Growing Up...Way too fast!

Grace has had a big week this week! On Monday she lost her second tooth. I didn't get to see the first tooth she lost because she swallowed it, but seeing that little tiny tooth in the palm of her hand made me so sentimental. She's had that sweet tooth since she was Olivia's age and now she's got this giant tooth as big as MY tooth growing into it's place. It was undeniable physical evidence that my little girl is growing up. Sometimes I wish I could make it stop. (Sidenote: The tooth fairy forgot to come that night. I've officially cinched the Mother of the Year Award for the 5th straight year!)

Then, on Tuesday, Grace jumped off the diving board into the swimming pool all by herself! That was a BIG deal considering just a few weeks ago she wouldn't even jump into the shallow end off the edge of the pool. Now she can jump in and swim to the edge by herself. I was so proud of her!

Today, Jeff came home early from work to take the training wheels off her bike. This was one of her goals for the summer. She got a scooter a couple of weeks ago which really helped her learn how to balance, so when the training wheels came off, she took off! But isn't riding without training wheels something that big kids do?!?!

A month from now we'll be just days away from the start of kindergarten and in so many ways it feels like the end of such a precious stage. I have to admit it makes me quite sad, but at the same time I'm so proud of my big girl and all that she is learning and who she is becoming.

First Bites

Olivia had her first taste of solid food tonight! Her doctor recommended starting her on grains sometime between 4 and 6 months because there was a recent study that showed doing so could decrease her risk of getting Celiac. When her doctor told me this at her 4 month appointment, I actually just laughed and told her I didn't have any extra time to feed her solid food! But now that the 6 month mark is quickly approaching, we decided it was time for her to join us at the table for some good eats. :)

I just love how expressive she is...

"Okay Mom, you put this weird thing on my neck and got your camera out. What is going on? "What in the world? Daddy, what is that thing in my mouth?"
"This is kind of funny!"

"But it really doesn't taste so good."

"If you think I'm doing that again, you're crazy!"

Of course Grace and Charlie wanted turns feeding her.

Olivia wasn't about to eat it, even from her most-favorite-person-in-the-world, Grace.

This is my most favorite picture of them all. Her expression is priceless, and Charlie thought feeding her was absolutely hilarious. I haven't seen him laugh so hard in a long time.

I don't think she swallowed any food, but she sure looked cute sitting in her highchair!

Cousin Fun

Last weekend our cousins came over to play while the daddies went golfing. My kids are so lucky to have cousins that they LOVE spending time with. Even Olivia and Emma got to play together... The whole time I was taking their picture, Olivia was looking at me and smiling, and Emma was trying to get Olivia's attention. I love her look in this pictures. "Um, hello? I'm here, too! When are you going to play with me?"
Olivia had to go down for a nap, so Emma spent some time in the excersaucer while the big kids played outside. Isn't she so beautiful?!?

The big kids had a blast cooling off in the sprinkler!

Then they had lunch in their "forts".

And a day in the sun wouldn't be complete without popsicles. Charlie always makes such a mess! Just look at the juice running down his arm!

But it makes him happy!

Hudson's popsicle face was much more delicate!

It was a great afternoon enjoying the warm sunshine with some of our favorite people!

The Note

I'm going to be honest with you. Lately, parenting is hard. I don't know if it's the kids' ages, the not-so-new-anymore baby, the transition to kindergarten and preschool, the fact that their mom is on edge 95% of the time because life just feels overwhelming, or a combination of all of the above, but my two big kids are keeping me on my toes these day! We've actually had a couple of good weeks recently (Praise the Lord for that!), but there were a few weeks there that were not fun. And amidst those hard weeks, Grace produced this little gem. In case you're not fluent in emergent writing, I'll translate for you. "I hate you. Mom is a bum."

I wouldn't let her take out the glue. I'm mean that way, but sometimes, I just don't want to deal with glue.

Now, the good news is she's really coming along in her phonetic spelling. :) She's also got a great sense of humor...a bum? Really? Who says that?

All kidding aside, Grace is a total sweetheart, and she immediately felt bad for writing this note. It turns out, she didn't even know what "hate" meant other than it was a mean word. We had a good talk (after she wisely stayed outside for about an hour after handing me the note) and she was able to express her frustration with the glue issue in more appropriate ways. :)

The note is now tucked away safely as a memento of this time in her life. You better believe I'm hanging onto it for the just the right moment down the road...

Artistic

The other day the kids were painting on the easel and I found Grace using my phone to take pictures of their paintings. She likes to use this app I have that takes vintage looking pictures. I didn't really think anything of it until I uploaded the pictures tonight and thought these were quite artistic!

On the go!

With three kids in tow, I rarely bring my "real" camera along with us on outings these days. We've been doing a lot of fun things, though, so I'm trying to at least take a quick picture with phone to remember everything. Here's some of what we've been up to as we slowly work our way through our Summer Fun List.

We went to the zoo with our cousins. (Phew! I can cross that off my "motherly duty" list for the year!) Whenever the sun is out (which unfortunately is not that often) the kids' #1 goal for the day is to get the sprinkler out.

We went for a hike! It was really fun and the kids did so great walking 3.4 miles.

Starting out...

We made it to the waterfall!Okay, Charlie didn't walk the WHOLE way. Here's how he ended the hike...

We went to Kelsey Creek (still one of our absolute favorite places) with some good friends to visit the animals and have a picnic.

Chelan!

We spent such a fun long weekend with Jeff's family in Chelan. The weather was beautiful most of the time, and the kids had a great time playing in the pool.

Olivia and Grammy found a nice spot in the shade to watch Parker all ready to take a dip in the pool...such a cutie!Still watching...
Charlie had fun playing in the fountains

Olivia borrowed a suit from Parker and got ready for her first trip into the pool!

She seemed to like being in the water! She was really mellow about the whole thing.

We also spent lots of time just hanging out together in the condo.

Saturday morning was a little drizzly, so the kids spent the morning playing in the sand by the lake instead of swimming. On the way back they got to ride on go-carts! They both LOVED it and even went back for another ride later in the day with Ryan and Lindsay.

Grace and Grammy avoiding the drizzle

Saturday afternoon the sun came back, and Jeff's parents offered to play in the pool with the big kids while the rest of us visited some local wineries.

Brothers...

Parker on the wine tasting counter

A rare shot of Jeff and me

The babies made great wine tasting buddies.

On the last night we made s'mores at the condo's campfire. Yummy!!

Carole had given both baby girls these outfits, so we took advantage of our time together to dress them alike. They were so cute!

The whole clan

Grammy and Bop with all of their grandkids

Ryan, Lindsay, and Parker

Our big kids were done having their pictures taken by this point, but these two still cooperated!

Thank you, Grammy and Bop, for such a fun weekend!!