Swimming Lessons

The girls are taking swim lessons! They absolutely LOVE it. They love it so much, I signed them up for two sessions. I'm impressed with how much they are learning. They are becoming little fish.

Bennett likes to watch, but sitting in the stroller strapped in while everyone else is swimming is not his favorite thing. He would love to be in the water with the girls.

Chloe was nervous the first day and cried the entire 30 minutes. She would not open her eyes and she kept her head turned so that she didn't have to look at her teacher. What a stinker. Now she gets right in and swims, swims, swims!


Niah likes to show all the other moms what she can do. She says, "Hey so and so's mom, watch this!" She can jumpin and touch her bum on the bottom of the pool without plugging her nose. She is pretty proud of herself. And I'm one proud Mom too!

Kaitie, Shay, Kell, and Kels- I realize that you appreciate cute boys so this is for you! Niah's teacher is great and his name is Tony. He swims on the team at a highschool here. Unfortunately, Kelsie and Kell, you might be a little old for him. Haha.

The kids can't wait for Grandma and Grandpa to watch them at swim lessons next week. They have been practicing so that they can show off their skills. (We are so excited to have visitors coming!)

The Party

Bennett's birthday was fun! Bryan was on call on his actual birthday, the 20th, but we made the most of it. We joined Bryan at the hospital for dinner and then we had a small party the next day. Bennett had a lot of help from his sisters so I don't think he opened one of his presents! He didn't really want to anyway. He got a firetruck with blocks to put inside, a CAT bulldozer, some wooden blocks that I made him (he's been playing with them for a few months now!), a bear from Build-a-Bear because he LOVES stuffed animals, and some clothes.

He loves his bulldozer. It makes sounds so he likes to push the buttons on it and push it around.

He was trying to get Daddy while his trucks were being opened. I love his face in this picture. He is always sticking his tongue out.

Here's his bear, his name is Bambino. Bennett loves to cuddle him.



We try to build a tower, but before we can get one made Bennett knocks it down and giggles. He loves to crash our towers.

We made cupcakes and Bennett really went to town on his. He was so funny to watch.

He couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough! He liked having all the attention.

He was nice enough to try and share with Chloe. What a mess!

Yummmm!

I think he enjoyed his 'mini' party. We are planning on doing a bigger party when my family comes next week to visit. I'm sure he'll be excited to eat more cake! Happy Birthday Bennett!! Are you really one year old?!

A Day To Celebrate

Today my sweet boy turns one! Wow. I can't believe it. He is such a joy to have in our home. He is a happy, easy baby and has been since the day he was born. His smile brightens my day.

Here is what he's doing right now:

- Blows goodnight kisses.

- Gives high fives.

- Follows his sisters wherever they go.

- Crawls super fast. He's not really interested in walking yet.

- He's a total Momma's boy. I love it!

-Makes some animal sounds.

- Takes great naps and only wakes up during the night once, usually.

- Climbs up and down the stairs with ease.

- Drives his cars and trucks around making car noises. (And I thought that was a learned behavior- who knew it was ingrained in a little boys head!)

- He's got some awesome dance moves. He loves music.

I am so happy to have Bennett in our family. I can't imagine life without him. We love you Benny and hope you have a fun, fabulous day!

Update #3: The Zoo

As promised, here are pictures from our zoo trip. If you haven't been to the Columbus Zoo you should go! It was so great. I'm jealous that my sister and her kids get to go a lot. We were there for four hours and didn't even see half of the zoo. It was a hot day and besides my kids fighting over who got to ride in the stroller- the entire time- we had so much fun! By far, our favorite animals were the gorillas. Niah and Bennett loved them. Chloe loved the tiny baby ones.

Chloe was mad at me for taking her picture. She had had enough of the heat by this point.

Here are some more of the gorillas. They were right next to the glass so it looked like Bennett was touching them. He loved watching them. I think Benny was trying to tell Jonah something in this picture!

How cute, right?!

Bennett is practicing his animal sounds these days. He likes the puppy the most, he says, "ffff, ffff."
We had a great time at the zoo and would love to go back and see the rest of it one day.

Update #2: Visit to Columbus

My sister Tam and her family live in Columbus, Ohio now so we are only about 4 1/2 hours away from them. I decided to load up the kids and give them a visit! We had a blast and it is so great being so close to them. The kids had so much fun with each other. Tam made sidewalk paint, the kids played and played and played, we went to the zoo (that's the next update!), and Tam and I went and saw Eclipse. It was great to catch up with my sister and have good, long chats about life. Here is our attempt to get a picture of the kids all together. None of them were really in the mood for pictures.

The three girls; Chloe, Ni, and Preslee. Chloe and Preslee are just nine days apart- it's so fun to watch them together.

And here are the boys. Once Bennett starts walking, maybe they will play together a little more. They will be best buds.

We had so much fun and can't wait for them to visit us in a couple of weeks.

Update #1: May the Fourth Be With You

I have been missing from the blogging world lately. Between our internet being out, going on a road trip, and being just too worn out at the end of the day to blog, I'm finally back!

We didn't do anything real exciting for the fourth. The kids had a blast doing fireworks in front of our house. Chloe spent most of the time plugging her ears for fireworks that weren't even loud! Bennett came down with double ear infections and didn't go to church on the 4th, but went to the Dr. instead. Poor guy. He's such a trooper!

I was experimenting with my camera and got this shot of Bryan lighting the fireworks. He looks like a ghost!



Here's another funky one.

Even though I'm late getting my holiday wishes out, may the fourth be with you- as my dad would say!

Check out my sister's 101 list of things to do this summer.