Summer continued

Well, we haven't slowed down yet:

We had a great time celebrating Pioneer Day at church on July 25th. The boys got their faced painted, had a watermelon eating competition, learned how to line dance, and enjoyed the cupcake walk.

Freedom park is a fantastic park in Charlotte. We went around Easter time, and have been wanting to go back ever since. This time we met up with our friends, and checked out the nature museum, right by the park. All he kids had a blast and have talked about our next visit already.

Dave and I had he pleasure of escorting a family's through the temple for the first time. It was a beautiful experience!

This is the face Drake makes when he is the only boy at a "sparkle rapunzle princess party."

My grandma flew down to NC to drive right back up with me and the kids. I had been really anxious about how Dorothy would do in the car, so we split the trip over 2 days, and that way we were able to see Edwards!

I love how whenever we see them, the boys and the puppies immediately start chasing and playing together. It was so lovely to hang out with them for a night.

Our time in New Jersey was spent playing with cousins and lots of swimming.

Drake and Uncle Barry getting ready to walk to the lake:

Lincoln on the dick with Abby and Violet: he swam so much while we were there. Abby and Violet were such troopers to play with him all the time.

Dorothy had a great time in the water too!

One afternoon, we walked down to the reservoir to dig up crayfish and skip rocks. The water was too tempting to not get in!

The kids and grandma walked to a small park in her neighborhood.

I fondly remember walking to the deli with my mom, when I was a little girl. I have been taking the boys there every time we go up. When Dorothy was napping, I took the boys through the woods, on our walk to the deli. They chose a batman ice cream and then ate half of my onion bagel I ordered.

My cousin Abby drive back down with us. We stopped at Lurray caverns in Virginia. At first, Lincoln was complaining about the stop: "this is going to take forever," "the line is soooo long," "I don't want to go underground." Then we walked down the stairs and he said, "this is so awesome, you were right mom!"

There was a cool cave looking area, so naturally they had to make a bear pose for the camera.

All the kids did great in the car! When we were about 30 minutes from home, we had nasty traffic because of an accident. Dorothy pooped, so I was able to change her, without making an official stop. I'm very thankful for Abby's help!

It was so nice to have her at the house for a few days. Mom and I took her to the whitewater center, where we zip lined and did some ropes courses. I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty fantastic on the ropes course!! I think I have found my new hobby.

The kids were sad when we took her to the airport, but I might have been more than them! She was such a great help with the kids, but even more she is just fun to be around. Next year, I need her for a week!

Summer Happenings

Here are some of our latest summer happenings:

Even though it is blazing hot outside, we make sure to get some outdoor time. It usually happens in the morning, before it gets too hot. On this day, we had a nice snack on top of our playground. The kids get such a kick out of having me squeeze up there with them.

Each week, we have been visiting the library. Lincoln is really into chapter books. I love to see him sitting on the couch reading. It's my favorite when he reads to Drake. Just this morning, he was reading Calvin and Hobbes to Drake and was explaining what was real and what was fake.

The librarians are much more enthusiastic at the larger library in Gastonia. All the kids enjoy story time, which is great since I have a wide age range. They also like the educational computer games; so do some of our friends from church!

When my boys play video games, they jump up and down like crazy. It is totally a workout for them! Dorothy has now started jumping when we hand her a remote without batteries.

Thanks to my sister-in-law, I scored a great deal on target diapers. They came in huge boxes, which the boys turned into cars. They got to eat lunch in their cars and have also watched a movie in their cars. They think it's awesome when Dave and I push them around the house in them! 

The boys have been wanting to do somethings out of a book called, "The Messy Book." So far, we have made chocolate truffles and the boys made their own peanut butter and m&m sandwiches. The truffles were definitely messy when the boys decided to eat some of the leftover powder sugar. 

Dave helped he boys build some vehicles from a kit. Drake built a pirate ship and Lincoln built a monster truck.

We try to go swimming every afternoon. They get baths afterwards. I'm not sure why Drake feels the need to stick his tongue out in pictures, but like most things, Dorothy is catching on!

Happy Half-Birthday!

I'm still in denial, but Dorothy celebrated her half-birthday this month. She doesn't look like a baby anymore; she is totally a toddler with her own personality!

This picture is from her first day of nursery at church. She is doing well, especially when they pull snacks out. The ladies have said she gets upset when the door opens and closes.

Gender differences are real, and this child  has some very girly tendencies. She loves dresses, shoes, purses and jewlery. She gets upset when someone raises their voice or when the boys get too rough with each other. 

Dorothy also loves to play with superheroes, cars and blocks. She adores her brothers and would like to second every minute with them. I know it will be soon before she starts begging to sleep in their room.

She is still not saying a ton, but we have heard her say brother and broom, so I know she can do it! 

It cracks me up when she copies things I do. She has her own makeup brush she uses on her face, when I am getting ready for the day. She also brushes her hair, tries to get drake dressed, sweeps the floor, and wants to give kisses if I give them out. I walked out of the shower to find this...

She even loves my old dress as much as I did. I got a huge meltdown when I tried to take it off her for bed.

This little girl adds so much love and character to our house!

July 4th

I love everything about this holiday; however, I do feel like an old curmudgeon when people set off fireworks multiple days before and after the 4th. Also, after 10pm is terrible when you have young kids! 

Dorothy wasn't feeling well, so I took the boys downtown for their annual celebration. We got to meet up with our old friend Tristan! I know it's dark, but the boys enjoyed the fireworks and playing on the train.

