black jack, whiskey and cigars

amanda knows how to throw an AMAZING party! it was her husband's 30th and she went all out! from the old school candy to the hired casino team, nothing was forgotten. i love that most of our friends are huge fans of ditching the kids for a good night out. let's be honest, parents need to play too! we celebrated until way too late (for old people like us) in the evening and enjoyed every last minute. thank you mom and dad for making that work! stew and i both walked away from the evening talking about how much fun we all had and how grateful we are for such dear friends. happy birthday, adam!

the last few days

we made our way down to UTC to ride the train and see the dolphins.

it's been wonderfully warm so we've spent more time in the kiddie pool.

friday we all headed to legoland to meet up with some friends.

4 little monkeys

always gotta stop and check out the pirates.

preschool

last night as we were heading to bed we found isaac had climbed into ryder's crib. please note that isaac also grabbed a picture of stew and i(in the frame between them) to take with him. i could just eat these two up and a lot of the time i do!

today was isaac's first day at preschool, well kind of. he actually went to this same preschool last spring for about 3 months and loved it. my aunt has very generously offered to put him back at mira costa college development center and he loves it there. he has two of the same teachers and they both are amazing and VERY patient! i can't speak enough good words about this school. it's not as academic as it is play based and discovery oriented. it's the kind of school a VERY ACTIVE little three year old loves!

ryder wanted to be in these photos too. i love that he always wants to be included in whatever isaac has going on.

potty training and such

stew took some time off from work, but unfortunately some of our time was stolen by a bad case of food poisoning that i was slow to recover from. once i was back on my feet we were out and running around, enjoying the long awaited sunshine!

hayden and isaac ran around the spray park for a couple of hours.

you never know where you will find isaac sleeping.

this week we decided that we would do a 3 day potty training boot camp with isaac. we headed to target, picked out our new undies and set out on a new adventure. the first morning was a little rough with one too many toddlers running around and way too much poop to pick up and fish out of the kiddie pool (not isaac's). fortunately that was the low point and it only got better from there. we spent most of out time at my parents since isaac could be in the backyard running around without the fear of soiling the floor. apparently it worked well since he has been dry for 4 days and has even managed to poop on the potty for the first time. yes, we make a huge deal out of all of this. i must add that my mom was a huge help in this whole process. it's kind of fun since it was my grandma(my mom's mom)was the one who actually potty trained me.

grammy gave the boys a huge box to decorate and they refer to it as the "house." it's an ongoing project.

isaac planted his carrots with auntie allison.

trent and ryder are getting to the age where they actually play together and it's fun to watch.

a little time and papa alan's and grandma chris'. it was extra special since aunt megan was in town and hadn't seen the boys in almost a year.

on august 13th, stew's grandpa went to be with jesus. this past saturday we celebrated his wonderful life and the impact he has had on so many people, including my husband. stew had a very special bond with his grandpa and i am sure at some point he'll write more about that. how precious is this photo of the two of them from years ago.

happy birthday, little man!

good morning, birthday boy!

party time!

isaac wanted a sid the science kid birthday party and so that's what we had. lots of bug hunting, bug decorating and dirt eating (crushed up oreos and graham crackers with gummy worms).

no sid party would be complete without a personalized bug catcher and worm cupcakes.

let the bug hunting begin!

decorating galore!

the 3 of us in the middle are having our 3rd child come 2011!

the montgomery clan

a little mattingly love

a few new trains

isaac was totally over the camera as you can tell from many of the shots, but he actually asked me to take one of him with daddy.

after naps we headed back over to my parents' house for pizza. it was one amazing day! a special thanks to my aunt and mom who truly helped us put everything together while i was too sick to move.

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yesterday my oldest baby turned 3! three years ago i couldn't have imagined what my life would look like at this point. i had know idea the circumstances we would go through and the joy we would receive. i can't say i would have chosen to go through all of them, but i am confident that it is with great purpose that we were given such minor issues (cleft lip, microtia and minor hearing loss) that once seemed so big. and in case i haven'tmentioned it yet, isaac's hearing continues to improve along with his speech!!

every mom thinks their children are the best and i am sure it's because we know them so well and love them unconditionally. all that aside, i have to brag about my oldest for a moment. isaac is a kind little boy who truly loves others, especially his friends. from the day this child was born he has been enjoying life. his belly laugh is contagious and i seriously can't get enough of it. he is kind to his little brother, tolerating more than i probably would as an older sibling. isaac is a great big brother.

just last week we were at the ENT getting his ears checked and cleaned(for the 100th time). isaac screamed bloody murder the entire time he was pinned down. the minute the doctor completed the exam, isaac popped up and announced, "i did it!" he then proceeded to thank everybody in the office and said good bye. i love this about isaac; he faces some challenges that he probably would rather skip, but still comes out excited and ready to move on. this child is a survivor and i am one proud mom!

my prayer for my boys is that they would be men of good character, who love Jesus. this world needs more men who are bold in what is right and wrong and aren't afraid of standing up for truth. it will take nothing short of grace to get them to this point, but i am confident that God is at work in their lives.