August Happenings

We had quite a few different activities in August that kept the kids busy.

Playing Cars

Annika "mowing" the lawn.  She was even making sound effects to
go with it!  Multi-use stroller.

Water fun with a friend.

Lincoln being silly!!

More Lincoln silliness.  He loves to be outside and to go on walks.  This was a neighbor's yard where he decided to just slither through their grass!

Ballet Camp

Rebecah participated in her 4th and final year of ballet camp.  She has enjoyed ballet camp each August.  Next year Annika will be old enough to start ballet camp if she chooses!

Gymnastics

Rebecah has wanted to try gymnastics for a while now so we finally signed her up for a 6 week summer program through the town.  She really enjoyed her lesson each week and has improved her skills.  She can do a handstand now, a bridge and has better form all around. Rebecah would love to stick with gymnastics, but I just can't justify the monthly fee to have her in gymnastics full-time especially when she has other interests that make her just as happy.

We took a day trip to Fair Haven, NY which is on the coast of Lake Ontario.  It is always fun to see large bodies of water that aren't oceans.  

Edie on the pier!

Last year Annika didn't want anything to do with water, but she really enjoyed it this year.

There was a nice playground.  

Horse Camp

A friend at church has a little farm...chickens, 5 alpacas, 2 horses, and 4 dogs.  She and her husband decided to hold a free horse camp this summer so Kimball and Rebecah both participated.  Learning to ride a horse is one of Rebecah's dreams!!  There were 5 lesson and each lesson was 2 hours and it was FREE!  The Town of Cicero offered 1 2-hour class for $25 so we definitely got a good deal.  Kimball and Rebecah loved horse camp.  They learned how to take care of the horses and ride them.  The both got to the point where they could trot with their horse and go on trail rides.  I took some videos of them riding, but no pictures.  

These next few pictures were the little ones playing during Horse Camp.

I think driving a front end loader is one of Lincoln's dreams!

Sickness

Annika had the weirdest GI bug in August.  She threw up every single day for 7 days.  It was awful because she isn't old enough to get it into a bucket so it was a lot of cleaning for me those 7 days.  The weirdest part was that she could throw up and then eat a sandwich 5 minutes later and be fine only to throw up hours later.  Lincoln had a mild bout of the same GI bug but thankfully the rest of us were spared.  My kids have always been really healthy so I think Annika threw up more in those 7 days than the rest of us--Joseph through Lincoln-- have thrown up combined in the 12 years of our marriage.  I'm glad we don't get sick too often!

Joseph was able to take Kimball, Rebecah and the neighbor boy to one last Syracuse Chiefs baseball game.  They had a fun time and came home with a lot of free stuff.

The Great New York State Fair

We love to go to the State Fair.  It's always a good family time.  We really lucked out on weather...the day we went the high was only 63 so I didn't have to fret too much about sunscreen since we were all wearing long sleeves and pants.

This year Joseph, Kimball and Rebecah went an additional day so the big kids could have arm bands and ride the Fair rides.  The big kids really enjoyed going on the rides.  Joseph and I are not amusement park people for a lot of reasons, but the kids had a great time.  Rebecah went on all of the scary, high adventure rides--by herself-- that Kimball was too unsettled by and she would always leave the ride with a huge grin on her face.  I'm glad the kids could have this little adventure and grateful that Joseph was willing to stand around all day while they went on rides.

State Fair Day!

My boys love tractors!

Blacksmith demonstration

German Dance performance

Lincoln was so excited to see all of the animals.  The night before we went to the Fair Lincoln was telling us about the animals we woulds see his list went something like this:  "Horses, cows, pigs, bears...pause...no bears, chickens."  It was cute. For the record we did NOT see any bears. 

This big sign is at the entrance to the Fair.  I was glad most of us made

 it into this picture.  We DO love New York and the NY State Fair.

We had a great month and we are all ready for school to start tomorrow, September 6th!

Kimball's 10th Birthday!

We celebrated Kimball's 10th birthday on August 23rd.  It's hard to believe Kimball has been with us for 10 years!  He sure is growing up and looking older.  He will start middle school as a 5th grader this week.  He is excited.  He is still learning to play the cello and doing very well when he practices.  

Here are a few pictures from his Birthday.

At church the birthday children are sung to and while everyone sings to them they get to wear these lovely cupcakes and dance with their friends!  Kimball's primary teacher sent me these pictures. These boys are getting to the age where this type of things isn't so fun, but they were good sports to participate with Kimball. 

Baseball cards!  Kimball loves to collect sports cards...baseball, football, soccer, etc  it doesn't matter, he just likes to look at the players, teams and stats.  It's something fun that he and Joseph do together or Kimball and his friends.  I actually think Joseph was more excited about these cards!

Letting Lincoln help!

It's only a book and not an exciting present to some people although I personally love books, but this is probably Kimball's favorite gift.  He LOVES the movie "The Adventures of Tin-Tin" so we decided to get him one of the books.  They are comic books from the 50's, I think.  There are a lot of books, but we just gave him once in case he didn't like it.  I think he has read it at least 3 times already.

