Lily and Mason

Lily has found a friend.  In fact, it might be much more than friendship...on her end.  She daily proclaims to me, "I LOVE Mason!!!  I just love him SO much!"  She asks me AS SOON as she wakes up if she can go over to Mason's house and ask him to play.  (It helps that he lives right behind us...)  I have to convince her to wait until 9am.  So we eat breakfast, clean up, get dressed and do "chores" and then...it's finally time.  

These two play SO well together!...usually.  Occasionally, Mason will (understandably) need a break, and Lily will be devastated!  (But, it is a good time to talk about HOW to be a good friend:  "Lily, friends don't like to be bossed around"..."Lily, you need to speak kindly to friends if you want them to play with you"...etc.)  

 

 

Most days though, they just play.  The run and laugh and go in between our houses most of the morning.  

 

At church, Lily will RUN to see Mason and give him a HUGE hug whenever she does.  This girl is smitten.  Mason?  Well, I know he loves being her friend, but she's mentioned to me many times, "I love Mason but Mason doesn't like me!"  Oh, those silly boys.  I explain that I'm SURE he likes you, but sometimes boys don't say they do.  

I'm afraid we may be in for some interesting years come junior high.... 

Brahm {10 months}

 Brahm just keeps growing...and GOING!  This month has consisted of chasing him around the house, up the stairs, pulling him away from open doors, and "walking" him around to wherever he wants to go next.  He is one busy boy.

 

 

 

He loves to throw and chase his ball, climb stairs (and gets the most ornery look when I catch him at it!), loves to look at books,  loves going on walks, and LOVES doggies!  It is adorable!

He is SO close to walking,  and I would expect that at 11 months, I'll be detailing all about his new adventures....but until then....

Oliver's Kindergarten Favorites

Here is Oliver's list of Favorites from his second day of kindergarten!  (I was a little late in getting the idea, but loved it!)

Lily's First Day of Preschool

Lily was SOOOOOO excited for preschool!  That girl is ready!!!  It was a bit tough to wait ALL. THE. WAY until 1pm to go, especially with her best friend AND brother not here to play with her....

So we filled the time by making her special preschool breakfast.  (Mom messed up and forgot that she needed milk, so we had to make these "after lunch" special muffins.)  Lily insisted on making them herself, so I let her do most of it.  They are strawberry muffins with apples on top, in case you couldn't tell.  :-)

 (I made her eat without a shirt....she had to wait until the last minute to get dressed so that she'd be CLEAN for preschool!)

These were the mandatory school photos that I made her take...she was a silly goose!

 She didn't seem nervous at ALL going in to the room.  She hung her bag...

 ...and found her friend, Luke.  Those two are like brother and sister!  (Which could be a good thing, or a bad thing!)

But either way, we are so glad she has a friend there, and absolutely LOVED her first day!  She didn't tell us much right away, but she did mention that it was "too short".  It may be a long year only going two afternoons a week!  :-)

And here is a super idea my friend Amanda did with her kiddos, and I had to do as well:  (Oliver's will be a separate post, to be fair...)

Summer Vacay 2012

Our summer trip this year was wonderful as usual, and we'll sum it up with these 10 highlights (in no particular order):

1.  The Day at the Dunes (with Uncle Kris and Aunt Sara)

 We swam in Lake Michigan...(actually, I didn't let the kids go in more than a foot....but the big people swam.  It was even a RED FLAG WARNING!!!  They are SO rebellious.)  :-)

 This giant hill was the GIANT sand dune that we all climbed.  It was a LOT of work!

2.  Playing "WhiteWater Rafting" on Uncle Kris's kinect game...

3.  The BIG Lakehouse!  (This is where we had Joel's family reunion)

 

 

Unfortunately, the day before the reunion, Brahm came down with a fever that lasted 5 days!  He did nothing but eat, sleep and want to be held...

 

4.  The Beach

5.  Cousins!!!

 Rolling down the hills with the other little girls...

The little boys driving the paddle boat (while tethered to the dock...) 

 

The little kids put on a "play" one night.  Oliver was the director, which apparently, consisted of hiding behind those putting on the play and making gross potty noises on his arm.  

6.  The PARTY Boat (also called a "pontoon".) 

7.  The hotel.  (This was the first time since Oliver was born that our kids went to sleep well in a motel!  Usually, it's NOT worth staying in one.   :-)

And oh how I WISH this one wasn't blurry!  Brahm was so proud of himself--He put on one of Lily's shirts and Joel's underwear all by himself! 

 

8.  The Magic House

We heard about the St. Louis Children's Museum and how amazing it was, so we decided to try it out on the way home.  It was TOTALLY worth it!  We spent 4 hours there and could've stayed all day!

There was a Magic TreeHouse exhibit which the kids loved--we have just started reading those books, so they weren't too familiar yet...

This was a giant "beanstalk" that was 3 stories tall--the kids could climb up all the way to the 3rd floor!

Bubbles!

 Static Electricity!

9.  Grant's Farm

No pictures here....but we did also spend time at Grant's Farm in St. Louis.  It was so much fun!  We rode the train, fed goats, rode a carousel, and ate yummy sno-cones! 

10.  Family Time

We always have SUCH good times on our trips!  I am so thankful for the opportunity to visit family and do some traveling with our kids.  The kids are SUPERSTAR travelers, even Brahm!  This trip, we even took the long way to Ohio from Indiana and visited Lake Eerie for a picnic, and caught a monster thunderstorm on the way!  :-)  

As a (overly) protective mom, I just love it when we are all close together--and even all 5 of us sleeping in one room for two weeks is a special thing!  (But thankful we can come home to our own rooms!)