Monster Trucks, Birthday Fun, and Somersaults

For the last six months the boys have been completely obsessed with monster trucks, so we got them tickets to a show up in Grand Rapids. James took Ethan and Nolan to the show while my sister, my mom, Lydia, and I went shopping. We were a little apprehensive going into it because we heard so many negative things about the monster truck shows. We were worried that the boys would want to leave after 15 minutes. 2 1/2 hours later, I heard from James. The boys absolutely loved it. They got their "Blue Thunder" flags and were waving them and yelling and screaming the whole time. Ethan wants to go to another show next week!

Ethan and Nolan with their Blue Thunder flags

Nolan watching the monster trucks

Blue Thunder

Ethan with headphones to drown out the noise

James and the boys

I turned 31 on Sunday, so James and I stayed up in Grand Rapids Saturday night and went out to dinner with friends. My mom took the kids home and stayed with them overnight. We went to the Melting Pot, which was great as usual and then went to the BOB bar. It was fun to have a night out and not have to worry about getting up with the kids the next morning! It was definitely a great birthday. It made up for my 30th last year because I was over 40 weeks pregnant and so annoyed that I hadn't had a freaking baby! Here's a few pictures from the evening:

Justin, Jessie, James, Mandy, Christy, Mike, Morgan,
and Rich. Celebrating Mandy and Rich's Birthdays!

Justin, Jessie (brother-in-law and sister),
James, and me

The guys at the BOB (Mike, James, Justin, and Rich)

The girls at the BOB (Morgan, Mandy,
Jessie, and Christy)


A few weeks ago Ethan taught Nolan how to do a forward roll. Now he goes around doing them all the time...."watch, mom...." Here's a video: