So, Kali this blog is pretty much for you since everyone else was there. But I know you asked to see pictures of the weekend, so here are a few. We had a great week down seeing everyone - left last Tuesday, spent Tuesday night with Mom and Dad, Wednesday night with the Robinett's, Thursday night with the Mills' and then picked Jeff up from the airport on Friday, and back to Cambridge for the weekend. I said we had to spread ourselves out so we didn't wear out our welcome anywhere! Or at least I hope we didn't!! Coleman chickened out on the mutton bustin, but Carson was so excited to win the buckle and the kids got to ride on the float in the parade. They had fun being able to go to the fair grounds with their cousins and not having to have mom or dad with them. It was fun to see Carson having so much fun with Payton and Tyler - it seemed like the 3 boys were on their own so much! We'll see if I can find out what all Carson learned from them in the tent that night! Just joking Kami and Kortnie!! :-) The water park on Sunday was great - the kids had a blast with the cousins. I could have done without puking twice at the park, but oh well. Kali, we picked up a little sickness somewhere, but we all seem to be over it (keeping our fingers crossed that Kamryn doesn't get it!!) And then made it back home on Monday - a long, busy, but very FUN week for the kids and I. We hadn't even got out of Cambridge and the kids were already asking when we could see everyone again! -Thanks Kort for the pictures of Carson on the sheep!

Reece bouncing Coleman so high!

I just had to include these of Carson and Annika doing flips into the pool!

And finally a picture of the little girl!!

Summer fun!

Here are a few things we have been up to. Celebrated Kamryn's 1st birthday - her birthday was on a Friday and we finally celebrated on the following Wednesday - the first available evening. Good thing she doesn't know anything about birthdays yet! She loved her cupcake and seemed to enjoy all the attention she got while opening her presents!

Talking on her cell phone that Aunt Kami gave her!

We decided to try tent camping this past weekend! It went so well, the kids slept great, even Kamryn slept on the ground with the rest of us, and we all had a great time. We went up the St Joe River out of St Maries, left Friday, came back Sunday. We don't have a tent that is big enough for all of us, so we had a girls tent and a boys tent!!

Carson making his fort and Coleman trying to chop down a tree - typical!!

The kids eating dinner in the fort Carson made.

Stephanie and the kids came over to get their dog yesterday and the kids spent the day at gma and gpa's slip n sliding, in the little pool, and in the hot tub. Kamryn and Hayden had matching suits - and I love this picture because - doesn't Kamryn looks so much like Hayden and nothing like Annika (guess the blue eyes and light hair will do that)!!

Guess that does it. The guys haven't even started swathing the blue grass yet - all the rain we got in June is just keeping everything so green. Will be a much later harvest than usual, but the crops look good. We start swimming lessons next week - Coleman's first year, so all three of the older kids in different classes! Will probably be some long mornings for Kamryn and I, but oh well.
I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of our little walker, so proud of herself! When she walks, she is either breathing really hard like it is so much work, or she is giggling and squealing with pride!!

more pictures!

Here are some more pictures of the little ones. Kamryn took her first wagon ride the other day - Coleman didn't really pull her with his tractor, that is just how they posed for the picture! I thought she looked so big holding on like a big girl in her sneakers! And she has really started to walk behind her push toy. Yesterday she loved going back and forth across the room while Coleman tried to get in front of her! He would run ahead of her and lay down so she would run into him!! They both thought it was hilarious!! Oh and she finally got her first tooth - Just one so far on the bottom!

Pictures!

I know some of you saw some of these pictures on FB, but here are some different ones and some of the same for you to see Mom of the kids on Easter and the dresses I made. Up close you can tell they were made by a rookie, but I thought they turned out pretty good! The girls (well Annika) just loved wearing hers!

Hi! Had a few things to share with you all!

We had a blast in McCall over New Years. Great snow, beautiful cabin, fun friends, etc. The tubing hill was so much fun. We also had fun sledding, hot tubbing and the older kids and Jeff snowmobiled a little too.

Our big project in January has been our basement - bigger windows, new texture, painting, barn wood accents, new laminate flooring, and (coming this Thursday) new carpet!! :-)

This is the hole cut in the side of our house!! Our progress looks so good on the inside, but our front yard is one big mud hole from the huge holes they had to dig to cut the concrete for the windows.

