At this point, my car is all clean and happy in the background, but I love the intensity and concentration of the four year old with the water nozzle. Yes, we are still patching that right eye, too.
Sleeves rolled up, now to do a bit of scrubbing on the front of dad's car. 
And now to rinse the car so dad can dry it. Andy enjoyed the time outside with his dad just the two of them and I'm glad that Mike was able to get a few pictures of their time together.
One of our family traditions is to open up the Santa gifts in the stockings first thing in the morning. Aaron was beyond excited to have received the Lego fire chief and car. Santa also left little packs of Play-doh that was a huge hit as well.
Who knew receiving a pack of scissors would elicit this much excitement? My boys are truly thankful for the little things in life and Mike and I hope to continue instilling this trait in our boys.
Looking back at some of the pictures from opening gifts, the boys were happy with all the gifts they got, but were excited for each other as well. Nana and Papa gave Andy a train set and Aaron was itching to open up the train as much as Andy.
I'm so thankful for Andy's enthusiasm. He was beyond thrilled when Aaron opened up the Lego fire station. We knew the boys were wanting the fire station because Aaron had received the fire truck for his birthday and they let us know each time we went to Target. 
We had a great time and I think the sword fight scene was probable the highlight for Andy. Our seats were four rows up from the stage, so our view was fantastic and we could really see the costumes and the facial expressions. It was definitely worth the time and effort to spend that extra, sweet time with Andy.
Costco to the rescue. Go figure that you can buy your Christmas tree along with all the trimmings for both the tree and your belly. Mike wanted a real tree this year since we won't be traveling to Oklahoma. We bought the tree on Saturday afternoon, but it was Sunday afternoon before we decorated the tree. The boys had a lot of fun figuring out whose ornaments were whose and it's always fun to remember the years past in these little objects that only come out once a year.
Now to keep those little hands from redecorating the tree. I wonder how many times I will have to tell him to keep his hands off the ornaments or clean up broken ornaments.
This was pretty much how the entire day went. Andy would politely ask to get into the car and climb into the back seat. Aaron, a boy of limited vocabulary, just climbed in the front seat and managed to find the hazard lights of each and every car he was in. Mike and I were amazed and a bit amused by his findings.
We had a great time as a family and of course completely wore ourselves out. I still like my car even though I could upgrade to a different model, mine is paid for and that out weighs any decision.
Looking quite handsome before the wedding. Pictures were taken before the ceremony began and we were hanging out in front of the doors. I just happen to be snapping pictures and got this one of Andy doing a little dance.
Nana and Andy before the ceremony. The bride and groom were having a few moments to themselves and Andy was standing next to Nana. Andy may be a mini Mike, but you can see a bit of the Friesen in him.
An actual picture of the bride and groom. This was right before they cut the cake after the buffet dinner. The fireplace was decorated with their engagement pictures.
Once the cut had been cut, the boys received their piece of chocolate cake and Aaron sure enjoyed his cake with raspberry sauce.
After dinner and cake, the dance party began. Mom did get one dance with the ring bearer, but then he spent some time dancing with Uncle Keith. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was a lot of fun and it was good to catch up with friends and family I hadn't seen in awhile.
Andy wanted to be a king for Halloween this year, so with a little help from grandma's fabric stash, the royal king was crowned. Today at preschool he was the star of the day since mom was snack mom and thus the king was the line leader all day.
The king led his royal subjects to the fire station next door to the preschool where the children showed off their costumes to the firefighters.
Unfortunately, their time was short because the firefighters were called out of the station, but the kids enjoyed watching them suit up and drive away in the trucks.
Mike and Andy came home with the pumpkin decorated with vegetables and seemed to have had a good time together.
Once the vegetables had seen their time pass, it was time for a little jack-o-lantern carving. Andy gave dad instructions on how to carve the pumpkin and you can tell from the look on Andy's face that he had fun.
Andy with his completed, smiling jack-o-lantern.
Sitting on the counter snacking away on crackers in October of 2008.
"Mom, I want this one." At the pumpkin patch at Jubilee Farms in October of 2008.
Aaron has developed quite the love for all things motorized with wheels. He is working on his vocabulary, but in the meantime will inform you the type of vehicle by the sound of the motor or siren in the case of a firetruck. We will be driving along in the car and if Aaron sees a firetruck, he makes the siren sound, a motorcycle is the rumbling sound much like a Harley Davidson and your basic motor sound for all other cars. 
And yes, we still enjoy being on the counter only we have progressed to being able to climb by ourselves. I have two rugs in the kitchen which Aaron removes to the living room, moves a dining room chair over to the counter, climbs on said chair, then climbs onto counter and proceeds to open any cabinet door. He has found my gum stash which has now been depleted.
Andy's little garden is a growing at grandma's house. Recently we were over for dinner and grandma had informed Andy and his cousin that some of the tomatoes they were growing were ready to be picked. So after dinner the boys, with the help of grandma, picked out a couple of red, ripe tomatoes to take home.
Here they are proudly displaying their new produce. I enjoy fresh tomatoes from the garden so this is definitely a treat for me. I know that Andy has sure enjoyed learning all about growing fresh veggies this summer. Grandma's yard is much more conducive to growing a vegetable garden as she gets more direct sunlight than we do, but she has a secret weapon against the deer. She has a motion sensor sprinkler that starts shooting off a steady stream of water if you get in the way.
I'm not sure how many more warm, sunny days we will have in September, so hopefully the tomatoes will continue growing and ripening.
One of our destinations was to see Mike's aunt and uncle who live in the valley. They have a hot tub and swimming pool that we were able to make use of for a few minutes. The boys had a lot of fun splashing and trying not to drown themselves. Aaron has not had any sort of swimming lessons yet, but he didn't seem bothered by the few times he went under. Luckily both dad and Uncle Tom were always within reach of the little swimmer.
The wedding took place in San Juan Capistrano somewhat up the hillside with an absolute beautiful view of Dana Point and the Pacific Ocean. It was a beautiful wedding and a great time to catch up with some friends and meet the people who surround our friends with love since they live away from us now.
On Labor Day was Mike's birthday and what better way than to spend some time at the beach playing in the sand and surf. We spent the morning playing at Laguna Beach and enjoying the warm sunshine. 
The surf was a bit scary for Aaron so he stuck his head in the sand. Aaron wanted to walk along the beach, steal other people's sand toys and people watch which mom would have gladly joined him, but I didn't want to get too far from Mike and Andy.
Mike and Andy spent a good portion of their time running in and out of the water. I won't tell you that a certain someone forgot to put sunscreen on himself and came home a lobster.
After a yummy birthday dinner at Chili's, we stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up some snacks for the trip home and I also picked up these ice cream cookie sandwiches in lieu of the birthday cake. The bon bons were chocolaty and everyone enjoyed them, especially Aaron.
Tuesday morning, after breakfast we had some time to play in the hotel pool before needing to get ready and packed up to come home. Since we had about an hour and a half drive back to LAX, we took our time driving back and stopping at a few places. One of those stops was the Harley Davidson dealer in Anaheim. All my boys enjoyed the various types of motorcycles and looking at all the gear.
At the beginning of the game, the view from our seats.
Andy and Mike enjoying the game together. It cracks me up how Andy wears his glasses some days, but it doesn't seem to bother him too much if he looks over his glasses rather than through them. We took our own dinner into the game and Andy munched on chips and cookies for most of the evening. I could not believe the entire bag of Doritos was gone by the 6th inning.
And of course, my little Aaron with cookie crumbs all over his face. Aaron was more interested in seeing the trains than watching the baseball game. We happen to sit closer to the train tracks and according to Mike, this was the first time Aaron had figured out there were trains nearby.
Most mornings were spent sleeping in and just enjoying the company. Aaron found the Darth Vader mask and was walking around screaming at each person and I snapped a photo of him and my cousin's little guy playing with each other and that silly mask.
Papa wanted to see the Orca whales that come visit us in Washington each summer. We spent a day driving to Anacortas to catch the ferry to Friday Harbor, walked around Friday Harbor for a couple of hours, grabbed some yummy seafood lunch and then caught the whale watching boat. The boys had a lot of fun spending time inside the boat while we cruised around Puget Sound looking for the whales. We ended up right outside Vancouver Island, Canada to see the whales and it was just amazing.
The tour guides had binoculars for the children to use and Andy had fun trying to use them to see out, but I'm not sure how much he really saw, but he enjoyed himself.
The boys also received their joint birthday gift while Nana and Papa were here. My parents bought the boys a helicopter that is a climbing, teeter toter toy for them to use outside. Aaron wanted to help Papa when he put it together and it was rather cute watching him help.
The one place that seems to be a must see when you come to Seattle is visiting Pike Place Market. We took the crew down to the waterfront to see the market and see if my dad would actually purchase any salmon. We chose not to use the stroller with Aaron because the market can become very crowded and it's easier to be stroller free with the crowds. Aaron rode on Mike's shoulders for awhile and I'm glad I got a picture of the joy of my two guys hanging out together.
