Dinner and a Fire...

We have started the summer off right with a dinner of hotdogs cooked over the campfire...

A few weeks ago Uncle Colter built us a little campfire...however it was such a hot day out that being near the fire made us all a bit too warm...thank goodness for long hotdog roasters...and good uncles who willingly stand close to the fire to roast hotdogs for little arms!

We had a fun meal using the trays to eat our hotdogs, beans and chips. My parents have a great campfire area set up...complete with a vintage camper...so we keep all the food in the camper so no dogs, or bug {or certain toddler boys!} get it!

Yum, yum...nothing is better than dinner around the campfire!

Because we are a GF/CF family we don't eats buns when we have hotdogs...but my kids know no different...to them it is completely normal to just pick the hotdog up and eat it!

After the kids finished eating, they all ran off to play...some on the trampoline, some on bikes, some playing with the water hose, some on the tire swing...then they all came back to the campfire for another round of hotdogs as a bedtime snack before heading in to bed...a perfectly fun and simple summer evening...those are my favorite kinds of nights...

Sawdust Burgers...

My children have vivid imaginations...give them an empty bucket, an old skate board, a couple water bottles and a couple handfuls of sawdust...and they can make you a plate of lovely burgers!

James 2nd Birthday is coming up super fast...and we really have no idea what to get for the boy! You see, he rarely plays with toys...he has such a great imagination that he plays much longer and more contentedly with silly things like sawdust and water...but a box of sawdust is hardly an amazing birthday gift!

I love watching the kids find creative and everyday elements to play with. Ever since Elsie was a baby we have been a rather anti-toy family...our kids certainly have toys, but we do limit them and keep some packed away if too many are brought out! I would much rather find them playing with everyday things than plastic toys with far too many buttons and lights!

The kids played together for quite some time...then James wondered off to play with the water spigot...and Elsie happily finished the sawdust burgers by herself...

Hot Days...

This last week the weather has been perfect summer weather...some days it even got as high as 90'! I love hot summer days, so you won't hear me complaining...that said, I also love my central air! My kids love warm weather too because they know that warm weather means we will head to beach! These pictures are from our second trip to the beach this season...I am sure before long my blog will be post after post of beach pictures!

Ceara and I brought my kids and the 2 little aunties to the beach...we met up with Lisa, her boyfriend Jordaan and his 2 little brothers...it was a fun afternoon!

There are 2 public beach areas around the big lake in town...and this one is our favorite...because it is just a few miles from my parents house and there is never anyone there! So we spread our blankets and just enjoy ourselves.

The kids all had fun...wadding in the water and building in the sand...Emma, Elsie and James had fun playing with Jordaan's brother Carter. Emma has quite the little crush on Carter, and it's so darn cute!!

James is a water man...he has no fear at all. I guess he must think I have enough fear for the both of us! This past weekend we bought him a life jacket so he can walk out on the dock and go in the deeper water without giving me a heart attack!

Proof that I was at the beach also! Having to be careful to not over-do it in the summer is the worst thing ever...I love to be out and about...and the idea of staying home to lay on the couch is just too much for me. Thankfully we can drive up super close to the beach area so I don't have to walk far...and I just lay down on the beach blanket and take it easy. Thankfully my sisters are all more than willing to go run after James before he drowns himself while I just lay there!

Elsie loves the beach...she begs to go all the time...last week she wore her swimsuit almost all week long...that includes sleeping in it at night! I think it is safe to say she loves summer! We had to buy her another suit so she could wear one while washing the other...she is funny!

I would love to boast about how well my children get along...but, I think this picture proves otherwise...fighting over a sand bucket...silly...and trust me, we had plenty of buckets, dishes and cups with us...it's not like they had to fight over that one! They did eventually figure it out...

See, all is well...James let his sister have the bucket so he could grab a cup and have a nice cool swig of lake water! Yum! Jordaan quickly spoke up and said that his brother drinks swamp water, so a little lake water won't kill em'. Good to know! {James is still alive today, so Jordaan must have been right!}

Guitar Girl...

These are some super old pictures...I was going through my saved blog posts and saw that I never published these...better late than never, I guess! These pictures were taken a few weeks after Elsie's birthday. Even months after her birthday she still loves that guitar and plays with it almost daily. Lately when Elsie is playing her guitar, James goes and gets the little keyboard...and they sit outside on the deck singing at the top of their lungs!

Love her style...no one else can quite rock the zebra print pants and pink striped shirt look like Elsie!

This picture is fun...birthday decorations still up, toys on the table, art work on the hutch...and a fancy guitar girl standing on the table!

Pink...

We had our almost 20 week ultrasound today...

