fun with the Bowen's

I've been able to spend lots of time with Jeannette and her kids this summer and love being with them.  They are so nice to always put up with us and let us tag along with them.  I'm going to miss them SO MUCH (we move in a month!) when we are in Arizona.  Brooklyn loves all her cousins and could spend all day, every day with them.

One afternoon I took some of the Bowen kids and Brooklyn (Jeannette watched Jake for me so I didn't have to take him out in the heat) to a fun splashpad near their house.  It was a new one with a fun park attached to it.  I sat and watched as the kids ran through the water and Brooklyn ran after them having such a good time.

 Lindsey and Hannah

 I love Brooklyn's face here - that is pure excitement.

Kate 

I bet Lindsey that she couldn't stand under the bucket of water and wait for it to tip over and she proved me wrong. 

I think Brooklyn is going to miss Hannah most.  She says Hannah's name at least 10 times throughout the day asking for her.  These two have a love/hate relationship.  Some days they play great together and have the best time and other days they are both in tears :)  These pictures were on a day that they were the best of friends playing house.  Hannah had put them down for a nap.

And here they are on another day, playing outside in the sprinklers.

goodbye Grandpa!

John traded Grandpa to a friend at work for his road dirt bike.

Grandpa = his boat of a car that he's had for the last 6 years that we've put a lot of money in to and is a gas guzzler.  We are happy about the trade!  We wanted to sell Grandpa before we moved to Arizona, but didn't know if it would sell.  And John couldn't sell it too early because he still needs something to get around to class and work for the rest of the summer.  So this worked out perfectly.  I'm a little worried about his safety and told him that he must always think when riding...."I have a wife and kids".  And of course always wear his helmet too.

newborn pictures/18 month pictures

Up first....Jake's birth announcement.  My cousin Kelsi designed it for me and as always, it turned out great and I love it.  I wanted it to be simple (for a boy) and wanted to put a picture of Brooklyn on there as well.  

When Jake was a week old I took the kids in to a place called fotofly (recommended by my cousin Meg) to get their pictures taken.  I wanted some newborn of Jake, some of them together, and some of Brooklyn at almost 18 months.  I made sure to schedule it when my mom was still in town to help me and I am so glad I did.  It was exhausting - and we weren't even the ones trying to get them to cooperate to take their picture (by their...meaning Brooklyn.  Jake was a gem).  Brooklyn did great taking pictures by herself, but when they tried to take the two of them together, she refused to hold or even touch Jake.  They tried and tried to put him on her lap, have them side by side on a couch, but she wasn't having any of it.  So finally they laid them down next to each other on a big bean bag and got a couple of them that way.

  

Jake's newborn pictures: (sorry for the picture overload)

I love this one - I think he looks like an old wrinkly man :)

And Brooklyn's 18 month pictures:

I was so happy with how these turned out.  I'm hoping to do family pictures with them sometime soon.