Block party-

All SIX of the Soets in one picture!

So we finally had people over! Our old house was never very easy to host much of anything at. The space just didn't work. So now that we have neighbors and a house worth inviting people over to --- we had a block party for the houses nearest ours. It was a great night. Even with the weather pushing everyone inside we managed to meet the neighbors and have fun! I think there were 14 little kids over & Cody is thrilled about how many new friends he has. Lindsey fell in love with the Gipson girls & Steve & I couldn't be happier that we moved! It was 18 months of really hard work, but having so many neighbors with young kids that we have things in common with has been well worth it!

So we are off to Booty Camp in Chicago with Cody tomorrow...Wish us luck! I should have TONS to blog about once we get home. Cody being potty trained had better be one of them! Have a great weekend everyone!

http://bootycampmom.com/

The clip of Booty Camp on the Today show earlier this month...
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/25057503/

Mini Meat Man-

We visited Dad at work today to pick up some hot dogs for a friend's picnic. Cody LOVED seeing the plant. We saw Uncle Jim and PopPop while we were there too- As soon as we got back into the car, he told me that he wanted to work there too...Ahh, a future meat man!

Lindsey sporting her first big girl pony tail...I love it!

Charlie and little quack!

Pool Day!

Aunt Kortney helped me bring everybody to the pool today! It was sunny, fun & everyone got ice cream cones! Well, maybe not Charlie, but his day will come- just not this summer!

Gigi's Margarita 60th Birthday Party!

Yesterday marked the end of our Birthday Busy season! We celebrated Gigi's 60th at Terri's purple cottage with lots of family, friends, & a few margaritas- Happy 60th Gigi!

I scream, you scream - we all scream!

What better way to celebrate the official start of summer than with ICE CREAM! The kids ate up their cones and made a huge mess - - -Yeah for summer!

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Gigi's 60th birthday(6-19)at the purple party cottage. I'm sure there will be plenty more treats, messes, & frosting in their futures!

Lions & Tigers & Bears - Oh my!

So I'm baking birthday cakes for my mom's 60th birthday & its 12:45 am...why not post some new pictures while the cakes bake! We took the 60 degree weather this week as a sign to hit the zoo and most of GR was there too! The kids had a great time, the Thompsons met us there & all of the kids scored lions. What a day -

If these birthday cakes turn out as planned, I'll post more later!

Best Baby Blankies Ever!

So I have to show Charlie's new blankie to all of you since so many of you have babies or have tons of friends having babies like I do. This is the best blankie ever!
Fillintheblankie.com
Tons of styles of blankies, fabrics, sizes, fonts, & themes - Great blankies! You fill in the blankie so to speak with whatever little love notes you want. I loved personalizing Charlie's. I hope it shows up in the pictures. They are actually as well made as they are cute. So you can actually let your little ones chew it, suck it, spit up on it, or drag it through the mud - wash it and still love it! Check it out!

Success at Big Star!

After a terrible maiden voyage to the cottage over Memorial Day, we went back & had fun! Cody & Lindsey finally slept in the same room - plenty of bed bouncing singing, & eventually a little bit of sleeping! The kids went for a Father's Day boat ride, swam in the lake, and ran wild in the cottage! We really LOVE summer there!

KQF Picnic - Michigan's Adventure!

Every year we head to the park in June for the KQF company picnic. It is finally starting to get more fun now that the kids can enjoy a few rides instead of just hanging around for lunch. Cody was so eager to try any ride open to those 40" & under! He rode a firetruck, the carosel with Mimi, cars with Dad, & the big one...the roller coaster with Mom & Dad! He had no clue what he was in for of course, but he was brave enough to try it once :) Lindsey surprised us by not jumping in with Cody on any of the rides, but she seemed thrilled just watching everyone else ride & people watching. And I must admit, at Michigan's Adventure there was plenty of prime people watching!

Father's Day at our house-

This year we had a great time putting together Steve's Father's Day gift. I kept wanting to blog about it earlier in the week, but since Steve sometimes checks in our page I had to wait until now to post these fun pictures.

So we bought these huge letters and I decorated them so the kids could take pictures with them. Then I put them all together in a cute Father's Day book for Steve. Each year the kids will have to think of how they want their picture to be with their letter and we'll keep adding to the book. This year Cody and Lindsey are both really into letters and reading so they went crazy with the huge letters. I'll be covering them again next after the abuse they took- banging on the patio and getting dragged down the hill, etc. Steve seemed to like it & I can't wait to see how they grow every year and what ideas they will come up with. It was a good Father's Day for us!