Happy Fourth!

 We had a fun-filled Fourth--VERY hot, but then again, it is July during one of the hottest summers the country has seen in a very long time!

During the day (and the afternoon/evening of the 3rd), Cubby was hard at work on trying out his smoker with a HUGE beef brisket (11 lbs).  In the afternoon, we all went to Papio Bay and kept cool splashing around in the pool with our friends.

That evening, we brought the party over to our backyard, with all of our favorite neighbor friends.  The kids were just a little excited for all of the fun!

 They did their best to keep cool in the pool and with water guns.

 Here is Juliana (with my friend, Bridget), keeping herself cool.

And here Juliana is, giving some smiles out to Bridget.

Christian and his friend, Henry, keeping watch over the dessert table.  Good job, boys!After dinner, the dads got out some fireworks and we lit a couple off in the backyard and then out in our driveway.  Nothing fancy, but definitely a fun day with friends and family! 

Happy Fourth!

Catch Up

I'm playing catch up for June!  (It's pretty sad that I only did four posts for the month!)  Here goes:

We did swim lessons the month of June.  The first two weeks, Kari and I took a "Mommy and Me" class.  Kari loves the water and we had a lot of fun together.  (Mommy sure loves Kari as the water was still pretty chilly!)  Grandma Karen came over to watch Juliana while we did this session. 

Kari was SUCH a big girl and even jumped off of the diving board for the first time!!  She was the littlest one to do it too!  Kari's teacher, Miss Ember, was very sweet and let Kari turn the slides "on" and "off."  The slides were Kari's favorite part of the lessons.  The big kids were jealous that we got to go down them so much!

 The weather most of the days was warm, but one day it was a bit rainy and pretty chilly!  Emily NEVER gets cold and still had a great time.  Christian was FREEZING, but was having fun and toughed it out.  At the end of the first session, Christian had passed Level 1 and got to move up to Level 2!  At the end of the second session, Emily was finally able to pass Level 3 and next summer will be able to enter Level 4!!!  (Level 3 is the level that many kids have to take over before getting to move on.)

 Way to go, kids!

 Also in June were Christian's baseball games.  Here is cute little Kari, eating her snacks and cheering her brother on.

 We've also had some down-time.  (Having a new baby in the house kind of forces you to slow down!)  But, the kids have enjoyed it and one day I popped in on them making Kari's day by having a tea party with her.  (That's a party hat that she's wearing, folks!)  Sweet times like these make me want to call out, "Alright, everyone, STOP GROWING!"  The days are long but the years go by way too quickly.

Juliana is also busy growing and Daddy is wasting no time at all teaching her some tricks.  Soon enough, he'll have her standing on his hand; just like the rest of the kids!

Good times!  Sometimes I wonder, "when does school start again??!" and other days I wish that summer would never end.

2 months!

So, this "little" girl is now 2 months old!   I put little in quotations because, she is little only in age, not in size.  Juliana had her two month check-up today.  Here are her stats:

Height:  25 inches (99%)

Weight:  14 lbs. 4 oz. (98%)

Head circumference:  16 inches (87%)

Now, wouldn't you agree with my quotations?

Such a sweetheart, Juliana fills our home with joy.  And, not to leave out real life, she makes life just a tad bit busier...we sure wouldn't want  a "down" day, now, would we?  (Yes, I love to use quotations.)  Hence, the reason my blog hasn't been updated in a bit.  We have been busy just keeping up with everyday life and trying to have some summer fun along the way!  More updates soon though, I promise!

SMILE!

This little girl gives us such sweet smiles!  Today she is seven weeks old and is a very good little baby.  She recognizes Mommy, Daddy, her siblings and Grandma Karen and rewards us all with the biggest smiles!  We LOVE it.  Juliana also does her best to talk to us--saying it's precious would be an understatement.  It makes all of the hard work in the past seven weeks worth it! 

Currently, Juliana goes to bed between 9:30-10:30 and will sleep until 4:30-5:30 (my BEST night-time sleeper yet!).  During the day, I can usually get one good nap out of her (sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and, sometimes not at all!).  But, she sleeps so long at night, I don't mind the rough days...most of the time!  And, with smiles like these, my heart just melts and I say, "Okay, the housework can wait and I can hold you just a little bit longer!"

Play Ball!

Christian started baseball just a couple of weekends ago!  It's kindergarten coach-pitch and he ended up with a very nice coach, who Christian always calls, "Coach."  It's very sweet.  And, so far, he just loves it.

There are a lot of little guys who love to field balls.  Christian especially.  He will run from his position on third base all the way to right field to chase down a ball.  It's great to watch his enthusiasm for the game.  And, it's also hilarious. 

Christian is also a great hitter!  Both of the games (and practices) that he played in, he gets a good hit or two off of the first two pitches.  He is very coordinated and has a great swing!

 Christian also takes his base running very seriously--always watching the next hitter, waiting to sprint to the next base.

Here is 1/2 of Christian's cheering section.  (Emily is off climbing a nearby tree and Daddy and Juliana just aren't in the shot.)  Kari loves to cheer her big brother on...provided we have brought enough snacks.

And, one final shot of our little slugger.  Big smiles all around!

Loves being a big sister

Emily loves being a big sister.  LOVES it.  And, since Juliana will both nurse and take a bottle, Emily was able to use her big-sister skills and feed her a bottle I had pumped before heading out one Saturday morning.  Soooo sweet and I love it how Juliana is just looking up at Emily.  And, if you look behind Em's hair, you can see how big of a smile Emily had to be able to be bonding with her baby sister.

Angry Birds, Anyone?

 So here we are at Christian's 5th Birthday party!  And, if you've been around Christian at all these past few months (ever since Daddy got an iPhone through work), then you know that Christian is OBSESSED with Angry Birds.  And that's exactly what kind of a party he wanted to have!  We had our bested neighbor friends over for some fun Angry Birds activities, cake and ice cream.  We had perfect weather and a fantastic little party!



Blowing out the candles!

Here are some of the many pictures that were taken of Christian's fun day!



The girls--Brooklynn, Emily, and Ella



Christian, Andy and Henry



Crushing the pig pinata



Daddy, holding the pinata (the kids broke the string off of it!)

Poor little piggy!



"Playing" Angry Birds--launching tennis balls at the pigs.



What they were trying to hit

I LOVE this picture--it shows how truly happy Christian was on his big day!

Opening his eyes to see his big gift...

 

A new bike!  (The training wheels came off outside)