They're Engaged!

We were very excited to get a call from Matt and Laura last Sat. night....Matt proposed!! So after Carter's party Susan and I took the lovebirds to a park in the area to get some pics...

Romance was in the air!


We are so excited for these two and can't wait for their wedding next fall!!!

Aren't they the cutest?!?!?!?

Lots of wedding planning talk this weekend and we even broke out the DVD of our ceremony and watched it...Mallory was all about watching it and talking about the people in it...and Carter even sat still to watch...
Happy Engagement Laura and Matt! We are so excited for you both!

Family B-Day Party

Aunt Susan was the first guest to arrive! Can you feel the excitement?!?!?!

The B-Day boy plays while he waits for the rest of the crew to arrive...

The puzzle is complete! (Thanks for passing this down K and Co...perfect for the party!)

They're here!

The other couch of guests...

The pile of presents...one lucky little boy!

The opening begins!

Lots of fun new toys to play with!

PaPa helped get the gifts out of their packages...

Mal got an "unbirthday gift" from MiMi and PaPa...she was so happy!

Carter loves "phants" and got one from Auntie Lu and Matt!

M enjoyed helping her little bro open his gifts...

Cake time! We were hoping he would levitate like he did with Mike's BDay cake was brought out in July...but his reaction was calmer this time...

Taste test....

I think he approves! Thanks for helping me make the cakes MiMi! Memories!!!

We finished the party with a pizza lunch out on the deck...thanks for loving our little guy so well!

During the party...

B-Day Lunch

We headed out at lunchtime to celebrate Carter with a meal out...the place we had chosen when he was in utero was a diner and we like it a lot...but this yr a new diner opened up in our area that we had heard a lot about...the waiters sing and dance (although they didn't when we were there...sad!) and we thought it would be right up Carter's alley so we tried it....it was packed so we had to wait for our table! I guess it really is a popular place! :)

The kids colored as they waited...and M and I made several trips to the loo...why are bathrooms in restaurants so cool???

Portraits...

The boys...

The girls....the place had thinned out by the time our food came....

And we finished the meals off with yummy milkshakes!

Happiness is a full belly and heading home...

Rocking out...

Birthday Morning....

Mike went out and got Carter some balloons and donuts for his special morning....His seat was all ready before he woke up...

The BDay boy comes down and sees the goodies!

He loves balloons and would've been happy with just balloons....but he had a couple of gifts to open from us....

GROVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Excitement!

This boy loves some Sesame Street friends!

Then he got to blow out his candles on his donut and watch his new Sesame Street DVD...

Then we headed out to the pool on the back deck....here is the little man warming up after the swim....

Oh how I love this boy!

Can't believe he's 2!

Here we are waking him up on his BDay...

Zooin!

At this rate our kids might become zookeepers as adults! We love to go zooin! Might be why Carter's current favorite book is this!

We had a family playdate with one of my high school buddies and her kids...

The kids were so shy with each other at first...and everyone has their favorite animals to visit...E was so excited to finally get to the giraffes! We met up with Mike's friend from work while feeding the giraffes as well...a popular spot at the zoo!

Feeding the birds...

The kids thought it was hilarious when a bird landed on Mike's head...he thought it was funny too until he got pooed on... :)

The kids had a lot of fun playing with each other by the end....we really need to get together more often Trina and Danny! Thanks for all the pics Trina! :)

Every Drop...

Trying to "squeeze every last drop of fun outta summer"....we headed to Busch Gardens for our last trip of the season. The kids had a blast and Carter even rode the log flume this time...what in the world! Can't believe summer is coming to a close! :***(

The Last Night...

We finished up vacation with one more overnight at Pepere's...We stopped at one of the diners Pepere frequents on the way to his house...it was yummy!

Then we walked around Heritage Park...one that Mike and Matt enjoyed with Pepere in the past...

The HUGE rock...and speaking of rocks...the cousins were all about rock collecting this summer...we have a huge bag of rocks at our house now...and the collecting continues at home...

Back at Pepere's wrestling and playing...

Thanks for all the fun memories Pepere!

Then we headed home caravan style...an all day journey...the kids enjoyed stopping at rest stops and having their cousins pop in for a visit...