Pella Birthday Fun

Saturday evening Heather and I headed to Pella for the combined birthday party for Nathan and Aaron. It was a music and baseball themed party, complete with Cracker-Jacks and music themed cakes!
Heather found these sweet sunglasses for Nathan to wear at the party.
I also brought some sharpies to make some party themed tattoo's. Nathan got a guitar on his arm...

...and Aaron got a baseball, complete with flames!

Nathan shows off his tattoo while Aaron and Shay smile for the camera before the party gets under way!

We started off with opening some gifts.

Heather found a sweet deal on Etsy: super hero cape, cuffs and mask. We had it customized with a rocket and "N"s on the cuffs!

Nathan loved them! What a little super hero!

...I made him a rocket ship to go along with his rocket cape.

Nathan was ready to blast off with his wild imagination!

Aaron checked out the rocket..."This door is just my size!"

Nathan got this sweet card that expands into a guitar and plays rock 'n roll music...with out missing a beat, he knew how to hold the guitar and strum the strings!

Who is this caped masked man?

...we may never know.

Aaron's turn to open his gifts.

Nathan is quick to help his little brother

Aaron makes a deal with Tom, "I'll trade you one of my drums for that blackberry!"

After presents we had some food and some cake. Here is Aaron's cake.

...and Nathan's cake. Awesome job Shay on the cake making!

While we were finishing our food, Nathan decided to play us all a song.

This was an original song entitled "Cubbie".

The Pella VL's pose for a family picture before Aaron digs into his cake.

Aaron goes head first into his drum cake!

Mom gives a smile while Dad show Aaron how to take a big bite!

Next it was time for Nathan's cake and blow out his candle.

No smiles for this tough guy...

As we cleaned up the party and headed back to Chad and Shay's house, we got a picture with the little birthday boy!

...and the tough birthday boy!

Nathan's rocket ship landed in his room...ready for an adventure!

We had a great time celebrating these two little guys. Chad and Shay did a great job throwing the birthday party.

Happy Birthday Aaron

Wednesday was officially Aaron Paul's first birthday. Heather and I headed to Pella to celebrate with the Pella VL's on his big day. When we got there, Aaron was already rocking out on the drums!
Aaron shows Auntie Heather his drumming skills.

We brought the little man a little gift...Nathan really wanted to help his little brother open his gift, but he waited patiently while Aaron peeled away the paper.

"No way!" Aaron exclaimed, "A harmonica and a green crazy ball...this is just what I wanted!"

Auntie Heather and Aaron test out the green ball.

We had a true summer meal...BLT's, watermelon and corn on the cob!

After supper, Nathan got into a "dance" mood. He had me play his guitar while he danced...

...and dance he did!

This dance got so wild, his shirt came off! (I did not teach him that)

Aaron was enthralled with his older brother, he even gave him a round of applause!

After the dance party, we had a little Jersey Freeze Ice Cream...twist, of course! These two gave me their best "silly" face.

Aaron really enjoyed his ice cream too!

After the ice cream, we played Aaron's favorite game...Empty the Laundry Basket. Nathan challenged his little brother to race..."Oh no you didn't just challenge me" Aaron says/thinks.

...and their off.

Aaron goes for the "over the head" method, but then remembers he has a big melon after the towel hits him in the face.

Nathan again takes his shirt off as he gets down to business of throwing some towels!

After the games...Aaron, wanting to be like his big brother, takes his shirt off (seriously guys, what are you teaching these kids?) As we get ready to head home, we snap a quick picture with our two favorite nephews!

Happy Birthday AP...we love you and can't wait for your joint party to celebrate some more!

Custom Kitchen

What do you get when you mix a Bible verse, a laser level, a Cricut and some vinyl?
You get a customized kitchen!

Giving Upper Case living a run for their money!

Happy 4th of July

4th of July was packed full with family fun - Saturday we headed to Pella for some family time with the Strouds and Pella VL's. We hit the pool, grilled burgers, played baseball, and caught some fireworks...of course. I love summer days, the pool, summer food, my summer wardrobe, and outdoor activities. So I tried to include them all in one day...didn't do too bad I would say. We had a blast playing catch in the backyard along with riding ponies. Oh yes and just in case your wondering Nathan has some mad baseball skills - who needs t-ball. He's already swinging the metal bats.

