Ike is Seven!

Ike celebrated his 7th birthday almost two weeks ago already. Hard to believe that our baby boy is 7!






He really loved his number 7 balloon and took it with him everywhere!



















His requested cake: funfetti with marshmallow icing.














He really wanted a sleepover for his birthday so we invited a couple of his friends over (Kyson, Bennet, and Jacob) to hang out.

Ready for cake.

He basically tried to spit all over his cake. Not at all surprising really. I love Bennett's face here!

Headed to the pool.

Sleepover was a success! The boys all did great and went to bed pretty early actually.

Stacey and Elli joined us Saturday morning and we took a trip to 50 East for breakfast.












Ike is seriously so much fun. He's always down for an adventure and I can always talk him into going on a walk to "explore" something. He and Dave have been venturing out on their own a little more on their bikes and scooters lately which makes me nervous but they've been doing great with it.

He's very into Fortnite but prefers still to watch his random youtube videos on kids surprising other kids or whatever else is the newest thing. He's been reading the Bad Guys book series and our small books of choice have been anything nonfiction (lately it's been this series on invasive species that's pretty fascinating). Ike does fantastic in school-we just had parent teacher conferences last week and the best thing I heard was that he's the first to help a student who is struggling or gets hurt. Made my momma heart so proud!

He listens to a wide variety of music but I think his favorite right now are a couple of Christian rappers: Canon and NF. I hear him listening to them a lot upstairs (very loudly). He wants to be an archaeologist when he grows up, probably because he's very into smashing open rocks right now! Ike still loves to snuggle up with us which I hope he never grows out of!

His favorite color is still black but sometimes he'll say purple. Brussels sprouts are his favorite food (who is this kid?) and he loves getting that $5 box at Taco Bell if we're eating fast food.







White's got this awesome climbing wall at the pool-he's able to climb both of them very fast and comes to climb them about 4 times a week right now.


















On one of our adventures!















And now a look at Ike through the years on his birthday!

Look at that squishy face!













He really loved his cake on his first birthday.

That year he was obsessed with lawn mowers.

Squinty smiling in mis-matched jammies.

Cheesing with his birthday button.

He got his awesome commando vest for his 5th birthday.

And finally last year with his cake pops!













This boy brings so much joy to our lives and never fails to put a smile on my face (even when he's being ornery!). Can't wait to see what the next year of his life brings!

Nashville

At the very end of September Josh and I took a trip to Nashville. Mostly to go see my favorite country artist (Jon Pardi) but also because we'd never been and had heard great things about the city. As usual we picked the hottest time to go (it was in the 90s the whole time we were there), but we powered through and got to see a lot of the downtown area.

We stayed at an Airbnb in an apartment building on Church Street which was a great location to go see everything. Ate lots of great food, heard some pretty good acts and did some line dancing! Pretty sure we hit all the highlights of a trip to Nashville!







We found lots of good blues music to listen to so Josh didn't get too burned out with all the country music!

Walked to the Gulch area to eat at Biscuit Love. Oh my goodness these bonuts were incredible.

This sandwich won best breakfast sandwich in the country. It was also delicious!

We hiked on over the pedestrian bridge in the morning before it got too hot. I will say it was definitely too hot by the time we walked back, ha!

View of downtown Nashville from across the Cumberland.

Josh was dying to try out those electric scooters so we rented one to play with going back across the bridge. It was not for me!

Dinner/snack at Etch. Steak carpaccio-so yummy!

Roasted cauliflower with all kinds of fancy sauces.

I might have instagram stalked Jon Pardi and saw he was at this record store on Broadway. So we speedwalked on over!

Jon was super nice and posed for a picture with me even though they were running late!

First concert at the Ryman Auditorium-loved this venue!

I'm afraid I may have caused some hearing loss to those in front of us when I was screaming about Brooks and Dunn coming on stage for a couple of songs!

I loved seeing this building all lit up!














Meanwhile back at home my mom came up to watch the kids (and it was her birthday!).





At the I Survived party at the library.

Applebee's for dinner.

And they carved pumpkins!













We met mom in Indy on our way down and Justin rode up with her to eat brunch with us. We dropped him back off in Bloomington on our way down south. Huge shout-out to my grandpa for letting us borrow his convertible for the trip!!

Traveling in style!
















Brunch at Hedge Row.










We had such a fun time exploring Nashville, I definitely want to go back again! The only downside of the trip was getting stuck in a major traffic jam on 65 on our way home. We sat for 2 hours only moving about a half mile! That was a bit rough but thankfully no one was hurt from the accident (an RV caught on fire apparently)!

September Wrap-Up

We said goodbye to summer with lots of little activities at the end of September!

Dave spent the night at his friend Alec's house so Ike was a little bit bummed he was home by himself. So I took him to the new park in town and we ordered pizza for dinner. Then the next morning I woke up to him wanting to do this science experiment thing that Grandma Kyra gave him. It was pretty cool but ended up being a bit of a mess!








Working on those crystals.

We had a minor spill on the porch, Ike helped me clean up :)














Side note: Ike wore his swim trunks all day because people were coming to drain the water tower behind our house. Unfortunately that didn't happen until Monday so I had a pretty disappointed little fella!

Playing with bubbles that Dave brought home from his sleepover.

For spirit week the kids had to do some dressing up...

Dave ready for college day. Not pictured is his IU t-shirt on underneath the hoodie.


















Ike still wants to be an archaeologist when he grows up!

Family fun night at school-both kids won a book at the book walk.

Ike at Manchester University for the Promise kids day.

Got to see the cousins again!

They're all so darn cute.
















This fire hydrant was spewing out water all day so Ike asked if we could go down and check it out.

He was really into it.

Evansville for the Alzheimer's Walk

In September we went to Evansville for a quick weekend so we could participate in the Alzheimer's walk for my aunt Laura and grandma Colleen. We got in a lot of good hanging around time with everybody too! It was still really hot so the kids were able to swim  every day we were there, but I didn't get any pictures of that!






Ike digging for gems.



















Dave helping grandpa make mac and cheese.

Taking grandpa Dave's new convertible for a spin.

Group picture before the walk.












Gamma and the boys.

Ike got really into wearing everything purple. Kinda hard to see but even his hair is purple!


















Josh and Dave were not quite as pumped about the purple.

Mom, Kathy and Lance.

There is a really awesome park right by where we were walking so we took the kids for a quick play after the walk.














Tony and Ben hosted a brunch at their house (with mom providing the food!). So the kids got to swim there too. No pictures from brunch of course!

Church with grandpa Charlie and grandma Kyra. The kids absolutely love the music there!

Dave had an egg drop project due on Monday so Saturday night we all pitched in to help Dave brainstorm what he was going to do.

Gamma and Dave working on the first prototype. It didn't pass the first test run!

















Dave's made it to the final round but unfortunately broke! Here's a video of his dropping. 

Ike was incredibly helpful during the building process.

Grandpa and the boys taking a ride on his motorcycle.









It was a super quick trip but lots of fun!