Every Dad's Greatest Day...

... When your son is big enough to mow the lawn!

Landon came home from school one day while Bryce was mowing the lawn and wanted to try it. Bryce was so excited when he could actually do it! He called me on the phone to tell me that he was looking at the greatest thing... his son mowing the lawn!

When there were some tougher terrain Landon would get between the bars and push the mower like this. Bryce gave him $5 when he was finished for a job well done.
I wonder when he will increase the price?

Brady / 3 weeks - 1 month

3 Weeks Old!

I stole the comparison next to a teddy bear from a few people and thought it was a great idea.

One Month!

Unfortunately this is the face we usually see if he is awake and not being held

First Days of School & Grandma Josh

The school year couldn't have come soon enough at our house. With the new baby things have been pretty crazy... or I'm just going crazy!
We decide to hold Chase back this year due to the fact that he has such a late summer birthday. He was not pleased AT ALL that he was going to preschool again this year! I literally had to drag him into the classroom with both hand kicking and screaming. He knows the system and the teachers so why does he have to make it so difficult?! Needless to say these pics were taken after the first day was over. You can see he survived and had a great first day.

Landon is getting so big! I had to force him to sit down for 1/2 a second just to get a picture on his way out the door. He is starting 2nd grade and is in the same class as his best buddy which he was very excited about. Hopefully it will be a great school year!

This is the desk he chose at the school open house when he found out
who his teacher would be this year.

On the same day Landon started school his Grandma came into town. My boys (especially Landon) LOVE their Grandma Josh. For those of you who don't know how she got the name Grandma Josh it came from Landon. She used to watch him a few days a week before we started medical school while I went to work. He would get confused between his Grandma Cindy and Grandma Sydney when he was little so he simplified it. His uncle Josh, Bryce's youngest brother, was also a favorite at the time so instead of saying the Grandma where Josh lives he just started calling her "Grandma Josh".
She is now and probably will forever be known in our house as Grandma Josh.

Unfortunately with all the craziness of a new baby we forgot to get a pic of Grandpa. He also payed us a visit to see Brady and we were so glad that he did. We were so happy to have Bryce's parents visit us for a few days to celebrate Brady with us.
Thanks again for making the effort to come out. We loved it!

Brady

LOVE HIM!

Brady Keith Haslem

Brady Keith Haslem
Born: 8/08/09 @ 5:59 am
8 lbs 8 oz
20 1/2 in.

Brady FINALLY arrived early Sat. morning! The labor and delivery went very smoothly, so smoothly we are lucky there was a Dr. in the room to catch him! We are all so happy to have him here and Landon and Chase can't get enough of him!

Chase's 5th Birthday!

My baby less than a week before I had my next baby. I love Chaser!!! He is such a good boy and I have loved all of the time we have spent together. He was my buddy for a long time while Landon was at school, it was just me and him. He is "mommas boy" by definition and I love it!

Happy Birthday Chase!

Happy 29th to ME!

I'm one lucky girl!

36 Weeks!

It's Great to be 8!!!

I absolutely cannot believe my little boy is 8 years old!!!

Landon turned 8 on July 6th. He is such a joy to have in our home (most of the time) :)
Landon is our little sports nut and is good at just about anything he does. He has such a strong personality and is constantly telling everyone else how things are. He loves to ask you a question and than when you answer, tell you what the answer really is according to him. He has a love for life, sports, and as of late, the wii. He loves to play Bryce in wii sports most nights before going to bed. The competitions get pretty heated because Landon can most certainly hold his own against his dad. He is a great help around the house and most certainly will be a big help when little brother arrives. I love this kid SO much and hate how fast he is growing up.

New golf clubs for the birthday boy!

NBA live on the wii, SO excited!

I took Landon and his two best buddies to "Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs"
I officially was demoted for the first time this afternoon when Landon told me not to sit on the same row as him and his friends.
Again, growing up way to fast!

