Kylie's 1st Birthday!!!

It's hard to believe she's been with us for a year now! Her birthday was actually about a week ago and we celebrated with a party at the park. Here are some pictures of the festivities.

She loves her big brother...who wouldn't love him? He is so nice and loving!

Cousin Katelynn knows some good jokes! (But not better than Ben's jokes, wink wink!)Kylie's friend Lillian.

Kylie wasn't sure why everyone was looking at her and singing--or why there was a flame in front of her--but we're pretty sure she was glad Ben was there to put it out for her!

I made applesauce cupcakes with apple cream cheese frosting for the babies (they were actually quite good!) and once Kylie got a taste of it she ate it up!

Cousin Curtis and his son Connor--they loved the cupcakes too!

"No, I'm not sneaking any ice cream!"

What a fun day!

Rain, rain go away...or not!

We had a couple of days earlier this month that rained pretty much nonstop. But instead of being bored with not being able to go outside, Ben came up with plenty of fun things to do inside--some were quite creative! At first glance the above picture looks like an ordinary tree, but after taking a closer look you will notice it is actually full of stealth military agents on a mission...

I don't know about Kylie, but I know I had a strange feeling I was being watched everytime I walked into the family room! At least we were safe and protected right?

Ben really wanted to go to the pool--I guess he figured he would at least get to play with the kickboard because he used an old chemistry atom/molecule kit that I have and created this:

Who else other than Ben would have thought of such a fun and creative thing to do with a model kit?! I don't really know exactly what it was, but it sure looked like something incredible!

Ben also created a "Puzzle Museum" complete with a map section (USA and solar system puzzles), a prehistoric section (dinosaur puzzles), a cat area (several kitten puzzles), and a few others. We had just watched the movie Night at the Museum, so I'm sure that was part of the inspiration behind the idea! I thought it was a great idea--and we had lots of fun working puzzles that day. So while Ben was busy with puzzles, etc., Kylie had her own fun exploring and playing. Watching her learn new things and discover things for the first time has been so much fun for me! I am so glad I get to spend so much time with Ben and Kylie right now--I know these years will pass all too soon and I'm doing my best to soak it all up while I can. And when it is not raining you can often find us at the YMCA pool. Ben has really become a confident swimmer this summer and mastered a few new skills--he loves to do cannonballs, dive to the bottom of the pool to retrieve things, and go down the slide. Kylie watches everything Ben does and thinks she can do it too! She flaps her arms and kicks her legs and even puts her face in the water and LOVES it! She thinks she can swim and tries to get out of my arms. Splashing doesn't bother her a bit.

And after some intense playing she's perfectly content to lounge in her stroller by the pool while Ben plays for as long as he can. Sometimes she even gets a good nap.

It doesn't get much better than this!

Soccer Celebrations and Awards

Ben's soccer season was fun to watch this spring--his skills really improved as the concepts seemed to click and we all enjoyed the excitement. We could see his growing confidence with each game, especially as he stepped in to get the ball away from other players that were bigger than him. At the beginning of the season he backed off when the other players got closer, but by the end of the season he was right there with the ball whenever he could and even managed to turn quite a few balls around to get them headed in the right direction for his team to score.

Here's a shot of a pre-game huddle where they got a good pep talk and discussed strategy...

Here's our little soccer girl--she loved all of it! She even got into it when everyone was cheering and shouting at the players to kick the ball. Her face would light up and she'd clap her hands enthusiastically, sometimes even shout words of encouragement of her own (or at least we think that's what she was saying!).

Team picture--they all had a fun time!

The next couple of pictures are from the awards day celebration. There was a parade where all the teams from each age group marched from the downtown courthouse to the YMCA and then got their trophies, ran around the YMCA gym, and even got a couple slices of pizza. What could be better?!

This video is a very short clip from the parade. The kids were more excited about getting to carry the team flag than anything else, and they each had a turn for the big honor. All in all it was a great season and Ben had a blast (mission accomplished!).

Partners in Crime

Kylie wants to use the computer every time I do, so I dragged out my old dinosaur laptop from college the other day and let her have at it. Of course, Ben had to "show" her how to use it since he's the expert. This computer was top of the line in its day...but now it can barely handle the math game we loaded onto it for Ben to play. Look how thick it is! Anyway, she loved it and definitely knew exactly what to do as she lunged toward it! She is so lucky to have a big brother like Ben who absolutely adores her and patiently lets her join in on the fun.

Cousins reunited at last!!!

Ben counted down the days/minutes/seconds to get to see his cousins a few weeks ago and they had so much fun playing that we didn't even have time to take many pictures. My sister Gina and her family drove south from Vermont for a quick visit to Grandmother's house and the kids had a blast. Ben has definitely missed getting to play with Lana now that she lives so far away. We used to be able to meet up at Grandmother's house for fun weekends (when my sister lived in Alabama), so the kids did their best to make up for lost time this trip! In fact, they played so hard that the water in the bathtub needed to be drained and refilled, and it still looked dirty!

This picture was taken just before a prayer for safe travel home...notice how Lana and Ben were ready to pray appropriately with their eyes closed, Luke was peeking, and Kylie was oblivious to it all. I'm sure this is how it was during the actual prayer too--but who knows for sure? I had my eyes closed... :)