Lovin' Summer

This is a regular scene at our house.  Just about every afternoon we can be found in the backyard playing in the water .  The kids and I went on an extensive search for the perfect swimming pool.  (Our old one had a weed-wacker incident at the end of last summer.)  Finally at Toys R Us, they found one that would be suitable for their needs.  I think this is one of those things that will definitely be giving us our money's worth.

 

 Happy Father's Day!  We had a fun Father's day that included breakfast with Nana & Papa.  Happy Father's Day to our amazing Daddy, Papa, and Grandpa!  We're so lucky to have all of you in our lives.

 I had to get some shots of Noah giving daddy some Father's Day smiles.

 And here's just a few random shots I took while I was getting the kids to sing Happy Birthday to Grandpa. :)

Noah the Tank, 4 months

 Our big, little guy had his 4 month check up.  He weighed 17 lbs, 4oz and was 26 inches long.  This put him just under the 90th percentile for both height & weight!

  I love this little guy!  He is such a good baby and full of personality.

   He adores his brother and sister just as much as they adore him.  He's full of smiles and laughs for us.

Boondocks!

Brandon works for an awesome company which is a great blessing in our lives.  One of the great perks is family day at Boondocks!  Every year they pay for all employees and their families to spend a Saturday there.  We get an unlimited pass, private access to bounce-houses, arcade tokens, and lunch! 

Since this was the first year that Erin was big enough to ride the bumper boats, we sent Noah to Nana & Papa's for a few hours so we could play one-on-one with the big kids.  Erin still isn't tall enough to ride the race cars, and was quite upset about it, but I think we all had a great day.  The only problem was, we were so busy having fun and entertaining kids that we hardly got any pictures. :(

Preschool Daze

May was my turn, once again, to teach Ben's preschool.  I'm not going to lie, it was a little overwhelming with a 3 month old.  The fact that at least one person in our family was sick for the entire month didn't help either.  We somehow survived it all and hopefully the kids learned something! 

 One of my subjects was Farm Animals, so we went to Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country for our fieldtrip.  It wasn't great weather, but the downpour held off long enough for us to see most everything.

This baby horse wanted to be where the action was!  He let everyone pet him, but you had to watch your pants, he liked to bite jeans!

 Brandon even took the day off to help.  We were sure glad to have him!

 Erin was SO proud of herself for riding the pony.  She asked to go back everyday for weeks, now it's only a couple of times a week that it comes up.

 Another one of my topics was Transportation.  For our very last day of the year we had Kiddannapolis!  I gave all the kids a diaper box and told the moms to help their child make a vehicle to race and do activities in.  Since Erin thinks she's in preschool, this left us with 2 vehicles to make. What was I thinking!?!

 Once again, I roped Brandon into my crazy scheme.

 We prepped, the kids decorated.

 Here's a shot of all our kids, plus Erin distracting everyone.

  I had them draw sticks with things like race, parade, hokey pokey, and red light, green light for their activities.

 They had a great time, but started ditching their vehicles when they realized how much faster they could go without them.

 For a special treat I tried making buses out of twinkies with grapes for wheels.  I don't know that anyone thought they looked anything like a bus, but they did look delicious.

 My kids had never had twinkies before, and were hesitant to try them during preschool.  They were a little more brave once everyone left and LOVED them, of course.  It's now Ben's favorite treat of all time.

 He was still willing to share though.

 How cute is she?!?

BrOtHeRs

 As Noah becomes more interactive, his brother and sister can't leave him alone.  They always want to get in on making him smile.

 Ben can't wait to have his little brother as a best friend.  He always tells Noah about stuff they can do together when Noah gets bigger.

  It's a good thing he can't talk yet, because this pouty face may just get him anything he would ask for.

Noah the Tank

 This is one sturdy boy!

 We had to take a trip to the doctor's office last week, and he came in over 16 lbs! (I was so floored by the 16 that I didn't get to looking at the oz, but I think it was 4 oz.)  Aren't 3-month-olds still supposed to be little things?  What happened to my 4 week premature baby that didn't even weigh 7 lbs? 

People keep saying that he looks like his Grandpa Max.  :)  One more year and we can get a comparison in person, not just by picture.

Even though he's getting big way too fast, he sure is fun.  He's a super happy baby most of the time and we all gather 'round for his sessions of smiles and coos.  He's even getting better at the whole 'sleep at night' thing.  We've had a few nights with only 1 waking!  Mommy may just become functional again.

Easter Morning

 With all my updating, I forgot to post any pictures of Easter day!

 Ben loves mazes, so the Easter Bunny brought him some maze books that he had to get to work on right away.

 Searching the house for your Easter basket can be exhausting!

 And of course, all dressed up.  Erin is in love with her dress.  And in case you were wondering, yes, Ben holding Noah over cement really was as scary as it looks!