Face Painting!

OKay, so we made it to Windscape here in June...it is a kite flying festival...man did we see some AWESOME kites. Some where huge, some where small, some homemade, some with a story. They were amazing. There was these octapus' and they where HUGE, like amazing. I didnt have my camera (since I didnt know that we would be going to this event). But inspite of some drizzle and a lot of wind, we had a really great time. The girls got their faces painted, so once we got home I took pictures. Jada is a purple puppy (all sleepy looking from the ride home).

Sara got this cute rainbow.

Also this day we went and watched some soapbox car races. The kids were bored there so we went for ice cream at Hazy's and then headed to windscape. Great day with the kids!!!

Eric's Playday

Well, here is Eric at his LAST playday. He will be moving into middle years next year and wont get playday anymore. TIme has gone by so fast. Ball Toss.

Standing Broad. 2nd Place.

Jada enjoyed her morning playing with some friends as well. The girl in the blue hat is Abby, they go to school together.

Sara's PlayDay

Well the kids finally had a nice day to have "play day" which in reality would be the same as when we had track days in elementary years. This is the first time that I have made it to watch, and I am glad I did. Here is Sara with her friends Leah and Taylor. Sack races. I arrived just as they finished and where flopping down in exhaustion, so I made them get up and strick a pose for me. Sara came in second.

Ball toss.

Relay race. Sara was doing really well, in second, but then her bean bag fell out of her pail and so she stopped to fix it, which put her near last, but she ran hard and came back to take third. Way to go Sara.

What a great day to hang out with the kids!!!

Gold

Eric's Baseball Team won Gold in their league this year. Here he is receiving his gold medal. And his team. Great job boys and coaches!!!

Finally got some pictures of Sara and her ball team. They had so much fun this year. They all improved so much over the year. Sara turned out to be a great hitter. He throwing arm is getting stronger. Jada and Royal playing in the dirt.

Sara swining big at the ball, but unfortunately didnt hit this one.

My Mom & Bill & little brother Nathan made it out for Minor Ball Day to watch Sara and ERic play their last games of the season. It was great fun.

Flower

Wow, its so hot here that we have been watering flowers like crazy. But it is worth it b/c we are getting some really beautiful flowers. Thanks to Mom for planting them last fall, and Jada for being my great water helper.

Eric's Baseball

My kids are so sporty!! I dont know where they get it. I did not play sports. Casey played some hockey, but Eric & Sara are die hards and GOOD at it too!!!

So first, Eric! (cause I have yet to take pictures of one of Sara's games) He has done some pitching at a couple of games. It is not his favorite place to be, but when the kids are only allowed so many pitches before they need breaks, he is called on sometimes to pitch. He does good!Jada spent her time resting on these two lawn chairs at the fox valley game. It was a long day as the boys had already played a morning game in Leader and now in the afternoon we were at Fox Valley and it was VERY hot outside!

Anyway, onto the ball game. Here he is hitting, this one was a foul ball! He has become a great hitter! Eye on the ball!

Back catcher is where you will find him most of the time. I think this position must go hand in had with playing goalie for the hockey team. He likes to have fast flying objects coming at his head. Hum. Boys. He is very good at back catching!!

Getting geared up for catching.

Sara hoola-hooping with two hoops. She is good at it. Kept her occupied for most of the first game in Leader.

So stay tuned for pictures of Sara's baseball. I dont know when her next game is....so could be a week or so.

Jada Update

So the Doctors office called to ask Jada to come in and be checked out. As the swelling started to come down a bit in the afternoon, I did find a bug bite above her eyebrow. So she was having an allergic reaction to a bug bite. I need to give her children's aereus for three days to make sure it goes down all the way. Also, I am to carry benadryl along with me incase she reacts to other bug bites too. What kind of bug bite her? I have no idea. Maybe spider is my quess. Cant be mosquito, b/c she's got a couple of those and no reaction. She's not awake yet this morning for me to see how she is, just I'm sure she will be just fine.

OKay Edited to say that I am surprised this morning that it is still so swollen. Her eye is right shut today. Man, I need to keep an eye on this!!!

Have a good weekend everyone!!

Gravel, Shovel, Rake, Sweat

We are tired of having a weed garden in our backyard, so we decided to turn it into the kids play area. We had 6 yards of washed pea gravel delivered to our house on Tuesday morning at 9. I spent the morning shoveling, & raking to get it spread out over our garden area (oh except the strawberries where left outside the gravel area b/c they produce some sweet berries). Several blisters, lots of sweat and a sore back later I had most of it done by 11am. Jada was my great encourager. She started out with a shovel of her own, but one scoop later it was "oh that is too heavy for me". So Jada followed me around all morning saying "good job Mommy!" "you are doing really good Mommy" Several times I just had to stop, chuckle and give her a kiss. (It made me think of the times my Mom would work in her garden and I would grab my lawn chair and just sit and watch her) She kept me going. She also is my photographer! She was busy taking many pictures of the morning. Here are a few...

