Family-time Highlights--Part 1

Here are a couple of the "at the cabin" highlights that we experienced: Meeting our newest cousin, Sovie!

(This little beauty is only 4 1/2 months old and has the chunkiest legs I've ever seen on a baby--and Christian was nothing to scoff at!) Those chubby legs were quite fun to kiss!

Bathtime with cousins Reagan and Kaylee!

(Can you tell these girls are related??)

And, finally, some craft time! Here are the girls are doing some painting. And here, Auntie Amy is showing everyone how to make fairly slimy silly putty! Lots' of fun!

More to come....

Lindseth Family Reunion 2011

We just got home from our first Lindseth Family Reunion! All of Cubby's family (minus one brother who couldn't get off of work) gathered in Branson, Missouri for a week of family-filled chaos! (And, with 11 grandchildren 8 years old and younger, there was definitely a fair amount of chaos!) It was an extremely hot week (the day we arrived it was 110 degrees!) So, we didn't venture too much further than our cabin's near-by pool! But, I'll post more pictures later...well, as soon as I get the disk from Cubby's sister, who took the majority of the pictures! Ha! Here are Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grandchildren! As you can tell, some were more willing to be photographed than others :-). But, we did the best we could!

I got the idea for this picture from good-ol' Martha Stewart! Thanks to a friend of mine with a fabulous Plotter, I was able to cut out an iron-on decal and gave each grandchild a shirt with a number corresponding to the order they were born in.

I will definitely post more about our adventure later--it was such a great time; we miss everyone already!

Our Fantastic Fourth!

This little sign from Emily says it all! We had a wonderful holiday--a very full day of fun! The day started with a big game of Hide and Seek! (For anyone who hasn't played that game in awhile, you really should--it's a lot of fun!)

After Kari's morning nap (yes, she still needs two naps!), we headed over the the pool. Now, Kari has not wanted ANYTHING to do with the water ALL summer. We're talking no toes in the water, crying, the whole nine yards. However, she had not yet gone swimming with Grandma! My mom stayed on the sidelines with her, playing in the shade, until finally she made her way with Kari over to the water, "following the baby with the pink hat." (Kari loves babies.) Gradually, she got deeper and deeper until Kari realized that she actually LOVES the water! Yup, we stayed an extra hour so that Kari could enjoy splashing, putting her face in the water, and even jumping off of the side! It was fabulous!!!

Christian and Emily did not disappoint either--both "competed" in the splash contest by doing their biggest cannonballs off of the diving board (to their favorite lifeguard, Caitlin)! It was great!

After the pool, we had a great time in our own backyard, BBQ-ing it up with our neighbors! This past summer, a new family moved in behind us--and they have three little girls the EXACT ages of our kids. They are so sweet (and normal!) and the kids have all become fast friends. Another family that lives nearby also came over with their boys (Christian has been thrilled to get to know these fun little boys who have lived near-by all this time...and we never knew it b/c our schedules have been so different!). It was a wonderful night and I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story!

Christian, throwin' up some sort of gang sign??

Kari's back-in-action and full of energy! She loved eating, jumping, and hanging out with Grandma Karen.

This was our evening's entertainment--whatta' band!

We also had a water balloon toss/fight. Good times!

Christian and Henry...does Mr. C have to use the bathroom??My mom was blowing bubbles--I love Kari's hair in this shot! (And yes, it was extremely humid--Harvey was sweatin' it up just like the rest of us!)

This is our version of fireworks (sparklers!).

Christian had "too much fun" and needed a little Mommy time at the end of a very big day!

Yin and Yang

These are my two new favorite pictures. I call them Yin and Yang.

Can you see why? Kari had a FANTASTIC Fourth! All smiles!

(And Cubby's looking pretty cute too!)

Classic Christian. Love it!

Ballgame Extravaganza

Friday night we went out to the ballgame! Recently, our city became the new venue for Omaha's minor league baseball team. It is a beautiful new stadium and incredibly convenient for us. (My mom and I took Kari home to go to bed and I drove back once she was asleep to catch the fireworks--that's how close it is!)

In anycase, it was a pretty hot and humid night (that's part of the reason Grandma volunteered to stay home with Kari!), but the kids didn't seem too phased. The hometeam won and we even got a ball! (see above)

The highlight of the evening (for the kids, anyway) was the "Kid's Zone". There was a carousel, a bounce house, a playground set, and an obstacle course. The first time Harvey and Cubby took the kids to a game (a couple of weeks ago), their seats were along the first base line and they didn't get over to said Zone. This time we were along the third base line and it was right behind us. So naturally they were just itching to try everything out.

After the game came the fireworks! This is the first year that we've been able to take the kids to a fireworks show without one of them freaking out because of the noise. By the time I made it back, the heat and humidity had gone down and it turned out to be a really lovely night. We all love having a ballpark so close by--it really helps for us to capture "summertime" with the kids. Thanks for treating us to the game, Harvey!

What Are You Doing at 8 a.m.?

The heat has finally come to Nebraska. (It was a pretty rainy June...not that I'm complaining---I HATE being hot.) But, the warmer weather has made for some pleasant mornings.

Kari enjoyed breakfast on our porch. Now, it was at least 80 degrees out there, but she didn't seem to mind. She just had a good time eating her pretzels (yes, pretzels for breakfast), toast and juice.



Emily and Christian had other ideas about what to do at eight o-clock in the morning. They got their suits on and took a dip in the pool.

Ah, summer!

A REAL Fun Day

The kids' last day of swim lessons was this past Thursday. It was a HOT day and was the perfect morning for a swim! (A big change from the previous end-of-lessons Fun Day where it was rainy and FREEZING!) The kids both had a lot of fun...

Dunking and sliding...

(On a side note, Emily has "graduated" from having to use a full mask to just plain-old swim goggles! Woohoo!)

Swimming and splashing...

Jumping off of the diving board! Yup, that's my big-boy leaping off of the board to his favorite instructor, Caitlin. He was so brave! And, he had so much fun he jumped off another 5 times after that! It was so exciting to watch.

I could even tell he had to use the, uh, restroom (see below), but he was having too much fun to take a break and held it in until Fun Day was over!

There he goes!!!

Emily also took her turn in giving us a big jump...but only at the end. (She's just not as sold on the whole diving board concept yet!)
And, finally, here are the kiddos with a couple of their many wonderful swim instructors. Miss Caitlin is an "old favorite" (this is her third year w/our kids!), Breanne is "new" and taught Emily last session and Emily is Caitlin's sister and helped w/our Emily's class this session. To the right is Christian's favorite instructor, Amanda, who was Emily's teacher last year!. These ladies all remember the kids from year to year and it just makes going to lessons extra fun for everyone.

Great job, kids, on another wonderful year of swim lessons! You've both come so far and learned so much!