More July Pictures

Summer is flying by as usual.  We have been busy traveling, swimming, playing, for me working.

We took the kids back to the North Canton skate center.  I just love this picture of Owen's little face.

I had a blast roller skating with these three!  They are improving so much every single time that we go.  Dawson still sticks close to the wall, but not for much longer.

Funny picture - Mike calls it our band cover.  He instructed all the kids to look off into the distance seriously.

One weekend in July we drove down to Cincinnati to spend time with our friends there.  Owen was so excited to play with another baby.  

I just realized that I have been friends with these ladies for over fifteen years!  Here are our kids together:  Stella 10, Carter 9, Ava 8, William 8, Dawson 6, Piper 3, Josie 1, Owen 11 months

Dawson told me "Mom take a picture of the naked brothers."  They love taking baths with the littlest one.

Oh, the twins.  They raided Owen's closet and found these costumes.  Ava is wearing a size 12 month chicken costume and Dawson is wearing a 2T monkey costume.

This was a hand me down swim suit from their cousin Andrew.  Dawson and Carter were so jealous, and both asked me to get them a dive suit as well.  I think they have been watching too much shark week.

Ava LOVES this umbrella stroller.  She has been taking him everywhere in it.

One of the main reasons I have ZERO time to blog:  I started teaching again.  It is a lot of fun and I can do it on my time in the basement.  I don't think I could ask for a better situation!  So pardon my absence if things are a little quiet around here.  I love writing about the my babies childhood, but unfortunately it's having to take a backseat now.

Jackson Touch a Truck

Even as they are getting older, the touch a truck events are still a family favorite.

Owen was trying to hug the giant Goodyear Tire.  Daddy approved.

Ava was checking out the trucks as well.

There was also a helicopter from the MAPS Air Museum.

Big Smiles for Big Fun!

A visit with Montana Cousins

In the beginning of July our Montana cousins visited Jefferson.  Kristin in Mike's cousin, and she has three boys: Riley, Elliot and William.  The kids had a ball hanging out!

Running and Chasing

Taking a dip in the hot tub

Owen did a great job napping, only if I would hold him!

Silly Pic

Dawson in his usual position at Daddy's side

Little O getting a drink

Bebe gun shooting

Lots of swinging

Campfire and S'mores

It was a wonderful weekend.  A quintessential summer day!

The Fourth of July

I wanted to have a fun outing for the fourth of July, so we packed up the van and headed to our favorite local spot, the beach at Portage Lakes.

My kids love spending time in the water and on the beach.  They were sad when we had to leave!

Over to the side there is a small dock so we brought the kayak.  They had a great time paddling around.  Mike found out that the 125 pound weight limit is not just a recommendation! 

Little Fishie Dawson

Although Owen looks a little apprehensive in this picture, he loves spending time in the water too.  It is so tough to take him to the beach or pool because he spends the whole time struggling to get out of our arms.  Sorry big guy, you can't swim yet! 

We had a great time at the beach!

Jackson Community Fair

With my new job opportunity, I'm very behind on blogging.  So here we go!  Back in June we went to the community fair.  During the day while Owen napped, I took the older three to the fair.  Mike then came back in the evening with the older three for the fireworks.

Dawson was so happy!  He was finally tall enough to ride all the rides!  They loved this superman ride.  We got the kids unlimited ride passes and during the day there was no line so they just rode it over and over and over...........

(And if you look closely Ava and Carter's second grade teacher Miss Michael is behind them!)

We also rode the Ferris wheel.  It's been so long since I have been on a ferris wheel.

I had a super cute companion on my ferris wheel ride.

Ava wanted to ride the Power Tower, but none of the boys wanted to go on it.  So I rode it with her, boy did I scream!  I love making memories like this though!  I hope years from now she remembers riding the power tower with Mom and listening to her scream the whole way down.

In the evening the kids loved watching the fireworks.  This time there was an unusual amount of debris falling down, the kids came back with pieces of used fireworks they had picked up from the ground.  Mike said he was nervous and was looking around for embers or fire.  A fun community fair spent together!

Eleven Months Old, Little O

Oh my little baby Owen.  The countdown has begun to the big first birthday.  You are such a joy in our life.

You are a huge Daddy's boy.  Just look at this little smile on your face and the death grip on Daddy's shirt.  When Daddy comes home from work you lunge for him and cry until he will pick you up.  

One of your favorite games to play is banging the dog's food bowl.  Now that you are mobile nothing is off-limits!  When you first started crawling you wouldn't go on the tile, probably because it was too cold and hard.  Well, that only lasted a couple of days!

Your other favorite game to play is markers.  You will crawl over to the marker bin on the art shelf, pull them down and just thrown them everywhere.  Judging by the big smile on your face it's the best!

And the sleeping problems continue.  We worked really hard to get you to stop nursing in the middle of the night.  But instead of waking up to eat, you are waking up for us to rock you back to sleep.  So we are still getting up at two, four, and up for the day around 7:30.  I've worked so hard to get you to nap when we are traveling and you just refuse.  Here we are at Grandma and Bo's house.  This little mini nap didn't last longer than 20 minutes.

Bathtub brothers

You LOVE to play in water.  You will splash, try to stick your face in the water and in the pool you try to swim away from me.  You also love food.  You are eating a lot of black beans, fruit and veggie pouches, cheese, and meat.  When you really like a new food your little lip smacks are so cute.

Ava and Dawson turned your baby gate into a baby jail.  Don't worry, we did not put you into this baby jail.  Silly kids.

I'm living in denial that in less than a month we are going to have a first birthday and tenth birthday celebration.  We love you our sweet little boy.

Summer Pictures

June is just flying by!  We are spending plenty of time relaxing and decompressing after the school year, but also having plenty of fun.

Ava and Carter both finished the summer reading program for one library and are moving onto another.  The sign says "Home of an Epic Summer Reader."  They are pretty proud.

The kids said good bye to their friends this week that are moving out of the country for two years.  It was pretty tough, especially for Ava and Carter.  We will miss their family!

There is a reason that after Dada and Mama, Owen said Ava next.  She loves to take care of her little brother and she is fantastic at it.  

My summer boredom buster:  science experiments.  All day every day.  This particular experiment was fireworks in a jar.  We've done it several times.

Ava and Dawson participated in VBS at our church.  They had a blast and loved every day.  Although they were able to relate the bible stories to me, they also very excited about how many cookies they were allowed to consume.  Carter doesn't like the singing and dancing so he choose not to participate.  

Dawson did safety village during June as well.  Every one of my kids has had a blast at this program.  They also learn a lot which is nice to reinforce things we have discussed at home.  Look at the crazy face he gave me when he saw us at the final ceremony!

One of my favorite milestones: writing.  I love the little notes that I find all over the house. Dawson wrote these notes to Carter:  I love you Carter.  You are kool. 

More Dawson to Carter notes:  You are Kool.  You are nice.

My kids and random socks.  They are everywhere!  In fact, this winter the kids decorated the bare christmas tree in the basement with socks.  No wonder they can never find any!

I'm so excited for July.  Now that the camps have ended we are going to visit family, go to the pool and have plenty of fun.  More pictures to come!