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I was going through some old pictures and found these pictures of my niece Avery and each of my kids making similar faces. I told my sister about it and she told me to do a post on it so she could see. So this is for my sister.

Avery/Jonah

I love those little precious looks!
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Avery/Julien

Both of them have the "uh duh" face going on here.

The life

My dad and his girlfriend got invited to their friend's house for the 4th of July, so they invited us. These people live right on a lake, in a beautiful house. It was such a great day. I just kept thinking, "yep, this is my dream house (when I'm done having kids and they can all swim)!" It was seriously the life. We swam in the pool, hung out on a huge raft on the lake, threw water balloons at the boats driving by (it's tradition at that lake), and soaked up the sun!Just to give you an idea of how close they live to the lake, this is their backyard...I'm so jealous!Our little fish. Julien's swimming has improved so much over the past couple of weeks. He is finally understanding how to hold his breath and swims with his head under water for quite a while! Jonah's famous jump! This was where we threw water balloons from.

My dad and kids!

Oh yeah! Again, the life!

Julien playing "hill billy horse shoes."

I grew up going to lakes. I love the scenery, smell of the water and the gas from the boats, and just that feeling of relaxation and fun! It was a perfect day! I forgot how much I love lakes!

Later that night we drove to a hill near Six Flags to watch their Fireworks show. The boys loved it! It looked like the moon was right next to the fireworks from where we were; so on the way home Julien says, "Mom, do you think the moon was scared of the fireworks?" Hehe, precious, precious! Happy 4th of July!! We really are so blessed to have the freedoms we have!

Julien is FIVE!!!!!

Warning, this first paragraph is mushy, feel free to skip:)
My little baby boy is 5 yrs old! It really amazes me how fast time goes by! I know, blah, blah, blah blah, every parent says these things! But honestly, when you are the parent, it still surprises you just how fast it goes by. I am having a blast raising Julien (and of course Jonah). The kid has always amazed me with his intelligence, humor, talent, stubbornness, and ability to express just how he feels through affection and words. He can test my patience, that's for sure, but this kid is something special and I could never have imagined what a child (children) would do to change my life and my heart. It's been fun to watch Julien develop into who he is. He came out smiling. He caught on quickly to things. He melted hearts. He was once a bit shy, but now you wouldn't know! He has never been a child that can sit still. He is SO full of life! He wakes up everyday so ready to live and experience new things. He has always had a strong will and that hasn't changed. He loves learning and asks questions constantly. He is many wonderful things, but I have to say my favorite thing about Julien is how extremely expressive he is. He will let you know exactly how he feels about you by saying things that absolutely melt your heart. He loves to give hugs to everyone, even if he just met you. He talks to everyone, everywhere we go, and loves to get to know new people. He just accepts everyone and instantly loves them. He is full of love and I just love that! Anyway, I'll stop there and spare you. We love our Julien so much and are so happy that we have been blessed to watch him grow these past 5 years.
Every birthday that Julien has had so far have been at home or at a relatives house. They have all been fun and special, but this year we thought he deserved a change. He told me not to make cupcakes either because he had them for all of his other birthday parties. So a cake would be better this year. He had no idea what he was doing for his birthday and he actually never even asked to do anything. He just knew he was turning five and it was going to be his birthday. So yesterday when I told him we were going to Chuck E Cheeses, he was stoked. We met my dad, his girl friend, Carolyn, and Carolyn's mom there. My kids have never been to Chuck E Cheese, but Julien has seen it on t.v. and has mentioned wanting to go there. I was impressed. I grew up going to Chuck E Cheese for lots of birthday parties. As soon as I walked in there, the smell brought me back to my childhood! My boys couldn't believe their eyes. This was nothing compared to McDonald's playground:); it seemed like Disneyland to them! I couldn't get a smile off of my face, watching them and their excitement. One of the most precious moments was when Chuck E Cheese himself came out. Julien had been looking for him all night after he realized the one he kept waving to was just a mechanical one ( I had to break it to him). When he saw the real Chuck E come out, Julien's reaction was priceless. Oh, the look on his face! He gave him the biggest hug! And he came back and said, "I can't believe he is really here!" I love his innocence!
The kids had a blast playing games, riding the rides and running around!
Julien danced on stage! This cracked me up! His little white-man dancing! He saw opportunity to be on stage and took it!

Opened presents!
Ate Cake!
And one last surprise awaited him outside! From my dad and Rich's mom! Thank you so much!!! He loves it!
It was a birthday he won't forget! Thank you to all our family that helped and for his wonderful presents!

It was tough getting the kids to leave, but luckily they got to pick out prizes with their tickets.
When we got home we let Julien try out his new bike for a while, but then it was bedtime and we had some seriously cranky kids who had had wayyy too much fun!
We all woke up the next day and built things with Julien's new toys. This was the first thing we (okay, Rich) built out of his new K'nex set. It has a motor and actually drives all over the place.Since it took me a few days to get this post done....the kids never stopped talking about Chuck E Cheese's. They kept begging me to go back (but that wasn't going to happen for a long time). Julien said, "Mom, Chuck E is amazing! Can he come to our house?" Well, just last night (2 days after we went to C.C.) Rich and I had to go somewhere without the kids so my dad and his girlfriend took the boys. They spoiled them! They took them out to a fun restaurant and sure enough, took them right back to Chuck E Cheese's! Twice in one week! They are sure spoiled!