Birthday party #2

The Rummel party was on Sept 12, and just about everyone showed up! It was a pleasant day made even better by the presence of the ice cream machine. Alex loved playing with all his cousins. In fact, he even told Daddy, "My cousins fun, Dad!" He spent most of the time playing in the sand. Of course, he helped little brother open gifts again. :)

Hahaha... I love this picture! I think Adam's favorite present was the cake topper. He had CAT tractors/trucks on his cake and he kinda ignored eating the cake so he could play with the trucks! In this picture, one of the other cousins is also eyeing the tractors and is trying to play with one. This photo catches the look of , "Hey, that's mine!"

At home playing with a new toy

The kittens are probably the favorite bday present though!

Birthday party #1

So we couldn't find a date for a birthday party that worked for both the Rummel side and the Jackson side. Therefore, two parties! yipee! This is the Jackson party. We had it over Labor Day weekend, so Phil was even able to come. It was nice to see everyone and thanks to anyone who gave Adam gifts. As you will see, Alex was very willing to help Adam open any present he wasn't able to do himself---which was most of them. :)

Purdue jerseys

Clothes again?

Now for the good stuff.... Ice cream cake!

Unlike Alex, Adam had no problem eating his cake.

We kept Puddy in a pen while at Mom and Dad's.

Alex spent alot of time 'fixing' it while we were there.

Concrete is done!

These pictures are going to be in the wrong order, but I dont think it will matter. Bob came and finished the concrete a week or two ago. Stuart was here too, so we all spent the day watching Bob work. After nap, I had the boys put their hands and feet in the concrete. Alex didnt' want to at first. But after Adam did it, he was very willing! I think they turned out well. :)

Watching the work

This was also the last time the boys get to see Stuart for a year! They had fun playing with him and spending time with him. On Sept 12 he flew to Berlin, and as far as I know he's doing well. Hopefully we'll be able to find time to skype in the months to come. Praying for you Stu!

Construction

We aren't really 'building' anything, just having some concrete poured. But as far as Alex is concerned, it's construction! We are adding some parking but mainly a basketball court. (No, not a full or half court, but plenty of room for a 3-pt line.) Alex calls it, "baseball court." A relative of Andy's co-worker is doing the job. He does concrete for a larger company and on the side does smaller jobs, like ours. It's so nice to have someone who knows what he's doing! I'm pretty sure it would be a mess if we tried to do this ourselves.

Alex is normally shy around people the first time, but not Bob (our concrete guy). Alex was so thrilled at finally being able to see some work being done. He kept asking Bob if the concrete mixer was going to come. But it can't beat Alex's first words to him..." Bob! I pee on tree!" Thankfully, Bob is a grandpa, and he doesn't mind being asked lots of questions or his every move being watched (and I mean every move!).

This past weekend the digging started. We ran into a few minor bumps, but nothing we can't handle. So this is a picture of after the first day of work.

Day 2


Day 3
This is only a third of the concrete. Hopefully more later this week...?
We walked on it this morning. The boys loved running/walking on it.
Adam walked in circles and then would squeal in glee.



All that dirt had to go somewhere. We piled it where a pine tree had been. You can probably see it in the first picture of the construction.
Alex likes to say, "Can we go play dirt?" or "I climb mountain, Mom!"
Adam sometimes plays in the dirt, but is much more interested in the bobcat and the trailer.

Alex is showing us his muscles.... being 'Macho'. :)

I wish you could hear the sound effects...

A quick family photo

Slip'n'slide

So there's really not much to hear in this one. But this shows Alex and Andy going down the slip'n'slide. You can see Alex get excited and flap his arms a bit. He loves it!

Chicks

Well, Adam is definitely walking now! Even Andy and I can see the difference just a couple days makes in his progress----so you know he's changing fast! He doesn't want help to walk and certainly doesn't want to crawl. He falls down less and less, however he hits his head on things many times a day. :)

Last week, Papa came and spent the night. He was on his way to the state fair, and he brought chicks! Alex was very curious and really liked checking on them. Adam wasn't so sure of them at first, but then warmed up. Alex really liked petting them and holding them until one pooped in the wagon. Then he wasn't as eager to hold them---he didnt' want to get poop on his hands. (Alex is a bit of a clean/neat freak). :)

Slip'n'slide

Can you believe that this is the first time this year that we've had the slip'n'slide out?! We had a few friends over and had a great time with it. Alex loved the slide this year! He's been down it before, but like Adam, he wasn't too trilled with it. But now that he's older, the slip'n'slide is lots of fun----he told us so every time he walked up the hill for the first 45 minutes! In fact the only way we could get him to stop was the promise that he could do it again the next day. He was shaking with chills and he still wanted to go again! Needless to say, he slept really good that night. :)
It was a perfect time for it though...it's super hot and the ground is soft. I even got to enjoy the thrill of the ride (considering I was pregnant last year!). :)

Mimi is going to bring us another piece of plastic---one not so big. That way we can whip it out real quick and Alex can go down it every day if he wants. He can't wait.

The next two pics are of a couple of Alex's friends.

He calls them," My boyz!"....and yes, one's a girl. haha :)

Gunnar

Anna