Happy 3rd Birthday John Henry!

Three years ago, this little guy was born!

He has had a couple of celebrations already:) We gathered all of our family together a couple of weeks ago to celebrate both of the boys' birthdays. Here is a shot of some of the decorations...

We had a few special guests. One of them was Liam--one of the newest members of the family:)

 And Uncle Gabe & Addison...it was such a good picture, I had to share it!

Here is a picture of the happy birthday boy opening a gift...

And...one of the favorite gifts for both boys...Socker Boppers (no idea if I am even spelling correctly)...basically, all you need to know is that they are inflatable boxing gloves that they go to town beating each other with! 

The next celebration was a Sprinkle Party at a local cupcake shop.  Here is a before pictures with Kenny's cupcake:)

And a shot of each one of the boys, decorating their cupcakes...

John's finished cupcake...

And it's time to dig in!

 Y-U-M-M-Y!!!

As far as John's actual birthday goes...we've spent time at home together. The day started off with the traditional birthday donuts. We've played with our new toys too:)

I can't believe how quickly the last 3 years has gone by. I remember them going by fast with Kenny, but they seem to be even faster with John! He really has grown from a toddler into a little boy in the last few months! I'm happy to report that he is just about potty trained!

Other things he is up to lately...

--He loves anything & everything about animals. One of his favorite toys right now is his Little People Zoo!

--John has a huge imagination. Just the other day...he was playing with the Scooby-Doo van. Inside the van, a penguin was driving around a tiger.  He also loves to play with his puppets...putting on a show just for himself:)

--He can count to 20, say his ABCs, knows all of his colors.

Both boys will be going in for their annual check-ups in a few weeks, so I'll be reporting back on how that went soon!

 



Happy 7th Birthday to Kenny!

Seven years ago today our lives changed forever...we became the proud parents to Kenneth Eugene Poling IV! The past 7 years have been filled with both good & bad. But...we have survived it all and had a blast doing it together as a family.

Our family has had a new addition to it as well. Kenny is a super big brother & I hope he can continue to set a good example for John!

A few weeks ago, Ken & I met with his teacher for Parent/Teacher Conferences. Kenny is a great student & his teacher had so many good things to say about him. She said he loves to learn & seems to catch on to new concepts very quickly. She said he is a super star at math & is reading above his current grade level. She also said that he is quite social...sometimes a bit too social:) She also said he is everyone's friend & she frequently hears positive feedback from other parents in the class.

We are both so proud of him & look forward to his future! Things have gone so fast in the last 7 years with Kenny. The next thing we know it, we'll be sending him off to college!

Our first celebration (of many) of Kenny's birthday was last weekend with his friends from school. We had a Mad Science Party! Here is a picture of the Gooey Eyeball Cupcakes!

We also had Eyeball Beaker cups that we used to drink Green Slime out of!

A Mad Scientist named Dangerous Dan stopped by our house to spend some time with the kids, doing all sorts of fun experiments with them. Here he is showing them how flash-paper works...

And one of him & Kenny having a little race...

He also brought along his static electricity ball...this was a big hit with all the kids!

Then, they made some slime (on the kitchen floor--where it was easiest to clean up!)



Next, it was time to sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KENNY!

And, one shot of all the kiddos before they left the party. This was quite a gang! It's so much fun to watch them grow each year together!

And...one last picture of John. He is showing off his Mad Scientist glasses...which were one of the fun items in the goody bags:)



Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch today. The weather was perfect!

The first few are from the corn maze. Here is one of Ken & John braving their way through the very LONG corn maze.

And next is one of Kenny at the very end.

Then we took a few shots next to the growth charts.

John...driving the tractor.

 Kenny & I went for a tractor ride as well...on a little tour of the farm.

Kenny managed to take a rare picture of Ken & I...

 Ken & John...

 My boys:) Don't they both looked thrilled to be getting their picture taken?

 One last shot before we left...