Carson had 3 buddies over Friday after school for his birthday to play, eat dinner, dessert, etc. We will have Ron and Penney in tomorrow on his real birthday to celebrate too. For his football themed birthday, he wanted a cake decorated like a f-ball field. So here is my finished product - bendy straws for goal posts, and teddy grahams for the players!!

Annika went to Jr. Cheer camp this past week after school and then the girls performed 2 cheers and a dance last night at half time of the varsity game. She loved it so much and it was so cute to watch last night (despite what you said Kami - Jeff said you didn't think much of cheer camp on the phone last week!!) With the help of the HS cheerleaders, they even did a little lift (stunt) at the end of one of the cheers!! Very fun!

Kamryn is "on the move" as Coleman would say. That is how he refers to it as she scoots all around the room. She now gets up on her hands and knees, can get in the push up position too, but isn't quite crawling yet. But when she wants to get somewhere, she scoots with her arms and toes, kind of like an army crawl.

Annika's new thing is to try to dress her and Kamryn alike. When she can find the same type of outfit, she calls the two of them Twins for the Day!!

And here are some pictures of the kids one day when we were out getting barn wood for our basement project. Looks like Kamryn was getting her first taste of granola bar!!

I officially resigned from my position at T-O in Nov. and now have applied for the junior high v-ball coaching position at Liberty. I interview this Wednesday - yikes, the thought of an interview is a little scary!

Guess that is enough - Better get to bed!! :-)

Hi All!

Had just a few things to share!

Here is a Coleman story. Lately his favorite little phrase is "jeez" whenever he falls down, drops something, someone does something he doesn't like, etc. Well this past week he has added "us" to end of it; so, what was a cute little phrase that made me laugh has now become "Jesus!" Yea, NOT SO CUTE!

Here one of his latest favorite activities - he gets a bunch of books, sets them up to make a "pen", sits in his pen and "reads" books.

Kamryn isn't real interested yet in what her brother is reading to her!

Carson has his last soccer game this Saturday. He is playing with the 2nd and 3rd graders, so the little runt gets knocked down a lot, but he actually scored his team's only goal this past Saturday. He was pretty excited!

I have been going out to volunteer in Carson's classroom on Wednesday mornings - Penney keeps Coleman and Kamryn for a couple hours. I love it - being in the classroom, keeping up on what the kids are doing, a break from the little ones, etc. A nice way to break up our week!

Annika is so excited to have her first real field trip this Friday - to the pumpkin patch. The other day she got off the bus with a new library book and told me that Carson read the book to her on the bus. I said "that is pretty nice having a big brother, huh?" and she says "Yea, it's SO cool to have a big brother!" (I'll remind her she said that next time they are arguing!)

The guys finished seeding yesterday about 4 and it started raining around 5 and getting more rain today. Very good timing I say! :-)

Coleman's potty training is going very well - in underwear all the time now (when he's awake anyway!) His timing is something else though - I swear just as I start feeding Kamryn he has to go - every time it seems! Poor girl gets latched and unlatched constantly!

Kamryn and her little smile - she has started to kind of giggle - just some squeaks when she is real happy!

I know what you all are thinking - everything is just peachy, everyone so happy. Guess I just shared the happy times; we definitely have our fair share of fights, screaming, crying, etc. (especially the 2 yr old!) I'll leave you with 1 question I do have these days - I just don't see myself as really being a very dramatic person; where in the world did my kids get all their drama? Especially the middle 2 - holy cow they are so dramatic sometimes! From their dad? :-)

1st day of school

We actually did the 1st day of school thing twice. Carson started yesterday (Tuesday) but Annika is in the Mon/Wed kindergarten class, so she started today. Both were so ready to start. Carson had a great day yesterday in his new class - he is in a 1st/2nd combo, and there are only 5 1st graders in there, so he really is in a NEW class, but loved it. Annika was ready to go this morning. It was cute to see them get on the bus together. I think Carson helped her out - sat by her, made sure she was doing good, etc. I met them when they got to the school and spent a while in Annika's classroom. She was smiling and loving it when I left. I can't wait for her to get home to hear all about it! Here are some pics.

And here is one of the little 2 making the most of their time together! (Coleman was having a good time; I am not sure what Kamryn thought about the whole thing!)