{toGetHer}

Ayden and Zoe have been playing together a lot lately!  It seems that lately, they prefer playing together over watching TV...and they will do this for hours and hours at a time!  They are both so imaginative, so they will make up games and things to do.  It is usually Zoe going along more with what Ayden wants to do than vice versa.....Zoe can often be found assisting Ayden with his Star Wars legos, holding her own in a light saber battle or playing with Star Wars figures (she is always Soka or Princess Lea).  She always brings a doll or princess into the mix to make sure there is balance with all the boy things!

I love this! I love that they play together and enjoy being around each other!  This is so foreign to me.  I was telling Jeremiah the other day that I don't EVER remember playing something with my brother when I was younger.  It must've been the 5 year age gap between us.  Jeremiah remembers playing with his siblings a lot since he had one 18 months older than him and another 18 months younger!  I am glad that my kids are close in age....I hope that they will always have fun playing together!

This is the story of my life........this could be Zoe's face one second.....

....and half a second later, it would be this....

You NEVER know what is gonna set her off or what is gonna make her smile!  I like to call her the "sweetest grumpiest" person I know!  It's a good thing there is some sweetness mixed in with the sour!!  :)

This one on the other hand almost always has a smile on his face....

{oNe liTTle FisHy}

Here's a couple videos of one of my little fishies!!  The other little fishy wasn't "showing off" tonight, so we will have to video him next time!!  Zoe is a little fish tho!  This progress that she made today in the pool was HUGE!!  This is the same girl that is usually completely attached to her noodle in the pool....and she will swim around everywhere with that thing!  But getting her to actually "swim" without it has been non-existant!  And she is SO DRAMATIC, so if I ever try to take her noodle away and make her swim, she screams bloody murder so loud that anyone in a 500 foot vicinity would think I am trying to drown her!  So this was really big today!!  We went to swimming lessons this morning and then went to swim at our friend's pool this afternoon....and then had to show off to Daddy tonight what she had learned....3 trips to the pool in 1 day....GOTTA LOVE SUMMER!  So proud of her!!  :) 

She made up this little dolphin swim thing.....silly little girl!!  :)

{sWimMinG LesSonS}

Today was our last day of 2 weeks of swim lessons.  The kids did great and they loved going every morning....and I loved getting a good 1 hour of sun each morning while watching them!  I laugh and say that this is the first summer in a LONG time that I have actually been tan!  For the past 5 summers, I haven't had much "laying out" time.....there was always a baby to chase after or to worry about near the pool!  But life is getting easier as the kids are becoming more independent!  This is the first summer where I realize that we can pretty much go anywhere and do anything....and it's pretty easy!  Sometimes almost too easy!!  There was 1 day this week when we went to the pool and I was laying out while the kids were swimming.  I was watching them swim and kept catching myself dozing off!!  SCARY!!!  But I guess that means that life is getting easier!  I'm always jealous of those Moms that show up at the pool, plop down in their chairs and read a book while their kids run off to the pool!  We are almost there.....but before that, I better enjoy this time where they still are a little needy.....I know it will be gone all too fast!

Ayden has progressed so much this summer!  He is pretty much a swimming machine all of a sudden and I am 100% confident that he would survive if he ever fell into a pool without me watching.....what a good feeling that is as a Mom!  He has been working on back floats, breast stroke, back stroke, diving for toys and doing hand stands in the shallow end!  We have been going to the pool every day this week and for at least 30 minutes a day, he wants me to "judge" him on his hand stands!  Funny thing is that I remember growing up and making my Mom do the exact same thing with me!  And now I know that there is no way she watched every single one of my hand stands.  I thought she was super Mom and could watch me do handstands, be a judge and make dinner inside....all while she watched from the kitchen windows out to our pool!!  Sometimes you just have to shout out a "Good one.....that was an 8!" when you just aren't paying attention!  :)

My little fishies.....(Zoe looks more like a shark.....we're trying to work on losing the cheesy smile)....

Zoe hamming it up for the camera.....

And there is that pretty grin that we have been working on!!!  So much cuter than the shark smile!!  :)

Zoe was always scared to walk over to her teacher, so Ayden held her hand and led her on her way.....

....directly to her teacher in the pool....

Zoe has become quite the little fish also!  She LOVES to be under water!!  She does "bobs" (up and down in the water) all day long!!  Today when we were at the pool, I was so impressed with her....she was jumping in and swimming about 5 feet to get to me!  First time I have ever seen her really swim!!  I guess the lessons are paying off!

Today the kids got to go down the slide a couple times since it was the last day!  Ayden loved it and had a blast over and over!  Zoe was too scared....walked all the way up the ladder, turned around and walked back down!  She wasn't gonna give it a shot!  

Waiting in line....

Ayden....

{FiVe huNdreD}

This is my 500th blog post!  I started my blog on November 3, 2007.....almost 4 years ago!  I cannot believe that I have been blogging so long!  I remember that my friend in Utah, Katie, was the one that started me on blogging.  I remember her asking me one day if I "blogged" and I said yes because I thought "blogging" was a fancy word for "digital scrapbooking" which I was just getting into!!  HAHA....little did I know....there was so much to learn and she showed me the ropes!  :) 

When I started blogging, Ayden was just 4 months old.  This was one of my very first posts of him at Halloween.....

I love that I started at the beginning of my kid's lives so that I have EVERYTHING documented!  My blog has been so much more than I ever thought it would be.  When I first started it, it was a way for me to show my family that lived so so far away what we were up to.  And as I just finished printing my 4th yearly family scrapbook, I have realized that my blog has become my journal and my way to remember every little thing that my kids did and said when they were young!  I love blogging and hope I never get tired of it! 

Happy 500th post!!  :)

{iN tRouBle}

Sometimes you wanna wear a tutu and you just can't decide which one to wear.....so you put one on and you add another one as the "topping"!!

I think we will be in trouble with this one when she reaches the age that the boys will start to notice her.  She already knows she's cute.....people tell her all the time and she whole heartedly believes them.  Just yesterday a cute older man at Costco told me "my daughter is such a beautiful girl" as I pushed her around in the cart.  She later told Jeremiah, "Daddy, a man told Mommy that her daughter is beautiful"!  HA!  And the other day Jeremiah asked Zoe if she wanted to be a model someday.  Her reply was, "Daddy, I already AM a model"!  We often joke about her sassy attitude and how we feel sorry for the husband that has to deal with it someday!  Jeremiah predicts that she is going to blind all the boys with her beauty....and I think he is right!!

{sYmpaThY nEEdEd}

I'm looking for a little sympathy here.  This was the thermostat at our house at 6 pm when we sat down for dinner tonight.  Yes that's right.....90 degrees INSIDE the house!!!  OUCH!!  That one is a little painful.  It has been so hot and yucky here these past few days....we want to go back to Big Bear where it was a perfect temperature there!  Yay for summer....but yuck for hot, humid weather that doesn't even cool down in the evenings!!  Needless to say, we have been making multiple trips to the pool each day just to cool off our bodies! 

So please have a little sympathy for me as you enjoy your air conditioned house!  Air conditioning our house is one of the areas where Jeremiah and I are super cheap!!  I just can't handle the $500 electric bills in the summer time!!  Not worth it to me....I would rather sweat it out and spend that extra $500 somewhere else!!  And I am not a fan of air conditioning in general....I like to walk in and out of air conditioned places, but don't really love to live in it....I am generally too cold and I hate being cold!!  So I will keep telling myself that and will lay here still in hopes that I will stop sweating if I am not moving a lot!

And if I can get a little bit of sense knocked into me, I might just say that 90 degrees is way too hot to be inside the house and we will kick on the air for a couple hours!  :)

{FouRtH oF jUlY}

We spent last weekend in Big Bear for our annual "July 4th Jubilee" with my side of the family!  We had such a great LONG weekend....we got up the mountain on Friday evening and stayed through Tuesday night!  Ahhh.....Jeremiah and I are still tired!!  I can't tell if it's because we had a busy weekend or because we relaxed so much!  Either way....it was great!

One of the first things Ayden wanted to do was continue his week of birthday celebrations and have his "birthday party" with his cousins!  Everyone pulled up a chair to watch.....

Cooper is a good helper with the kids.....Ayden kept saying "thank you Cooper....thank you Cooper" every time he would help him cut the ribbons off his presents!

Aunt Pam, this picture is for you since I know you read my blog!!  :)  Ayden was so excited to get a present from Uncly Johnny and Aunt Pamcakes!!  He knew that you guys knew EXACTLY what he wanted for his birthday!!  Thanks so much for sending a gift.....you are so sweet to us and the kids!!  :)

Once all the presents were opened, it was time to play.  Ayden got his Star Wars obsession from his cousins, so it was no surprise that everyone was into the Star Wars legos and Star Wars ships he got!!

This cute boy may look young.....but he is just as much into Star Wars as Ayden is!!  He carried around Ayden's lunch box which is full of all his Star Wars guys all weekend long!!  :)

Zoe and Crew taking a break to share a box of NERDS.....

Lake bound......since we were just driving down the street to the boat, Crew got to ride in the middle of Ayden and Zoe (with Ayden's Star Wars lunch box in hand of course).....

Going down the hill to the lake......WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

It was such a nice hot day.....and we were all glad to have our hats!!  :)

These next 3 pictures might be my FAVORITES from the entire weekend!  Each time we see these guys it seems like Ayden starts to notice more and more that Crew actually exists!  I think he has always looked at him as a baby, but they are less than 2 years apart and as the years go by, the age gap seems to get smaller and smaller!  It's especially nice since they can both play Star Wars together!  They really had a great time together....and it's perfect timing since Cooper (11) and Carter (8) are getting older and find that they are "too cool" for a lot of the things that Ayden wants to do!  :)

Looking......

Looking.....

Looking for Grandpa's boat.....

And here is the serious fisherman with all his fishing gear that took advantage of Saturday being "free fishing" day!!

And we're off....

When we started to go fast, I told Zoe to hold onto her hat so it wouldn't blog away.....she NEVER let go of it!!  :)  And also held onto Daddy for dear life!!

Love those chubby lips that are poking out under that hat.....

Ayden wanted to fish too....

He kept saying that he was being so patient waiting for the fish......we kept seeing the fish jumping out of the water, but nobody ever caught anything!  I was glad because the last 2 years somebody has caught a fish and we had to watch them cut it, gut it and cook it!!  EWWW!!!

After a long time, Ayden finally said, "I give up.  I am not patient anymore"!!  HA!

Zoe helping Grandpa drive the boat....

It would be impossible for us to go a whole weekend without riding bikes in this family!  In fact, our bike rack stays on the back of our car 24/7 and we are usually carting all of our bikes around wherever we go!  Ayden did some practicing on the hills.....

Jeremiah and Ayden went for a few rides around the block....

And Jeremiah and I were lucky enough to go mountain biking 3 days out of 4 thanks to my mom who babysat!  Jeremiah kicked my booty and took me on 3 different 15 mile bike rides with lots of climbing.....it allowed me to justify all the dessert that I ate all weekend.....2 hours of mountain biking a day!  :)  And who can complain when you get to the top of the mountain and get to ride along with this view.....

This was one of the desserts that I couldn't keep my hands off......Mmmmm....Ayden's birthday cake.....a homemade Oreo ice cream cake!!!

On Sunday, we all went for a hike to see the biggest tree in Big Bear.  Jeremiah and I rode our bikes up the mountain while everyone met us at the top in their cars and then we hiked to the tree.  It was a lot of fun and we hope to do this more often as a family!

The whole gang....

First rule of hiking.....find a weapon stick to help you hit people walk.....

Zoe was doing really good on her own until she fell on a log and scratched her leg.  After that....it was "Daddy carry me" the entire way....

Ayden climbing rocks.....hiking is the perfect thing for curious, exploring boys....

This was my favorite part of the hike.....it was so green and so pretty....

We made it!!!  The biggest tree in Big Bear.....

We celebrated the 4th on Sunday since Joe, Cara & the boys were leaving for Utah early Monday morning.  So we did our traditional "carnival" that my Mom always puts on for the kids.  The kids love it.....even the big kids!! :)

Matching shirts.....

Our attempt at a family picture.....it took a million to get a half decent one....

Grammy passing out the prizes for the carnival games....first prize went to anyone that smiled in the family picture!!  :)

The favorite game.....scavenger hunt.....each kid drew an adult's name out of a hat to see who their partners were....

Grammy and Zoe....

Auntie Cara and Ayden....

Everyone back to the table to show the judge (Grandpa) all their findings....

Next up was pine cone bowling....

Ready for the pinata.....another photo op....the kids were told if they smiled for my picture, they would get to hit the pinata!!  Success....all smiles!!!

Until the princess got squished on the bottom of the pile....

Love this picture.....Zoe and Crew could be twins and Ayden and Crew look like brothers!!  :)  Love that my kids even look like their cousins....meant to be indeed!!!  :)

Youngest to oldest.....all the boys waiting for Zoe to take her turn at the pinata....

Zoe.....

Crew AKA "The Slugger"....

Ayden....having a blast....

Carter....

Cooper....

We made the big kids hit lightly so the little ones could get a second swing.  Here is Carter's 2nd swing when he knocked it right open....

JACKPOT!!!!

With all the boys around, it wouldn't be a complete day if something like this hadn't happened.....they caught an alligator lizard!!  EWWW!!  And Jeremiah now wants to be a photographer for National Geographic....

On the 4th we went out on the boat even though it was a weird overcast day.  The kids really wanted to swim!  I love that we have crazy kids that aren't afraid of this kind of thing!  They both took turns jumping off the front of the boat to Daddy!!  Of course this was the one time I didn't bring my camera, so these are phone pics...

Phew......that was EXHAUSTING!!!!

Jeremiah and my Dad made a trip to La Quinta on Monday to bring the orange Jeep up to the cabin.  It has been sitting in the garage for years and doesn't run right now.  The summer project is to get it running so we can make trips through town to get ice cream....just like the old summer days!!  :)

The kids were so excited to see the Jeep at the cabin and can't wait to go for a ride!  Happy 4th of July....

On Monday night, we went out on the boat to watch fireworks.  It was weird monsoon type weather in Big Bear on Monday and Tuesday.  The skies were dark when we left the dock....we kept thinking it would clear up, but it never did.  When it seemed like we were gonna get rained on, we went back to the dock and decided to watch a few fireworks through the trees from the dry cabin!!  :)

The Jeep had been at the cabin for less than 24 hours, but Jeremiah couldn't contain himself and started working on it.  Ayden got in on the action too....he is going to be a "Mr. Fix It" just like his Daddy!!

What a great weekend we had!  Can't wait til next year!