Pool Time!!

More pool time!  The girls are having a blast in our own back yard.  They just love it!  Adah especially loves the slide going into the water.  She tries all kinds of tricks-climbing it, jumping off the end of it, whatever she can get away with!  Kezzie is working on putting her face in the water and holding her breath so she mostly practices that!  In the photos she is using the goggles to look at Adah's feet and Adah (with her new ornery 'tude) is trying to get her to stop...it turned into a fun, laughing game so it was ok!

Summer Lovin'

We are just having a blast loving this life God has given us!  Beautiful summer days, fun time together, pop sickles in the sun, and who doesn't love swinging on their belly?!!  If you are wondering why Austin is on the roof...it's because he and Keziah were taking turns casting her fishing pole and Austin somehow got the line stuck in the shingles on the roof.  We got the ladder out and he climbed up there.  I was up on the playground and it seemed like the perfect photo op!  He was having fun hanging out up there!  I can't believe how big he is getting...almost 13 years old!
I hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as we are!

Adah is 19 MONTHS!

Here is my 'pretty in pink' girl!  She is such a little doll!  She loves the camera and is always smiling or pretending to be mad and ignore you when you take her picture!  The picture on the bottom row of her in the rocking chair, she is doing just that!  She was trying to get me to take her picture the whole time I was taking a picture of Keziah and then when I focused on her she pretended not to notice me and purposely wouldn't smile or look at me!  Such a ham!

Adah has gotten in 2 more teeth this month.  The two top eye teeth.  I didn't notice exactly when they came in but sometime between June 15-18 ish.  I think she just has one more to go and she should be set for a few months!  I love the mouthful of teeth because she is able to eat things a little more easily!  Although she never keeps a bite of carrots in her mouth long enough to swallow, she can easily chomp a bite off a baby carrot and chew it to bits!

Adah's vocabulary has improved dramatically!  She is saying so many things and easily tries to repeat what you ask her to.  Her mind is a sponge and does a great job remembering all the words I teach her.  It's so amazing.  One of the sweetest things Adah started first repeating and then saying on her own is "I love you".  I keep telling myself I need to get this on video because it's the sweetest words you'll ever hear!  Ever since she was a little baby I would hold her in my arms with her looking up at me and with much expression (I get my head swaying back and forth and eyes closed) I say, "I love you".  That is exactly how she would repeat it, expressions and all.  Now she just says it.  I really think she knows what it means too.  She will come give me a hug and say "I wuv ooo".  When she says 'you' her lips pucker!  It's so sweet!  I will never forget it!

A big milestone this month is that we dropped another feeding!  As of June 21st Adah had her last night time breastfeeding.  It went so well when we dropped her nap time feeding that I thought we would start with her night time one and do her morning one last.  I think she is tired enough at bedtime that she just goes to bed without questioning it too much.  The first night was torture for me so much that I was second-guessing the whole thing but knowing it had to happen eventually I pressed on and night two was much less painful.  And Adah continued to do so well too.  She asks for it every-once-in-a-while, but I just tell her she can have water instead and she is satisfied.  She has a sippy cup of water in her crib with her and it's pretty much empty by morning!

Another healthy and blessed month!  I am so thankful for my little Adah.  She isn't so little anymore!  Oh how I am loving watching her grow!

CEREAL!!

Adah ate cereal with milk for the first time today ALL BY HERSELF! She did such a great job! She hardly spilled any!  And she is definitely a fan of rice krispies! 

Sturgis Falls Weekend!

