Pool Time

A few weeks ago, it was "Tool Time". Well, we now have entered the "Pool Time" part of summer. We've been at the pool quite a bit--the kids have been doing their swim lessons and boy, have they loved them! We also invested in a pool pass this year (it's been one of our better buys, I must say) and we've totally taken advantage of it and been swimming our little hearts out! (And completely wearing the kids out in the process!)

Here are some pictures from the lesssons--Emily is in Level 2 (she's really enjoyed the challenge) and Christian is in the "Starfish" class for 3-4 yr olds...so cute.Emily, learning to kick with the kickboard (her favorite)Emily, under water (such a water bug!)

A big wave from our big boy! (They were introduced to life jackets today)

Jumping to one of the instructors (a substitute today--his favorite one wasn't feeling well.)

Why is this boy so sad?

Is it because Daddy cut his hair and gave him a mohawk?


No, it's because Mommy came home, saw his new do, freaked out, and made Daddy shave it off.

Christian's quote: "Need mohawk, Mommy."

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

This past weekend, Emily and Christian had their first baseball games of the season. Emily is one of two girls on her team. Her league is coach-pitch, so each kid gets three pitches before they bring out the tee. In the two innings played, Emily got two hits without the tee. She's a real slugger. On her first hit, as she was running to first, she stopped to take off her batting helmet to bring it back (it was too uncomfortable). On her second hit, she remembered she had to wear her helmet the whole time, but she took it off and gave it to her coach before crossing home plate.

Christian plays tee ball. He had a lot of fun meeting new friends and started playing catch right away with another little boy. He really liked batting (seriously, what little boy doesn't like hitting things?) Cubby taught him how to crouch down and get ready to field the ball. He was even pounding his glove with his fist and taunting the batter (e.g. "Here, batter, batter"). Very funny.

We forgot the camera for Emily's game, but Cubby ran home in between games and got the camera for Christian's. So, enjoy Christian's pics. Hopefully Emily will forgive us - we'll add some pics of her playing next week.

Next week, we'll get him to point before he hits

Regular gold glover

My two white Lindseth boys (look at those legs),

although Christian will be nice and tan by the end of the summer

My Beautiful Baby at 5 Months

So this little girl has me wrapped around her chubby little finger. She brings me so much joy, despite the amazing amount of work she requires! The "little baby" phase has never been my favorite (I really dislike the newborn stage--I'm just too physically and hormonally drained!) but with Kari, I'm finally enjoying the baby stage more so than I did with the other two. I guess motherhood has been a learned art for me!

Kari has found her toes and can scoot herself a full 360 degrees on the floor. She also likes to move herself to the top left area of her crib where her Big Bird stuffed toy is. She may just become my earliest crawler! She also was recently introduced to the exersaucer and has found it extremely interesting. Kari is also getting closer to sitting up by herself--hurray!!! I love her smile. I love her laugh. I love the raspberries she blows and the slobbery, open-mouth kisses she gives to me! I even love the screechy raptor noises she makes when she's trying to tell us something that we're just not quick enough to pick up on! Ah, little girl. I'm so grateful that you came to our little family.

Tool Time

This past weekend was a whirlwind! Cubby's parents were absolute saints and came into town to help us repair our basement. (For anyone who isn't aware, when all of the snow from our monster-of-a-winter melted, it leaked into our basement and it developed mold--ugh. So, Cubby had to rip out the drywall, studs, and carpet pad on one and a half walls. Crazy.) In anycase, Cubby's dad came to teach him and help him rebuild the walls and his mom helped me keep the kids busy while they worked. Emily and Christian were, once again, so tickled to be able to wake up Grandma and Grandpa each morning (right around 6 a.m.!) and to get to play so much as well.

I don't have any "before" pictures (it was just too icky) but here is a picture as the drywall was going up. Now, the primer is on and we're just needing to paint! The carpet cleaner is coming on Monday and I'm so excited that by next week the kids will have their basement back!!!

And, here is a shot of the boys using power tools to cut the new baseboards--"Argh Argh Argh" (Tim 'the Toolman' Taylor grunts all around).

I just can't say how much Cubby and I appreciated them driving down and helping us out. His parents don't just say that they love you (which, they do), but they show you in sacrificing their time and energy in helping their children out. THANK YOU, Mom and Dad Lindseth! We love and miss you!

Fontenelle Forest

On Wednesday morning, my mom and I took the kids to Fontenelle Forest. Nothing too exciting going on, but we ended up having such a good time just playing around. It was a warm day, but in the shade, it was actually really perfect. The kids loved being one with nature; their favorite was "Dragonfly Pond"---we seriously need to get a little running water fountain going in our backyard--talk about entertainment! In anycase, here are just a few pictures from the morning!

Dancing Queen

This weekend Emily and I got to go and see my mom dance! Emily was so patient as we waited for Grandma Karen's big moment. She didn't disappoint! Emily thought Grandma's costume was just so pretty and that Grandma did such a good job in her dance. My mom is such a great example of continuing to do what you love and always developing your talents. I hope Emily will always remember that and have fond memories of getting to watch her Grandma dance :-).

Christian's DINO-MITE Birthday!

Christian turned THREE last Saturday! He had a fun-filled day--Cubby and Harvey took Emily and Christian to "How to Train Your Dragon" after lunch and then we got down to some serious partying with a dinosaur-themed party. It was a hot day and so the kiddos all came in their swimsuits and had soooo much fun playing in our pools.

We did a couple of games, but, to be honest, they were so busy with the swimming, eating and present-opening, my cutsie games took second place :-).

However, for anyone interested (and for posterity), here's what we did:
Usually, we make our cakes (well, my mom does--her frosting is awesome!), but Emily went to a birthday party where there was this dinosaur cake and I knew Christian would FLIP over it. He did. It comes out of the cake and literally ROARS. So cool.

We also did some party games--we had have some dino-games to go with our dollar store dino-hats! In the pools, we dissolved "dino eggs" (capsules); in our sandbox, we went digging for dinosaurs; we threw felt dino-bean bags (also a party favor) into a "volcano" (an up-side-down tomato cage with a black plastic trash bag on it and red and orange streamers for the lava effect).

I also included some dinosaur foamy-stickers in their dino-egg paper-mache goody bags, courtesy of my mom b/c my house is all torn up from everything else going on and I had no space to do them! (Thanks, Mom!)

We had a terrific dinner as well--for both the carnivore and herbivore, and filled our bellies with grilled chicken, hot dogs, watermelon, summer salad, carrots, cucumbers, and chips--yummy! The kids, of course, love the cake and had to take another dip in the pool before heading home to wash off all of the frosting! (And yes, you're seeing it right, Christian wanted to invite only girls to his party--"Girls like Christian"--such a ladies man :-)!) His friends, Julia, Maren and Maddie, are sure cute and seriously could pound down the food--after our own picky eaters, we were so impressed at what these tiny little girls could put down!

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted but very happy at having had such a fun day! We love our big boy so much and can't believe that Christian is THREE. ROAR!!!