Best Friends

Zach told me this morning, "This my best friend Kyle!" I love these boys

Kyle standing?

Wait! Is that Kyle standing up on his own??

Or is there a sneaky arm hiding there. HA! We see you Jason!

Basement train tracks

Here's a little peak at our basement. This is how it looks... always! It's Zach's little hideaway. Someday we might clean it up and make it into a usable space for the rest of us but for now Zach is in heaven. He's got a huge flat area that he can build his train tracks to his hearts content.

Freecycle trains

Did I mention that I love freecycle? What? Only a million times???

We LOVE freecycle!

Zach got these trains from freecycle a little while back and he hasn't been able to stop playing with them since. When I pulled them out he was SO excited he sat and named the all for me. He even knew the more obscure ones that only show up once and a while. I was totally surprised!

In other news... Kyle Rolls!

Well, he actually has been rolling on occasion for a while now. It's just over the last couple of days he's started getting a lot more consistent. And today he actually managed to get his arm out from under his body all by himself!

What happened to my teeny tiny baby?
He's starting to grow up WAY too fast.

Random other pics from the last few months....

One of the last days in Milwaukee we had a HUGE rainstorm. (it continued during the time Jason was trying to load the moving van) Zach and Jason enjoyed a quick walk through the rain with their big red umbrella.

Jason is going to kill me for posting this pic but I just think Zach's face is priceless. This is his first time siting on his dump truck potty and he is obviously NOT impressed.
This is proof that Kyle actually does come with us to the park. Usually he's just sleeping and I can only have so many pictures of him sleeping in his carseat. This time though, he was excited to stay awake and watch his brother.
Zach has become totally fearless. He will try to make friends with ANYONE. Often to their dismay. Here he is as a park near our house, trying to make friends with a bunch of BIG boys.
We've also joined a few of the ladies in our neighborhood for their play dates. Zach has gotten really brave and actually climbed to the top of the play tubes at Mcdonald's. There he was dubbed the "scary tiger" and all the bigger kids would scream and run away as he growled after them. I actually ended up having to climb up after him when it was time to go home. I'm getting TO OLD for stuff like that.
Grandma Gundersen sent us a fun package of books shortly after we got here. Zach promptly spread them out in the living room and started reading them himself. Notice, he picked up the Cars book first. Thank you Grandma!!!

Culver's!!!!!

We thought we had to say goodbye to Culver's when we left Milwaukee but to our surprise, there IS one not too far away! So we celebrated one of our first nights here with Culver's.
The blue sprinkles made this ice cream especially AWSOME!

He licked the bowl clean.
YUM!

Father's day pictures

For father's day Zach created a portrait of his Daddy.

It consisted of several colors of large circles and a scribble beard.
The circles had to be really REALLY big! I loved how he kept going up on his tip toes.

He finished of the portrait with some squiggly eyes and swirly ears for good measure.

Note: I found this easel at a garage sale when we moved here. It's in really good condition and it has a clip on one side for paper and a chalkboard on the other side. There's even trays on each side to hold the art supplies. Get this... it was ONE DOLLAR!!! Wahoooo!

Goodby Old, Hello New!

Well, the big day finally came. Here's a final picture of the place we've called home for the last four years. This house where I brought home both of my boys. Our first real HOUSE! (the trailer was great but it doesn't count) Zach dubbed this "Mom's house".

Jason made sure to talk a lot about how we were moving to "Daddy's NEW house", just as a silly joke to me. Now, Zach still refers to this house by that name. Bummer, no more house for me. LOL!

By the time we made it to "Daddy's new house" Zach was pretty pooped and within a few minutes of being there I noticed it was kinda quiet. I found this sweet boy in the sunroom.
I actually didn't take very many pictures of the house and I think more pictures are going to have to wait until I get a few more boxes moved out of sight but here's a preview.

Presenting, Our Living Room!!
Yes we have wood floors BUT they are pretty badly beat up so I can't decide if we should refinish them or recarpet. Hmmmm.....
Some friends came over and helped us unload a bunch of stuff. Both of our babies promptly konked out on that same wood floor. They made unloading easy!
Zach, of course, enjoyed unloading all of his toys.
And I think he might have enjoyed the empty boxes even more than what was inside them.

Goodbye Park! Goodbye Friends!

Finally, we said goodbye to our favorite park and some really good friends. We are going to miss you all SO SO SO SO SO much. Zach's good friend Kevin brought him a farewell present that included a "way cool" bucket and shovel so they enjoyed themselves in the dirt for a majority of the time.
Note: the buckets came with the coordinating but NOT matching shovel but you can see in the pictures that they promptly swapped. It did cause some confusion when it came time to go home.

What a Mess!!
To cute boys racing down the slides.
Kevin won but Zach was close behind. Fun day!

Goodbye Zoo!

I said the museum was one of our favorite spots but I think the Zoo actually topped it. Zack LOVED the zoo, and our final trip to the zoo was definitely a memorable one.

