Blystone Family Reunion: Swimming Edition

Carter, Ava and Dawson,

This weekend we had a Blystone Family Reunion and you were able to meet most of your extended family.  The Blystone Family is Grandma Sue's family.  It all began with Grandma Marjorie Blystone and Grandpa Paul Blystone, your great grandparents.  This reunion was to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary!  What an amazing accomplishment and journey!  They have four children: Paul Blystone, Randy Blystone, Susan Blystone {now Shadle} and Scott Blystone.  

Your Great Uncle Butch {Paul} lives in Montana and he has four children:  Kristin, Josh, PJ and Tim.  Kristin is married to Kevin and they have three children your ages: Riley, Elliot and William.  Josh has a wife named Joy.

Then your Great Uncle Randy lives in Virginia with his wife Kathy, and he has three daughters named Lindsay, Kelsey and Jessica.

Finally your Great Uncle Scott lives in New York with his wife Lisa and he has two daughters, Emma and Meg.

So, I just wanted to give you that little bit of genealogy for the future, so you will know all these people in the pictures!

We had the reunion in Jefferson at Grandma and Bo's house.  Due to a large amount of rain, their backyard was a complete washout.  So we journeyed over to the hotel where everyone was staying to eat dinner, swim and enjoy a  picture slide show.

Here are some pictures from the swimming pool:

Daddy and Dawson

In the background, Kevin, Riley, Carter and Elliot

Daddy taking on two babies: Dawson and Ava

In the background: a sliver of Tiffany and Andrew, Emma, a chilly Bo, William and Carter in the foreground

Bo taking the Roover for a ride

Aunt Tiffany and an interested but cautious cousin Andrew

Uncle Jason and Andrew

He did not enjoy the temperature of the water!  Poor little guy let out a howl the minute more than his toes were dipped into the water!

LOTS more pictures to come!

Busy, Crazy, Sick, Scared, Funny Week

We've had some thunderstorms this week, which means everyone ends up in our bed.  Even at 3:30 in the afternoon!  They were all scared and wanted to cuddle, so this is where we ended up.

Poor Dockie Doodle was stricken with a little virus.  He was running a high temperature {102.6!} but luckily is fine now.  Carter and Ava were at vacation bible school every morning this week, so we cuddled on the couch.  I was shocked that he fell asleep at 10 in the morning.  I was even more shocked when he took TWO naps on this particular day.

My little mini-me wearing my glasses.

T-Ball

This week the kids had their first t-ball game.  

Carter and Ava are on the same team, the Red Sox.  Luckily Carter has recovered from his "I never want to play t-ball again because I got dirt in my eye at Smart Start."  Instead he spent the entire time in the outfield diving into the dirt, even if the ball had already been picked up.  He came home with so much dirt on his face he looked like a racoon! 

Carter hitting the ball

Ava hitting the ball

We need to practice with our little Avaroo a little more.  She pulled the classic first time kid mistake of running to third base instead of first.  But after that she got the hang of it.

Ava is a fast runner!  I'm pretty sure she could beat her big brother in a race.

Playing in the dirt, because nothing could be better!

What did dockie doodle do during the game?  Played in the bird cages, of course!  He loved these weird space ship looking things, and he pretended he was a bird.  It's nice to have a playground so close to keep him occupied.

I'm sure there will be many more t-ball pictures to come!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We had the Shadle clan to celebrate Daddy's birthday.  We ended up going to an Aeros game in Akron.

But not without snuggling our baby cousin first.  Yeah!  I'm happy he was finally content to sit with his cousin Ava.  Mike was just commenting that we have so many pictures of the two of Ava holding Andrew, but not any with Carter and Dawson.  Well, honestly the boys really don't ever ask to hold Andrew.  Dawson was really cute and did enjoy tickling Andrew's toes.

Daddy with Roover and part of Carter's head.  It was pretty sticky and hot when we arrived.

Bo's complimentary veggie platter.  We were pretty excited to be sitting with such royalty.  We ate and ate and ate veggies and barely made a dent in that thing!

Slush Puppies mean BIG SMILES!

Thankfully the sugar helped keep the kids going during the very late night.

Grandbo got all his grandkids foam fingers.  Dawson thought they made excellent hitting fingers and also tried a little bite.

