Heard around the house

From the file of things I never thought I would say:

Do not put broken glass in your underwear!

Do not wipe your nose on your bread!

Crazy, crazy kids!!

Dawson Videos

Literacy Fun!

Now I know that Dawson has six sight words:  Dawson, Ava, Carter, Mom, Dad and Johnny Manziel.  Don't know how I feel about that!

(By the way, he is talking in a robot voice like Mooey from Awesome Dawson.)

Dawson is such a sweet ray of sunshine in the morning, and I really mean that, no sarcasm intended!  He is nearly always the first kid awake and he loves to sing and smile and love and cuddle first thing in the morning.  This is a little song he made up for me to get his breakfast.  This kid is a tried and true morning person.

Touch a Truck

Dawson's favorite day of the year, Touch a truck!

He was so incredibly excited to see the fire trucks.  Due to Dawson's tendency to fixate on his obsessions, I made the wise choice to tell him about our destination about 30 minutes before we left.

He was a nonstop chatterbox all the way to the park.  He loved getting in the fire trucks, pretend steering the backhoe and touching the lawn mower attachment on the tractor.

Ava enjoys seeing all the trucks as well.  I love these shy little smiles that she gives me.

Three kids in a bucket

Carter was very interested in gathering all the free stuff.  Sticker badges, real badges, coloring books and pencils, despite the fact that we had all of them at home he was all over it.

Another fun morning in our ever shrinking summer.  Just one week left!

Heard around the House

Dawson and Ava were playing legos together.

Ava:  Dawson, it's true love.

Dawson:  Nah, it's just poop.

Dawson and his line up of lego inventions.

Skating Party

This past week we were invited to a skating party as a farewell party for Ava's friend.  It was a fun experience and the first time Dawson and Carter had ever been skating.

Ava had gone skating last fall and she took off like a champ.

Carter and Dawson spent a lot of time with Mike and I walking around the edges and holding onto the wall.  I was proud of the progress that Carter made, he started off confidently then fell.  But we convinced him to keep trying, and he eventually had a couple of good skates all by himself, not holding onto the wall.

Dawson made sure to enjoy one of everything: cookies, chips, juice.  He also like to do the splits in his skates; Mike would hold his hands and he would skate into the splits.

Way to go buddy, I'm so proud that you tried something new and challenging!

Big Feet, Little Feet

Earlier this week when Meme was visiting she treated us all to new school shoes.  It's always a shock to see how much their feet have grown.

Ava and Riley

Riley is wearing a women's size 8 people.  That's only one size smaller than me, and she's only 8 years old!

And then there is Brendan, wearing a size 14 in men's.  His feet are bigger than Mikes!  Look out special ordering shoes, here he comes!

Sorry kids, it looks like you have big feet genes.

Thank you so much Meme and Bob Bob for the new shoes!

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!