Birthday Girl!!

This past weekend was Mercedes' 1st Birthday!!! WooWoo!! We can hardly believe an entire year has gone by...so much has happened! Here are a few pics from the small birthday celebration!

Summer Fun!

We've been enjoying the beautiful weather and all of the fun things that go with it..like popsicles and special treats sittin' by the curb!

The Arden Hills Falcons Futbol Club

Yeah, that's the face of pure intensity, despite the fact that it's during a break and he's running off the field.

Nothing like a focused keeper in goal, but the thumbs up is too cute. Whenever Kaed carries, kicks, or passes the ball well he looks over at Jen and I and gives us the thumbs up! But if he misses the ball or doesn't play well in his mind, he definitely won't acknowledge our thumbs up.

Do you think he's having any Fun? Violet loves to go up and sit with the team whenever she can. She gives Kaed a pat on the back and even joins in on team cheers. I think it's all a trick because she constantly swindles an after game snack off the other kids.

Such a Beautiful cheering section!

Nuk Gone Forever!

Some may not feel that this is a momentous occasion, but the fact that Vi threw her coveted Nuk in the garbage chute is incredible. It took a lot of coaxing, and she wasn't really all that happy once she noticed it wasn't coming back, but she did it.

This smile lasted a short time before reality of "Life With No Nuk" set in. The transition could have been smoother the last couple days, but Jen and I are quite happy and proud of the end result.

Full Submersion Baby!

The kids at a 4th of July parade, they were a tad tentative about grabbing the free candy thrown their way, but eventually got the hang of it.

Who needs candy when you've got your toes!

Merce finally let us put her down on the sand after numerous attempts. But maybe we should have kept her in our arms because all she did was eat the sand.

Kaed and Vi both thoroughly enjoyed "driving" the golf cart to and from the lake.

You would never have seen Kaed do this last summer, but he slowly progressed to full submersion in the frigid waters of South Twin Lake.

Gotta Love It! Plumber To Be?

Zoo Fun!

Here are the kids waiting for the "sparky the sea lion" show to start! They had so much fun at the zoo that day!

Here's Merce looking so cute! We can't believe she will be 1yr old next month!!

Kaed's new hair-do!

Sad to say, Kaed was tired of his mohawk and wanted it gone! So...Auntie Hannah buzzed his hair! He still looks pretty cute though! We think there may be a resemblance to his Uncle Jason!

Violet

Here is Violet talking about how she is a big girl now because she wears underwear and goes on the potty!! A huge milestone in the kelly family!! wooho! Now only one child in diapers!!!

New Pics!

Here's little Merce...she is doing more things each day and always making us smile!! She loves to hide underneath our little kid table..she thinks it's a fun hiding spot!

kiddos...minus violet

Here is kaedyn and his "mean" face!

Now that Mercedes can crawl she just seems so much bigger! Here she is after crawling to get something she shouldn't have..paper...she loves paper!!! You can see the smirk on her face when I caught her with it!!

Mercedes is crawling!!!

Well Mercedes is finally crawling...army style!! It's funny..all three kiddos started crawling at the same age! I'm supposed to be ready for this...but I'm totally not!! Life is forever changed!!!

Oh Happy Day!!

Kaedyn likes to get dressed himself...9 out of 10 times this is what he chooses! If Kaedyn is wearing his jersey..you better believe that Violet is as well!! They sure are cute!!

Here is Mercedes giving a huge grin to her older siblings!!

Kaed loves to take pictures and this is one of the snapshots he got!! I thought it was pretty cute!!..even though Violet has pink eye and looks a little sick!!

Kaed's new bike!!

Kaedyn is overjoyed at his new bike!! Him and Violet and Daddy spent a lot of time outside trying it out last night!!!

Kaedyn's Birthday!

We took Kaedyn to a fun place called Snuffy's for Dinner! We had a great time together, just the 5 of us!!

We spent the whole morning at the zoo with the fam and Gretch and her kiddos...here are the kids outside the lion cage!

Kaedyn's Birthday Party!!

Kaed and his friends spent some time at the playground in our backyard..Here is kaedyn swinging!

Here are a few of the kiddos searching the ground for candy that fell from the pinata!

Here he is opening some presents...as you can see he is delighted!!!

Here is the pinata that his Uncle Sam and Auntie Hannah brought over for the big day. It was awesome...and a total hit at the party...for both the kids and the adults!!