Our house will have a little more pink before long!! As soon as the ultrasound technician said it was a girl, I looked at Elsie and she had a big smile on her face! Now I am off to do a little online shopping to buy plenty of big flowered hairbows, little shoes and adorable hats...

Bike Rides...

Last weekend when Daddy was home, Elsie mastered the art of riding a bike! Last year she tried to ride a much smaller bike, but never really figured it out very good. This year the smaller bike was too small, so we borrowed a bike and training wheels from the aunties...but at the beginning of spring her legs weren't strong enough to pedal...then suddenly last weekend she took off and could pedal just fine! Personally I think it may have something to do with the fancy bike helmet she begged for at a garage sale...we are not a bike helmet/safety kind of family, so where the idea of needing a helmet came from, I don't quite know!

I think Elsie spent most of Saturday afternoon perfecting her bike riding...I noticed today that the training wheels are pretty bent and more times than not the training wheels are not even touching the ground...won't be long and she will be riding with no training wheels at all!

Where is my little girl at!? She is growing up too darn fast fast!

James is never far behind his sister...so in a great effort to keep up with her, he quickly pulled his little trike over to the road and "rode" his bike...

I love watching James ride his bike...he never uses the pedals...he basically just walks with the bike between his legs...and he can get going mighty fast too! Sometimes he goes right over his handlebars...but he doesn't cry about it...instead he stands up with a big smile...and we all clap and say, "whoa, just like Nitro Circus!" Which only makes him feel pretty proud!

Jon is a good kind of Daddy who loves to do fun things with his kids...the kids know that there are certain things that mommy does with them and certain things are reserved as "daddy only things"...some of those special daddy things include going on walks to the park! Now when we drive past the park James says, "dada, park!" Going to the park with daddy is a pretty exciting and special thing to the kids...and it won't be long until Elsie is riding her little bike all the way to the park!

Happy kids...Summer lovin' kids...

Mud Puddles...

My children have a strange magnetic-like pull toward mud puddles...I think all kids have that same magnetic pull towards any kind of water...I remember one time letting the kids I nannied for go bath in a mud puddle...they had mud everywhere and needed a good head to toe scrubbing after they were done!

It was a very warm 80' day out...so why James is in jeans and a hat I don't know...I will go with the excuse of "his father dressed him" rather than say that James has my stubbornness and refused to wear cooler clothes!

The last few weeks have been very rainy...leaving behind some perfect mud puddles for stomping it! They kids eyed the puddles as soon as we went home for the weekend!

I am posting a rather ridiculous amount of pictures in this one post...but I love them all...the carefree spirit of childhood...

James loves his mud boots...and he wears them everyday...he even wears them shopping...in fact, he wears them so often that it looks very strange to see him wear any other shoes!

Jon had gone up to the store for some dinner, so every time they heard a car drive past, they stood perfectly still waiting to see if it was Daddy... 

James found a bucket in the sandbox and decided to scoop the water up and bring it to the sandbox to make more mud!

Elsie is my super girly-girl who love nail polish, hair bows and pink...but she sure knows how to get good and dirty too! She did have to go inside and decided on the perfect dress to wear before getting muddy though!

Elsie decided to fill her pockets with mud water...

It made her happy...and mud washes out...so we let her enjoy the moment...

What a fun afternoon...

A Swing for Two...

I have mentioned before that due to my irritable uterus issues, we have been staying with my parents during the week while Jon is out of town. My kids love being here...and it's no wonder they love it here...sometimes it is a bit like a wild, mad house! I truly never knew that 4 kids could get as wild as the aunties, Elsie and James can get! Makes me want to take back my grand hopes of 5 kids!!

The kids all have great and wild imaginations...what one doesn't think of, one of the others will! They are rarely without a plan of some kind brewing in their minds. Their new favorite thing lately has been the swing that is hanging between the dining room and living room...they can get that swing going like crazy...they like to try to touch the ceiling with their feet! {Like any responsible mother though, my mom has tried to put a stop to that...so now the kids just wait until she is out of the room!}

Emma and Elsie are more like sisters than auntie and niece...and they fight every bit as well as sisters sometimes do! My mom assures me that sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away from them when they are fighting...because they have to learn to work out their own problems. I guess these pictures prove that, one again, my mom is correct!{I guess raising 9 kids she must know a thing or two!} Elsie and Emma are always fighting over whose turn it is to swing, who got a longer turn, who touched the swing first therefore making the swing "theirs"...and I see they came up with a good solution to the problem all by themselves...share the swing!

Who would have guessed that 2 could have so much fun on a swing made for 1!? Today I heard them scheming ways to fit 3 on the swing...for their sake {and my dad's} I sure do home that support beam the swing is hanging from is a mighty strong one!!