Breakfast at the Park

I found a great idea in blogland recently that I knew I had to put into action. Friday, the kids and I packed up a picnic breakfast and headed to the park first thing. What an AWESOME idea! We had the place entirely to ourselves, and it was still cool enough that I could enjoy the sunshine without melting. The kids thought I was the best mom ever for a few minutes, letting them play before they even had their breakfast. And Brianna got to spread her mess all over the park, instead of all over our dining room floor. We'll definitely be doing this again!

Independence Day

I love summer holidays, even when they are so busy and hectic that you end up needing a vacation from your vacation! We had a great four-day weekend this year, since Brett took the Friday before off work. We spent most of that day and most of Saturday at Mom & Dad's house, getting the boat ready to play. We also got to go to Hallie's baptism on Saturday, which is always fun for the kids. Kylee is starting to get excited for her eighth birthday!

Saturday after the boat was finally done (THANKS DAD for all your help!) we were all smoking hot, so we decided to take it in to Jensen's Grove for a quick test drive/cool down. It was nice to get my weekend sunburn over the course of a couple days, instead of all at once. ;-)

Monday was the craziest day of all. We got up early to get some breakfast before hitting the parade here in IF. I love the parade even more as a mom than I did as a kid.  I love watching the excitement in my kids' eyes over crazy floats, candy, and seeing their babysitters walking in the parade. So much fun!

After the parade was done we hurried home to change and hook up to the boat. We hauled it down the road to Blacktail (seriously, could we be any luckier to have such a great spot just up the road?) where Mom and Dad were waiting with a great spot. Amy and Jake came with their kids after having spent the night in Island Park, and Sean and Diana brought their family too.

Our kiddos are getting more and more brave on the boat, and both Kylee and Aedan spent some time in the tube with their cousins. Kylee rode with Hallie, so she even got a bit more crazy ride than last year so Hallie wouldn't be bored, and she loved it! Aedan got to ride with both Sayer and Dewey (at different times!) so he was excited to be with his cousins. And Brianna spent most of the time hanging out in the shade with Grandpa.

We had a ton of fun hanging out with family. TONS of pictures (um, do you know me?) but just a few here. If you want to see more pics with the rest of the family, go here.

After a long day in the sun and water, we came home to unload and chill for awhile before fireworks. Brianna went to sleep when we got home and didn't get up again all night, so Brett stayed home while the kids and I went to see the show. If you want to see any of the photos I got of the fireworks, go here.

Happy 1st Birthday Brianna!!

Our sweet baby girl had her very first birthday last week! I can't believe it's already been a year since this little lady joined our clan...she's such a sweetheart and we love having her around! Brianna is such a mellow baby, most people have never even heard her cry! (Don't worry...we can tell you, she's good at it!) Her big brother and sister love her to distraction, and are often in trouble for manhandling her too much and not giving her any space. Their excessive attention must have been a big part of the reason Brianna didn't feel the need to move on her own for a long time. :-) She learned to scoot on our slick floors around 10 months, and her scoot has slowly progressed to a funny frog-like crawl/hop. It's absolutely hilarious to watch, but she's pretty proud of herself and can really cover a lot of distance in a short amount of time with her little frog-hop.

Just in the last two weeks before her birthday, she finally got her first tooth, on the top (so weird!). She's got about half a dozen more teeth trying to come through, so she's taken to having her tongue out all the time as she's feeling the changes in her mouth. Also in the last couple of weeks, she's started to finally stand with help and pull herself up on the furniture. Before that she didn't want anything to do with it. If we tried to stand her up on the floor, she'd lift her little legs up into a sitting position until we set her down on her bum. :-)

Brianna will eat anything we give her, which is really nice for us! She loves the attentions of her big brother and sister and is often found giving them big hugs and wide-mouthed smooches anywhere she can reach them. She loves to play "paddy-cake" and always skips ahead to the roll-it part, where she rubs her hands together back and forth for the roll it motion, and makes noises with her tongue to imitate the word "roll". She loves to wave "hi" to people, and often will wave for several minutes from her perch in the grocery cart as we pass people. She likes to blow kisses but often ends up chewing on her little hand rather than "blowing" the kiss away. :-) She has recently learned how to throw a temper tantrum, and OH MAN can she do it well! She has the highest-pitched scream I've ever heard, and she throws her whole body into it...it's actually kinda cute. When she was a little baby she used to scream out of happiness, and now she's learned to attach it to her temper.

At her nine-month check-up, she had recently been through a really long bout of being sick, and she'd had no appetite at all. Because of this she hadn't gained hardly any weight from 6 months, so the doctor put her on a high-calorie diet with her formula. Luckily it worked beautifully, because at her 1-year check-up last week she weighed in at 19 pounds 7.5 ounces, almost 4 pounds higher than at her last weigh-in.

