Park Fun

We are not going to have many more days like this, so we are taking full advantage of them. Our weather is turning already with the feel of Fall being in the air. Also I have not even tried to venture out with just me and my sister- unless Joshua was at home to help with the kids. I did not think that I was up to it and ready. So the past few weeks my sister and I have gone to the park and different places with the kids and it has been alright and easy to handle. We hope to go more places during the winter to keep the kids occupied. My mom and sister surprised us by meeting Joshua and I at the park the other day. We had so much fun being able to be outside and enjoy the day.

Digging In The Dirt

Stella is getting t be quite the outdoors girl. She will cry at the door if her brothers go out and she does not. Stella is getting to the point that she likes to do everything that her brothers do (the boys don't like that all the time). Everyone was so messy and dirty after playing in the dirt.

Water Balloons

It seems like the boys are always asking to play in the water whether it is hot or not. This was done over a weekend when Grandma and Grandpa were home and it was hot outside. Stella does not like playing in the water, mabey next year. She did enjoy holding and carrying the water balloons all around. The boys have so much fun playing in the water whether its the sprinkler or with water balloons. The weather is going to be changing for fall and it will be a sad day when they can't play in the water anymore.

We love you, Grandma Cathy!

We had a great visit with you, Grandma Cathy. Thanks for all the fun. Come and visit us again soon!

Grandma Cathy's Visit

Grandma Cathy came out on July 2 to spend some time with us and to see our newest family member. On Sunday was the church picnic (see the post on how we spent our 4th of July), We had a great time and Grandma Cathy was able to go to church with us and then able to visit with our friends at the church. She was also able to spend time with Paul and Peter there. We had a very relaxing 4th of July as we stayed home for most of the day (see also our 4th of July post). I wanted to have some days to be able to relax and not do anything and let Grandma Cathy spend some time with the boys. Joshua and I decided to let the boys stay up to see the fireworks this year. They had a great time, but were very tired after wards. The next thing that Joshua, the boys, Stella, Grandma Cathy, and Auntie Mar all went to the zoo. Fay and I stayed home as I am not ready to go out and about yet. They had a great time and it was nice to have it quiet.

Otherwise we just relaxed and did not do much else. Grandma Cathy enjoyed being able to snuggle with her newest granddaughter.
We sure did enjoy Grandma Cathy's visit and can't wait until the next time that she comes out to visit us!

Stella's Walking!

Look at what Stella can do!





There is a funny story behind Stella walking. My mom wanted to get Stella walking so she put Stella in dresses. Stella hated crawling around in dresses as the dress would get tangled around her legs. So Stella would try to walk more and more. Even when she fell down, Stella would get back up and try again. So if you want your daughter to walk faster, try putting her in a dress!

Stella and Grandma Marie

Water Play

It has been so hot here that the boys have been playing alot in the water. My mom will get the sprinkler out and let the boys play. Sometimes my mom gets out buckets of soapy water for the boys to play with and they have so much fun washing different things. They play hard until both of them are cold and ready to take a nice warm shower. Here are some cute pictures of them playing in the water.

Here is a random picture of Paul, who wanted his picture taken while I was taking pictures of his sister.

Our Father's Day

Our Father's Day was very relaxing and low key (seeing how I just had Fay). Joshua, Fay, and I all slept in while my parents took care of Stella and the boys. Joshua did go down and play with Paul, Peter, and Stella while Fay and I rested in the room. Usually we make a big meal for all of us to enjoy and eat as a family, but this year I ate in my room and the boys served me. It was nice to be pampered, but it felt weird being Father's Day. It also felt weird being away from the family and not helping out with anything. After dinner Joshua brought up Stella, Paul, and Peter up and we spent time as a family together and opened up the gifts that the kids got Joshua. Then they went back down stairs. I was able to spend some time with each of the kids separately during the day which was very nice as I missed all of them. Joshua said that I gave him the best present of all- little Fay. I am so glad that Joshua is my husband and that we get to share this life together. Here are some pictures of our day.

The Boy's First Camping Trip

The other weekend some friends of ours were going camping and my parents, sister, and the boys went up to check out the site. We are interested in finding different places that we can take the boys up to for day trips and eventually overnight. Joshua, Stella, and I stayed home and did some things around the house in preparation for the new baby. The boys were really excited about being able to go, even though they did not totally get the concept of camping. My parents said that they were not too sure about the whole camping thing, but soon they were playing around and having fun. It was overcast and the sun would peek out every once in awhile, but that did not stop my boys from playing in the water in a stream nearby. I think that they have inherited my mom's love of water. They roasted hot dogs over the camp fire and even had smores. The boys were very tired and dirty!!! My parents left around 3 or 4 in the afternoon because we had church the next day and the boys slept in the car. I am sure that we will be having more day camping trips to come!

Stella's Birthday Party

We had Stella's birthday party this last Saturday. I chose to do a princess tea party, so that meant alot of work for me in food preparation. Since I am 8 months pregnant and not wanting to over do it, my mom stayed home and helped me one of the days. We were able to get alot done. I just had small things to do after that. On Saturday, Joshua helped me decorate for the party and do odd and ends of things. Our friends from church came over and helped us celebrate. They were the only ones that came, but we had a great time with just their family and we were so grateful that they did come. The kids played in the backyard and then we played a couple of games before heading back out and hitting the pinata that my parents found at a garage sale. My boy's have never done that before and they had so much fun and thought it was great. I am sure that we will be doing those again soon. Then everyone enjoyed all the tea party foods outside as it was a beautiful day. We let the kids play outside again before bringing them inside to do the craft that I had prepared. They were able to color and decorate frames that were shaped as crowns. Soon we did the cake and then they left since we will be going to church tomorrow. Stella did great, but did get overwhelmed alittle. We had a great time celebrating Stella's birthday and fellowshiping.

Family Day