Showing Off

We're showing off our new chairs.

Our garden produce.

Our new tooth

And our cuteness.

Independence Day

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.

~Erma Bombeck

According to this quote we were fairly patriotic on the 4th of July.



In between meals we did sneak out and try our hand at golf.

It was Carson's first try and he did great.

Maybe he'll be the next Tiger (minus the sleazy part of course).



After a round of golf and some more food down our gullet we headed out to watch the fireworks.



We found some guys who looked pretty into photographing fireworks and we asked them to help us set up our camera the right way.

Nothing like a free tutorial to help you get some good shots.

Happy Birthday America!!

"My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! "
~Thomas Jefferson

"And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me."
~Lee Greenwood

A Day at the Beach

I had 725 pictures on my camera when we came home from our 4th of July weekend. That must mean 1. We were busy 2. We had a lot of fun and 3. thank God for digital. Luckily for me, and our hard drive, I narrowed it down to 111. Not bad but still a little nuts. So I'll do this in sections and no I'm not posting all 111. Are you nuts?

On Saturday we went to the beach. It was windy. It was warm. And it was fun.

Carson is just like me. He's not so sure of the lake bottom and chose to wear his Crocs for the first few minutes.

Declan is like his dad. Jumped right in....once he got used to the temperature.

Even Bennett jumped in.


Daddy and the big boys made a sand castle.



And we played

and played

and threw mud

and giggled

and sunbathed

until we got in the car and passed out....on grandma.

9 Months

I say this with every passing month and it's no different this month. I can't believe Bennett is already 9 months. He's turned into such big boy. I still feel like he should be swaddled and a newborn, but alas, he's not.

This past month has been a busy one for the little guy. He started crawling a couple weeks ago and is now non-stop-all-over-the-house! He can pull himself up on everything and anything. He got his first tooth! He loves to eat grapes, blueberries, sweet potatoes, watermelon, yogurt and graham crackers. He laughs and talks and imitates our sounds. He hates getting in his car seat. He loves playing with Emily and Husker. And he loves playing with and watching his older brothers.

The verdict may be out on whether they like him getting into their stuff though.

We went to the doctor today and he's as healthy as can be. He's only gained 6 ounces since his 6 month checkup. He's finally on the chart for weight and length but is still way off the charts for his head (sorry son, you have my head). No shots and I scheduled his 1 year visit (sniff, sniff). Here are the official stats

Weight: 24lbs 4 oz
95th percentile

Height: 29.5 inches
90th percentile

Head: 19.5
WAY off the charts

We've been busy...

Hanging out at the pool...

Running through the spray park...

and enjoying those summer rays.

Success

I took 110 pictures this morning. I'm 145% sure its impossible to get everyone looking at the camera AND smiling. But, it turned out cute anyway.

Summer Weekend

We had the realization this weekend that next weekend is already the 4th of July. What is it about that weekend that makes it feel like summer is coming to an end? It seems most of our weekend are already filled up, right up until school starts. So, we decided to make the most of our weekend. And it was a HOT one.

You can almost see the heat in this picture.
We were making smores.

And no his head is not wet from swimming, its from the heat. But, see the tent in the background? The big boys braved the heat and camped out on Friday night. Bennett and I enjoyed the luxury of air conditioning and our own beds! I hear they had a blast though and it was after midnight before they passed out (literally). Which resulted in both of them taking a 3.5 hour nap on Saturday.

Saturday night we had a huge storm. Don't ask Trevor what it did to our newly laid wood chips. ;-) The good news was that the weather was much more enjoyable on Sunday. After church we headed out to Palisades State Park to do some hiking and have a picnic.

We have a nine month old that makes a great centerpiece.

And a 3 year old who has some crazy curls.

And a five year old who has lots of freckles across his nose.

Bennett seemed to have the best seat in the house.


Emily was dying to jump in the river.

The scenery was incredible. The river was overflowing. The rock climbers were fun to watch.



The rocks seemed to go forever.


This little guy just kept climbing and climbing.

And with each step he tested my nerves.

But he held his own.

And I just held my breath.

And they want to know when we can go back.

So we decided we'd go camping one weekend.

Before our summer ends.