America's favorite past time......

How many of you had one of these sweet plastic ponies growing up? I did...so for ol'time sake i decided to saddle up but Nathan wasn't sure I knew how to ride the ol'stallion. So we both saddled up...

Best Buddies....this is after Nathan had been hit in the face twice with the baseball (by his dad). He is one tough kid

Me and my momma watching fireworks - see any resemblances....
We had a great time celebrating

America's birthday as a family....Happy 4th of July!

Yankee Doodle Pops

Thursday evening, Heather and I attended Yankee Doodle Pops, presented by the Des Moines Symphony. It was a wonderful evening of music and fire works! The weather was just perfect. April, my boss at work, had two VIP tickets that she wasn't going to use so she offered them to me! We got a front row viewing...it was awesome!
My friend, Patrick Riley adjusts his music before the performance begins. He plays cello with the symphony and did a fantastic job!

The Governor was also in attendance, he actually got the front row! We were in the 5th row...

They started playing around 8:30 and it was great.

Simon Estes was a guest performer, I have heard him sing a few times now and every time he amazes me with his deep baritone voice. He sang three songs with the symphony and they sounded fantastic.

...and for the finally, fireworks!

It was really cool to have the symphony playing with the fireworks in the background!

They do such a good job putting on this great event! As Simon Estes said, the Des Moines Symphony, under the direction of Joseph Giunta is one of the best symphonies in the country! Simon would know, he has sung with all of them. Big thanks to April for those wonderful seats, it was a wonderful evening!

Book Review: Wild at Heart

First and foremost, what a great book! That might be obvious with the time this book has spent on the bestseller list, but it needs to be said, this is a great book. John Eldredge does a fantastic job of unpacking masculinity and what God calls men to be. Wild at Heart, subtitled Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul, does just that. John takes a look at what makes the masculine heart and soul come alive and then explores how we need to call that out in our journey to manhood.
He starts off the book by addressing "the wound". This is huge and before you can get to the "rest of the story", you have to start by healing your wound. Everyone has wounds and John does a great job of unpacking the wounds most men receive and how to recover their masculine hearts, given to us in the image of a passionate God.
John explores three big theme's that he says are essential to men; a battle to fight, a beauty to rescue, and an adventure to live.
A battle to fight: I think this really hit home for me as I watch my 3 year old nephew play. He is all boy and it is clear when every stick turns into an imaginary gun or sword that will be used to defeat the "bad guys". He is always ready to take on any "bad guy" that stands in his way. John Eldredge says that at some point, that warrior spirit was crushed and pushed down. As he says, our churches today are filled with "really nice guys" but we need to be reclaiming our warrior hearts, hearts that are God given!
A beauty to rescue: To me, this ties into a battle to fight, deep down men want to have somebody to fight for and women want to be fought for. That is why timeless fairy tales, generally, have the story line of a damsel in distress being rescued by her knight in shining armor. To me, this brings back memories of my college days when I was pursuing and dating my wife. The dates I would plan, the hours spent talking to one another, I was fighting for her heart. The book then challenged me to continue that fight. Often times, once we hit marriage a man's mind shifts, it goes from fight for her heart to I have her heart...what now? John did a great job of reminding me to fight for my wife's heart on a daily basis and I have found when I pursue my wife, her heart comes alive!
An adventure to live: This last section tied everything together. With a battle to fight and my beauty to rescue, it is going to be an adventure. The big thing I realized is that my beauty wants to live the adventure with me, and I love that! The adventure is so much better when I get to share the adventure's with Heather.
John makes that point that in most churches today, if you look around you will find that the majority of Christian men are bored. I think this book does a great job of exploring the masculine heart and what it will take to recover our hearts and live how God designed us to live. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. Now that I understand my past and the journey that God has me on...it is anything but boring!

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising