Staying Busy

Since Kenney has been incredibly busy this summer, the boys and I have been trying to stay busy ourselves. We have been going swimming a lot, trying to ride bikes, play in the rain,go to the gym, go to storytime and the museum, and basically keep me from going crazy cooped up in the apartment!! Here are some things we have been doing!  Of course the few times Daddy has been able to spend with us we have the most fun!

The boys were trying to stay 'safe' watching a movie one day.  We had gotten their helmets out to ride their bikes, and they thought they were fun to wear!

The museum/science spectrum is one of our favorite indoor places to play.  The boys like to imagine flying to go see all of our family.  One second they are flying to Nana & Papa's house and the next they are flying, "really far," according to Kyler, to Oma & Papa Dude's house.  Then they turn around and fly to all of their cousins' houses.  It's fun to see their imaginations start working.

One morning they all wanted to go running in the puddles.  There wasn't a lot of water on the ground, which I was thankful for, but enough to splash around!

He got excited just because the other two were excited, but I'm not so sure he understood why it was so fun!

Puddles!!!

Damon never slows down for pictures when there is a need to run!

Some friends of ours have a really fun pool for the boys to play in and invited us over to swim while they were gone on vacation.  They told the people watching the house to make sure there was ice cream in the freezer just for our boys!  They get spoiled even when our friends aren't there!

Kyler obviously enjoyed his ice cream too!

The boys have ramped up their dunking skills. They take quite a leap from their bed which is more than a body length for Damon. It's pretty funny watching them jump across the room!

Kenney was finally able to go swimming with us one evening and helped me get Damon a little more comfortable in the water. It's really hard for me to help Damon with Radley walking around fearless of the water. Kenney got him jumping in the water again and able to swim with his floaties! He was so proud of himself. He was clapping and screaming for himself because he was so excited!

Just Like the Big Boys

Radley thinks he is just as big as Kyler and Damon and that he can do anything they can do. He wants to be just like them in every way and will not be left out!! It is pretty cute to watch him try and do everything his big brothers do, but it's sad too because he is growing up so fast!!

He tries to ride the scooter any chance he gets.  He jumps at the chance as soon as the others walk away.

He is actually learning how to make it move which makes me really nervous.

He can barely see over the handlebars.

When friends come over, Radley wants to be right in the middle of everything.  He tries to play with the big boys!

He is also dressing up like superheros too!

The boys got out the dress up stuff and Radley had to be just like them!

I love how much he loves his brothers!

We went to go visit Daddy at school and bring him some dinner one evening, and Kyler wanted his picture taken on this bench.  Well, Radley decided to be just like him and climb up for his picture to be taken too!

And then Damon decided to get up there too and the odds of getting a good picture went out the window!

Radley loves to brush his teeth, mostly because Kyler and Damon brush their teeth. But he is not content with just holding the toothbrush, he has to go into the bathroom and try to get the toothbrush wet. He picked up all these things on his own. I never encouraged any of this! 

Usually Kenney or I will help Radley eat a Go-Gurt, but he now thinks he is big enough to do it without help. It was cute to see how excited he was to do it on his own!

July 11th

7/11 is one of my favorite days of the year because you can get free Slurpees at 7/11, and I love Slurpees.  The boys love them too, so they were excited to get one since we don't get them often.  I even got Radley his own because I didn't want to share mine!  I know, selfish right?!?  Not only was 7/11 free Slurpee Day, it was also Dress Like a Cow and Get Free Chick-fil-a Day!!  This was a dream day for our family.  The boys absolutely LOVE "Chick-a-lay", as they call it.  We even had some cousins come into to town to celebrate with us!  The boys were super excited to dress up and go to Chick-a-lay with their cousins!

Slurpees make us happy!!

Kyler busy making his cow costume.

Damon's cow spots.

I was pleasantly surprised how long this kept Kyler's attention.  Damon didn't last too long, but he would come back and color some more.  I was also shocked that Damon let me put the spots on him when it was time to go.  He is usually very particular about what he wears.

