Our First Visitors!

Our first vistors for the summer were my brother AJ and my cousin Tess Gutwein. They arrived here on Thursday afternoon and we wasted no time in getting them out on the lake. We were out until around 8pm that night. Nick took friday off work so we could hit the lake without much traffic. It was beautiful. Nice weather, and hardly any boats out. A few fisherman here and there, but we enjoyed the lake to ourselves basically. We packed a sack lunch, lots of liquids, snacks, etc and stayed out all day. Our plans were to go again on saturday but we were sore and tired and decided we had enough so we just sat around home and relaxed and enjoyed the day. Here are a few pictures from the wonderful time and great memories that we made. Thanks guys for coming to visit us. Come again anytime:)

Hang on AJ....nick gave him the ride of his life. I always get a little nervous watching people tube....I just know how much it tears up the neck bouncing around and all.

They had never had sushi before so we decided to go to a sushi buffet so they could try all sorts of different items and they really enjoyed it. What a great picture of some tan kidos:) This was taken at Bruster's Ice Cream place.

Aj showing us how to do the air chair.....yeah I never did try it. Nick did, but didn't have any luck in getting up. Im kind of glad cause personally I think it looks dangerous. But good job aj:)
Tess attempting the wakeboard. She did a good job but was nervous to do it because prior to this AJ was doing the wakeboard and took a terrible spill and did a face plant into the water. His face hurt and so did his jaw and neck so tess was super cautious but yet tess also took a dive face first, but was ok:) I attempted it and could NOT get up. I think I tried around 15 times. Guess its just not my sport!!!

Caden is tubing in the back ground...he loves it.
Tess getting her fill of the tube also.

Celebrating Elijah and Caden's Birthdays

While visiting family up north we decided it was a great time to fit in both of the boy's birthday parties. Elijah actually already turned 6 back on May 11th and Caden doesn't turn 3 until June 9th. On Saturday we celebrated with the Gutwein family and we included both Kyra and Kylie's birthday's too. (these two girls are Tricia and Mark's kids) Kyra turned 5 and Kylie turned 1(not pictured). Then on the following Tuesday (after memorial day) we headed over to the Waibel's house to celebrate Elijah and Caden's birthdays once more. Grandma Waibel always does such a nice job making the boy's cakes. I didn't help this year, but I thank you so much mom for making my kids' cakes. Elijah ordered a fire truck cake this year and mom waibel picked out Caden's cake ( a pan she had on hand already from Avery Pritts cake a few years ago). So we had a truck theme birthday party. Lots of fun and the boys loved all their gifts. Here is a picture of the boys all ready to put out the next fire:)

Albert John Gutwein's Graduation

Not only did my Elijah graduate from Kindergarten, but my brother AJ graduated from High School. The boys and I were able to go home for his graduation and get to see lots of family and friends. We had a great time. Here we are waiting for the commencement to start. My cousins Tess, Alisha and Mark (not pictured) were able to come home from Haiti and it was so wonderfuol to see them.Had to get a picture of the siblings. Mom and Dad are now empty nesters as we have all graduated, moved out of the house, and even gotten married(or soon to be).
This is AJ and his fiance Raquel Messer.

Elijah Graduated!!

As promised here are a few pictures of Elijah at his Kindergarten Graduation.
This is Elijah's teacher Ms. Miranda(left) and her assistant Ms. Margie(right).

OOPS!!!

Forgot to post a picture of Elijah's new bike that we got him for his birthday. He really loves it and loves the fact that it is GREEN...his favorite color.

Also I thought Id include in a few pictures of a day on the lake after Elijah's birthday party....Elijah was a bit fussy and didn't want to get into the water nor did he want to get onto the tube, so these pictures are all of Caden being such a brave little boy. This first picture is moments after Caden fell in head first over the side of the boat (the boat was stopped and he was sitting by the edge). Thankfully we make our children wear life vests at ALL times on the boat. I was in the water so was right there to grab him. He popped up out of the water and I calmed him and talked to him immediately and he hardly made a cry at all. And I tried to explain to him this is why we wear life vests and that if it happens again he will be safe cause he is wearing his vest.

He then proceeded to want to tube and he had a ball. You can just barely see him over this huge tube, but he was smiling:) Oh and here is a video of Caden swimming around in the water. Enjoy!

Happy 6th Birthday Elijah!!!

Wow, to think that my little Elijah turned 6 years old on May 11th!!! He was able to invite 5 friends over for a birthday party. We took them to this local indoor play area called Sprouts Studio to play for awhile then back home for gifts, cake and ice cream. I think Elijah really enjoyed his party. He invited two neighbor kids, and three church friends. As you will notice he had a girl to his party.....this will be the last birthday for that:). Its going to have to be an all boy party next year. Here are some pictures of his fun day.

These upper two pictures were taken at Sprouts Studio. Elijah was in the theatre section and found these glasses.....I thought he looked so funny. And as for Caden in the other picture....I think he might have seen a ghost:)

I found this cute cake featured in Family Fun magazine and decided to try my hand at it. It turned out ok. I don't have the most artistic ability, but none the less Elijah loved his "digger".

Tate & Lyle Work Picnic

It was that time of year....nick's work picnic. We get to go to Dollywood. This will most likely be the only pictures I post this year of Dollywood as we are NOT buying season passes this year. We have other fun activities planned for the summer and don't need dollywood to entertain us any longer:) But I do have to post just a couple from the other day because Caden was so brave and rode some rides he refused to ride last year.....take a look at this!!!!

The spinning tea cups!!

The falling star!!

The scrammbler.....it makes me sick just looking at that ride spin around.