Kaitlyn reminds me of a cat that caught a mouse. Kaitlyn is notorious for putting things in her mouth, just like any other 10 month old. However, she simply bites an object with her teeth and then she crawls around the house with it in her mouth. Here are some of her prizes…
Rachael has really been into arts and crafts. I was very close to selling the Crayola Color Wonders at our yard sale, but I decided to hold off in case the kids start coloring with them again. That is exactly what happened! Rachael and AJ have been coloring a ton with them, which is nice because they do not make a mess. The other morning, Rachael wanted us to color the same picture. I was amazed at how good she has gotten at coloring!! Check this out, I did one and she did the other!
Monday morning the kids woke up wanting to do something, we just could not decide what to do. The kids first response is, ‘It’s Monday Mom, we can go to the Skate Zone’. I thought it sounded like a good idea, so I loaded the car with two bikes and three kids and we headed out. The only problem was that the parking lot was empty, apparently they only have their tots program during the school year. Go figure…. AJ was crying and Rachael was commenting ‘Now where can we ride our bikes?’. So we came home and the kids rode in the neighborhood.
What I have failed to blog about recently was AJriding his bike. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera at the time to document the occasion. If you know AJ, you know how much he loves his scooter. This year, we bought AJ a bike with training wheels and every time we went outside and I gave him the option of what he wanted, and it was ALWAYS his scooter. Then one afternoon, AJ said he wanted to ride his bike (which has been in our entrance way for months). AJ went outside, got on his bike, and starting riding. He needed a little push to get started, but that was it. Off he went. I was sooo proud of him!!! So here is the picture of him riding his bike Monday morning!
The fun only lasted 30 minutes before AJ and Rachael decided that it was too hot to be outside.
Things in our house have been turned upside down recently. We have ordered new carpet for our basement (from the AC breaking after vacation) but we have a ton of things to go through before it gets installed. Gigi came out for the weekend and jumped right into to helping Nate and I by taking care of Rachael, AJ and Kaitlyn. With her flight getting delayed for various reasons, we were all exhausted after getting home at 12:30 am Saturday morning. However, the kids woke up with tons of energy and Nate and I quickly left to get to an audit for HVFD. When Nate and I got home, we started going through things in the basement to throw away. After a few hours, we had lunch and Gigi took the kids to a friend’s birthday party. That gave Nate and I some much needed time to organize our house (which currently feels like it will never get organized). When the kids got home, Nate and I ran out for a quick bite (just the two of us). We got home in time to help get the kids to bed. Gigi and I then took the next two hours to label and organize all sorts of pictures that have been piling up in the house. Sunday morning came early as well. Nate and I tried out a different church for services and then we headed to Target. We meet Gigi and the kids at California Pizza Kitchen, one of our favorite places to eat. AJ and Kaitlyn then took a nap and the girls ran to the supermarket followed by a quick attempt to put together some sides to go with the Taco Soup we took to the Brookmans, who just had a baby (congrats!!!). When I got home from bringing them dinner, Gigi, the kids and I had a quick dinner before getting a fast walk to the mailbox and then a ride to the airport. I am tired just writing this blog, so you can only imagine how exhausted all of us were. And did I mention that Nate is now working nights (so he slept Sunday afternoon) and Gigi did not get home to Portage until close to midnight?? But as fast as the weekend went, we really appreciated Gigi coming and helping with the kids!! Thank you, Gigi, so much for everything this weekend!!!
The only picture documenting the crazy weekend!
I am glad that I am not the only one who has to break my back anymore!
The cars stickers that we brought home from Michigan were actually tattoos…. The kids and I have been in the house a ton, so we decided to try something different. So here are the tattoos.
When we got home from vacation, our AC was broken. Unfortunately we had water damage, enough that we need to replace the carpet in the basement. The kids are not allowed downstairs because of the nail strips so we started bringing up toys that we have in the basement. One of our finds at a yard sale was dress up clothes. Here is what an ordinary day around our house now looks like….
Race Car Driver
Pilot
Cat and Police Officer
Owl
Little Red Robin Hood
We have been growing Rachael’s hair since she was born with the intention of cutting her hair and donating it. Today was the day!!! We went to a salon called Pigtails and Crewcuts. It was the first time that we went there and had a great experience.
Here is the before and after pictures…
Before
After
I think that there was a little hesitation from Rachael and I, but it was time. Her hair when it was wet touched her butt. We would constantly fight about even brushing her hair. So we said ‘yes’. They did a great job and Rachael is very proud. She is sharing with everyone how she donated her hair to Locks of Love. Now she wants to check the mail today to see if the certificate of donation is in our mailbox. It is really cute!!! But she does look older now!!
One thing we always look forward to is getting the kids together with their cousins. When we get together with Matt and Heather, the kids always take off playing together. They all get along so well and smile ear to ear for the entire visit. Rachael and Brandon have always had a very special bond, and AJ hangs right in there as always. 
It was so good to see Brandon and Justin, I cannot believe how big they have gotten. The kids started off with Lego’s before moving on to playing with water on a beautiful day. The visits seem to go very quickly, but we really do cherish the time together! Check out some of the random pictures of the day!! Oh, and we also attempted to get a pictures of the five cousins together…. AJ had to be the challenging one, but at least we got a decent picture of the kids together (30+minutes later). We look forward to visiting again soon!!!!
To talk about a large day trip, this was it!! Both kids have been talking about this amusement park since the day we went. We got to the park around 11:45 and ate lunch out of the picnic basket that we brought with us. We then headed to the park and started with the boat ride. Even Kaitlyn got to go on her first ride.
Rachael was beyond excited to ride her first roller coaster. It was the highlight of the day for Rachael, and AJ was quick to try it as well. Have I ever mentioned my love for roller coasters?
The kids had a blast with a variety of rides. Rachael and AJ loved the Ferris Wheel, as well as all of the other rides. Rachael took me for a ride in an antique car and AJ took Nate on the same ride. The Antique Car ride had a little story associated with it. After waiting in line to drive the antique cars Nate and AJ got in a car and Rachael and I did not. They shut the ride down…. and we were the next up in line. Rachael was really upset. In fact, the friendly staff would not let her walk on the platform to join Nate and AJ. It turned out that while we were standing there the ride was re-opened, we got back in line again. We were then really glad that Rachael enjoyed driving the car.
Another huge highlight of the day. was Rachael discovering that water slides can be a ton of fun. One of the times she came down her whole face went underwater. If you know Rachael, she is not a fan of it; however, she was having so much fun that she did it again.
It is also worth mentioning what a trooper Kaitlyn was the entire day. Kaitlyn was in a great mood smiling and laughing as we took her from watching one ride to the next. She did get in some good stretches, diaper changes wherever we happen to be, and a great nap in the stroller. And when she was done at the end of the day, she simply put her head down. How could you ask for a better behaved baby???
To end the day, each kid got to play one game where they were guaranteed to win a stuffed dolphin. They played the ‘Test your Strenght’ game where you whack the base of the game with a mallet causing a weight to shoot up and ring the bell. Each kids tried once by themselves, but both really appreciated it when dad helped.
Needless to say, everyone had a great day. When we got in the car and it was after 5:30 we were very surprised. So we finished off the lunch meat we had in the cooler and then we headed home. We did not get home until 7:30 and AJ did not nap the entire day (not even during the car ride). We had so much fun that I think it is on the ‘to do’ list again for next year!!!