Grandma, Dawson, Bo and Ava

We even do yoga at the baseball park.  Chair pose, mommy?

The kids were really well behaved during this very long baseball game.  Of course we got up and stretched, walked around and checked out the kids zone.  We wanted to stay to watch the fireworks afterward, but the game went into extra innings.  At 10:30 Carter started crying "I want to go home and go to sleep.  I never want to come here again."  At that point I called it and said let's go.  Maybe next time we go, we will be able to see the fireworks.  Thank you to everyone who came, we had a great time!   

Summer has {finally} arrived!

This afternoon we filled up the pool and took a little dip.  The pool was wonderful, they all played together relatively happily for two hours!  These three have kept me on my toes this week.  Usually it seems like we will see challenging behavior from one child at a time, but this week nobody is holding anything back.  I've seen behaviors that I've never seen before: eye rolling, name calling {stupid! we don't say that!} spitting on the floor, eating paper, lots of talking back, complaining and tons of potty accidents from a child that should have been trained a long time ago.  Some days I just can't help thinking where did I go so wrong?  

But enough of the negativity, sometimes I just have to vent a little.  I know that overall they are really good kids.  But they are still just kids, not little adults.  

Wild Roo Face

Dawson practicing his boat pose

Nap time in the pool

Beautiful weather predicted for this weekend, I guarantee we will be enjoying every last second of it.

Silly Stories

Just some silly stories for the grandparents........

• The terrible twos have been coming to a head with Dawson.  Recently I went over to him to talk and he hit me on the face!  After a little talk about being gentle I told him to apologize.  Well, he spread open his little fingers about two millimeters and said "this much sorry."  
• Carter has been hilarious lately.  He gets so angry because Dawson is copying him.  One day Dawson was wearing a blue Diego shirt clearly copying Carter wearing a brown shirt with airplanes.  Carter's explanation?  Diego is inside the airplane.  Then it happened again!  Carter gets so exasperated and angry.  Dawson was wearing a red shirt with surf boards and Carter was wearing a plain green shirt.  Clearly copying!
• Carter was complaining to me this morning that Ava made him stay up to watch the sun set.  Ava was so excited that the sky was so pretty and pink.  Carter said sadly "I think Ava must be nocturnal."   I think Carter is right!     

Little Yoginis

Downward dog

Warrior II {Bend that front knee buddy!}

The stubborn baby

He refused to let me carry my yoga mat, even though it practically weighs the same amount as him.

It's so much fun sharing an activity I love with my three little ones and watching them enjoy it as well!

Wishing for some Fishing

While camping we also took a little time to go fishing.  Of course we didn't catch anything, and I think the kids were interested in fishing for maybe five minutes.

This little daredevil scared me the entire time.  I really really really didn't want to have to jump into the gross lake water to save a baby boy.  Of course he spent the entire time trying to climb the railing, sticking his head between the slats and trying to pick up things in the water.  I quickly decided he needed to go somewhere safer, like the playground.

See the big bruises on his forehead?  Yup he was in the camper for maybe fifteen minutes when he fell out and face planted on the gravel.  Of course Grandma warned him not to lean on the door.  But he did anyways and then Ava opened the door and out he fell.  I saw it happening but couldn't get to him in time to grab him before he fell.  Oh, this kid.

Ava used a stick to fish.  Surprisingly she didn't catch anything either.

Carter has a nice little cast.  But he still doesn't have a very long attention span for fishing.  As soon as I mentioned the playground he was gone! 

Daddy used his new knife from Uncle Jay to freshen up his shave a bit.

A Bad Case of the Sillies

After a long tiring weekend, exhaustion manifested itself in the older two in a bad case of the sillies.  They ran around like this for a looooong time.

Father's Day Weekend

Happy Father's Day to Daddy, Bo and Grandpap Bob!

We spent Father's Day weekend camping in Pymatuning with Grandma and Bo.  We also got to see Uncle Jason, Aunt Tiffany and Andrew who visited for the day.  

Of course we visited the spillway and the kids had a ball throwing bread to the fish.

Carter was begging Mike "please go get my fishing pole."  Uh, no buddy that would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

I love my smiley little girl.

Run!  It's a bear!

Dawson did a little birding.

Bo and 3/4 of his grandkids

The kids also helped to shuck corn for dinner.

