Beech Creek Nature Preserve

We took Meme, Brendan and Riley to visit Beech Creek Nature Preserve.  It was our first time visiting, but it came highly recommended by several parents.

They loved checking out the toad home and turtle hill.  We also got to see the turtles being fed and hold a grub.  EWWWW!

Ava posing with Ivy Man

There was also an Amazing Garden House with all kinds of fun things to explore.  There was a model train exhibit which Dawson loved, and we even got to see an outdoor train rush by, TWICE!

Under my umbrella ella ella.........

The stream table was also a big hit with everyone, from Brendan all the way down to Dawson.

The log playground was also a big hit.  And it is exactly as the name implies, a playground made of a bunch of logs.

Cousins inside the log

And Mommy on top.

Isn't it crazy that it was the end of July and we are wearing pants and sweatshirts?

The kids also enjoyed the butterfly house.  Everyone was able to catch a butterfly.

 I love this picture!  Ava had butterflies landing on her big flower headband.

Hey kids, act squirrely, perfect!

We also took a short hike with everyone.

A Great Visit with some of my favorite people!

Soccer Kids

On Monday night Ava and Dawson began their soccer league.  It was the first game for Dawson ever, and Ava's first game of the year.  They were a little timid to begin, and walked onto the field holding hands like so.

And about two minutes later, two bawling kids came running back to me.  Not exactly a good start.  But I went over and got them settled with their teacher and they did well for the practice.

Then the game started.  Keep in mind this had been a long day for Dawson, he had been playing hard with cousins all day long and been going non-stop.

Poor kid started crying.  He couldn't keep up with the other kids and they weren't sharing the ball with him.  This league is for 3.5-6 year olds, so he is one of the youngest.  Ava was so sweet, she would come over and console her brother and stroke his hair.

Finally Dawson took matters into his own hands, literally.  Whenever the ball would come near him he would dive on it and grab it with his hands so the other kids wouldn't take it from him.  He did this twice and the coaches had to break it up.

He did get a chance to kick, and ended up flat on his face.  Sweet Ava girl is coming to check on him.  His Momma, Daddy and Meme were too busy laughing.

I was impressed with the progress Miss Avaroo has made.  She was getting in the game and getting the ball to kick it.  Last year she stayed far away from the ball!

Hooray!  It was so nice to share this experience with Brendan, Riley and Meme.  In the words of Meme "One day he'll be a good soccer player, but it wasn't today."

Another Swimming Video

Here is another swimming video of little Dockie doing his thing.  It is so funny to watch such a little kid swimming so well!  I had to wait for a pool visit with Daddy to get this video, but it was well worth it.

Pippi Dinner!

This month we read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren.  This was one of their favorite stories to date and they really enjoyed the fun activities that went along with it.

What is a Pippi Dinner without some long stockings?  We took tube socks and decorated them with permanent markers.  Carter in particular spent quite a lot of time coloring camo onto his socks.

Something about long stockings inspire a dance party.

Then it was onto making pepparkarkor (Swedish for Gingerbread) Pippi's favorite cookie.  Pippi made these cookies by rolling them on the floor, but I convinced Carter we didn't want to eat dirt cookies.

I gave the kids full control of cutting out the shapes and putting them on the pan.  I rolled out the dough because we have only one roller.  We had a gingerbread man with only one leg, one without a head and a couple of snakes, but we had plenty of laughs about the silly shapes. 

Ava helped to decorate our Pippi table by coloring in her name and drawing a birds nest with chopsticks (one of the stories told by Pippi).  Carter made a pirates ship for Pippi's Dad.

We also made flags of Sweden and marked the countries of Sweden, United States of America, Guatemala, Argentina and Egypt.  These were all countries discussed in the story, we did include the USA as reference to our home.

This was the end of our activities, but we did enjoy Swedish meatballs, roasted potatoes, crusty bread with Ligonberry jam for dinner.

Mike and I were talking about how lucky we are to enjoy this time with the kids.  As they grow older, this may not be how our kids choose to spend their weekend.  This time when they are young will be gone so quickly, and I just want to soak up. 

Kids Fun Run

This morning we went to a Kids Fun Run at the YMCA.  Ava and Dawson participated in the 400 m run while Carter ran the 800. 

Ava and Dawson at the beginning of the race, but Ava was gaining some speed.

Go, Ava, GO!!

Dawson crossing the finish line.  He was one of the smallest participants, but he wanted to run with his siblings.  

Carter ran his little heart out.  He was red faced and out of breath by the end of the race.

I am very proud of all three of my little ones.  They all three met a challenge head on and did their best.  

Pictures from the Summer

These kids do not care if it is only 73 degrees and overcast outside.  They want to swim!  Mommy is a big wimp and I've been enjoying a little reading time by the pool while they burn off a little energy.  Tough life, right?

We've been enjoying cherry season and drying off at the playground after our swims.  

Carter's other top tooth is loose and tonight he had a collision with Daddy while wrestling.  I predict by his birthday he is going to be singing "All I want for my birfday is my two front teef!"

Lots of Superhero Play!  Dawson had pliers, hammer, microscope and tons of other things in his "utility belt."

I forgot about this picture, but I took it on the last day of vacation bible school back in june.  Poor Ava spent the entire hour long concert crying because she didn't want VBS to end!  She must have had a good teacher!

Ava has the weirdest eating habits.  Here she is enjoying some broccoli for breakfast, and yup, she ate the whole bowl!

Dawson's picture:  Walking Train track

It makes me laugh, only Dawson would imagine that in his little brain!  Plus, his walking train track has the prettiest eyelashes!

Watch these kids swim!

Here is a video of the kids at the pool today.  Carter was swimming all over the pool, from the shallow end to the deep end and back.  He doesn't know how to put his head up while he is swimming, so the snorkel has worked really well.

Mike loves to watch Ava jump into the pool, he says she looks like she is jumping out of the plane.  Dawson was wearing his floaties in this video because I wasn't in the water.  The pool was really chilly today, even though I was in for an hour it wasn't enough for the kids.  They were swimming for close to three hours despite blue lips and freezing fingers.  But anyways, when I am in the water he will take off his floaties and jump to me.   

Summer Tidbits

 Thankfully life has slowed down lately.  The kids are really enjoying their down time.  I was harvesting carrots this week and I had Carter take some pictures of everyone while I was working.  So here are those pictures and some tidbits mixed in as well.

I was just thinking about the differences lately between the kids of last year and this year.  They have grown up so much.  Last year we had 1.5 kids in diapers and this year it is only .5 (Doc at night.)

Summer of 2014 has now been dubbed the summer of injuries.  Dawson has three eggs on his forehead in approximately the same location from: falling out of a tree, running into Meme and Bob Bob's counter top and falling off his bike.  The last bruise barely heals before he bumps it again!  For Ava, this has been the summer of skinned knees.  Recently she took a spectacular spill racing her brother down a hill.  There was a scab forming and the next day she tripped over her feet and ripped it open again!  I'm pretty sure her middle name should have been grace!  But unfortunately, it appears she has inherited her mother's coordination.  Don't worry baby girl, yoga will help with that! 

Yesterday Ava decided she was not going to let her brothers rule the pool.  She started jumping into the deep end and swimming to the side with them!  So last year we had two kids on the verge of swimming and this year they have definitely achieved that goal.  Now Dawson is on the verge of swimming!

Every night we have been going on a run with the kids.  Sometimes I will take the kids one at a time and sometimes we all go together.  Ava is the fastest, but I have a feeling Doc will overtake her as he grows up.  He will run for the longest stretches before he wants to take a rest (Shhhh, he is faster than his big brother!!)  One night I told Carter to get ready so we could go running together.  I meant grab some socks and get your tennis shoes on.  But he yelled back at me "Ok, I'm going to go and get my band-aids."  I think he has the Be Prepared Motto of the boy scouts down pat!

He also told me recently that he's allergic to peanuts, cats and running.  I questioned that statement, and he explained that he needs an inhaler when he runs.  Nope buddy, that's not an allergy!

As in many cases with parenthood words are often cliched and don't do this experience justice, but really truly, it has been so fun to watch these little guys grow up.  I'm going to need to stop calling them babies because clearly there is not a shred of babyhood left!

Our Week with Riley

Last Saturday when we left Sidney from our fourth of July extravaganza, we brought one fun cousin with us, Riley!

Whew, this was a busy week.  Here are some of our adventures:

We took her to the dollar theatre to see Rio 2.  The kids loved the movie but enjoyed the candy the most.  While we were in the drug store picking our candy, Carter was pointing out various options to Dawson.  When he came to the necco wafers, Dawson yelled "I want those!  I want Holy Spirit Candies!"  Yup buddy, I guess they do look like a host!  In the theatre he told me "Holy spirit tastes good!"  Hmmm, guess I have more work to do in the area of religious education!

We also went to the Akron zoo and splurged on stuffed animals for all.  Ava got a purple tiger named Twinsie (because it's a twin to byger) Riley got a fox named Foxy Glamorous Grace (not sure, there may be more names), Carter got a leopard called spotty and Dawson got a Komodo Drago named Cuddle Bean.

Another cousin picture

Poor Dawson, he had another nap meltdown this day.  It's hard for a 3.5 year old to keep up with the big kids.  He was walking around the zoo begging to go home to take a nap.

Skymax was also on our list!  Riley loved jumping.  She was starting to do front flips, that looked more like front rolls.  When we left all four kids were sweating with red cheeks, success!

Then we went down to Columbus to return Riley and we got to spend some time with Uncle Patrick and Aunt Sara.

They have a great park behind their apartment that we enjoyed.

Thanks Aunt Margie for all the pictures!!