Up North

We have been very busy since we got back. I always forget how busy Summers get. It is fun busy but busy nonetheless. Anyways, this is where we stayed. Jared and I have been going to this lake since before we dated. This is where sparks first flew. We love it here.

It was a bit different with kids. Addie was teething. Eli got a little sick. It rained about 90% of the time we were there. BUT it was still nice to go back. I loved having Jared around to hear all of the hysterical things the boys are saying. I loved being there as a family. We definitely made some memories.

The boys were in heaven with all of the sand and water. They didn't mind the cold at all.

And they picked Mommy flowers every. single. day.

I'm sure we will all go back. How could we not? :)

BACK!

We are back from our get-a-way "Up North" and I am tackling THIS.

3 guys + cold weather + a beach + lots of rain = LOADS of laundry

Hope to be back soon to post pictures. We had and interesting time on our FIRST EVER family of 5 vacation. Details to follow.

Happy Father's Day, Honey!

Jared, thanks for being such a great Dad to these 3. Your love for them is fun to watch. :) I love you and am so glad I am raising these crazy kids of ours with you.

The Library

We hit our library almost weekly. Ours has a TON of videos/DVD's that the boys love and of course the books. They also have a puzzle, coloring and puppet area. We attend storytime during the "school year" and in the summer they have a reading program where you log reading time and get little prizes. This year they are also having some specials with the Fire Department and various story-tellers.

I love the inter-library loan system. I can reserve almost any book I want and it will usually be available in a couple of days. This summer I know I'll be reading books on photography so that I can learn to take pictures well. I also picked up a book on teaching the boys to read. They have been watching "Meet the Sight Words" (all from the library) and are suddenly very interested in reading words for themselves so I plan to go with it and see how far they want to take it.

Other than these types of books I've been reading a little L.M. Montgomery and may do the "Anne" series this summer. Not sure. I love reading series if you have any suggestions e-mail me or comment. Or just a good book is fine.

This book, "Caps for Sale", was familiar to me. I am assuming I read it as a child. It was written in the 40's. We read it yesterday and the boys LOVED it. I wonder if that is why I remember the illustrations. I love how some books span the generations in appeal.

The one below has a poem for every season. It is by John Updike, written in the 60's. It is really good and I do not consider myself a fan of poetry. We've checked it out a few times.

This week we are also trying a couple of wordless books. I tend to not get these because well, they are wordless. I have since read a little about the benefits of these types of books and "read" them both to Alex yesterday. He LOVED them.

So we will continue to make our weekly trips to the library and checking out way too many books and pay a few too many late fees. Yeah, I gotta be honest, we basically pay a little bit for the "free" library. :)

Crabby Pants

Here is puffy-eyed Addie after a particularly draining scream fest.

Here is her brother trying to cheer her up.

Mission accomplished.

The Village Part 2

Have I ever mentioned that Alex has a "few" cowlicks.

Eli and the girls had fun trying on hats. He didn't want to take his off. Colin took his off before I got a picture. He probably knew Aunt Becky would put it on her blog. Smart Boy.

It was definitely a fun day.

they crack each other up

a twin thing?

a brother thing?

who knows

\

We went to the village with my sisters (2 of them) and their kids yesterday.

We arrived a 1/2 late for various reasons (like Eli putting his shorts on backwards 3 times and then leaving without shoes, and Mom knocking over the juice she'd just poured AND of course Addie realizing she needs to dirty a diaper RIGHT before we leave).

oy

Within 2 minutes of arriving Alex fell and skinned his knee pretty badly and NEEDED to be carried.

My clean white shirt was full of chocolate custard and blood by the time I left.

My sisters and I sometimes ask "why do we leave the house? is it worth it?"

To which we answer a resounding "YES!"

otherwise we would be going crazy all by ourselves

:)

The boys had a blast with all of their cousins. It was fun to watch them all play together. I enjoyed stealing small bits of conversation in between all the Mommy duties we had to perform.

Yep, those smiles make it TOTALLY WORTH IT.