I used the wagon at the very beginning. I would fill the wagon and then dump it at the farthest end of the garden area, since I couldnt throw the gravel that far with the shovel. It was a great system.

And all finished. The trampoline and the swing set both fit in there. The kids are enjoying it. I am going to enjoy having my grass grow back and no weeds to pick (except around the strawberries)

Swelling

THis poor girl is having some terrible luck lately. First a fat lip, and now her face is swollen. Around supper time last night her eyebrow by her right eye was swelling. We couldnt see any bite site, so not that. No bruising, so no bumps. Hum, slight fever (could be from being tired, this happens) But this morning when she woke up, her whole side of her face is swollen. (Its hard to see in the picture) SHe could barely open her eye (she is pushing really hard

in the picture to get it open) her nose is swollen, and her cheek. Her face is hot to touch. No fever this morning. Ack!! What to do!!! I gave her benadryl and she will see the doctor at noon today. Man oh man. Plus she fell at school yesterday and skinned both knees, which required clown bandaids from her teacher! (sorry no pictures of those)

Edited to say that she does have a fever....just checked it again....

Queen of the Castle

And for reference sake here is a recent picture of Copper sitting with Jada. He has gone from being 8lbs at his first vet appointment when he was 11 weeks old to being 11lbs when he was 14 weeks old and now he goes again for a booster shot next week (17 weeks old) so we will see how much he has grown then. I am contemplating getting him his first hair cut....uh....it is a hard decision. My baby needing a hair cut already!! Will his fur grow back to be as beautiful as it is now!!

I found these foam floor alphabet puzzle things....Jada has been having a lot of fun building squares and things with them. So I showed her how to put them all together to make a big castle. She really liked this. Stike a pose girl....

Mom had to have her turn too...Jada is getting really good at taking pictures.

Inside the Trailer

Okay, Colleen, you requested to see the inside of the new trailer, so this post is just for you.
When you first open the door, here is the kitchen. To your immediate right is the master bedroom with a queen bed (under it is complete storage)Here is to the left, the dining area.

THe one slide out is the sofa. And in the very back is the door to the bathroom and to the left of the door is the kid's beds. A double on the bottom and single on top.

I should have taken picutures before I packed it all. BUt you get the idea. Now you will have to come out and see it some weekend!

Jada's First Fat Iip

Oh Yeah...Jada had a run in with the swing set. She pushed the teeter totter one by herself really hard....and bonk it came back and hit her right in the mouth. I was not home at the time, but Casey says the blood & tears where flowing. Poor girl! It only took two days for it to go down, but ahhhh the memory.

The NEw Trailer!!!

Yup, we got a trailer. The old motorhome was feeling a little cramped this year. WIth the kids growing, and a new dog. This trailer will give us much more options on where we would like to camp. Right now we are parked at Lac Pelletier, with my family on their lot. We are so thankful that my family is willing to have us hang out there all summer long.

Right where we are there is this wonderful sand hill and the kids spent most of their time up there playing. Sara barried Jada in the sand first!!!

Then Jada buried Sara in the sand. I think Casey might have gone up there to help with this one!

This is me, chillin in the sun. I think Jada had the camera AGAIN!!

New Puppy Update!

Okay, I know it has been FOREVER since I posted here. I actually lost the cord that connects my camera to my computer, so I was feeling very lost. Then, when I told my good friend Colleen, she came to my rescue. She suggested that I take my camera card and just insert it into the computer tower. DUHHHHH!!! Yeah, so that is what I did. Thanks Colleen for being so computer savy.

Since I ended with Copper, I will start with Copper! THis first picture was actually taken a while ago already and Copper is bigger than this already! But it gives a good indication against Jada on how fast he is growing.Here he is just two weekends ago sitting on our chair at the lake. He looks like a little old man to me! OH....he loves the water. Whenever Jada is in the tub (or anyone who'll let him in the bathroom during their bath and/or shower) he is hanging over the edge wanting to get in. He usually ends up pretty wet by the end of her bath. SO I started just telling him to jump in once I have pulled the plug. He does gladly. He just stands in the tub and I shower him down with his shampoo. He loves water so much, that when we went to my Mom's one weekend, he dove into their fish pond. Head first. Casey said it was pretty funny.

This is just another comparison picture with his teddy bear.