Summer is HERE!!!

We have finally gotten to go outside to play in the water!! It is actually sunny and not raining for once!! The kids have been having a great time playing in the sprinklers and pool!

Lilly thought it would be fun one day after playing outside in the water to come inside and get naked and rock in her chair. She kept saying "rock naked"!!
Yesterday we went strawberry picking with my mom, sister and her kids. Here are the kids ready for strawberry picking!!

WOW, that is a big strawberry!

Fully enjoyed!!

Lilly was our best strawberry picker (none made it into the basket) but she enjoyed EATING them!!

She even had them tucked in her arm to make sure she could be continuously eating strawberries!

Hayden and Robin had fun running the rows!

And here is where the strawberries went!! YUMM

We also made strawberry ice cream! Hayden was in charge of the ice. He did a great job. Lilly did a great job eating the ice!

After scraping the ice cream turner, everyone decided that wasn't good enough, so they just dug into the ice cream can with their spoons!

Eventually we got bowls and ate like civilized people!! (well, mostly)

Father's Day and more

This weekend, Lilly started sleeping in her big girl bed/room! She was ready and excited and has been doing GREAT so far. She looks so little in such a big bed! Here she is on her first night ready for bed.

And waking up the next morning happy!
But maybe a little sleepy!

We had a fun and relaxing Father's Day since I didn't have to work. Here is Mark opening his Father's Day gift from the kids. They painted a coffee cup and put their hand prints on it so Mark has a cup to show off/use at work. (yes, once again, Hayden is wearing a princess costume:) )

Today, Hayden got out of his princess costumes and into his fireman costume. We got to get a tour of a fire station and he didn't want to go without his fireman hat and coat!! We had a fun time. We saw where they slept and ate and then got to go see the BIG fire trucks. I think he was a little intimidated at first and didn't want to get into the truck, but luckily the firemen took their time with him and he finally got in and thought it was GREAT!!

Even got to be the driver!

And so did Lilly!!

Then the fireman showed the kids how he gets into his coat/jacket, hat and oxygen mask and then let all the kids touch and feel how it was. By then, Hayden had warmed up and was excited to go see, but Lilly thought this guy looked a little scary and wanted nothing to do with him!!

When we were done, Hayden asked if they had a fire pole. I think in his mind, he had pictured himself sliding down the pole! Unfortunately, the fire house was too new and Hayden was a little disappointed. Oh, well....he did love being the driver though!!

Fun from the past week!

Just thought I would share some photos of the past week. Last weekend we took our first camping trip of the summer (probably our only one since every other weekend is taken). It was great weather luckily Friday and Saturday and then started raining again as we were packing up to leave on Sunday. The kids had fun though and we had our tent trailer and Grandma and Grandpa's trailer to keep us dry. The kids even got to go a day early with Grandma and Grandpa!!

The kayak that Mark built is done (he's been painting it this week so I'll have the take a "final" picture), so he thought he would try it out last weekend.
Hauling it to the lake

Hayden didn't go in the boat, but he thought it would be fun to wear his life jacket by the shore :)

Getting in and hoping it floats!!

It does float!! And no water got in it while he was on the water :)

Throwing rocks

Hayden has been loving all the "Buzz Lightyear" things he sees in the stores, so we bought the first movie this week and he has now been wearing his costume every day, running around the house pretending to save things/people from danger. One night when we checked on him in bed, we found him wearing his Buzz hat. :)

Last night and today, we got to have Robin and Jake at our house since Amy and Joel went to Seattle for appointments. It was great fun and at times a little CRAZY!! We loved having them though!! Here they are taking a bath all together last night. I got them all washed up and then took Jake out to get him dressed first (mark was at his softball game). I was only out of the room about 1 minute and heard all sorts of splashing and giggling. I went in to find all three kids using our seat in the bath as a slide. There was water EVERYWHERE!! But at least they had fun!

Ariel and Hayden watching "Monsters, Inc". I just thought it was funny how they sit so close together even though they have a whole couch!

Since it was just me last night, I made dinner easy with tomato soup and grilled cheese. Jake won for best eater!!

Running around with his knight shield and Tinkerbell wand!

1st 3 year old sleep over!! (Lasted 2 1/2 hours). They sure thought it was fun though! Hayden wanted to sleep as close to Robin as possible and at one point they were sharing the same pillow! They laughed and giggled from 8-10:30, coming out several times with Mark and I threatening to end the sleep over. Finally at 10:30, Hayden came into our room and asked to sleep in there. Robin stayed in his room and within 5 minutes, they were both snoring!! At least they slept until 8am and Lilly and Jake slept until 9:30!!

It was kind of chilly today, but we headed to the park to get some energy out. Robin LOVED the swing and stayed on that most of the time! She pretended like she had fins and sang like Ariel.

Jake and Lilly had fun on the swings too!

Hayden tried to be brave on the swings and asked to go high, but you could just see on his face that he wasn't enjoying it like Robin was. I think he preferred climbing and going down the slides!

Cute Jake!

Robin really wanted to play Mario kart, so they got to play when Mark got home.

Playing peek-a-boo with Jake in the back yard

Jake had fun going from window to window to find Lilly

Exploring

Taking a water break

Have fun on the back porch. You can see Robin just smiling and having fun, but Hayden's intensity, as he thought it was a competition to see who could go faster!

Coloring rocks and the step with chalk

Tonight we roasted hot dogs and ate outside. We tried s'mores too, but the kids only wanted uncooked marshmallows!

The hot dog roaster

Lilly loved "mothering" Jake.

It's going to be a fun summer!!