June Events

We had a very busy month with a lot of "end of year" school activities.

Orchestra Concert

Kimball really enjoyed participating in Orchestra this year and playing the cello.  I was surprised how well he did with the cello.  Kimball's orchestra teacher heard him playing a song during warm ups that they hadn't practiced in class and he asked Kimball if he wanted to play the song as a solo during the concert.  Kimball agreed and was a little nervous but refused to practice the song extra at home!  He did a great job on his song and I thought the Orchestra (violins, viola, cellos) sounded really good.

Orchestra Concert, June 5

Father/Son Camp out

Joseph took Kimball and Lincoln on the Fathers' and Sons' camp out this year.  It was Lincoln's first official camping trip and he had SO much fun.  He was so excited about everything.  Joseph said he slept great because he was so tired.  Lincoln spent 90% of his time throwing rocks into the stream that ran through the camp.

Ready to roll!

Swamp Rat Race

The big kids participated in the Runner's Club again this year.  The kids are always encouraged to participate in the Swamp Rat Race which is a fund raiser for a local hospital.  Our elementary school always has the highest participation of the local elementary schools.  It was a fun day.  I really liked the atmosphere and excitement that the morning held.  The girls mile run was first and Rebecah ran her mile in 10 minutes and 32 seconds.  She was 105 out of 195 participants.  Kimball ran his mile in 8 minutes 52 seconds.  Kimball was 79 out of 207 participants.  Both kids had fun and want to participate next year.

The girls ready to run.

Boys ready to run.  

Before the race when the kids were still fresh and excited.

These are just some cute pictures of the little ones.  I love the pictures of Annika with her "make-up".  Her poses perfectly show her spicy personality.

Sometimes I let the little ones take a book to bed just to ease the bedtime routine.  I thought Annika looked so cute sleeping with her book across her belly.

Here Annika is practicing her tree climbing skills and Edie is just so sweet and happy most of the time.

These two pictures are from Rebecah's First Grade Fun Day.  Joseph worked in the afternoon so I was able to help at Rebecah's activity.  She loved hanging out with me and it made me feel special to have her run over and hug me between the different activities. 

Here are the kids on the last day of school.  They had a great year.  Kimball received the Perfect Attendance award and an award for Excellence in Orchestra, and a Visual Arts award from the Art teacher.  It was his last year in elementary school because 5th grade is part of the Middle School here.

On the first day of Summer Vacation Kimball wanted to make homemade blueberry jam.  I told him if he helped we could make the jam.  He wasn't prepared for all of the stirring, but he was a good sport about it.

Lincoln loves life.  He loves to be outside.  Here he is with an ice cream cone in one hand and a fruit smoothie in the other.  

Our summer is off to a good start.

Eden--8 Months

Edie is 8 months old!!  I can't believe what a big girl she is getting to be.  She is so fun and such a happy girl.  She decided that she was ready for solids shortly after she turned 7 months old.  Once she decided she was interested in eating she seemed to get the hang of it quickly.  She has liked all of the fruits and vegetables that I have given her.  The only thing she didn't like was rice cereal mixed with formula, and who can really blame her?  Formula just smells terrible so it probably tastes just as terrible!

She still loves to sleep wrapped in a blanket or in her snowsuit so we are having to slowly transition her to sleeping without the snowsuit.  It warmed up last week and I just couldn't bring myself to put her in the snowsuit since it was so hot, but she started crying a few hours later so Joseph put her in it and she slept the rest of the night.  Now she just needs her right arm in the snowsuit so she can bring her sleeve to her face and she is content.  I love the little things babies do to find comfort.  

Edie still isn't moving much, but that's perfect.  She pivots on her tummy and she is content. 

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Lincoln wanted to pose with Edie.

Edie loved the wrapping paper we used for Joseph's birthday.  She played with it a long time.

My friend lent me this fun toy and Edie loves it.  It's huge so I'm glad I can borrow it for a few months and then give it back.  Lincoln and Annika like sitting in it, too so I have to keep an eye on them.

Lincoln and Annika both wanted to hold Edie recently.  She is a lot bigger than when they last wanted to hold her.

These two have such fun together!

Lincoln and Annika beat me in to Edie's room and they didn't want her lonely so they threw all of the stuffed animals into her bed!

She is a perfect gem.  I hate it when I have to share her.  I'm glad she will be my little buddy the next 5 years until she starts school.

May Events

We had a busy month of May!

We went to two Syracuse Chiefs games.  The Chiefs are a minor league team based in Syracuse.  The first game was a daytime game during the week so Joseph and I went with the little ones.  It was cool but I would take that over hot and sunny!  We got the tickets through Joseph's work and we had front row seats!  The second game was a Saturday afternoon and it was sunny and warmer.  Joseph took Kimball and Annika to that game.  Rebecah didn't want to go and Joseph didn't want to take two little ones just to use the extra ticket.

Great seats!!!

It's so hard to get nice pictures of all of us now that there are so many of us.  Here were our two best shots from Mother's Day.  Joseph converted our upstairs hall closet into a crafting closet for me.  It's nice to have a place to put things where Lincoln and Annika won't get into them.

Rebecah finally learned how to ride a bike!!!  For the longest time she was just content to use training wheels, but she now loves the freedom that comes with bike riding!

Lincoln and Annika play so well with Edie.  Here Annika is "feeding" Edie.  
I was at a meeting and Joseph sent me this cute picture.

Some friends invited us over for dinner.  They live on a mini farm.  They have chickens, 3 horses, 5 alpacas, 2 bunnies, 3 dogs and a lot of dirt.  I'm really not a farm/dirt kind of person.  Anyway, my kids had fun seeing the animals and it's always nice to spend time with friends.  Here was another attempt at a group picture:

Grooming the horses before riding.

Living the dream!  Rebecah always wants to go horse back riding because
Mia from Lego Friends rides a horse.  She was in Heaven.

I included this picture because Rebecah is ride and guiding the horse all by herself!

The excited horse woman!

Joseph turned 36 this month.  I think he had a good birthday.  We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, barbecued meatballs for dinner and carrot cake for dessert.  It was calorie packed but fun.  We are so glad Joseph works so hard to support our family; he is a good husband and father!!

These two are always up to one shenanigan after another.  Sometimes it's frustrating
trying to keep the house clean, but we sure love their cute faces!

I love this picture of Lincoln snuggling with Joseph's arm as they watch a YouTube video.

Joseph and Kimball went to Cooperstown, NY, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Memorial Day weekend is when they have the Hall of Fame Classic and Home Run Derby.  Kimball was excited to see some "legends" and he even got two free balls from one of the players.

Eden--7 Months

Eden turned 7 months old last Friday.  She is still a dream come true!  She has become a good independent sitter.  She even rolled over once!  She is just so mellow she still has no desire to be rolling and getting around.  She will sit and play for a really long time before she gets tired of her toys.  I tried to start her on some cereal and baby food in general, but she has zero interest in eating food.  She won't open her mouth--ever. No sense forcing it; she'll open up when she's ready.  I do try to offer her food every few days.  With Kimball we were so excited for each new phase of parenting, but with Edie I'm very content to just enjoy every single moment of her while she is small.  Soon enough she'll be running around with Lincoln and Annika.

Edie still sleeps great.  She has become very dependent on a blanket for sleeping though.  I forgot a blanket for church and I had to borrow one in order to get her to sleep.  As soon as she had a blanket she was asleep.

Edie is about 15 pounds and 26 inches long.  She got her first tooth 2 days before she turned 7 months old. We sure love our sweet, snugly girl.