Weekend in Illinois

Bryce had a week off so we decide to spend some of it in Illinois with my Grandparents. Both of my parents grew up there and both sets of Grandparents live very close to one another. It was so nice to spend some time with them before Baby comes and the kids had so much fun. Bryce was able to spend Saturday afternoon with my Papa golfing while the kids and I visited with my moms parents. I'm so glad my kids get to see my Grandparents every once in a while so they can get to know them a little while we live fairly close. My dad's parents, or Nana and Papa, got us a room at a great hotel where the kids spent the nights swimming. We all had so much fun and Thanks Nana and Papa especially for inviting us for a great weekend!

Nana got the boys this ring toss game which provide them with hours of entertainment.

When they weren't playing ring toss they were playing catch.

My dad's parents: Nana and Papa

My mom's parents: Grandma and Grandpa
(Have I mentioned how much I hate pictures of me when I'm pregnant)

Despite my dad's parents being in their 80's, they still managed to wear this one out!

St. Louis Visit

We payed a visit to our old stomping grounds of St. Louis a couple weeks ago and had a blast! There are so many things I miss (and a few I don't) about that city. Of course we had to go to the zoo while we were there. Chase is constantly asking if we can go to the zoo, but unfortunately we don't live very close to one here in Iowa. So we got up early and tried to beat some of the heat, but we were not successful... it was HOT! We walked around for about two hours and my huge pregnant self was done! Luckily, my friend Julie has a pool at her house and we spent the afternoon there cooling down with some old friends.

Chase was our little fish all day...
He "snorkeled" in the pool and absolutely loved it

A visit to St. Louis wouldn't be complete without a trip (or two) to Ted Drewes.
This is a well known frozen custard station that you wouldn't believe how crowded it is in the evening. They have police there directing traffic in the parking lot it's so busy. No matter how busy it looks though, I promise you will never wait much more than 5 min. for your custard. They have that place running like you wouldn't believe!
I'm craving some right now just thinking about it!

Bryce's Mini Triathlon in St. Louis

One of the main reasons we went to St. Louis is because Bryce registered to do a mini triathlon with his buddy John. He only trained for three weeks beforehand (and lost 13 pounds! I hate guys!!!) so he was a little nervous for the race. I managed to catch him coming in from the bike portion and cheer him on during his transition to the run. Bryce was slightly disappointed in his time, but I think he did awesome for his first time. He said it was really hard, but is already looking for more races in the future. Way to go babe!

John started earlier than Bryce and had already finished.
Here he is giving him words of encouragement. :)

Crossing the finish line with a time of 2 hrs 5 min.
(He wanted to finish under 2 hrs. I think he did awesome!)

I have a feeling these two will do many more races together in the future.

Bryce has been giving me so much crap lately about our blog and my lack of updating. So here I sit all afternoon going through our pictures over the last couple months so some of you who might be interested can look at what we've been up to.
There are quite a few posts so don't stop, keep going...!

BOYS!!!

Why will boys be boys?!!!
Chase and a neighbor boy were in our backyard the other day and the neighbor decided that it would be a good idea to throw a tennis ball at this birds nest that was under our deck. They knocked it down and this is what was inside. Once I realized what was going on I carefully put the nest back in hopes the mother will come back and the little birds will be okay.
It makes me so mad sometimes to see what these kids think will be a good idea. Hopefully they won't do something like that again and they have learned their lesson!

Visit from Nash...

...Well, really John, Tara, and Nash.
We were lucky enough to FINALLY get a weekend that both John and Bryce had off so they could come and visit before they move back to Utah in a couple of weeks. Tara and I did a little shopping, the boys did some golfing, there was some night time debating, and Nash didn't stop moving. I have never seen a busier kid, but he was so fun. We miss having them across the street so much so it was fun to have them in town for the weekend.
Thanks for coming!!!

This was the longest I saw Nash sit still.
He and Landon were watching cartoons one morning...
how sweet is that!

End of The School Year Picnic

Bryce was so disappointed to find out there is no "Field Day" here. Instead there is a picnic for the school with parents and siblings invited. Chase and I met Landon at school with our lunches and ate and did recess with him and all his friends. Landon had a great first year in school and in Iowa and made so many wonderful friends. He loved his teacher, Mr. Fenstermaker, and hopefully will have an equally successful year in 2nd grade.

Luke, Landon, and Tyler
These guys are the best of friends!

Chase just happy to be there!