Crazy Days of Summer

This summer has been wildly busy.  We just got back from a great family vacation, "Fearrin Fest" in Cape Cod.  Looking back on my photos I have so many things to write about but I'm afraid I won't get to all of it.  So how about a recap on the kiddos instead:
Carter:

This summer Carter has turned into a Star Wars nut.  The boy has 5-6 light sabers, he plays the Star Wars legos game on the Wii, he's seen all 6 episodes and knows all the movie characters.  He loves to pretend he's Aniken Skywalker and is always looking for someone to play light sabers with.  Good thing there were so many boy cousins at Fearrin Fest.  Everyone got into the light saber action!

Swimming has been another major activity for Carter this summer. He has learned to swim on his own and can now jump off the diving board and swim in the deep end of the pool.  He loves to wear goggles and likes to do flips under water.

Ryan:

What can I say about Ryan.  She is a total 2 year old.  She can be stubborn, she can be needy, she can be funny and she can be so sweet.  Ryan still shows no interest in the potty, but loves the idea of wearing big girl underwear.  Ryan is our little helper.  She must say, "I wanna help you", nine hundred times a day.  Ryan also keeps us entertained all the time with her quirky sayings like, "who dat", whenever she hears a loud noise.  Ryan is starting to warm up to the idea of being a big sister.  She always tells us when "dolly's cryin" and she likes to collect as many toys as she can for Ashley.

Ashley:



Ashley is now 8 months old.  Still no teeth but she can now sit up on her own and army crawl.  Poor Ashely got the chicken pox while on our Cape Cod vacation.  Good thing there were so many family members there who loved her, held her and nursed her back to health.  It was a lot for the little girl to go through! 

Ashely loves the water.  She may be a bigger water baby then Carter or Ryan (if that's even possible). She LOVES to swim and is always happy for bath time.  Ashely is a sweet baby who loves attention.  She likes to be the star of the room.

Where to begin

What a busy summer we're having! 

We saw this guy:

Went to the cottage, a week long soccer camp while visiting Grandpa & Grandma Meek, swam at Nonna pool (alot!) and stayed in multiple hotels while we were waiting to move into our new house:

Now that we have Internet there will be a flood of new posts about all the exciting things that have happened.  Stay tuned.  We also have the Jacobers (Robin, Montana and Wilder) coming to visit tomorrow and then Fearrin Fest in Cape Cod.  This summer is jam packed!!

School with Ryan

It was parents day in Ryan's class this week.  We invited Nonna to come with us to enjoy in the fun.  We got to see what the kids do while they're in class. 

Ryan showed us all the toys in the classroom.  Here she is in the play kitchen feeding a bottle to a baby.

We also watched her make an art craft with paints,

and plant flower seeds with her teacher.



We watched the kids sing bible songs and have a special snack. All the kids were adorable and so sweet to watch.

Dolly liked being at school with her big sister!

The school year is almost over and Ryan has grown so much since the first day.  She loves school and runs in with a smile everyday....unless we drop Carter off at his class first.  Then she cries about how much she misses him and wants to be with him!  Ryan loves to sing at school.  Her other favorite activities at school are running in the church gym and playing outside.  Summer will be great, but I imagine this girl will be counting the days until she gets to go back in the fall!  

God Bless

In our bedtime prayers we ask God to bless the people we love.  Carter's decided it's much quicker to say God bless all the people in the whole world......and God bless firemen.

Carter is a big fan of firemen.  And as you can see, our kids love to dress up like them whenever possible.

eating already

Guess who's eating baby food already.  I know! Can you believe Ashely is already starting rice cereal?  She hasn't mastered the spoon yet.  Almost everything comes right back out, but she seems to like it.  Fruits and veggies are soon to come.  Yay!

This little girl will be 5 months old in just a couple of days!  It has gone quickly, but somehow I'm still just as tired as when she was 2 weeks old.  Perhaps that's just the way it will be for awhile....a long while.

Balloon Story

So about 3 months ago we took the kids out to eat at Red Robin.  While leaving, Carter and Ryan got helium balloons to take home.  Carter was holding the string of his balloon in his hand.  While getting out of the car, Carter let go of the string and the balloon started to float away.  He asked me to chase it down the front yard and across the street.  Unfortunately that little balloon was too quick for me and was too high for me to reach in a matter of seconds. Carter was heart broken.  It was as if Carter had this balloon his entire life (not just 20 minutes).  If you saw him you might think his best friend had just moved away.  He was THAT sad! 

The balloon has come up in conversation several times since the "incident".  He asks if I think it's still in the air or if I think it ever reached Mars. He constantly says, "Remember yesterday (fyi.. anything that has happened in the past regardless of the length of time Carter says it happened yesterday), Remember yesterday when my balloon floated away." 

It has been several weeks since he's asked about the balloon.  By now, I've forgotten all about it.  That's until I picked him up from school last week.  The class made a craft to take home.  I believe it was a picture of a dandelion so the kids could make dandelion wishes. At the bottom of the craft it says, "I wish" with a space for the teachers to write in whatever the child wishes for. So this is the bottom of Carter's craft:

For those who can read it, it says:

I would wish for my Mom to get my balloon back.  - Carter

Oh that poor kid!  I just love him!!

Easter 2012

What a busy week or I guess you can say Spring Break 2012.  Kyle and I took a very quick (36 hour) business trip to Florida.  We hit the beach, had drinks and meals on the outside patio, soaked up the sun by the pool and even saw a movie. I got a massage while Kyle was in the business meeting. I must admit, I was spoiled to have such a relaxing getaway!  After the trip, we met up with the kids at Grandpa and Grandma Meek's house in Evansville for Easter. We kept busy playing outside, coloring eggs and doing the annual Easter Egg Hunt.  I've captured some of the fun below:

Coloring Eggs.  The kids loved dropping the eggs in the dye, but totally lost interest while waiting for the eggs to be done.

Cousins: Aidan (5 1/2 yrs), Carter (4 yrs) Ryan (2 yrs)

Carter and Ryan ready for the egg hunt.

Let the Easter Egg Hunt begin!

Family Pics: