his crib, because I was too nervous about him sleeping with it or using it to help climb out of the crib.

We still have Giant Puppy...he's been along for car rides, sleepovers at Grandpa and Grandma Choo Choo's, camping and to the cottage! He loves to take baths in the washing machine! :) He is definitely Ethan's (huge) comfort...whenever there is sadness, sleepiness, fear, etc. you will find Ethan snuggled with Giant Puppy. To which we have this time each day(sometimes more than once) that we call "Puppy Time". Ethan asks for juice and then goes and snuggles with Giant Puppy.

Well little Levi has caught on to this routine, so now he also wants juice and goes and snuggles with Ethan and Giant Puppy. It's super cute, however I am quite surprised because Ethan is very protective of his Giant Puppy and normally doesn't want others to lay on it...for fear Giant Puppy will get too hot! :) But he lets Levi join him...I think Ethan learned that Levi has no sit in him, so he won't be laying there long.

This past Christmas we got Levi his own Giant Puppy, which he loves. However when Ethan is having "Puppy Time" who's puppy do you think Levi likes to lay on?!?

Last day...

Well today is Caleb's last day of school and I thought it would be fun to show you his picture on the first day of school.

And here is a picture of Caleb this morning on his last day of school!

He has definitely grown inside and out!

Caleb's teacher asked him some questions about what he thought of Kindergarten and here are a few of them...
The thing I like most about Kindergarten is gym class.
At school I like learning about "stuff".
At recess I like to play soccer.
My favorite Bible story that we've had this year is about David and Goliath.
Some of my friends at school are Blake, Andy, Tyler, Zac, Austin, and Nathan.
If I were the teacher I would teach "stuff".
At school I feel closer to God by reading the Bible stories and praying.

It was a great year! However we are looking forward to a fun summer and then it's off to 1st grade!

Go Hot Tamales!

This past Saturday was Caleb's last soccer game for the season. It has been so fun watching him, as well as his teammates just get better and better! Caleb had a great group of boys on his team! Unfortunately the teams change as the boys move up to the U-8 level this fall. So most likely it will be all different kids on his team. We are hopping we get another great group of boys and parents this fall. Kevin and my brother Nate will again coach Caleb's team. To end the year Kevin and Nate gave each boy a soccer medal. Caleb is SO proud of his medal...and we are SO proud of Caleb! I have said this before, but our family really, really enjoyed this year of soccer! Not only was it a joy to watch Caleb play and Kevin and Uncle Nate coach him, but watching Ethan's excitement for Caleb and his team! Ethan would be right in with the team(as much as he could), he would wear a red shirt to the games(Caleb's team color), and as soon as Caleb would have a break Ethan would have to be the one to give Caleb his water bottle. Ethan was definitely Caleb's #1 fan!
And for Levi one of his first words was G-O-A-L!! It will be nice to have a little break from practices and games, but we are looking forward to soccer starting up in the fall! A special thanks too, to all the people who came and cheered Caleb on! It meant a lot to Caleb, but also to Kevin and I as well!