Busy summer days.

Summer means having fun in so many ways....

strawberry picking,

parades,

picnics, 

VBS,

playing outside all day,

attending community festivities,

camping,

swimming,

& enjoying every minute of warm weather!

Luke went to the local strawberry farm to pick strawberries this year.

He came home with lots of berries & we got right to work 

eating them, freezing them, & making jelly.

Playing with cousins. 

Picnic in the garage. 

VBS at Saron- Weird Animals. 

We had a good time at the Spudfest parade with friends. 

Dad made a slip-n-slide down our big hill!

We had 100 feet of downhill adventure.

Talk about a FUN time.

I might be biased, but our boys have the best dad. 

For the 4th of July our family went to Brainerd to camp out for a night

at Lake Edward.

The boys had a great time with their cousins

making festive t-shirts, 

roasting hotdogs,

watching fireworks,

swimming at the beach,

watching movies,

& biking all over the resort.

Since Luke had to work late, I took the boys to the Monticello downtown block party. 

We went to Litchfield for the weekend & the boys were so excited to be in the 

kiddie parade.

They went as turtles & pedaled their tricycles!

And I just laughed at them because I remember doing the same thing when I was little. 

Bedtime stories with dad! 

One month left of summer.....ahhh please slow down!

More birthday fun.

June also marks Luke's & grandpa Wayne's birthday's.

This year dad was surprised with a 

baseball glove 

(because he's always playing catch with the boys),

a bag a tennis balls

(because the boys are excited to try to play tennis),

and a toilet scrubber

(because ours was old & our toilet scrubber 'dad' needed a new one!).

 On Luke's birthday is was also the kids run for Becker Freedom Days.

Since the boys just got themselves a new pair of sneakers they were excited to run.

They said they are faster now because of the new shoes! haha

So Luke took the older boys to the race & our little competitor Adler finished 1st place! 

We made dad his favorite confetti cake.

(which Vance couldn't wait to get his fingers on!) 

 The next day grandpa & grandma stopped by to visit.

We got to wish grandpa a happy birthday and we gave him a birthday hair cut.

Vance turns 2.

Our little Vance turned 2.

Guess that means he's not so little anymore!

Vance loves to play with real tools.

So he was very excited to open his gifts. 

A tool set, tool box & drill.

(Do you see Adler's face in the background....he also wanted those gifts! haha)

Vance got to drive around the 4 wheeler on his birthday too.

His brothers do such a good job helping him stay on the road. 

 Happy fella.

Since Vance has an obsession with the lawn mower

he was so happy that dad gave him a ride on his birthday. 

Later that evening we ended his birthday with smores by the fire. 

Vance had a birthday party with family and had an afternoon of wildness.

Cousins laughing, playing, eating & then that all repeated itself again. 

 Hanging out with grandpa Wayne enjoying his birthday cupcake.

 We all agreed that Vance should have a John Deere lawn mower birthday cake.

So I gave it my best shot.

Once he opened his lawn mower & trailer

he didn't even care about opening any more gifts.

He just loves that thing. 

 The Herdina's overloading the swing!

When you turn 2 years old in our house that also means it's time to say goodbye to diapers.

That age seems to work best for us to potty train & who wants to keep buying diapers

when you don't really have to anymore.

Here we all are helping Vance make his potty training posterboard.
(And mom & dad were mentally gearing up for a weekend of hell!)

Vance sportin his new undies.

Those little buns are so cute! 

 Happy to be a big boy wearing undies like his brothers.

When Vance turned 2 he decided to start talking like crazy,

stopped using a sippy cup,

& started wearing undies.

It was a big time of change for this guy & he handled it all so well!