Busy, Busy!

We have had a busy week this last week. Last week Friday we had the chance to go out to a friend's house and ride their horses and play with their kittys.

Ella loved the kitties, but as you can see they weren't so fond of how she held them.

Addi was involved in a gymnastics camp in Worthington every morning this week. She loves it and is already asking when she gets to go again. Here she is practicing with the springboard!

Finally the big news for the night is that Addi has one less tooth. She has been wiggling this one for several days and all of a sudden tonight she pulled it out. She is quite proud of herself. Since

Daddy isn't home tonight she is going to smile at him in the morning and see if he notices.

Roley Poley Koley

Love those toothless grins!

Kole is no longer immobile. Within a matter of 24 hours he rolled over from his tummy to his back several times. Then when we were eating he was laying on the floor and started fussing which is unusual for him. I got up to check on him and he was on his stomach which was not how I left him.

Kole likes to try to pull off the fish on his jungle gym.

A great day for a parade!

So Addison had this great idea for a 'game' that we could all play on Sunday afternoon. I think she had too much time to think while her siblings were sleeping. Anyway she wanted to put on a parade. Mommy and Addi can be the flag twirlers and Daddy and Ella can play in the band. Thankfully Daddy suggested that we have the parade in the backyard so everyone driving by couldn't witness this blessed event.

Ella had enough of following the leader and decided to shake her monkey maracas on her own.

Left, left, left right, left.........

Notice the flags were the slow moving vehicle ones off our bike trailer.

Kole was the only spectator and doesn't he look highly entertained!

Camping Adventure

So we decided to go camping last week Wednesday and Thursday. It started off really well. We got everything unpacked and set up. We roast hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. They also had a really nice playground for the kids to play on.

Ella was so proud of herself for climbing all the way up this ladder. Daddy took this pictures seconds before she tumbled down taking out a random girl on the way down. She has a nice bruise under her chin from this fall.



Kole was so impressed with the playground that he fell asleep. All the fun really started at 3:15 AM when Trav heard rummbles of thunder. We were able to get everything put into the van that needed to stay dry, but then couldn't get back to sleep with all the rain, thunder and lighting. So we decided to go to Spencer, dry out and see if we would get some nice weather later. After eating breakfast out and lots of play time at the Menard's playground the sun came out so we headed back to our campsite. We had enough time to eat lunch and then the thunder started rumbling again. We thought no big deal lets just take a nap in the tent. So Kole and I rested while Trav and the girls played.



We thought the rain was going to let up when our neighbor came over to our tent and said there is a severe thunderstorm headed this way. If you want to come to our camper to wait it out you may. So then we proceeded to make friends with some very kind people from Linn Grove. Fishing was the next item on the list after storm #2 passed. Here are our big catches.


Notice big fisherman Trav didn't catch anything! We headed back to our tent after this to eat supper. As we were eating we again heard thunder and saw a familiar black cloud. We were then told by our neighbor that their was yet another storm with huge hail on it's way. At that point we decided to call it a trip so we packed everything up as fast as we could and flew home. Thankfully we didn't get hit by hail, but I believe the campground did. Believe it or not we do hope to camp again in a few weeks!

Too long

I forget how busy summer can get. We have been doing all kinds of things lately from bike riding to the library summer reading to camping. The whole camping experience will have to be another entry by itself.

The girls had great fun playing with their umbrella in the rain one day.

My two little budding artists!

These two lucky girls got to have their faces painted at the first story hour of the summer!

Oh, the irony! The very thing the pacifier was supposed to prevent.

Summer Fun

Ella is ready for a plunge into the deep waters of her froggie wading pool!

Kole is ready to watch some baseball!

Addi had her last t-ball game tonight. Look at that concentration as she tries to hit the ball. Funny there is not near the concentration when she is playing out in the field and one of her friend's is on her base!

Life with Ella

Things have been interesting lately as we try to potty train Ella. She has actually been doing really well except she hasn't figured out the difference between potty and stinkies. She will say one and go the other or vice versa. Tonight I sent her to the bathroom to get ready for a bath. Next thing I know I walk in and Ella had made a large deposit on a book on the bathroom floor. Aparently she doesn't like Eric Carle. (We threw the book away.) I am also going to have to find a new place to keep my deodorant. Ella is convinced it goes on her tummy and now anytime it's quiet she is in our bathroom putting it on her stomach.