Another great year spent at Sturgis Falls.  I was really feeling like I needed something summery to cheer me up and this was just the thing.  I came to mom and dad's to spend the night Thursday night with all three kids.  Friday afternoon was the first the girls and I got out and enjoyed the festivities.  I had my nephew Ethan with me too!  We met my sister Jamie and her husband Keith and two kids and ate supper in Overman Park.  After that we walked down to where the rides were.  We all rode the carousel which the girls always enjoy.  Austin rode as a chaperone for Ethan so he got to ride for free!  I also let Ethan and Kezzie pick one more ride and they chose the whales.  The guy saw Austin waiting at the gate with them and asked if he wanted to ride it too!  So he rode that for free also!  Austin didn't want to pick a ride of his own but instead chose to spend his money on one of the game stands for a chance to win a prize.  He didn't get it :(  But the guy gave him a couple more tries for free!  After we were done down there we headed back to Overman to watch the talent show and enjoy a bag of JR doughnuts!  The kids all did great and had a blast throwing grass at each other when we were waiting for it to start.  It got a little out of hand when it was disturbing the people around us though!  It was getting late so we decided to go home to mom and dad's and go to bed a little before the show was over.  The kids were all tired anyway.  The next morning (Saturday) the kids and I met Jamie and her kids again and went to the Sturgis Falls parade.  It was kind of cold and rainy but we made the most of it!  When it was over we went into Overman Park to see what else we could find to do and decided to get the kids' faces painted.  While waiting in line we made a magic wand!  When it was Keziah's turn to get her face painted the guy had her sit in the chair and then asked her what he wanted him to paint on her face.  She thought for a minute and then said, 'I don't know, I like swimming pools!'  The guy just laughed and I talked it through with Kezzie and she ended up deciding on a fish!  She was very pleased with the results!  When we were done with that it was time for lunch and I really didn't want to eat in the park again, plus it was getting close to time for the girls to nap and I had to go home to New Hampton so the girls and I left and drove through McDonald's.  I don't think Adah even ate her lunch before conking out on the drive home!  It was nice to be able to put her in her own bed when we got home!  There really is no place like home!

Keziah is 43 MONTHS!

Here she is...another month older!  She is so hilarious and getting so big!  She is becoming more interested in playing with Adah.  She doesn't treat her so much like a baby anymore and instead considers her a friend and playmate!  Sometimes she will try to get her to do things that Adah really doesn't want to do and that's when she gets herself into trouble, but for the most part they are playing really well together!  Kezzie has taken an increase interest in her babies these days too!  She plays with them for longer periods of time, feeding them and putting them to bed.  She will also strap them into her baby backpack and carry them around.  It's nice to see her being so caring and gentle!
I only have one funny quote that I can remember from this month: Kezzie was sitting at the dinner table eating breakfast and I was putting her hair up and she very matter-of-factly said, "Mom, my magic wand is right over there if you want to change me into a beautiful girl!"  The conversation continued from there (as if that wasn't cute enough)...I said, "I don't need that, you are already a beautiful girl!"  To which she responded saying, "you are too, mom!"  I love our little conversations!
Something strange/funny I discovered about Kezzie this month is that she talks and moves A LOT in her sleep.  Earlier this month she woke me in the middle of the night screaming STOP, STOP, STOP!  I didn't go check on her because she was quiet after that, but a little later she said something to the same effect but with more words and whining.  It sounded just like a fight she daily has with her brother! I'm pretty sure he must have been tickling her to death in her dream or something!  Another instance was when I was at my parents' house and was sharing a room with her and Adah.  I was extra in tune to the noise around me because I didn't want them waking each other up.  Keziah was seriously lifting and dropping her legs up and down and it was loud.  She was also talking gibberish.  I went over to her bed to see what the problem was and there was no response, she was out cold!  Adah never woke up either!  The plan is to someday soon have Kezzie and Adah sharing a room so I hope this isn't ever a problem.  One more thing I wanted to mention about Kezzie is her love for picking her silverware at mealtime.  I don't even get her utensils anymore.  I just instruct her to come pick her own out because every time I do I get the wrong ones.  The only time I can get it right is when a certain set is clean.  The set that you get free from Gerber when you have a baby!  They are tiny and she loves them.  If those are dirty then she has to see it for herself and will usually pick the next smallest ones she can find.  Just a little strange fact about her!!
There was a day this month (the last week) that I really felt like Kezzie got bigger.  She just woke up acting more mature, looking bigger, listening more, and just plain seemed bigger.  I think I looked at her funny the whole day because she was just different.  I saw my sister a couple of days later and she said the same thing!  I am so blessed to have this sweet girl in my life and love watching her learn every day!  What a big girl she is becoming!

