9 month stats

Movie Night

Julia is super excited to head out on her date with Daddy to see the new Disney Brave movie.  She suits up a new outfit for the fun occasion, but brings a jacket "cause her and Daddy might be cold in the theatre and need to snuggle up."  Of course, she's got her favorite lipgloss in her purse too!  

Ry found a Goosebumps movie at the library, and couldn't resist calling (and calling and begging) Gram to come over ASAP and watch it with him.  He told the librarian, "This movie is my Gram's FAVORITE. She's going to be SOOOO excited that we found this!"  Of course, we are working with Gram on saying "NO!", but in the meantime Ryan is taking full advantage of his powers!

Family Lake Trip 2012

Look at this little sweetness between sisters.
Oh. Happy sigh. I dreamed of this moment having two girls!

And on another non sentimental note, how did families ever travel before technology? Perhaps they actually talked to one another? (HA).  Ry watched the DVD player, Julia the Ipod, me the Ipad and Jeff and Jeff listened to the ball game on the radio. Geesch.  

Even Emerson loves the pool!
Which is way more than I can say about the lifejacket which was required on the boat.
Which I may or may not have broken the rules on a little bit and allowed her to wear a noncertified flotation device.

My mom is always helping the kids "get all sugared up" as they would say!
Hello, Cheetos. We heart you!!!

Ryan and Tyler say "slow down!" after a wild ride on the tube. =)
(Or maybe it was just hello?!)
Either way, they had a total blast this year getting flung around the lake!

Hey, it's a tough life, but someone's gotta do it! =)

This. Is. Awesome!

Chillaxin on the boat with Daddy.

We couldn't have asked for more beautiful and perfect weather!

The boys can't sit still long enough to go fishing after the excitement of Uncle Jeff catching a baby turtle.
Daddy's princess is all about patience though...and she's rewarded several times over!  

Happy Birthday to my brother and Mom, 

whose birthdays we celebrated on the trip, 

also Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day 2012!

	Ryan, age 7	Julia, age 5
What do you love most about Daddy?	That he plays video games with me and wrestles.	Wrestling, and that he lets me shave him. Because some kids don’t get to shave their Daddy, I am lucky.
What is one of Daddy’s talents?	Building legos with me. I think we should buy him legos for Father’s Day.	Cooking dinner and running.
What is one way you want to be like Daddy when you grow up?	I want to be very smart and never lose my hair.	I want to be a great parent and be smart.
What is the best thing Daddy has ever done for you?	Play Wii and video games. Bringing me on a Disney cruise.	Tuck me into bed. Helped me plant a garden. Tells me about Jesus.
What is one thing Daddy has taught you?	Mad Minute Math	No hitting!
Why did God create Dads?	To take care of us.	So the moms won’t every night have to have babysitters.
What does Daddy do at his job all day?	I don’t know. You never told me. I think maybe he draws the pictures on the back of cereal boxes.	He works.

Middle Child Chatter

See that sweet middle child of mine?
She's on a roll...
(The picture doesn't go with this post..I forgot to snap any today, and I thought this adequately showed her more devilish side!)

Today after the kids tennis camp we went to visit Grandma/pa Schuette.
Grandpa turns 90 tomorrow, so we had a little impromptu Tostino Party Pizza luncheon.
He was telling the kids his age, and Ryan begins singing the numbers up to 90 as fast and loudly as he can.
Then Juls says, "WOW. I bet you'll die soon."

Tonight while helping her get ready for bed, I asked Julia to come stand next to me in the mirror and put our faces close together.  I commented to her that I thought we might be starting to look a little more alike.  She says, "Yes, but my hair is a little darker, and your tummy is definitely bigger."

Isn't she just a joy??!

Kids Just Wanna Have (Dirty) Fun!

I am really trying to let this be a fun and memorable summer vacation for the kids.  I don't want them to grow up and remember their mom always telling them what they can't do. Or to clean their rooms. Pick up their toys. Shoes. Etc.  (I do enough of that, and it must not be working since it's still a mess around here!) So in a conscious effort to pick my battles, and let them do some "kid" stuff even if it makes me cringe, I decided to not step in when they used the hoses in the backyard to make a mud pit.  And then proceeded to roll around in it. They had a BLAST.  And I admit, seeing them smile was really fun to watch too.  For those of you in awe I let my daughter run around topless, she did start out with a shirt on...which was white, by the way...still soaking that one in Oxiclean! (We are slightly hoosier, but not all the way. HA.) It was just too "heavy" she said with mud that she decided to lose it.
Happy Summer!!!

A few more vacation pics

I snapped this on our first day on the boat. We'd just boarded, and arrived to check out our cabin.  I love the look of excitement on their faces, and the fact that Julia has wasted no time at all in putting her swimsuit on so we can hit the pool deck! This girl has priorities!

After our cruise, we stayed a hotel in Orlando that had some great swim amnenities. (Not to mention our suite seemed like a mansion compared to our boat cabin!)  There was this sweet little baby play area, and the big kids (Ryan especially!) spent most of the day going down a cool twisty waterslide that went down a "scenic" hill before depositing them in the pool.  Fun family times!

Sweet baby Em. She is going to be one flexible kid!  She is dragged everywhere with the "big kids" and so far has adjusted learning to take her naps on the go. (How we have changed in parenting from when Ryan was a baby and we were on a rigid sleep schedule!) She was so pooped out from all the excitement of the morning she napped nearly the entire plane ride home...I didn't mind that one bit! Julia was pretty happy about this too, since it meant she got all my attention to play Barbie paper dolls.  Jeff and Ryan spent the ride home engrossed in a movie.