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!

10 months for little O!

Little O, you are ten months old now!  Little by little I see my little baby growing and changing into the beginning of a tiny toddler.  

Look at you sitting in the car at the grocery store!  You loved everything about this experience and I could hear you squealing over and over again.  Normally I would not have put such a young baby down below, but you were strapped in and I trust Ava to make sure you stay put.  You were so happy in that car though I doubt you would have tried to go anywhere else.

Another one of your faves:  water.  Everyone has been enjoying the little pool including you.  You get in and splash splash splash.  You laugh and squeal and have a blast.

The two comments I get most about you?  You are so snuggly and you are a happy boy.  I have to agree, you are happy most of the time and you do love a good snuggle!

This month you have began taking a couple of steps on your own while holding onto my hands.  You also love to practice standing.

Owen right now your favorite song is the wheels on the bus.  When you are fussing or upset if I sing this song you immediately stop and listen.  Earlier this month we went to my grandmother's funeral.  It was a tough day for you and you were unable to nap during your typical times.  Whenever you got upset we just sang the wheels on the bus over and over and over......but we had fun making up entertaining new verses.

My baby in a bucket!  You didn't want to get out.

You are also talking up a storm!  Your first word was "uh-huh."  I will ask you questions like "do you want to eat?"  And you will answer me "uh-huh."  Your next word was dada.  We were sitting on my bed and you saw Daddy walk into the bathroom.  You looked directly at him and yelled "DADA."  It was very clear you wanted him!  You have also said Mama and Ava as well.  You are attempting to imitate the animal sounds of a cat and dog and you repeated ba for a sheep.

I'm also happy to say you are a HUGE Daddy's boy.  You prefer him to me and practically jump out of my arms if he is around.  You put your head down on his shoulder for a little snuggle.

But your biggest change this month?  We have a crawling baby!  

We love you are sweet baby boy.  Happy ten months!

Summer fun has begun!!

Owen is so excited to have three awesome friends to play with!!

I love convergent play activities and the kids orchestrated this all on their own.  First the kids used the toothpicks in their wraps and some grapes at lunch to build.  So then we used marshmallows and toothpicks to build all kinds of different structures.

Initially the summer started out with some cooler temperatures.  These crazy kids insisted on water balloons when it was only 62 degrees outside.

But they had a blast!

Owen never has a lack of play mates.  He is going to love this summer!

His little smirk kills me.

This is the face he made when he recognized the baby on the screen.  So cute!  We were hanging outside in the shade while the big kids decided to have a popsicle sale.  I think they made two dollars each!

Thanks Ava for helping little O!

Happy Summer!

The Last Day of School

Well, the last day of school has come and gone.  This means that we now officially have a first grader, third grader and fourth grader!

Kindergarten always amazes me.  Dawson went into kindergarten barely able to write a sentence and here is a paragraph that he wrote at the end of the year.  If you can't read it, this is what he wrote:

First we gat on sunscren.  Then we gat in the pool. Now we swim for six minits. Last we go home. Brovo!  Brvo!  

Everything about this makes me laugh.  I'm pretty sure I have never taken the kids to the pool for only six minutes.  Also the Bravo! Bravo! part?  Where does he get this stuff?

For the second year in a row, this sweet little girl got teary on the last day of school.  She is so sad to leave her wonderful teacher and she liked her classmates so much.  What a change from kindergarten Ava!

Dawson, you rocked kindergarten!  I'm so proud of you.

Carter, third grade was academically a challenging year.  Although you aren't convinced that school is for you, third grade is over and completed.You have told me that all you want to do is be a video game designer and clearly you don't need any more school for this particular job.  

Owen, the planking expert

Well Owen, things are about to get a whole lot crazy.  But I wouldn't have it any other way.  I really love having everyone home during the summer!