Update Time!

It's time for an update, since I have been rather slacking in the blogging department lately. This week, Emily and Caitlynn had "Worship Arts Camp" at the church they attended for Bible School. They had so much fun and got to pick three types of art classes to take. Their schedule was: Photography, Sign Language, and STOMP! They really enjoyed their week. Emily's favorite classes were photography and STOMP! I'll have to check with Caitlynn on her favorite classes, but I'd be willing to guess that they were the same as Emily's. I would drop them off every day at 8:30 and pick them up at 2:30. They really enjoyed themselves. While the girls were at their camp, Ryan and Hunter were at skateboarding camp again. They learned a lot of new tricks, which made us feel better since their camp is a bit on the "pricey" side. It was nice to have all four of them at camp, at the same time. While they were at camp, I enjoyed some free time on Monday and Tuesday, which is a coveted luxury, during the summer months! hahaha! I watched Brandon and Joshy the remainder of the week, so they kept me very busy. Yesterday, we had a great day at the pool. It was so hot and we definitely enjoyed the water. Joshy has become very brave. Emily and Caitlynn were taking turns throwing him and he just loved it. He even let them put him under the water and took his water wings off. Brandon is still a bit nervous, but is very slowly coming around. Here are a couple of pictures and a video at the end, of the girls throwing Joshy. To 'hear' it, you will need to scroll down to the bottom and put my playlist on 'pause.'