Of course Ava wanted to snuggle her little cousin.  Unfortunately it seems that his little cousin dosen't like to be snuggled.  But look at how blonde his hair is getting!

Life gets in the way....

The kids and I have been having a grand time this summer.  Despite the super cold temperatures {Come on Ohio, Alaska called and it wants its summer back!}  We have been keeping busy.  Due to my early wake up times {between five and five thirty} I am behind on all the things I love to blog about.  By the time the kids are in bed at 8:30, I'm ready to fall asleep myself.  This morning the kids are still tuckered out and sleeping!  So I'm going to finally get some pictures/ thoughts sorted out. 

We went to visit friends in Cincinnati for a birthday party.  Afterwards we went swimming, while the guys enjoyed their homemade kegarator.  Although the reality of the situation included five splashing kids in the baby pool and a freezing cold dip in the adult pool.  We also went to a nearby fossil park and the kids had a ball finding fossils.  It was amazing, you just looked down and could find the fossils of shells, plants and bones.  

On Monday I took my three favorite kids to a Mommy and Me class at my yoga studio.  I was shocked how well behaved all three were, and how all three participated in the asanas.  I brought some toys/coloring books especially for number three, but they weren't even touched.  I'm going to have to get some pictures of them next week, because Dawson in chair pose is one of the cutest things I've ever seen.  Ava in particular has asked nearly every day, when are we going back to yoga?

"Look Mom, I'm a cobbler, I made Jesus shoes."

Ribbons wrapped around her feet, but gotta love the creativity.

If you happen upon my house and wonder why none of my day lilies have flowers, this would be why.  She loves to pick flowers, and decorate my hair with them, and stick out her tongue!

Another big transition:  Dawson's crib has now been converted to a toddler bed.  He has done beyond amazing in it, there was a little bit of monkey business the first night but other than that he has been sleeping soundly.  Of course, now that I've typed this on the blog it's going to all go down hill from here, but I can hope. 

Finally, Ava is back sharing a room with her big brother.  She was my little night time wanderer, up three to four times a night because she was scared.  Finally I just said "go sleep in Carter's room."  It worked like a charm and I haven't heard from her since.  But we are back to the problem of Carter wanting to go to sleep and Ava wanting to stay up for awhile.  Win some/Lose some I guess.

That's it for now, we have grocery shopping/garage saling/ packing/ cleaning to do!

Recent Happenings in Pictures

Summer vacation is officially upon us, and boy have we been busy.

We had to get in a little beauty parlor before leaving for Pittsburgh this past week.  What grown woman dosen't wear fifty two hair barrettes and a red comb tangled in their hair?

That trip really tuckered out my kiddos.  They slept and slept and slept!

"Look Mom I can do half moon!"

And indeed she was.  It's funny how much interest she has taken into yoga, the other day she was showing Mike her chataranga {which she pronounced shopping cart.}  I'm so excited for next week when we take a Mommy and Me yoga class, I think Ava in particular will have a ball.

We made it to the pool!  Then it got freezing cold again, so we haven't been back.

Cheers!  Fish fry at a friend's house.

Then there was this.  Poor little guy scratched his cornea, about 3 mm in length.  We really have no idea how he did it, he was in bed with Mike and I and just started crying about his eye.  Luckily as I type this it is all healed up and hasn't bothered him in a day or two.

We were also so lucky because Aunt Tiff and Uncle Jay came to visit us! The kids love their Aunt and Uncle so much, look at them snuggling up to Aunt Tiff!  

Yesterday was also a big day for Carter, he went to summer camp with the YMCA.  I was a little nervous because of the peanut allergy, and luckily everything went very smoothly.  He had such a good time that he didn't want to leave when I came to pick him up at two!  

Carter and Ava have also been doing vacation Bible School at a local church called Crosspoint.  It cracks me up because they are learning about St. Paul and ancient Greece.  They have a man dressed in a toga pretending to be St. Paul and telling them about his life.  Ava really doesn't understand because she keeps asking why does that man live at the church?  Why does he sit on pillows?  Why does he wear funny clothes?  Luckily Ava and Carter both really enjoy VBS and Ava hasn't had any separation anxiety at all.  So all in all, a good start to the summer with plenty of fun to come!