Hello...

We are still alive!

With summer in full swing 

Blogging has taken a back burner!

We drop into bed tired from a full day in the sun...

The kids have been staying up way, way past bedtime lately,

And sleeping in so late that its not 

Unusual to to find us just finishing

Breakfast at close to noon! 

.We have been so busy enjoying summer 
that I haven't even looked 
at the fourth of July pictures!
I may or not post them 
by Christmas time
at the rate I go lately!

So,

if you don't see any new blog posts from me

for awhile,

just know its because we are out and about

fully embracing summer time...

all to soon it will be 

winter with snow and school and 

staying home and bundled up!

So we are going to enjoy this 

as long as we can!

Working Man...

James takes after his Daddy...

he is a hard worker

and he loves to get dirty while working!

Ted and Ceara have been doing some landscaping,

so sometimes James goes and

"helps"...

because nothing is quite as fun as dirt!

 Angelina just sits on a blanket,

eats some snacks and

supervises the work.

 I think Jon secretly loves it when

Ted calls and asks for help...

Jon has a need to always be busy,

so sometimes he gets bored at home

and needs a project or two to keep him busy!

 James analyzes everything his Daddy does...

then he mimics him.

 I'm sure that at almost 3,

James knows how to use a shovel

better than a lot of adults!

He is truly a good workin' man!

 I love watching James play.

He really believes he is doing big things...

In his mind,

he isn't playing...

he is doing big man work!

Almost 7mo Pictures {at 8monthes!}

I am always behind with things...

so it's only fitting that

I post

Angelina's 7month baby pictures

now that she is 8months old!

It is amazing what

the difference that just one month makes!

In these pictures

her front teeth had just come though,

but you cant even see them!

And her hair is so much longer now!

Today Elsie put a little barrett in baby's hair and

it stayed in!

Angelina loves being outside...

if the slider door if open,

she makes a mad dash crawling to get outside.

I love her little tan lines in her fat rolls on her arms.

You can tell she is an outside girl!

She has gotten really good with

keeping things out of her mouth!

Even when we go to the beach,

she loves to just feel the sand and not eat it.

Angelina is never happy just to
sit down and play...
she is constantly pulling herself up on things...
even the wall!
Far too often she has even tried to stand
without holding onto anything!
One day she even took a little step...
but she fell down right away!
{thank goodness because I'm doing my best to keep her my baby}

She eats pretty much everything now...

She goes crazy for black beans, watermelon and rice chex!

He other favorite is water!

She now recognizes the sign for water

and gets so excited when we ask if she wants any!

She has also discovered how to eat

from an applesauce bag all on her own...

its the only way to get her to eat

"baby food" since all she wants

is big people food!

Angelina is becoming quite a

Daddy's girl!

He gets so excited when Jon comes home...

she stares at him and squeals

until he picks her up...

then she likes to hang on to the

braids of his gotee!

Angelina is quite the little water bug!

She will scream and whine when the kids are playing

in the pool outside,

until we finally plop her in the pool too!

And at the beach,

she crawls right through all the sand and

makes a b-line right for the water...

I find it interesting that she will happily

play in the icy cold water right from the hose

without making an issue at all...

but when she is done eating,

if we don't wait till the water is perfectly warm,

she will make it well known she isn't happy

and wants warm water only!

Our sweet baby girl is growing up

and getting so big!

Jon and I were just talking that her

1st birthday

will here before long!

Time flies...

Weekend Away...

Several weeks ago

we made the trek

"down south"

to visit Jon's family.

To get

"down south"

means at least a 4 hour car ride.

Not fun!

When we finally got to the hotel,

the kids all gave a happy scream

and ran circles in the parking lot!

We stayed at the water park in town.

We live in a town with several fancy water parks,

so this water park was a bit boring

with one slide and one kid area...

but the kids still had fun!

The highlight of staying in the hotel

is eating in bed

while watching tv!

We don't travel often

because it simply isn't worth it

when traveling with little ones!

As a result,

we have no suitcases!!

So we packed like some classic rednecks...

in an over flowing laundry basket!

Since this trip,

we have made a point to

seek out and purchase some vintage suitcases!

So, we will now be able to travel in

style with our adorable vintage cases!

James is pretty good at sneaking junk...

like soda!

Traveling GF is always a tricky thing!

We bring lots of foods we normally never eat...

and we go through more

Udi bread that

one should ever eat!

While we were visiting Jon's dad,

James was busy picking some sprouted
Asparagus at the farm...
he later "hid" it
in the secret compartment of the RV step.
Thankfully I saw him do it,
or Jon's dad would've gotten a
smelly surprise next time they went camping!

When we went to the Farm,

Jon's brother and his family was also there visiting...

so the 3 boys got to go in the

Hot Tub with GrandpaS.

Elsie didn't want to get in the hot tub

with just boys!

She is always a little left out

being that she is the only girl!

The highlight of the trip was

making coffee

in the little coffee pot in the hotel bathroom!

Life is all about the little moments!

We do not even own a coffee pot at home,

my kids have never been inside a

caribou coffee,

basically coffee is unheard of around here,

so this was a big deal to them!

{we let them try some, turns out they are like Jon and I and think Coffee is the worlds worst thing to drink!}

They each tried the waterslide...

James loved it and wanted to go

again and again!

At one point baby needed a dry diaper,

so I went to go up to the room and change her.

As I took the key from Jon, he told me the room number.

347 or something.

I got to the room and tried the key,

nothing happened.

I tried a few other doors thinking maybe I got confused,

but none of the doors opened.

I went back down to the pool and asked again...

Jon laughed when I told him where I was...

I was on floor #2...

our room was on floor #3!!

So I headed to floor #3...

tried random doors, still nothing worked.

Found Jon again.

He laughed at my directionally challenged person!

He then led us all to the correct room and opened the door with no

issue at all!

Turns out I went the wrong way after getting off the

elevator!

After that I was careful to not leave the room

without Jon!

We had a fun little trip.

We will not be traveling again with the kids

until they are able to drive in their own car.

It's not harsh.

My ears and nerves haven't been the same

since that trip.

Basically my kids love trips,

exploring new things, staying in motels...

but they hate the

"getting there part"...

Now that's its been over a month since our little trip,

the awful getting there part is wearing off

and just the fun memories remain,

and I find myself wishing I wouldn't

have declared no more trips.

Maybe if we get real adventurous we will

someday try it again before they

are all grown up.

Maybe...

{yes, he is eating a cucumber on a hanger...

don't ask why.

It's James, so I wouldnt have an answer anyhow!}

Mud Fun...

I am getting terribly behind on

blogging.

We have been spending our days

living outside

and have had later and later bedtimes lately.

So finding free time to sit and blog

has been difficult!

As a result this week I will be posting

pictures from about a

month or more ago!

Better late than never...

and since this is our

Life Journal

I want to get all our random fun memories saved!

This spring was a very, very wet one!

The kids made the best of it

and spent plenty of time

slashing in mud puddles!

Angelina was taking it all in...

I'm sure she will be joining in on the

muddy fun next spring!

I guess mud boots are optional only around here!

She is a wild woman on her bike!

James thought Angelina would enjoy

being pushed out in the

middle of the mud puddle!

Fun muddy memories...