4th of July Celebrations

We had a great 4th of July spent with Kristofer's whole family. With the warm weather we splashed in Aaden's pool in the backyard, sun bathed, read books, watched movies and ate lots of yummy food (thanks to Gramma NeeNee')! I even made my first angel food cake from scratch (turned out pretty darn good).

No one believed us when we said our neighborhood fireworks are crazy, but this year they got to witness it. Thankfully everyone was able to get home safely and we stayed up watching the various shows with our neighbors. Aaden was cautious, but curious. Here are a few photos of the day...

 Boom!?

 No'ming on angel food cake.

Sparklers!? What's the big deal?

Summer Fun!

When the sun comes out and it is warm...we roast s'mores! Last weekend was perfect summer weather (finally), so we did a bunch of yard work, bbq'd and roasted marshmallows! Aaden LOVED every moment of it & frankly, so did we!

"Outside Mama!"

Since we only get one day of sunshine here every few weeks, Aaden has taken to just going outside in the rain. Today was no exception. I was pleasantly surprised that while it was raining, the temperature was balmy enough that I could stand to be out there with him. He played for hours, dirty and cute...I couldn't resist a few pictures even with the poor lighting.

Good ole' boy fun!

I'd rather play than smile

Bright and rainy!?

I LOVE being outside, Mama!

29 weeks...oof!

Emma of course had to sneak in!

CARS!

We haven't taken Aaden to Cars 2, the movie yet, but he has watched the trailer so many times with his Dad that he can't stop talking about it. He loves the first movie and all of the characters. Lightening, Sally car and Mater are all friends of his, they play daily. He has a great parking garage he loves to play with and a road Kristofer made for him out of PVC board. I decided to get him a set of Plan Toy road signs to add to the excitement. The result...

Non-stop car parking fun!

Baby Bump Update ~ 8

We had our 28 week check up today with the midwives. All is well. Now, if this Mama could just get over her darn cold maybe we'd have some more fun pictures/updates on the blog.

For now though, here's this weeks bump picture.

Baby Bump Update ~ 7

We had our 26 week visit with the midwives today. All is going well, the boy measures great and still has a really strong heart beat.

Aaden continues to love going and playing at the "midwife house" where he continues to be curious about the bath tubs in the rooms and all the birthing gear. He's gotten good at operating the fetal heart monitor and likes to help measure the belly (fundal height).

Until next time...

Happy Retirement ~ Papa!

My Papa (dad) is retiring this year from 36 years of teaching at Carus Elementary School in Canby, OR. A truly amazing and inspiring accomplishment. This past weekend our family came together to surprise him at his last school assembly, where he was being honored. The principal put together a small tribute with the help of some teachers. It was a very emotional event for all of us. Highlights included surprising him in the middle of the assembly, having Aaden run up in front of 100s of kids and sit with his Papa and having a classroom named in my father's honor.

After school the community held a reception for him where over 100+ people from former students, school board members and families joined in celebrating his accomplishments. A truly awe inspiring time, there is no one more deserving than my Papa as he has touched literally thousands of lives for the better!

Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home so I've taken a few of my mom's pictures.

 Aaden surprising his Papa!

 The plaque that will hang outside the newly named Bartsch Science Room

The Bartsch (Dobelstein) Kids. 

Note: my shirt is a vintage original from my dad's school band from the 80's (The Tra-La-Las played many a school talent show and was comprised of all male teachers)

The remainder of the weekend was spent outside in the 85+ degree weather. We enjoyed making homemade ice cream, doing yard work, barbecuing and having my grandparents over for dinner. Aaden LOVED that his Nana refurbished an old table top-train set from the church preschool.