Summer fun

This is the way to enjoy a summer day:  

Story time and lunch indoors with Aunt Louie, watermelon for dinner (yes, for - not with),and swimming and popsicles with your cousins.  I'd say they had a pretty good day! 

Touch a Truck 2013

This morning we went to a Touch a Truck event put on by Springfield Township.  It was SO HOT!  Actually, had we not been meeting friends, I may have canceled our plans and stayed inside.  But I'm glad we went, because Jack had a wonderful time.

We went last year with Aunt Louie and our friends Erin and Jeremiah Lyons.  I was very pregnant with Audrey, and it was another hot day. You can check out last year's pictures here. It's amazing to see how much Jack has grown.... and I was huge!

And here are the pictures of the kids this year.  I'm glad I was able to get one of the two boys again this year!  We missed you this year, Aunt Louie!

Riding the garbage truck

Driving the garbage truck

Happy UPS driver

The Bengal's Bus!

Driving the Bengal's bus

Audrey in the firetruck

Firetruck

I was so thankful for a stroller with a large cover -- and lots of Cheerios and water!

July 4th

It was a rainy 4th of July this year.  We were hoping to walk in the College Hill parade this year, but the rain kept us away.  Fortunately, we found a much more exciting activity:  Lunch and train watching!

We headed to Glendale with Mom and Carl and Christy and Pizza Man (aka David) and grabbed lunch at Cock & Bull.  Jack loved the trains and it was a great distraction from the rain.

The rain didn't cancel or plans for dinner with friends last night.  The Larson family came over for a 4th of July cookout.  It was moved inside, but worked perfectly for these little guys.  It cleared up long enough for us all to head outside for sparklers and pop-its.  Patrick (with the red hair) and Graham are two of Jack's buddies from church.  He talks about them all of the time, and it's great to see him have friends at such a young age.  Jack also adores Annabelle!  She's been sweet to him and gives him attention even though she already has two little brothers vying for her attention.  

Garden 2013

Jacob built raised beds for our garden this year.  He did a ton of research beforehand and I think they turned out great.

The beds have greatly reduced the amount of weeding and everything looks a bit more organized.  I can't complain about that!

Here's Jack collecting some radishes from the garden.  He doesn't love the taste of the radishes, but loves to pick them and takes a taste every time!  

Hilton Head 2013

We just returned from a week long vacation in Hilton Head. We went with the Troescher family (17 of us!) and we all stayed together in one big house.  The best part of
the house was that the pool was right outside and was just for us.  We could swim all day long and come in and out of the house to eat and nap.  Perfect for our little family!

Here are a few highlights from the trip:

Jack didn't like the police man that gave daddy a ticket. 

Jack didn't spend much time in the big pool - it was great to have the baby pool!

This is a bit fuzzy, but so sweet.  Audrey's cousins were so sweet with her!  

Looking back on my pictures I found a TON of Mara holding Audrey.  What a great cousin. 

Buddies

The only picture I could find of just the two of us!

Audrey's 11 months!

Wow!  Has it really been almost a month since my last post?  Sorry about that!  We recently took a family vacation to Hilton Head, and between the packing, the trip, and the unpacking, I think this got put on the back burner.

Our little girl is only one month away from being a year old! How did that happen?  Audrey's got one mighty personality.  It's fun - and a bit scary - to see it shining through these days.  I need to remember to take it one day at a time and not create worries and stresses about how this could play out when she's a teenager.


She's still a momma's girl and loves to sit on my hip all day long.  I don't typically have the ability to do this, but Audrey likes to protest and insist that I try. I guess I'll take it while I can get it, right?

We hit a major milestone on Sunday:  She didn't cry in the nursery at church!  Not once!  I'm so thankful that the kind nursery workers have loved on her these past few months.  She has put a few through the wringer....

Audrey's not crawling quite yet, but has started to scoot across the floor and can also push herself backwards when lying on her belly.  She also loves to sit n spin just like Jack.  I finally caught it on tape:

Occasionally Audrey gets stuck when she's trying to get around.  It's a good thing she has such a helpful big brother:

She's close to figuring this out:

She still to love to play peek-a-boo!

Last week Jack was kind enough to share his ice cream (without even being asked, I might add!).  She loved every bite!

She loves being as independent as possible and enjoys her straw cup and trying to use a spoon.  So far, so good:

Audrey's two lower teeth are almost all of the way in, and she's got four upper teeth just waiting to pop through.  Check out this girl's big smile:

Audrey carries her blankie with her at all times.  She loves it! She also loves her baby dolls, but I don't seem to have a picture of her holding one.  She lights up when she sees a doll and says, 'ba-be"

We recently were at a friend's house for dinner, and they got out their blow-up house.  After all of the big kids had gotten through, Audrey took a shot and sat on the edge.  She loved it.  And she loved it even more when her friend Cara took a seat beside her.  

We took a walk to the coffee shop right before vacation.  Here's the treat that the kids got for breakfast:

I'm thankful that these two seem to like each other.  I'm glad that they're so close in age and that they'll have the chance to experience life together.  

11 months