At the Car Wash

"Fun" Summer family activities. It's amazing what you can pass off to small children as fun. :) Slave labor, anyone? Actually, I really do enjoy washing cars, and the kids had a super great time. It was pretty fun watching them play in the soap and water. On a random side note, man, there were a lot of dead bugs on that truck. It was like a massive bug graveyard.

Elle Marie - Our cutie bug!

Elle-Bellie is 2 1/2 and up to plenty! Pretty much anything that Rylan and Bree can do Elle tries to accomplish. She loves to try and quote their AWANA verses with them, sing the alphabet song with them, color with them, build tinker toy objects with them. You get the picture. Basically, she is turning into a big girl overnight and it's very bittersweet. Last week she started speaking in the first person and now it's, "I need a drink," as opposed to, "Elle needs a drink."

Elle is a singer. She is always humming or singing a tune! She has an awesome sense of humor, even at the age of two and is always entertaining the rest of the family! Her favorite person is Aunt Michelle. I think it's because she makes her so many sock monkeys!

Elle is the queen of funny faces!

Grant - He's all boy!

Grant is 18 months this week, and here's a little update on what he's been up to lately.

Learning to talk - current word list:

Mom, Dad, baby, stinky, eat, done, uh-uh, kitty, fish, bye-bye, hi, and lots of other things we can't understand.

He loves to give his stuffed animals kisses and pushes them around in their little stroller. His two favorite toys are a talking/singing tool box and a wooden rifle that Wyatt made. He has the gunshot sound down pretty well, and if all else fails he just uses it to smack his siblings with! He and Elle are mostly inseparable, but he is also great at playing by himself.

Grant is a daddy's boy and much prefers Daddy over Mommy any day of the week! He is a curious little imp :) Last week I caught him coloring on the walls several times, and Aaron found him trying to stick objects in the electrical outlets! He is all boy!

Ivy: Three Months-ish

Are you sensing a theme here yet? One of these months I'm going to take her pictures on time, and then won't you be impressed!!

Ivy has had a bit of a rough month. She caught a cold that turned into RSV, and three weeks and much coughing later she contracted it again! Thankfully the second time wasn't quite so bad. No trips to the ER this time, but she did get an ear infection that made her feel pretty miserable.

The RSV didn't affect her appetite though! When I brought her in at 3 months(for the ear infection,) she weighed 11lbs, 2oz!

Ivy loves to play in her bouncy seat. A few weeks ago she started reaching out for the toys! Still gets up every couple of hours during night to eat, but that's okay. Mommy likes the alone time with her. Her favorite activity is talking and her nickname is Chatty Cathy. She loves to interact, and smiles constantly!

Busy Bees

The kids have been doing various fun projects this morning to keep them busy and distracted. We're taking a trip to Kansas this weekend for Grandma Dawn's birthday and it's going to be a surprise for the kids. We aren't going to tell them until we're on the road! I can't wait!

So, I'm packing this morning and the kids are happily distracted.

In the meadow we will build a snowman...

Aaron had fun pushing the bottom snowball uphill.

Smoothing and sculpting...

...filling in the holes....

....sticks for arms....

....classic carrot for nose...

A finished work of art!

Ivy: Two Months-ish

More like 2 months and 12 days, but who's counting?

Ivy is a sweetie. She loves to be cuddled. She loves to nap with Mommy. She loves to coo and chat. She is a source of contention between her siblings. In a good way, of course. There is a lot of arguing about who gets to hold her. At her check-up she weighed 10lbs, 5ozs.