A little behind

We have had a busy summer and I have not put any pictures up recently. We spent the 4th of July at Papa's house, had I's birthday the end of July with a visit from Grandpa, August included a quick visit from Uncle T and camping.
Love this shot of I:

Self portrait, C loves taking pictures

C taking a picture of goofy Uncle T

4thof July, I riding a camel with Cousin B

At the aquarium for I's birthday.

Crazy Grandpa with his pink beard!

I wanted a Nemo themed birthday and a cupcake cake. That was actually fun to make!

Birthday girl!

Here is a better shot of the cake:

Back at the 4th, J making funny faces for the camera with Cousin B:

Strawberries and more

We finally made it strawberry picking this year. The season usually passes us by before we get a chance and believe it or not, this was my first time. The kids got to feed the goats, go down a slide, eat freshly picked strawberries and we somehow managed to miss getting poured on.

I think CA was the only one to actually "help" pick some strawberries.

...and even managed to stay somewhat clean after eating some as well.

The girls just "helped" by eating what we picked!

And a few extras pictures that I can't resist sharing:

Here is CA after throwing a major tantrum. He wore himself out so much that he literally fell asleep eating. I believe there are even craisins in his hand in the bowl. It happened fast!

Here is IA in her pigtails, first time I got all of her hair into 2 pigtails instead of just sections. This was a picture I took to send to her best friend from daycare who now lives in California.


Auntie M gave JA this dress for her birthday. This was the first time I was able to get her to wear it and she looked like a little doll. So cute!

Angelic looking isn't she? It's just a facade people, she is after all 2!

Summer has begun!

Finally summer is here. It was a slow start to the warm weather but the kids are loving it. Here is a picture from one the first pool times we have had.

We had to make the very difficult decision to put our Maggie down. She is no longer suffering but we really miss her. Fortunately, we had already planned a camping trip the weekend after we put her down so we were able to get away and have a really great time staying in a yurt. I didn't get any pictures at the campsite for some reason but here are some from the lake and the beach. Here is JA, ready to roll:

Here is a picture from the lake. There was a sandy place to play and a dock, the kids loved it!

Yay! We got the girls in the canoe. They were a little nervous at first but ended up doing really well. We even started with IA in the front and JA with daddy but had to switch halfway through. That was a little crazy!

Playing at the dock:

This is from the first day we went to the beach. It was very windy and cold. We should have taken Auntie M's advice, go to the beach in the morning before the wind picks up!

Brrr!!

And the shipwreck which we didn't really get to enjoy b/c we were so cold!

Ahh, going in the morning is so much better! Here is another shot of the shipwreck at the beach. Pretty cool! The kids were much more interested now that they could look at it without freezing.

It was low tide, so there were lots of safe puddles to play in, and boy did they play in them!

"Where's my feet?"

Building sand castles (or at least playing in the sand):

Running through puddles:

Just running:

Wild child, even with crazy hair, this girl is pretty!


Finally, one last shot of our beloved Maggie. She was the best dog ever!

Simple pleasures

I just love it when the kids play well together. They spent almost an hour I think spinnning in the chair and singing. I just had to capture it on video. Thanks grandpa for the camera you gave CA for his birthday, it has come in handy!

6th Birthday

Son turned 6 April 19th. We had his party on saturday and it was a Star Wars theme including Jedi outfits, light sabers and games such as "Yoda May I" and an obstacle course the young Jedi's had to go through. But first, we went to the AC Gilbert House in Salem. It was the first time we went and we had a lot of fun. Here's a picture of IA grocery shopping at the museum. I had to throw in a couple of pictures of the girls:




Blowing out candles with everyone looking on. It took a few tries but he eventually did it:

Opening Presents in the backyard:

Learning how to be a Jedi (aka attacking daddy). This was toward the end of the party when it became a free for all to attack.

Showing off some of those Jedi moves:

Millenium Falcon cake, we think it turned out pretty well:

New Camera

We got a new camera about a month ago that I love. It takes the pictures so fast. It is a huge upgrade from our very old digital camera. I am still learning how to use it but here are a few pictures of the kids.