We have discovered that Brianna LOVES being outside in any way. She loves sitting on the grass while her brother and sister play, she loves going for a walk in the stroller, and she LOVES going on hikes with us in the backpack, usually carried by her daddy. She has become a major daddy's girl, so she loves hanging with him on our hikes.

Our little sweetheart has the most beautiful, big brown eyes! Well, they're the most beautiful since her big sister was a baby. :-) I love our little brown-eyed girls!

Brianna wasn't quite sure what to think of presents this year, but it was fun to let her try. Kylee wrapped her presents again...she's getting pretty good at it. :-)

Brianna loves her cake! But she loves it so much that she doesn't mess around...she's a fairly clean eater! I'll post some of her cake-smash pics later this week.

We're so glad our little sweetheart joined our family last year! She is an absolute joy to have and we couldn't imagine our little family without her! Happy birthday Brianna Shea!

Happy Birthday Aedan!

Our little man turned four last week, and he's showing how big he is every day! He tells Brett every day that he's taking care of the girls while Brett's at work. :-) After he's been in trouble with his dad, he always says, "Dad, are we buddies now?" or "We're buddies, huh Dad?" You can't help but forgive him for anything after that. :-)

He still loves Star Wars, though he doesn't get to watch it much since Mom is T-I-R-E-D of it. :-) He now enjoys watching Harry Potter (the early years before it gets too scary) though I think that came about cause he knew I'd always say yes if he wanted to watch it. He loves Spiderman, McQueen, and Spongebob. He also loves to help his dad in any way, especially if it involves tools.

Aedan has memorized all thirteen of the Articles of Faith, and will be passing off the 13th this Sunday at church. We promised him and Kylee that we'd have a pizza party at Leo's Place when they finished all 13, and they've done it! He loves to go to church and loves being a Sunbeam. He's learning a lot of the songs really well, and loves to sing them at home. He has also started singing some of our favorite songs from the Celtic Woman dvd we put in when we're cleaning. It's common to hear him start belting out "Sail away, sail away, sail away" (from Celtic Woman, but also part of the Shrek 4 soundtrak). He has also recently started singing "The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun," another of the songs from Celtic Woman, and it's awesome to hear him. Makes me smile every time.

Aedan's birthday was on a Sunday, and we decided to stick close to home to celebrate that day. He got to open presents from his sisters and his mom, and see the big project his dad's  been working on for him.

Kylee wrapped the presents all by herself. :-)

The big reveal:

Brett made Aedan a real workbench, just his size. Brett has been getting really into woodworking with handtools, which requires a serious bench. Aedan loves to play in Brett's woodshop, so he built Aedan his own bench, complete with a tail vise.

Moving on, the present from his sisters...

Real Tools!

And Mom's gift...definitely the dud. Should have made him open it first. :-)

Cars!

He had his dad open the tool set and immediately got to work. The workbench includes a planing stop, which is basically a block of wood fitted into a square hole in the bench. The idea is that you can tap the block down so it is just lower than the piece of lumber you are working on, so it holds it but doesn't get in the way. Aedan  just likes to whack it all the way up and all the way down. :)

The day after Aedan's birthday we had a party at the house for his friends. This is the first "friends" birthday party Aedan has had. He's so dang social and makes friends with everyone, I just couldn't help doing it for him. It was also nice to spend a couple days spoiling him and letting him be the center of attention. Kylee gets a lot of attention from dance and school programs, so this helped give him the spotlight for awhile.

We had a "How to Train Your Dragon" party, and invited the boys to come for some dragon training. They each got to decorate their own "shields", receive a Viking axe, and have shield practice.

Aedan's cousin, Sayer

 

My friend Kandy and Mr. Trevor...So glad they came, even though I hardly said two words to her I was so busy!

Even Spencer got into the games.

And Ben!

And Dewey, the oldest of the cousin "triplets" :-)

Drake!

Shield Practice: Me throwing bean bags at them so they could practice with the shields. Kinda funny, until they started throwing them back. :\

 

Opening presents was insane-o with all the helpers. :-) I'm still not sure who gave him what.

Amy brought Dewey and Sayer, and stayed to help. It's a good thing too, cause she saved my bacon!

 

All in all, it was a fun party. We had a family party with the McD side this last Sunday, so Aedan got lots more presents from all his aunts and cousins (and uncles ;). We didn't do a party with my family for him because the cousins were all at the friends party, but Grandma Kathy came and took him to dinner and shopping for a "project". Now he's got a wooden toolbox for his tools that he built with Dad's help. 

I'm so glad we have this little man in our family! It sure is nice to have another "man" around the house, and he definitely does take care of the girls. ;-) Happy Birthday Aedan!