Em and Joshy ~
Emily and Caitlynn, throwing Joshy ~

Thunder Storm ~~~

~~~~ cut our pool-time short yesterday!! We were having such a fun day. I picked Sarah up so that she could swim with us and my brother met us there, with Brandon and Joshy. We were having so much fun, when all of a sudden --- BOOM!!! --- went the thunder and the lightning followed shortly after. We hung around at Nana and Poppy's for a little bit, hoping that it would pass. But, we ended up heading home, with the rain in tow. We do need the rain, though, so my flowers and plants are loving this.

Family Day!

We another fun day at the pool. It seems like that is our entertainment of choice, these days! Well, with the price of gas, and with Rob's parents having a pool, and living so close to us, it just seems the natural thing to do. We all love the water. Also, after all the yard work that the boys did, a refreshing dip in the pool, was just perfect. Emily still has to keep her head above the water. And, for a child who is the first one, of the season, to get into the pool and is always in the longest out of everybody, she is doing a great job with self-control. I really thought that she would have "accidentally" slipped under by now, but she hasn't. I'm so proud of her. Emily and Ryan got out all the fake food, pots, pans, cups, and plates from the garage and played "restaurant." They cooked Rob and I some yummy food. Then, Rob got out Poppy's remote control boats and they played with them. It was a lot of fun. We had a great family day!

Pool Fun and Cooking Out!

Yesterday, we went to Nana and Poppy's pool, again, because it was so hot! Before we got into the pool, Emily and Ryan fed the fish in the pond. Nana and Poppy went out of town and left food for the kids to feed the fish.

The fish swimming to the top of the pond. They are hungry!

Emily feeding them!

Ryan feeding them!

Look how hungry those fish are!

My sweet babies -- Emily and Ryan!


Since Emily still has swimmers ear, she couldn't go under water. So, my precious girl just floated around all day and stayed in the shallow end. She did go off the diving board once, in a big float, but she almost went under water, so she couldn't do that again. Ryan stayed inside for a little bit playing a video game. Then, he joined us later.

Emily, keeping hydrated, on the float!

Ryan playing video games!

Ryan finally getting in the pool!

Self-portrait of me, before I got in the pool!


After Rob got off work, he came over and went swimming with us. It was a wonderful day. I ran home later and got food so that we could cook-out. The weather was so nice that we decided to stay at Nana and Poppy's, for dinner. They don't mind that we "borrow" their house, while they are gone. They are sweet like that! LOL! After we watched the Avatar movie (a Nickelodeon animation that Rob LOVES -- hehehehe), we went home for the night.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

While Ryan and Hunter were at skate camp, Emily and Caitlynn invited two of their friends, to the pool. Emily had a great day with Gabby; and, Caitlynn had a great day with South. It was a perfect day for swimming, as it was very hot! Here are some of the pictures, from the day.

Emily and Gabby ~


South and Caitlynn ~


Raft Races (Caitlynn and South) ~


Emily and Gabby diving for dive toys ~

Pool Time!

As you can see from our previous posts, we went to the pool today. It was so much fun. There's nothing like a couple of days of rain, to really make you appreciate the pool again!! It was really warm and the water was super cold, because of ALL of that rain. But, that made it for a really refreshing dip, when you got in. Here are some more pictures of our day.


Jenn, this is for you! Emily is making this doll go "potty" just like the doll that Nicole was playing with! LOL!! In fact, it's the same exact doll!


I love the fact that my niece and daughter still play with dolls!!! Children grow up too quickly these days!


Ryan in mid-air! I love when I am able to capture these action shots!

First Day of Summer!

Happy First Day of Summer! First, I will just say that I really miss being able to post pictures to my blog. We still haven't fixed our memory problem on our computer. So, I haven't been able to download any pictures from my camera. I have over 300 pictures and about 6 videos just waiting to be set free!!! LOL! I have so many picture folders on my hard drive and that is what is taking up so much room. Rob thinks that we need to add an external hard drive and send all the pictures there, as we download. It's so frustrating!

I really thought that I was going to be able to blog last night, since both children had friends spend the night. However, they were a little wild and I didn't have the free time that I thought I would. LOL! But, it was fun and they were all really good, so I am not complaining. They didn't fall asleep until way after midnight and were up by 7-ish today. My sweet husband took them all swimming from 10:00 - 12:00, so I was able to have a couple of hours to myself. He had to go to work after he got home. He is always so sweet to spend every second of free time with our family. He won't get off work until midnight tonight.

So, what else did we do for the first day of summer??? Well, I got "blonded-up" again. That was something that Emily made up and it's key for: my roots are really bad!! LOL! A few years ago she would say, "Mommy, it's time to get blonded-up again!" So, that is the term I use when I am getting ready to go to Nana's shop. I so fortunate to have a mother-in-law, who does hair. She owns a shop and does all of our hair, free-of-charge! With the cost of hair foiling, I can guarantee that I would be my natural, dark brunette, if I would have to pay for my cut and color. While I was getting my hair done, Poppy watched Emily and Ryan. Sarah was also there, because Vickie was getting blonded up, too! LOL! So, they all played together, swam, and had fun.

Well, that was pretty much our day. Too bad that I'm not able to share any pictures with you. This is where I would be posting them. :-( That is definitely a "sad" face because I really don't like the way my blog looks without any pictures. Hopefully, we will get our little problem fixed very soon.

Oh, and one more thing: The skate park yesterday was so much fun! The boys (Ryan and his friend, Nick) had so much fun on the ramps. It was clean, safe, and taken care of. The City of Chesapeake did a great job with this park, that's for sure. It also had "Fun Forest," a huge playground with tons of areas for the children to play. It had a fence around the entire play area. What was also very impressive was the fact that there was only one way in and one way out! So, Brandon and Joshy couldn't escape, or any child, for that matter! The skate park was right beside the playground and it was fenced, as well! Ryan can't wait to take Hunter with him, when he is home from Tennessee. Emily feels the same way and can't wait to play on the playground with Caitlynn. We sure do miss them!! At least we are talking to them everyday, though. In fact, Emily is talking to Caitlynn right now. They are talking, during the commercials, while watching Camp Rock (a Disney movie). Well, that's it for now. I really am signing off now! Good night!

Last Day of School!

Well, today marked the last day of school. The last day of Fourth Grade, for Emily. The last day of Second Grade, for Ryan. My goodness, how time flies. They both had a really great year and did so well. Their report cards are actually being mailed out this year, so I'm not sure of their exact grades; however, I do know that they both made honor roll again. We are so proud of them both for how hard they worked. They got out at 12:35 today and here are the pictures of them, as they walked up to the van.

Ryan

Emily

Hunter and Adam


After we picked Caitlynn up, we went over to Nana and Poppy's to swim. It was such a beautiful day. The weather was in the 80's, which was such a welcome relief from the scorching heat that we've been having. We all had so much fun. We played Shark, Marco/Polo, Crab, the color game, diving/jumping contests, had snacks and drinks, the kids played hide and seek (while I was watching from a noodle, in the pool - LOL), and just had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of our pool time ~~

The kids before we got in the pool.

The boys enjoying their snack break. In fact, in the close up pictures, of the kids below, you will notice Doritos on their faces - LOL (I didn't realize this until I uploaded the pictures! Oh, and I usually do not offer any chips as a snack option; however, since today was the last day of school, we "junked" it up a bit!).

The girls enjoying their snack break.

Caitlynn

Emily

Hunter

Ryan


After Kelli picked up Caitlynn and Hunter, Nana and Poppy gave Emily and Ryan a wonderful gift. Poppy had taken pictures of both of them (Emily is ice skating and Ryan is skateboarding) and enlarged them, printed them out on his photography equipment, framed and matted them. They picked fun colors for the frames. They picked "purple" for Emily and "blue" for Ryan. Here they are, holding their beautiful pictures, with Nana and Poppy. We will be hanging them in their bedrooms, as soon as we paint the walls. Oh, and Ryan is making a funny face in the picture, but this one is better than the first because his eyes were closed!! He says that I take too many pictures and my flash blinds him. He is too funny!


Nothing ends a GREAT day like catching lightning bugs!!! And, even though they didn't catch many of them, it was so much fun watching their tired eyes sparkle, when they were running after the tiny specks of light they would see! We are looking so forward to our care-free summer days -- filled with lots of fun, times with family and friends, and lots of memories to be made!!

Lance, Ryan, and Emily

Emily, with her lightning bugs!

Ryan, with his lightning bugs!

My precious babies! I love them so much!