The next day, Dorothy's fever was still high, so I took her to urgent care. I felt a little strange about doing it, because she didn't have any other symptoms. She just wasn't herself! It turns out my little girl had double ear infections. She was pretty out of it the rest of the day, being doped up on Tylenol and her antibiotics.

In the afternoon, we went to a friend's house for a cookout. Alyssa is a friend from MOPS, so there were other MOPS friends there and lots of kids to play with. 

That evening, we set off some of our kid friendly fireworks. The boys said they liked that better than the big fireworks! It makes me want to buy double next year!

Summer Fun

I have been loving the summer! Our days have been flying by. Here's what we have been up to:

I knew I would constantly be asked when screen time was, so I made this chart for the boys. The pictures help Drake, since he can't read yet.

We have had friends over to play on our big water slide.

After nap time, we go to the pool in the afternoon.

Drake had swim lessons earlier this year, but he still has to wear his floaties.

Lincoln is getting more brave in the water, and even learned to dive off the diving board.

Snack time happens during the life guard breaks.

One of the bucket list items was having a "kids cook" night. Lincoln and Drake worked hard on making chicken pillows and brownies. They were so sweet to thank me for allowing them to do it and gave kisses for teaching them what to do. 

They have also been enjoying playing with play-doh during their free time.

Mom and I went away for a few days, to attend the wedding of one of my childhood friends. Michelle and I were in kindergarten together, lived in the same neighborhood, and were in Brownie Girl Scouts. Her mom, Luna, and my mom are also dear friends. 

Mom and I had a great time celebrating with Michelle and her fun family! I wasn't nervous about leaving the kids with Dave;  I was just nervous how Dorothy would do. I came home to happy kids and a clean house. Lincoln told me they had a "lazy day," where they got to have lots of screen time. That was fine with me, because I felt so energized and recharged from being "off" a few days.

Just a few days later, mom babysat the kids so Dave and I could go to a concert. Cleve was supposed to go to Dave, since it was a bunch of old school rock bands (Tessla, Styx, and Def Leppard), but he was still in California. I was up for a date with Dave, even though that's not really my type of music.

I'm looking forward to more summer adventures and checking more things off the bucket list!

Western Vacation

The night before our big Western vacation, I treated mom to a Barry Manilow concert. I figured it was only fair, since she took my friends and me to multiple NSYNC and Justin Timberlake concerts! I only knew a few songs, but it was so much fun watching mom sing the words and loving every minute. When we went up to the escalator to our nose-bleed seats, we were informed that we had been given better seats downstairs! We had excellent seats, because the arena wasn't as full as it normally is.

 

The next morning came very early, as we had a 7am flight. The boys are entertained by any screen in front of them, so they were great travelers. Dorothy, however, was a different story. She wasn't horrible, but she didn't want to be contained.  We were pretty excited when we landed in Boise and got to ride in Papa's Bus (his RV). To break up the trip to La Grande, we stopped at Barry and Amy's new house just outside of Boise. The kids started playing with each other like they had never been separated. Cousins are great!

Once we were in La Grande, we had other opportunities to catch up with cousins. 

Sydney and Lincoln still look so much alike.

Dorothy always wanted to love on Abby. The feeling was not mutual!

 

Wynn and Drake had a great time wrestling Dave.

Just a few days after we got to Oregon, we got back in the car for our big family reunion at Bear Lake. I had never been to Bear Lake, Utah, so I didn't know what to expect. The beauty is so impressive! The lake is so so so blue and clean. This was the view from our rental house.

Dave's niece, Jessie, captured the view in a painting.

There were 35 of us at the house, most of them were kids. The house was perfect for our group: there were lots of activities for people to do (pool table, ping pong table, theater room, indoor trampoline, indoor playground, indoor basketball court, and slides all throughout the house).When we weren't at the lake the kids were having water gun fights, bubble gum blowing competitions, playing human size hungry hippo and jenga, and other fun games adults had prepared.

Most people told us the lake would be freezing cold, and that we probably wouldn't go in. We picked the perfect few days to go, because it was warm enough outside, for us to play in the water. 

Dave's parents rented a boat big enough to fit 17 people, so some people got to wake board, ski, and ride the inner tube.

On our last full day at the house, we were able to celebrate Drake's 4th birthday! My brother Reed and his wife drove up from Salt Lake, so Drake had tons of family singing Happy Birthday. He requested a Bulk Head transformer cake, and Dave delivered.

Dave was able to work remotely the next week, so we spent another week in Oregon. We got to play with more cousins, enjoy time with Dave's high school friend, swim in the hot tub every morning, play at parks, and visit the library for a superhero craft. The boys just really enjoy being at Grandma and Papa's house! The backyard is a child's dream; flat surface to play ball, playground, sandbox, and a huge swing. I let them play outside while I was doing dishes inside. I couldn't see them. so I called their names, and this is what I saw:

They were cold! It was probably 73 degrees with some wind and no humidity. I told them to enjoy it while they could, because our time was winding down. Our neighbors had been telling us how hot NC was. The trip home was a nightmare! Dorothy screamed for most of the 1st flight. People were passing pacifiers and food to us to help us out. Finally after 3 hours, she just stopped. She didn't fall asleep, she just figured the crying wasn't doing anything. When we landed, we found out out next flight had been delayed by 3 hours. Then, once we got on the plane, we had some mechanical issues. We pulled into our driveway at 5am, when we were supposed to land at midnight.

It felt so good to be home, despite the heat and humidity that almost made it hard to breath, when we got off of the plane. We are very lucky to have such wonderful family, and we will continue to try and make them move out to the East Coast!!