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| Happy 1st Birthday, Colin! |
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| Colin was born on July 11th, because Glammie was going to be out of town on the 14th, the day the Dr. wanted to induce. The 14th is my birthday..so although it didn't quite work out, I will always think of him as my little birthday nephew. Krista, however, did luck out when Emerson made her debut on September 22nd, her birthday! Here we are with our birthday babes! |
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| When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade... Or when life gives you temperatures in excess of 105 degrees, you make smores! |
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| Enjoying the fruit (or chocolate!) of their work. |
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| To my non-mom friends who wonder how I can possibly spend most of my day wiping down things and little people, here is Exhibit A. This is the mess she made from eating exactly two s'mores. |
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| 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! |
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| 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! |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| My mom is always helping the kids "get all sugared up" as they would say! Hello, Cheetos. We heart you!!! |
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| 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! |
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| Hey, it's a tough life, but someone's gotta do it! =) |
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| This. Is. Awesome! |
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| Chillaxin on the boat with Daddy. |
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| We couldn't have asked for more beautiful and perfect weather! |
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| 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! |
Ryan, age 7
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Julia, age 5
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What do you love most about Daddy?
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That he plays video games with me and wrestles.
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Wrestling, and that he lets me shave him. Because some kids don’t get
to shave their Daddy, I am lucky.
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What is one of Daddy’s talents?
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Building legos with me. I think we should buy him legos for Father’s
Day.
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Cooking dinner and running.
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What is one way you want to be like Daddy when you grow up?
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I want to be very smart and never lose my hair.
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I want to be a great parent and be smart.
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What is the best thing Daddy has ever done for you?
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Play Wii and video games. Bringing me on a Disney cruise.
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Tuck me into bed. Helped me plant a garden. Tells me about Jesus.
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What is one thing Daddy has taught you?
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Mad Minute Math
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No hitting!
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Why did God create Dads?
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To take care of us.
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So the moms won’t every night have to have babysitters.
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What does Daddy do at his job all day?
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I don’t know. You never told me. I think maybe he draws the pictures
on the back of cereal boxes.
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He works.
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| 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!!! |
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| 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! |
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| 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! |
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| 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. |
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| We just returned from an amazing vacation on the Disney Magic Cruise Ship. Ryan could have spent the entire trip on this waterslide! He is still wearing his medal from his school's field day - he tells me he is going to wear it until it falls off. I'm tempted to help fray the ribbon in his sleep...=) |
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| Emerson loved the baby waterplay area at the pool...her first pool experience was a great one! |
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| Taran teaches us that Chip's nose looks like a chocolate chip. The kids think they've died and gone to heaven -- 24 hour room service, Kid's Club, Disney characters, the beach... |
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| We had a larger room this cruise (thanks to the addition of Emerson!). My favorite part of this = private balcony. The kids enjoyed themselves too...Ry sat for hours out here with his notebook drawing the ocean and ships. |
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| Em enjoyed a poolside nap. |
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| And when she wakes up Daddy gives her lots of love, ice chips, and soft serve ice cream = greatest day ever! |
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| Daddy and Juls enjoying the pool. |
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| "Best (and only so far, HA!) vacation ever!" |
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| Stunning sunset ocean views from the boat. |
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| The kids have fun dressing up for Pirate Night at dinner. Ry asked what kind of stuff I had in my makeup bag to give him a moustache. Taadaa! |
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| Em's first time at the beach -- just like her brother, she immediately takes a handful of sand and tastes it. Eehh. |
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| We all loved traveling with the McKey family...Julia especially loved having her buddy Jake around for fun adventures! |
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| After the clouds moved through, it was a perfect day on Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. Julia stayed close to the shore, while Ry and Jeff went out further snorkel exploring to find a sunken ship and treasure. |
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| Sand + Sun + Friends = FUN! |
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| Taran and I chillaxin...our cruise ship is in the back right corner of the pic. |
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| Ahoy matey! |
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| Snow White |
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| Princess and the Frog's Tiana |
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| Cinderella |
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| Juls and Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) |
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| I am praying the "sleeping" part of Sleeping Beauty rubs off on Emerson! |
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| Julia was excited to get her "diploma" from Mrs. Cathy and Mrs. Stacey. |
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| Tyler and Julia pose for a graduation picture. Our flight from Florida arrived just in time for us to make it to Julia's graduation--she insisted on wearing her Minnie Princess ears as opposed to her grad hat. Our little diva! |
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| Her class performed a cute rendition of "Lean on Me" complete with motions. Super cute! |
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| We are finding it to be very true in our household the difference between ER visits in girls and boys. Boy = 4 Girls = 0 |
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| His latest trip to the ER resulted in 3 stitches to his thumb...and orders to NOT let this area get submersed in water. Fat chance. We're headed out on a Disney Cruise in 3 days. Word to the wise: Don't let your 7 year old boy get ahold of an Oberweis glass milk bottle. Because apparently to 7 year old boys, these bottles seem like they would be great bug catchers. He STILL thinks it was a good idea. Arph! |
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| Today I was invited to a Mother's Day tea at Julia's school. She was so excited to get to play "hostess" in her classroom. Super sweet! |
