Backyard Fun

The humidity dropped a bit this evening, so we decided to have a little outdoor family fun after dinner.  The kiddos were practicing their hula hooping abilities and basically acting a little crazy.  Mike somehow convinced me to take a picture with the kids - yikes I need some make-up....and maybe take 5 minutes to do my hair. Good golly.

Love my black-eyed susans!  They make me happy :-)

Updates and Some Pictures

Time for another kid update. Abby is helping me with this one.......

Abby
* Just finished a two day safety camp with her good friend that was put on by the local police department. She loved it. Now all she talks about is our escape plan if there is ever a fire in our house. And do we have a "go kit" in case we ever need to evacuate for a few days.
* Is officially a cool kid with feather extensions in her hair.
* Still writing lots of plays which require family participation.  Hannah is usually up for it, but Griff is tiring of playing the prince or dragon :-)
* Wrote & illustrated a story for Hannah for her birthday.  She can't wait to give it to her.
* Katy Perry, Pink and Bruno Mars are her favorite singers right now. Unfortunately I can't let her buy any of the CDs b/c they all have explicit lyrics stickers on them.....then I had to explain what that meant :-)
* Will not take off the swim flippers at the beach - she swims back and forth....over and over again...to the 6 foot buoy kickin' her little flipper feet the whole way. She loves how fast they make her!
* LOVES America's Got Talent

Hannah
* Talks about above mentioned feather extensions every day. So sad she is not part of the in crowd.
* Loves Chance.  A lot.
* Loves Cheetahs. Pretends she is one.  A lot.  A bit worried :-)
* Has a bit of a crush on our new neighbor.  But still says she wants to marry Griffin and live with us forever.
* Has an excellent front crawl and backstroke.
* Will say something she thinks is funny and look at you and say, "do I crack you up?"
* Knows the words to almost every current song on the radio and sings them loudly in the car. Especially loves Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5, but we have to be a bit creative with the words b/c they are not so appropriate for an almost 5 year old.
* LOVES America's Got Talent

Griff
* Angry Birds. All he is interested in. Walks around with the iPad 24/7.  Even knows how to check YouTube to find videos on how to best get those birds. This is so over my head I can't even pretend to understand the fascination....but he and Mike have bonded over this game!
* Loves to be flipped at the beach by Dad. I apparently am not able to toss him high enough.
* Loves the water and the beach.  Can do 3 somersaults in a row without coming up for air!
* If he can't play on the iPad he likes to play Wii with Mike. He's pretty good at baseball and golf.....he's a lefty at both.
* Could survive on raisin toast :-)
* He loves Moves Like Jagger, too.....and will break into song almost anywhere.
* LOVES America's Got Talent


Some random pictures....

Playing Wii.....We've had to ban Chance from the basement when the kids are playing because he "chases" the "balls" and tries to "catch" them.  You should see him run back and forth and try to find the ball after it's hit.  When he jumped up to catch the ball and came this close to Mike's tv that was it.....he's upstairs when they are playing.

An afternoon at the park. Neither one was interested in pictures.

Ice cream pizza. Griff asked to make them after seeing them on Team Umi Zumi (cartoon).  We had everything on hand...cookies, ice cream, candy.....so I said of course.  They were very good!  Griff put mini m&ms on his; Hannah put nerds on hers.

We Miss You Already

Good-bye to our CA friends! We miss you already and are looking forward to our December trip!

A Good-Bye Party

Our neighbors and good friends are moving out of state this week. Abby is especially sad as she is really close to two of the girls in the family.  She asked if we could have a little going away party for them so we did tonight.  We invited all the neighbor kids to a little hot dog cook-out.  Everyone ran around for a couple of hours, ate some food and then had some bomb pops as dessert.  We'll miss you S Family!!

Flippin' Out

The beach is so much more fun when Dad is there......(you've gotta get those flips and throws in before the lifeguards come on duty b/c there is a no "no throwing rule".....all the kids know it and whenever we get there before they are on duty the kiddos are thrilled!)

Summer Fun

We've been keeping busy around here lately, doing a bit of this and that:


Graduating from Ninja Camp as Master Ninjas.  They LOVED this little camp.  Here they are with their ninja headbands and graduation scrolls!  And they are kickin' it like ninjas :-)

Griff, very proud of his Master Ninja certificate.

Always the joker, Miss Hannah.....wouldn't let me take a picture of her.

Oh, she thinks she's funny!!

They had to show me the obstacle course they did every day. Abby joined in on the fun.

We've been beaching it quite a bit now that it's been nice and hot and sunny.  We love this little beach 5 minutes from our house.

Running into the water after the safety break was over.

Hannah doing an almost perfect handstand in the water. She's really good at them!

Here are Griff and Abby doing their handstands....Abby is wearing pink flippers :-)  Griff can actually do a full summersault in the water, which he's pretty proud of!

Picking tons and tons of wild raspberries from the backyard. We have a ton of wild bushes that are super easy to get to now that our backyard is landscaped.  This has lead to lots of nasty bug bites, one of which took us to the pediatrician.  Hannah had a doosey on the back of her leg that started look red and puffy and very itchy.  She's now on antibiotics and seems to be doing better.

Practicing our jump-roping.  They are getting better and better with lots of practice.

Love Hannah's face in this picture!!

Using the jump-rope as a bungy cord and "shooting" the kids like "angry birds".....do you play that silly game on your phone or ipad? Griff is obsessed!

And just acting goofy, enjoying the summer days!

The Fourth!

We had a great long Fourth of July weekend.  We couldn't have asked for better weather (FINALLY!) and spent all weekend outside enjoying the heat and the sunshine.

Below are some pictures from the parade. We go every year and every year it's HOT, crowded and lots of fun.  The kids love to sit right on the curb and gather as much candy as possible. Mike and I stayed on our blanket and tried to get some shade from a nearby tree.

It looks like it might rain today, so we may get some needed inside time today.  Perhaps I'll put everyone to work and they can help clean the house a bit :-)


Yelling Happy Fourth of July as I'm trying to take a picture before leaving for the parade.

Patiently waiting for the parade to start.

There were lots of fancy cars......

Lots of marching bands.....

Lots of candy......

 ......and horses......

 And loud fire trucks.

And our yearly picture of Griff (and now Hannah) covering his ears at the noise!!!