Happy 3rd Birthday Zach! (a week early... just incase your sister comes early)

We had another pool party for Zach this year and he wanted it to be a "pirate party". The kids had fun playing in the pool and then we had pizza and cupcakes. The time went by too fast with so many friends and so much fun! We have been telling Zach that his birthday would be before Ellie Kate is born, so yesterday he "turned three" and we celebrated (all a week early). We didn't want to disappoint him if his sister decides to come a little early. The way things go with our family, she probably won't be early, but we just wanted to be sure!Family picture with the birthday pirate and his pet parrot!

I ordered cupcake toppers from an etsy shop and had the cupcakes made... I had to make it easy this year!

Cupcakes for our little pirate and his friends.

Playing in the pool with Daddy.
Hunting for pirate treasures in the pool (too bad the coins floated!).Look what we found!

Blowing out three candles!

Little Zach is growing fast and talking so clearly! He is finally potty trained and ready for a few days of preschool. Time passes too quickly! I can hardly believe he is already 3 years old!!! Here is a little look back over his birthdays.

August 3, 2006
8lbs. 7oz.
Jacksonville, Florida
Happy baby on his 1st birthday... went from crawling to running!
Celebrating his 2nd birthday in Coronado, California.

Here is our big 3 year old pirate!

Silly Zach can be really shy or really outgoing. We never know what to expect from this little guy. He is very spirited and full of energy. He makes us laugh outloud and get totally frustrated all at the same time. Zach is a blessing and we love him so much!

Summer Fun

The boys have finished their swim lessons for the summer and they are doing great! Andy is swimming all over the pool and diving down to get toys off the bottom of the 10 feet. Zach is jumping in and swimming either to an adult or back to the wall. He is diving down (or willingly being pushed down) to get toys off the bottom of the 5 feet. Having Daddy home to help with the swimming has really brought improvement with the boys.
Andy is so tall, it was time to get him a new bike.
He was excited to pass his little bike on to Zach!

Zach has really enjoyed trading his trike for a bike.
Now we just need to get rid or those training wheels! We will give him a little more time to practice.

San Diego Zoo

We spent the day on Friday walking around the zoo. I was secretly hoping it would get my labor going, but no such luck! We had a great time.

The mommy elephants with their babies.

The boys enjoyed feeding biscuits to the giraffes.

Fishing with Daddy

Since Daddy has been home, he has taken the boys on two fishing trips at Lake Cuyamaca. The first day the boys had to learn a few lessons about fishing. Like the fact that you don't always catch fish! The second time they went, they had a very successful trip. The lake has a very strict rule about once you catch a fish you have to keep it. As you can see from the picture above, the boys caught a lot of little crappie, a catfish, and a trout. They actually hit their limit for the day. We had a fish fry for dinner that night!

Zach was the only one who caught fish on the first trip!
Andy had a few bites, but they got away.

Showing off the fish that Zach caught.
The boys were much happier during their second fishing trip when they were having lots of success. Daddy loves having little fishing buddies around to play with!

Our Happy Homecoming

After six long months of deployment Daddy finally made it home! We are thrilled to have him back in our arms again. Thank you for all of your prayer support and encouragement during this challenging time. God has faithfully sustained us once again. I am always amazed at how God draws Matt and I closer to himself and closer to each other during deployments. Though I dislike every minute of Matt being at sea, I am always thankful for the growth it brings. Now we just have to get all of the "stuff" from the ship reorganized in the house, so we can have this baby!

Making homecoming posters for Daddy
...waiting...
We waited for the ship to arrive and then for Daddy to walk off. It took about three hours from the time we got there until Daddy was finally with us! It was a really hot and long morning! I was afraid the boys would have no enthusiasm left by the time we saw him, but they were so happy to see their Daddy, they forgot how hot and tired they were! Thankfully! So happy to have him off the ship!Uncle Casey was able to join Daddy on the ship for a week, for the "Tiger Cruise". We did some explaining before hand, so the boys would understand why Uncle Casey was coming off the ship too!Back home and together as a family!
Thank you God for bringing Daddy home safely!