Twenty One Weeks - Summer Fun!

Finally swimming weather!

Brody and Addisen were finally able to get in the water!  They have been waiting patiently for the weather to finally warm up!

Ryder is still happy to wait patiently in the stroller!

Gotta love those rolls!  I just love my big guy!  He has truly become one of the happiest babies I know.  It was a long road, but so worth all the smiles!  He is getting his first tooth on the bottom and even through that he is pretty content!

I gotta remember all these little things - this will be the last set of little feet!

I can see some Uncle Neal is this picture (and some sleepy eyes!)

I see you!  I sometimes sit and wonder who this little guy will grow up to be.  It is so hard for me to think about him being 2 or 3 years old...what will his personality be like.  Will he be timid like his big Brother or the life of the party like his Sister?  Probably something in the middle! 

Addisen was pretty brave walking out in the water at the boat launch.

Doing what he does best...chewing!

 

Brody had to go to the bathroom while we were down by the water.  I told him to just walk out deep in the water and go.  He said "in my pants?"  I hadn't thought about how wrong this would sound to a child that had been told for years to not pee in their pants!  I said "yeah in your pants, but only in the lake water, not the pool water"...oh so many rules!

 

Daddy's girl!

Addisen was being so brave in the water.  She lost her footing a little bit and then actually started to try to swim.  Unfortunately it quickly turned to panic and she was rolling around in the water unable to get her footing.  Mom to the rescue...but not before the poor thing had gotten scared!

Brody really wanted to go out and swim in the deep part of the lake.  So Jim braved the water with them!  I was happy to stay on the boat with Ryder!

It took a little bit of coaxing, but the kids finally realized that their life jackets would keep them above water.  Shortly after this picture Brody was out swimming all by himself!  It is going to be a great summer!

Happy to stay dry and warm with mommy on the boat!

Ryder has finally started to like sleeping at the cottage!  He went to bed at 9pm on Saturday night, woke up at 5 for his pacifier and was back out until 9am!  We had been outside on Saturday for most of the day, I think the fresh air wore him out!

I couldn't love these kids more!  We are so blessed with our family!

 

Twenty Weeks - Happy Father's Day!

I've been trying hard to find some time to get some 4 month pictures of Ryder.  It really does make a difference going from two to three kids.  I keep saying to Jim that I'm not sure when we are going to ever catch up with our lives again.  I am lucky enough to have another little model when I get out my camera - CHEESE!

Not too many ways to pose this little guy - one thing is always the same in his pictures - BIG EYES!  He always looks like he is surprised!  He certainly does love to roll over!  He has gone from hating his stomach to sleeping all night on his stomach.  Ryder has rolled from his stomach to his back one or two times, but just doesn't seem too interested in doing it himself.

I decided this week that we should start offering Ryder his cereal on a spoon vs. through a bottle.  The cereal has made such a huge difference.  He is officially sleeping through the night...well he isn't eating at night :)  He does wake up around 4am crying, but it only takes his pacifier to go back to bed.

He wasn't the biggest fan!  Maybe we will try again in a few days!

On Thursday night I worked with the kids on Jim's Father's Day present.  I bought some coozies at JoAnns and some foam stickers for them to decorate them with.  Brody did a nice job with his pirate theme and Addisen put 15 birds on the inside, outside and bottom of her coozie.  They couldn't wait to show him so we headed to give him his present a few days early!

My little doughnut girl!

My parents, brother and Jenny were all with us at the cottage to celebrate Father's Day.  Addisen spent the night with them at the cottage on Saturday night, her first time staying away from us alone.  She had a great time and got up really early with Miss Jenny!  Jim went with Brody and one of his friends to watch the local hockey team in the playoffs on Saturday night.  On Sunday morning we got up and headed to the cottage to meet everyone.

We got bobo all new fishing gear!  He will be spending a lot of time fishing with Brody!

Jim got a few homemade gifts from the kids and a new speaker for his iphone.

Mr. Ryder posed for a few more pictures! 

 

I just love those cheeks and big eyes!  He seems to be a combination between Addisen and Brody.

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day!  We certainly had a great time celebrating two dads, although we wished we could have celebrated with Poppy too!

Nineteen Weeks - Last Day of School!

This week was bittersweet for us - it was Brody's last week of DK. So many emotions around the end of Brody's first year of school and the idea that he would be leaving his beloved Mrs. Zimmerman!  On the last day of school it was "Beach Day", so of course Miss Addisen had to find some sunglasses too!

That first teacher in your life makes such an impact.  I am so thankful for Mrs. Zimmerman and all of the love and life lessons she showed Brody.  We really could not have asked for a better teacher!

One of Brody's best buds, Aaron.  Hopefully they will meet again in Kindergarten!

We celebrated the start of summer by taking Brody out to the local Putt Putt and Go Cart place.  He was so excited to find out that it would be just us going, no Addisen!  We had a great afternoon and then headed up to the Cottage for our first "Summer Weekend".

I took Brody and Addisen out for a walk Saturday morning, it was my first chance in a while to get some new pictures of them!

I often sit and reflect on Sundays as we head home....I am just so thankful that we have had the opportunity to get the cottage.  It was one of my dreams for a few years, and I am just amazed that it all worked out so early in our lives.  We have been so lucky for the location and the great neighbors we have.  One of Brody and Addisen's favorite things to do is to take a walk down the road and toss rocks at the boat launch.

As we were walking down the road we found A LOT of ants...so the kids had a stomping party!

I thought this picture would be so cute...then I got it on my computer and just had to laugh.  Look at their expressions and then the sign...yep these are my slow children!

Maybe this sign was a little better choice!

Silly kids!

I hope these two always find each other as cool and fun to be with as they do now.

Of course we had to head off to the petting zoo - finally the bird house was open! 

Poor Mr. Ryder had a rough week.  He ended up having an allergic reaction to one of his vaccines.  On Thursday morning he woke up and I found hives on his arms and face.  I sent some pictures to our doctor and she had me give him benadryl.  I took him in to the office and luckily by the time we got there they had started to go away.  We watched him for the next few days and finally by Sunday it seemed like the reaction was starting to stop....poor guy!  It's probably a good thing that he is our last baby....not sure what else could go wrong with my kids!