Colts gear, Grandparents visit, old buddies

Here's Emma at McDonalds. She reaches (and grabs!) everything now! She really wanted this diet coke!



The kids looked very cute in their Colts gear last Sunday!! They didn't wear it for their first game, which they lost. But they wore it this past Sunday and the Colts won - so we'll be sure to have them wear these outfits every Sunday!! :)



Here's Emma sporting her Colts cheer outfit!


Drew loves to paint! We've started painting with our little "crafts" and he loves it!



Here's the kids with Grandmom and Granddad a couple weekends ago.



Drew liked watching Granddad cut down our dead bush! He mentions it every time we step out the front door - "Granddad took our tree."



Here's Drew with his buddies Sofia and Reece, all grown up! We hadn't seen Reece in over a year!! Her curls have gotten so long! They wouldn't all sit still for a picture - this is the best I could do!

Open Gym, Concert & Cereal

Here's Chad and the kids Wednesday night before we put them to bed.

Thursday morning I took the kids to Open Gym at the Gym Co. - an amazing gymnastics facility in Mooresville. Drew had a blast! Here he is on the rings...great form!

He and Luke paused for about 2 seconds in a "ta da" for a picture.

He liked jumping into the foam pit...over and over again!

And then all the little ones were taking turns jumping off the double mini trampoline (which I learned is its own Olympic event).




Here's Drew's vault. He's got a great run and approach! haha! What a nut!

And here's a picture to document my little gymnast's first beam workout!

Friday night we took the kids to a Concert on the Green in Davidson. It was a variety band that played some pretty good music. I think Drew had a great time. Here he is hanging out on the blanket eating strawberries.

And while trying to take a picture of Chad and Drew dancing in front of the band, I happened to catch the set of legs walking by?? Kinda freaky!

Emma wore her Beatles shirt to the concert. She loved all the lights and the loud music (and we were in the front row!)

Saturday, we let Emma try cereal for the first time. She was very interested!

She looked tiny in the high chair!

And a video - mmm!

Labor Day trip to Indiana

We did a SUPER quick trip to Indiana for Labor Day weekend. We headed out around 3:30pm on Friday and drove for 10 1/2 loooooong hours. Our trips used to take about 8 1/2 to 9 hours, but now with Drew's potty breaks and Emma's feedings we tacked on a couple hours. But it wasn't too bad. We got there in the middle of the night and got a few hours' sleep before the action began. On Saturday everyone came out to my parents' house. It was an amazing day in the low 70s and no humidity!

Here's Will, Drew and Parker playing and singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

We spent a lot of time outside in the awesome weather. Of course, Emma LOVED that! She would live outside if it would stay like this!

And here's the two girls, Lyndsey and Emma - very cute picture!!

And Drew got to ride the John Deere with my dad again - he got to steer a little on his own and didn't even run into any trees!

For some reason, we ended up down at the apple trees and got in throwing contests with the rotten apples. The boys liked pushing the tools around and playing with the apples too. Here's Tim, Sarah, Drew and Willy.

Then on Sunday, we all went to Ben and Julie's house to go swimming. At least it was in the low 80s, so it was warm enough to get in the pool! Emma even got to swim for the first time! Here she is with her Aunt Julie, Lyndsey and Will. She loved it and was completely content.

And here she is trying out a floatie and not too sure about it. And you can see Ben in the background getting ready to throw Parker across the pool - he loves it! He's a pretty amazing little swimmer for 4 years old!!

And here's my dad giving Drew and Parker a ride on a float.

On Monday morning, we went over to Sarah and Marc's house to see all the renovations they've done. The house looks awesome - I LOVE the kitchen, which Marc completely gutted and redid all himself! Then we went to Donner Park with all of them before we got back on the road to head home. Here's Drew and my mom at the park.

And here's the youngest (Emma) and oldest (Tim) of the cousins. Sixteen years apart!!

Emma really likes Lyndsey! She carried her, changed her, fed her a bottle, and played with her... pretty much just spoiled her rotten! And Emma loved every minute of it!

And here's my parents, Marc, Sarah and I after our picnic lunch. I promise, Chad was with me on this vacation...somehow he just avoided all the pictures. I think he actually took this one, but somehow I missed him in all the others I took. I'll do better next time!

Emma is getting really strong. When she's on her belly, she'll get her knees under her and push her rear up. She'll even push up on her toes and lift her belly up off the ground (like a plank position). And she'll push her arms all the way straight with her belly on the ground (like a seal). And she likes to stand with us helping her balance. But she better not get too far ahead... I don't want her walking at 7 1/2 months like I did!!

My Bday, baseball, and crafts

On my birthday (last Friday), Drew and I made dairy-free rice krispie treats (instead of birthday cake). Now that his stool is in the kitchen (for easy hand washing), he likes to climb up there and help as much as we allow. I'm hoping if he helps prepare some meals, maybe he'll be more likely to try them...no such luck with the rice krispie treats! (and he's even had them before, but not this time! arrggh!)



We had to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles several times...and then a couple more times for just Drew!



Then, we got a group shot in our jammies before bedtime! It was a great birthday!




On Saturday morning we took Drew to the park by our neighborhood and played some baseball ON the baseball fields. I think he thought that was pretty cool. It's so funny how he starts sweating and will be beat red...and it doesn't phase him!


I walked around with Emma and played around with the camera. I like this picture b/c I think it shows some of our similar features.


Sweaty, SERIOUS Drew.
Family shot in the dugout. Probably the first of many summer days spent at the baseball fields!


Capri Sun break!

Cheese! We forgot his baseball hat (which he was pretty disappointed about b/c we both had baseball hats on), but at least I fished these shades out of the car for him!

On Sunday morning we washed our cars. Drew really liked the hose and would run in front of it. Unfortunately, we thought it would be a good idea to let him control the hose some too...and he got me good with it!! I screamed and he thought that was hilarious and kept doing it! Of course Chad was in charge of cutting it off, and I think he was taking his time! Pretty funny. And then we all cooled off with popsicles on the back deck. Good thing Drew's shorts were already considered old and stained b/c they didn't stand a chance with that popsicle!

I decided to start doing learning activities with Drew several days a week. I knew he'd love it - he loves learning new things and doing crafts and reading books. So, our themes for this week were the letter A, alligators, color green, and triangles. Here he is this morning coloring the alligator pieces for a craft.

And here's the finished products. There's the Letter "A" making an alligator head w/ triangle teeth and googly eyes, a TP roll alligator, and lots of triangles! He loves it and we had lots of fun! I think his favorite thing eight now is gluing!