Memorial Day Pool Time

Like most families, we spent Memorial Day grilling out and enjoying time with family.  Katy remembered we had this whale pool we'd never pulled out, so we took it over to Gary and Nell's for the kids to play in.


The temps stayed in the low 80s, so the water didn't warm up much, and it was breezy, but they sure had a fun time jumping around.  You'll notice Mandy has absolutely no fear and goes at it with much more gusto than the boys.  You may also notice she's the only one wearing goggles.  This is to protect her eyes, which are still healing from her recent surgery.  I find her hilarious.


Zac really enjoyed not only the water but several hours with his cousins, who are some of his favorite people in the world.  I will say that the older they all get, fewer arguments and catastrophes seem to occur when they are together.

The Big 04

On Wednesday the 1st, Zac turns 4, but we decided to hold his birthday party today, rather than doing it after his birthday.  Unfortunately, one of the negatives to Zac being in daycare down in Lincoln is that it doesn't make sense to invite his school friends, but that's OK, because he loves playing with his cousins anyway!

So Chad, Mickie and the kids joined us for a few hours to celebrate and let them play together. We had a good time and a good cake. Zac is quite pleased with his presents and even has one left we held back for him to open Wednesday morning before we leave in the morning, which he doesn't know about.

The kids seemed to enjoy the cake and frozen yogurt.  Yes, frozen yogurt since at least two of us, and maybe three, have issues with lactose, so I played it safe.

I'm sharing a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Zac so everyone has a chance to enjoy it.  You'll note he leaned over on one of the candles trying to blow out the fourth one and it was a little hot. 

 

He's none the worse for wear, though, and has recovered just fine!  :)  Guess I shouldn't have spread the candles out so much.  I've also added pics from the party to the slideshow on the right.  Enjoy all!

A July 4th Haze

Thought I'd try to get a video up right away tonight now that we're home from our July 4th festivities. After a day full of rain which did not end until well into the afternoon, we ended up with a beautiful evening for grilling and fireworks. Zac took a few moments to enjoy the trampoline at his cousins' house and had a very good time. This video is that event and, though it says it's 1:58 in time, the converter I use duplicated the second half. It's really a minute of actual video, then 58 seconds of the same video without sound. Overall tonight, we had good food and good company and good haze. What's that you say? Good haze?

Well, the heavy rains all day turned to a very still evening with temps in the low 70s. While that sounds perfect, what we really had was a sticky, no-wind environment which, when everyone began lighting off fireworks, resulted in a huge haze. This was the thickest we've seen it in the past several years, but it didn't take away from out enjoyment of it! While Zac was fairly tired by the time fireworks began going off, he did enjoy them and sat in the chair for a good deal of time watching with his cousins.

Zac is Two Today!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZAC!!!! Yes, a big Happy Birthday to our big boy, who two years ago today was born 9 weeks early by C-Section after Katy developed preecclampsia. It was a tough week heading into it, but we had GREAT doctors and nurses at UNMC here in Omaha and they knew exactly what they were doing. If you want a bit of history, you can always go back into the archives to see the pics and read what I wrote about those first days. :)

We held Zac's birthday party this past Saturday at Gary & Nell's house, which has more parking than we do and isn't currently for sale like our house is. :) Have to keep it clean for any showings! He was able to celebrate with them, his cousins Ryan, Mandy and Jamie, Uncle Chad, Aunt Mickie, our friend Lee Ann and her daughter Elizabeth, plus of course his big sister Claire, Katy and me.

I believe everyone had a fun time, Zac is enjoying his new gifts immensely, and Katy made a wonderful cake which, unfortunately, was just enough for all the guests. Maybe next time I'll have to convince her to make two cakes, one for the party and one for me at home! I sure do love cake, but I digress.

You know, I have two children and both were unexpected and both spent time in the NICU, Claire for 10 days and Zac for 5 weeks. I'm very lucky to have these wonderful gifts from God and am convinced He intends to do great things with both of them. Claire's commitment to Him makes me a proud daddy and Zac will one day match his sister's passion for Christ with his own, of that I am sure. Despite rough starts to life, each is poised for greatness because God has them in His hands each and every day.

Zac continues to progress in learning new words and finding new ways to solve "mysteries" and it is so much fun to watch each day. After he figured out the door handles at Gary & Nell's, he then figured out our traditional handles a few days later, prompting us to place handle guards on necessary doors so he doesn't spend all his time opening and closing them, which is a favorite past-time at present. It is just always such a joy to see our children learn and grow and play and to be able to take pleasure in the very simple things they do. We get the biggest kick out of watching Zac run down the hall, or feed himself, or at the looks he gives when he's considering something or trying to figure it out.

Katy and I are luckier for having Zac in our lives and happier for the joy he provides. God created this bundle of energy and smiles and laughter, and we are thankful every day that we are fortunate enough to have him as our son. Again, Happy Birthday Zac!!

Suckers & Softball

Well, time for a new entry. I'm overdue by quite a bit. Today I bring you Zac determining exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop (one, by the way), and two of Claire's at-bats from her softball game last night. Her team won 16-4 and won their league with a 9-0-1 record. Yes, a tie was in there due to time constraints of a game.

Claire is with us this week in Omaha and we're very much looking forward to spending the 4th of July with Chad & Mickie, watching the fireworks off their back deck. Great spot to watch!