The snow leopard FINALLY came out to see it's visitors. Usually we would only see him hiding out in the back of his area but this time he sat right by the glass and Zack was SO excited to sit up close to him.
The lion was also looking especially Regal that day.
Zack was obviously impressed!
The seals were putting on a real show.
We were pretty pooped so Zack insisted we stop and rest on these "Animal Chairs". He even grabbed Jason's hand and dragged him over to sit next to him.
Jason thinks he wants one of these in his front yard someday. Mmmmm Hmmm... Yea right!
The penguins sang us a goodbye tune.
It was a perfect beautiful day and a great way to say farewell to our beloved zoo. I know, I know, there's a zoo where we're headed as well but it's a bit of a drive and I just don't think it will be the same. We'll Miss you Milwaukee Zoo!!!!!

p.s. Yes, Kyle was in attendance. I promise! He just slept through the trip, AGAIN and I didn't manage to get a single picture of him. ::Way to go mom::

Goodbye Children's Museum

Before leaving Milwaukee we wanted to make sure we got to visit all our favorite spots to say "Goodbye!"

The Children's museum will be one of our MOST missed places to visit and I really wish we had taken the opportunity to go there more often when we had the opportunity. We sure did have fun on our last trip though!

Sorting Leaves (with cheezy grins)
Sliding!
Playing with sand. (I think he got that tongue thing from me... and I got it from my dad)
The giant Brio train has always been his favorite and he spent a good amount of time "driving" it.
And Kyle slept through the WHOLE thing. Of course.

Blessing Day

So, I'm WAAAAAAY behind but this is stuff I can't NOT blog right? I'm taking us back to May 22. It was kinda a crazy weekend since it was also Jason's graduation but we just decided to throw in one more thing, just to make it really interesting. It actually worked out perfectly because Jason's parents were there to celebrate with us. I was bummed because Zach got this huge party in Idaho but this time we just dressed up and invited the bishop over. Then I got to think about it and realized that the party wasn't the important part. It was the blessing itself and the fact that his dad was able to bless him and his Grandpa was able to be there as extra support.
I love this guy!
The grandparents, I'm SO glad they were able to stop by on their way home from Norway. It worked out so perfect.
A little family pic. See that foot being stuck into the air? Would you believe this was actually the BEST picture we were able to get? Out of like 50! I've decided that toddlers just don't DO family pictures.
And the MAN OF THE HOUR! Kyle Jason Gundersen Oh so handsome!

DUMP TRUCK POTTY!!

Once more we are doing this crazy thing of accumulating MORE as we are packing. I know... it's silly. This time, Jason was getting a little cabin fever. It's been great to have him home but he just needed to go somewhere so he and Zach jumped in the car and when they got home they had this. (And he got $10 off with multiple coupons! I'm so proud!)

I recommend clicking on the video and viewing through You Tube. Otherwise it cuts off the edge and you'll miss Kyle's Oh So excited facial expressions... LOL!

In case a translation is needed at all. After Kyle sneezed Zach said he needed a Kleenex. The end was my favorite. I almost turned the camera off but I'm so glad I caught him as he said, "Dump Truck Potty WAY COOL!" Priceless.

Now, I just hope it works.... More to come on that, but we'll be waiting till after the move.

Rummage Jackpot!

I KNOW I KNOW! I'm going to be moving in a little over ONE week and so it may be rediculous to think I should be looking to gather MORE stuff. But, you see, there's not many times that my hubby can agree to watch the wee ones so that I can go hunting. SO, I snatched the opportunity and I hit Jackpot.

Mainly I was out in search of a trike for Zach. We wanted to get him something special to celebrate our move to the new house. As you can see, he's going to be celebrating with a whole lot more than just a new trike.
All this was about $30.

I found the PERFECT trike, and then just couldn't pass up the tent, semi with trailer, 5 large beanie babies, an extra large puzzle, a brewers hat, a shoe organizer (will hold toys in the new place) a bucket load of little people stuff in nearly new condition, some legos a funky mirror and frame that I plan to paint some fun new color, and MORE!

And believe it or not, this was all from only 3 different places so I was home by 10 am. Not a bad day's shopping if I do say so myself.

Now I'm just having a hard time restraining myself from giving it all to Zack today. I really want to wait till we move so it's something exciting for him after all the stress of moving.

Graduation

Well, the big day has come and gone. Jason is officially...

A DOCTOR!!!!

He was lucky to have some really great friends who supported him along the way.
That's right DR. GUNDERSEN. There'll be no living with him after this.
He'd just better not forget who else was there for him over the last 4 years.
BESIDES these goofy guys.
They are ALL doctors now. Watch out!
Awwwwww... He's so handsome!
Ya, I kinda like 'im
This guy does to. Though I'm not sure how keen he is on this weirdo hat.

We were so glad that Jason's parents were able to make it to graduation. They stopped here on their way home from Norway. Perfect timing!

I'm not sure I would have made it through graduation without them.
Here's the big moment!
That's right.... He made it! He's a doctor.
We're so proud. (Even the really sad one in my arms is actually very happy)
Ahhhh, binky's make everything better. Now how do we slow down a crazy 2 yr old long enough for a picture?
CONGRATULATIONS JASON! We're so proud of you!

(p.s. sorry for all the caps and exclamation points, I just couldn't stop myself!!!!!!!!!!! lol)