The whole crew!  The boys even make masks and spots for Kenney and & I.  We all got to eat for free!!!  It was pretty awesome!  They even gave Radley a meal.

Damon was terrified of the cows when they were walking around the restaurant.

Summertime at the Lake

The boys had a great time at the lake! They loved being able to play in the sand, walk into the water at their own pace, climb the rocks, ride on the boat,and go tubing!! Going to the lake was better this time for me since I was not pregnant or had recently had a baby, but that also means there are 3 kids that do not know how to swim to keep track of at all times!!  It can be quite stressful, but I guess watching the kids have so much fun makes up for all the stress (as long as we all come home without injury).

Kyler and Avery did everything together while we were there!

They were quite the pair!

Kyler was pretty nervous the first time he got on the tube, but I couldn't tell if he was having fun at first.  When he kept asking to ride again, I knew he was having fun! The smirks on Conner and Kyler's faces were cracking me up!

Yep I think he's having fun!

Nothing like tubing!

This little guy had to wear an infant life jacket to ride on the boat.  He really had more fun than it looks!

His favorite part was driving the boat with Papa.  He was racing all the other boats and got mad when Papa wasn't going fast enough!

Damon was not quite ready to get on the tube, but he was enjoying the ride!

These two were having so much fun!!

Papa was giving them quite a ride!  Kyler kept trying to go faster and Avery wanted to go slower.  He got on the boat and said, "I did this (he showed a thumbs up) and Avery wanted to go slower."

Can't go to the lake without a rock climbing adventure!

Believe it or not, he really wasn't scared.

Yep Damon was not far behind once he saw everyone else climbing.  He did great going up, but coming down he needed a little help.  That of course didn't slow him down or make him think twice before going up there again!

Gentry was really cute with Radley.  She treated him like a baby (which he is, but doesn't think he is)  so it was pretty funny watching them interact.

Damon and his rocks!

This little boy had way too many cookies.

He thinks he is just so big!

He got a hold of some pretty big rocks!

Who needs hands when you have two lips?!?

He didn't stop the entire time we were at the lake.  He was busy, busy, busy!

Kyler started to get brave on the tube.  He kept sticking his foot off the side of the tube to drag it in the water!

I got on the tube with Damon hoping he would warm up to the idea once he was actually taking a ride.  He wasn't screaming scared, but he was not really having fun either.  I didn't want to push it so we took him off, but maybe next time will be better.

Time to go home!!

4th of July

The boys had so much fun on the 4th of July. Being at Nana and Papa's house is fun enough for them, but add cousins, fireworks, and ice cream and that just makes it a total blast!! We actually made it through the fireworks without any major meltdowns and not too much screaming this year!! It was definitely a success in our books!

It's fun being with family for the 4th, but I really do miss the big fireworks shows I watched as a kid.

Aunt Kerry made a festive cake for everyone after dinner.  It was red, white and blue on the inside too.  Can you tell the kids were just ready to eat the cake rather than take a picture with it?!?

Time for some backyard fireworks!!

Radley was EXTREMELY curious about those fireworks.  He wasn't a big fan of the loud ones, but he was still intrigued.

He was really trying to figure out what was going on!!

They were all ready for more!

Kyler has gotten more brave since last year.  He was so scared of the loud noises last year that he hid inside while we did fireworks.  He still doesn't like loud noises (fireworks or not), but he watched all of them!!

Running through the green smoke bomb!

Radley with his first sparkler.

Damon had fun with the sparklers, but he was quite dangerous.

Kyler still a little nervous about sparklers.

Little Asher slept through all the fireworks.  My babies would have never done that!!

He is just too cute!!

Watching the big fireworks.

A typical family picture

The kids were excited for it to get dark and dance in the fireworks! Damon was excited until the moment came and then he decided to watch. He still had fun watching!