These kiddos make quite the group. Today was really too cold for the water and they let us know.
Month: June 2018
Baby wearing
Kaitlyn missed her chance at official dance pictures due to our beach vacation. I did the best I could and maybe next year we’ll plan our dates a little better!
I belong to a Mom’s Club in the area and sometimes we do Mom’s only events. One of the Moms in our groups runs a cooking business – as in she offers cooking classes. Tonight she offered a special class to just the Mom’s Club. We had such a fun night talking and cooking and eating!
Daddy does books for everybody.
I was so excited for a summer at the beach of Ben sitting on a blanket surrounded by toys and just playing. On his first trip to the lake for the summer, I put him down on the blanket and he immediately started crawling (for the first time) for the water.
Happy Father’s Day!
Today was Kaitlyn’s dance recital. She has been ready for this day (mostly to wear the pretty outfit) for weeks. Sometime yesterday I had a sinking feeling and realized I had completely forgotten about the rehearsal. We had gotten home from the beach in plenty of time to attend but it hadn’t even hit my radar. Thankfully it didn’t appear to be a big deal and no one even mentioned it this morning when we showed up. Evidently quite a few of the tiny dancers from her class had forgotten or just not attended (whoops). I was a backstage mom so I spent all morning in the back with the girls keeping them entertained and well fed. Wade had all three of our boys out in the audience and evidently it was un-airconditioned. He said it was quite miserable! Thankfully Kaitlyn was on fairly quickly so we also did a quick meet-up in the lobby so that Wade could take the boys home. Kaitlyn had to stay to do the big bow at the end. What a day! I feel like we are getting so close to that elusive thing called summer and no schedules or activities.
Soccer Saturday!
Kaitlyn had her dance recital today!
Brothers playing Legos.
Friday nights were made for shooting bad guys while grilling out and eating on the deck. (Also Ben has discovered steak and loves it.)
The face of the day.
I’m so happy to have him helping with the trashcans I am going to refrain from commenting on his clothing choices.
A rainbow on this cloudy day.
We are back in our normal routine. Ben and Kaitlyn are hanging out in my bedroom while I fold laundry.
These boys have turned into such good helpers. They unloaded my car and are even vacuuming to get all the sand out.
Some dresses are made to twirl. (And all dresses must be tested.)
Ben is loving his broccoli and Madison is just waiting for a bite to fall.
Melissa and I did a little talking before our trip and realized this might be a good year cousin pictures with a “red” theme. The beauty of this is the pictures should look great in Gram’s house.
All good things must come to an end and so this was our last day at the beach. Thank goodness it was a great day and the kids were happy to play in the sand and waves most of the day – with a stop by the pool. Melissa and I ordered sea food for every meal and the kids got their fill of their favorites – pizza and macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. I’d call it a successful beach trip and hopefully we can make it happen again next year.
My four at the beach.
All six cousins sitting on the beach.
This was a short beach trip and suddenly my options for cousins photo shoots were quickly diminishing. We bribed the kids into matching swimsuits today and headed to the beach. (A huge shout out to Hanna Andersson for such a range in styles and sizes.) The day was gorgeous and not too cold so we actually made two trips to the beach and watched a movie or two in between.
Boardwalk treats.
Ben is not sleeping quite as well as I would have hoped at the beach, but he’s as happy as can be.
We woke up to an overcast sky and wind. The kids were up for the beach so we gave it a try. Everyone was pretty hardy – except Kaitlyn. She stayed wrapped up in a towel. (Ben spent most of the time napping in the stroller.) Before too long the kids wanted to test out the rooftop pool and we were happy to oblige.
Then showers and a movie got everyone warmed up and rejuvenated. We loaded up and headed to the boardwalk. The kids were fascinated with all the food and games. They would have happily stayed all evening. (The funniest/scariest event wasn’t caught on video, but a seagull tried to attack me for my funnel cake. The kids were great about trying to run them off with loud noises and hand motions, but every time I quit paying attention they would sneak in on me. Scary!)
These four little people and I are about to drive 6 hours to the beach!
My sister was headed up my way for her yearly road trip so we decided to meet in New Jersey for a few days at the beach. I loaded up my four little people and we made a pretty easy 6 hour drive to the beach. (iPads go a long way to making an easy trip for the oldest three. Ben’s a few years from that but thankfully he’s just a happy baby.) We arrived at almost the same time and quickly unloaded a ton of bags. Then everyone wanted to go to the beach. It was chilly but we should still have known better than to leave them in their clothes. The kids played in the water and the sand until they turned blue. Then we ran home for hot showers and pizza. It was a pretty awesome first night at the beach.
I have no idea the last time my car was washed, but these guys volunteered. I thought it sounded like a wonderful Saturday afternoon activity. We are leaving on a road trip tomorrow and a clean car was on my list to do.
Wade was excited to use his new pressure washer. The kids were excited to help wash my car. Win for me!
Kaitlyn and Daddy had so much fun with the blower this afternoon. I heard the giggles from inside the house.
Ben had boiled eggs and cucumbers for lunch. Appetizing right? He loved it. And made a huge mess.
(The mess doesn’t look as gross in black and white.)
He’s definitely got the idea of summer figured out.
Kaitlyn and I (and some friends) introduced Alex to the West End Creamery today. He loved the jumping and thought the ice cream was pretty amazing too. (Now we just need to take Teague.)
There’s always one kid in a group picture. Why is it usually mine?
Teague came home from school today with the coolest drawing.
A lot of our outings have been over Ben’s nap time. Thankfully he is wonderful about napping in the stroller. I park him where I can see the feet and then on them periodically. As long as the feet are still, then I know he is still asleep. The minute they start kicking then I know he is awake and ready to join in the fun.
This has been something I wanted to blog about all year and today I realized I almost missed my chance. Kaitlyn’s ballet teacher gives the girls two stamps after class if they did a good job. (And that means every week – with maybe one exception.) These are huge stamps that take up the entire back of her hand and are always in a blue or purple color. The worst part is they don’t wash off with normal soap and water or even in the shower. They seem to last from class on Tuesday till Thursday evening when Kaitlyn is in the pool for 30 minutes for swim lessons. Why oh why can’t she just get a sticker that will naturally lose it’s stickiness within a few hours? (Or just one small stamp, maybe?) If you look closely you can see the remnants of this weeks stamps on Kaitlyn’s hands. She had a bath instead of a shower yesterday so they have almost faded away, but I felt this needed to be documented (and my complaint heard).
They both thought this was the funniest game. (I was impressed the lifeguards didn’t have a problem with it.)
Parker and Teague work very hard every Thursday on this book. I can’t wait to see the completed project.
Wooden spoons are the best.
We met Kaitlyn’s friend at the park to play but they quickly decided it was much more fun to create a special concoction out of water and wood chips. Yum!
Still biting his nails. We are taking any and all suggestions on how to help him stop.
This boy has skills. Maybe not useful skills, but still..
She’s taking orders for ice cream. Unicorn flavor is her recommendation.
This boy has never wanted to sit. If I tried to put him in a sitting position he would move enough that he could eventually get on his belly and kick and try to crawl. Today I tried again and he sat for over a minute. Crazy.
This picture sums up Kaitlyn perfectly – ballet tights and a skinned knee. She only wears dresses but still wants to play in the mud. (She just changes into a new dress the minute she finishes.) We love her to pieces.
I did tell him he needed socks with those shoes (trying to avoid smelly shoes). I didn’t think I had to specify what kind of socks…