Kimball found this poster at Goodwill and wanted it so I just wrapped it up for him.  He loves looking at team logos and even though the poster is outdated he loves it. 

Kimball's big gift was a new bike because he has outgrown his other bike.  I hope this new big bike will last him for a long time.  It seems like he needs a new, bigger bike every year.

In the evening after eating Thai chicken for Kimball's birthday dinner we had a family over for key lime cheesecake for dessert.  Kimball enjoyed having a friend over to play with to make his birthday special.  I also made white chocolate cranberry scones as a special breakfast for him.  We didn't get a single picture of the birthday food this year.  I'm slipping!

Eden 10 Months

Edie is 10 months old.  Time sure flies when kids are little!  Edie popped a tooth just after she turned 9 months so she is up to 4 teeth.  She has a 5th one coming soon.  She had a few big moments this month.  She and I went to St. Louis and she won over a lot of hearts there.  She also starting scooting around a week ago.  She will now army crawl to toys that she wants to explore.  She won't army crawl to me so I just pick her up.  She is making progress though.  She continues to be mellow and happy.  I know she is awake from her naps when I hear thumping sounds coming from her bed.  She usually just plays with the blankets in her bed while she waits for someone to come in to her.  It is so nice to have a patient baby that isn't demanding, especially when it's the 5th child!

We sure love her.  I love how she is partial to me.  She is always a little sad when I'm gone and she loves it when I come home or walk into the room.  I just wish she could stay small a little while longer.  I have started bathing her with Lincoln and Annika and she likes that.  I think they entertain her so she doesn't remember that she doesn't like bath time.  She must have had a growth spurt a few weeks ago because she was eating a lot and then suddenly she stopped eating big meals and is back to tiny meals again.

St. Louis Wedding

My mom got married at the end of July.  Joseph was able to take a few days off to watch the kids so Edie and I could sneak away to St. Louis.  I was so glad i was able to be there.  We were gone 5 days and it was a nice little break from my normal routine.  The best part of the trip was seeing family...not only my sisters, but my extended family, too.  I really think I have the best family.  I haven't seen my uncles and grandparents for 5 years, but it's always so fun when the Zimmerman family gets together.  My dad's brother, Paul, was also at the wedding.  He showed up to surprise my mom.  It was good to see him too because it had been a really long time since we had last seen each other.

I arrived Thursday evening and my mom wasted no time putting me to work!  I think that night I frosted 3 cakes.  Friday I frosted another 3 and went to the store for my mom.  I was glad to help.  I figured it was only fitting since my mom did so much when I got married.  Friday evening we had a family dinner at the church.  My mom married David Chase and he has 5 boys.   All of David's sons were able to be in town for the wedding and most of them were able to come with their families, too.  There were a lot of us so that is why we went to the church to eat and visit. 

The wedding was Saturday.  The actual wedding was short, but really touching.  The bishop who performed the ceremony said some really special words that touched my heart.  I think most of us were moved by his words.

My mom's friend, Linda, with some helpers from church did a 

beautiful job decorating the cultural hall.

With Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman.  

I love my grandparents!!  My grandpa is 95 and I have to admit that he is starting to get old.  I was glad I could visit with him and Grandma.  I personally think my grandparents look great for their ages.  My grandma is in her upper 80s and is beautiful!!  I hope my skin looks as good as Grandma's skin when I'm 88!

Johnson Girls.  

We have always been "the Johnson girls".  I was so happy so many of us could be together.  We missed Kristin, a lot, but I hope we can pull off a Sisters Retreat in a few years.  

Hint, hint.

The bride with the mother and father of the bride!

Edie was my travel buddy.  She was so good while we were gone.  

My mom made all of the cakes for the wedding and Miriam and I frosted them.  My mom wanted to make sure that the cakes tasted good and not just look good so she opted to make them.  I am not ashamed to say that I tried all of the cakes!  Heather and I shared small slices from all of them.  I know 7 cakes are pictured, but there were only 4 cake flavors...red velvet, chocolate, yellow and carrot.  My favorite was chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.  

Heather and I were bffs while I visited.  Chandra and I took over my mom's roll as Heather's caretakers.  It took two of us to do what my mom does by herself.  The three of us had fun.

Four generation picture!  I have a picture like this with Kimball when he was 8 months old and now Edie at 9 months.  They are the only Coffey grandkids to have actually met Grandma and Grandpa.

i think she's beautiful even when she is wearing a bib that says:  "BOY".  Oops!

These last 4 pictures are of the cousins.  The entire Leigh family was able to be in St. Louis and it was fun to see how they have grown!

Christian is so sweet and so smart.  He is like a walking dictionary.  He would walk into a room and start saying the names of everything he knew.  It was a hoot!

Kate and Edie were good buddies.  

I was so, so glad Joseph could take time off work so I could make the trip.  It meant so much to me to be there to see Mom and David get married and to spend time with family.  Joseph and the kids had a different outing every day.  Even though the kids said they missed me Joseph kept them busy.