12 week Ultrasound!

 
Yesterday I went to my 12 week doctor visit!  Brian and the girls came with (not sure this was a good idea as my apt. lasted close to an hour) and we got to hear the heart beat. Keziah thought this was pretty cool. She just stood by the bed and smiled! The heart beat was around 170!  Everything seemed right on track but they wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure we are right on how far along I am.  So this morning I went in at 8am!  I had to drink 32 oz. of water before 7:30.  I needed a full bladder for the ultrasound apparently!  Everything went very well.  We are correct for how far along I am with my due date being Jan. 3, 2012.  That sounds so far away!  I will go back to the doctor again in 4 weeks!

Pooh!

Keziah hasn't really ever seen a Pooh episode but this morning we stopped at a consignment shop where Austin spotted a jacket in the window and there were a bunch of Pooh characters.  As I was paying for our stuff, Austin was helping keep Adah under wraps.  She turned into an all out tantrum and I asked Austin what it was all about.  He said she wanted one of the pooh animals.  The owner overheard and said she could have which ever one she wanted.  Kezzie felt left out and (rudely) asked if she could have one too.  The lady was very kind and let her have one too.  I don't know how it went from there but somehow we ended up with all five that were up on a shelf.  She gave them all to us for FREE!  They are now Kezzie's favorite things.  She has a bed for each of them in her room!

Beach, Pool and Sprinkler Fun!

 

Earlier today we went to the beach at Airport Lake.  I didn't take very many pictures but I got a couple good ones of Adah.  We  had a picnic in the grass after we were all done swimming too!  The kids have so much fun when we go there and we are almost always the only ones there other then the friends we meet there.  I hope this continues as this is one of our favorite spots to hang out!  After we went home for naps the girls woke up and we went outside to have fun in our own yard.  It was just way too beautiful of a day to stay inside at all!  I took plenty of pictures this afternoon to make up for not very many this morning!  They all enjoyed the Clifford sprinkler (that thing is old...from when Austin was a little kid), and especially enjoyed the little slide leading into the pool!  I think this is going to be where we hang out most of the summer!

 

Messy with a purpose!

I got some maternity clothes back from my sister today and had them in bags out in the living room. Keziah wanted to play hop-scotch so she laid out all the clothes in a pattern that she thought was like hop-scotch and kept busy hopping for quite a while. It was definitely worth the mess! She had so much fun doing it that later after I had them all picked up she asked me what she could hop-scotch with so she laid out books!

Silly Girls!

Keziah likes to pretend this is her bed! She somehow got Adah to join her! Kezzie typically goes here when she is cold and wants to have a 'blanket' on her!

What's Austin been up to?

School got out on May 24th!  Whooooo!  Austin has been keeping very busy with fishing!  He has brought home many turtles in hopes of keeping them all but so far I have stuck to my guns and only allowed one!  He had four at one time but only for a couple days until he could find homes for them!  They are so cute!  Austin has also been keeping busy picking rock for a local farmer!  He does it with four of his friends so it isn't so bad!  Plus he is getting paid well!  The newest thing is lifting weights at the middle school with his football coach and some other players.  Since he is going into SEVENTH grade (I can't even believe it) he will be working a lot harder and practicing a lot more so it will be good to get his strength up!  Not much else new.  Austin doesn't really like me posting too much about him so I will keep it short!!  He is such an awesome, helpful, funny, sweet (and sometimes a naughty almost 13 year old)!  I LOVE having him around to play with the girls and keep me company while they are napping.  I am enjoying having him around and can't wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store for us!