Independence Day 2011

Kevin and Jenna had the week of July 4th off of school. That is the one week everyone gets off as they transition grades. Because of that we were able to go to Ohio to visit my grandparents. My brother and his family were there as well. We had a great time. I think it was one of the best vacations I have had in a long time. It was very relaxing. I did not want to leave. A big thank you to my family for making this such an awesome vacation. I think this might become a tradition. We missed those who couldn't make it.

My grandparents and two of my uncles and their families live at a lake. For the last several years one of the other lake residents has shot off fire works from his boat while everyone else watches from onshore. He puts on a great show. Plus everyone gets a good seat. :)

Here are the pictures from our trip:

Jared


Mr. Personality. That is a bubble gun. They lit up (perfect for night use), and the kids all loved them.


Jared with the lit bubble gun.


Derek making a s'more.


Jenna making a s'more.


Kevin eating a s'more.


Jenna with her s'more


Kevin watching fireworks (with chocolate evidence of his s'more on his face). :)


Derek and Amanda watching fireworks


Amanda, Grandma (or Great-Grandma to my kids), and Derek


Jared and Derek


Kevin using a sparkler


Jenna using a sparkler


Fireworks


It looks like the boat is exploding, but it isn't. :)


The fireworks were great.


In addition to celebrating the 4th of July, we were also able to play around. We did a lot of fishing, swimming, and playing.

Uncle Joe took everyone tubing. Jared and Jenna on the boat.


Jared on the boat


Jenna tubing


Kevin tubing (yes, he is standing)


Jared swinging at the pinata grandma filled for the kids


Jenna swinging at the pinata


Kevin swinging at the pinata


Jared proudly showing off his stash


Jenna and her stash (the kids loved the pinata)


Jared coloring a mask


Kevin working on his mask (my grandma had lots of fun things for the kids to do)


Aunt Jean has always been the resident braider. She is very good. One night Jenna wanted her hair braided, and Aunt Jean kindly took on the task. Thanks Aunt Jean!


Our family with my grandparents. They are awesome. Thank you so much for the best vacation!

Randomness

There is no common theme for this post, other than these are some random pictures from June that didn't fit into any of my other posts. :)

A few days ago Kevin brought me this card. It was supposed to go with a flower that he got me for mother's day, but it had gotten lost in his backpack, and he just found it. It is very much a Kevin card, so I had to document it. First he addressed it to "Amanda" instead of mom. He always calls me mom, but often addresses things to "Amanda." We have gotten after him about this several times. (If you click on the picture you will probably be able to read the poem).


On the inside he wrote this poem for me. In case you can't read it, it says: "Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love you. You give me food. You give me drink. I have fun with you, even when you stink." :) Love that kid.


Happy Father's Day Derek! Thank you for being an amazing husband and father. We are all very lucky to have you!



Jared in his cool new sunglasses sitting in the nook where our stairs split. In case you didn't know, sunglasses do a great job of keeping the sun out of your eyes inside the house.


Jared, Mr. GQ himself. Swim shirt tucked into his underwear, wearing his father's crocs. This is going to make great blackmail someday. Haha. ;)


No, we didn't get a pet. Kevin brought home the class guinea pig this weekend. Derek and the kids were experimenting with feeding him different vegetables. He seemed to really like cucumbers.


Kevin and Snickers (the guinea pig). Kevin loved having him. I'm glad we only had him for 3 days. Back to school you go, Snickers.

Rachel's visit

Earlier this month my sister, Rachel, and her two children came to visit me. We had a great time together. We hung out at the pool while the kids had swim team. We went to some local parks, and checked a small town close to here. On the Saturday she was here we went to a local lake called Jordan Lake. It is huge (14,000 acres, I think). There are several public beaches. We chose one and had a great time. Sadly Kevin and Derek were not able to join us because Kevin had strep throat. Thanks for coming to visit Rachel. Come again soon!

Jared's fort. He had me make this for him a few times while Levi and Janie were here.


Janie and Jared in the fort. Levi didn't really like being in the fort, but Janie loved it.


Jared and Jenna - for the most part, they got along really well this day


Jenna and Jared swimming in the lake


Amanda, Jared, Jenna


Cousins: Jared, Jenna, Janie, Levi


Jenna and Jared making a sandcastle

Swim Team

Jenna and Kevin joined our neighborhood swim team this year. Kevin swims with the 7-8 year olds. Jenna swims with the 6 and under group. They both started not knowing any strokes. The could move around in the water (especially Kevin), but didn't know any official strokes. Everyone told me they didn't have to. I was told as long as they we OK in the water the coaches would teach them the strokes. That wasn't exactly true for our swim team. They do a lot of teaching for the 6 and unders, but not for the 7-8s. With some private lessons on top of practice the kids have learned quite a bit. They are still behind their fellow swimmers, but they have made major improvements. They are working very hard. They usually have 30-45 min. of swim practice every day (except Sunday), plus swim lessons 2-3 nights a week after dinner. (We are in year-round school, so swimming during the day is not an option). I am very proud of how hard they are working. They both really wanted to be on the team, and that shows in their hard work. My favorite thing about swim team is that it forces us to go to the pool every day. This means that Jared is getting more and more comfortable in the water too. That makes me happy. The kids have had two meets so far. They will have six total by the end of the season. Good job Jenna and Kevin.

Jenna has come in 2nd in a couple of her heats (with a full 6 swimmers) for backstroke. Kevin won one heat (only two swimmers), and joined a relay last time that got second. They are no Michael Phelps, but they are having fun and learning a lot.

Jenna is about to start a backstroke heat. She is in the lane closes to the side (and the camera)


Jenna swimming backstroke


Kevin in lane 2 about to dive in


Kevin in lane 2 (farthest from the camera) swimming freestyle. He did win this heat (yes, there are only two swimmers).


Kevin in lane 2 again, looking very intent as he waits to start.

The beach! (Jenna's birthday wish)

As mentioned in the last post, Jenna requested a trip to the beach for her birthday. Jenna's birthday was on a Friday, so we originally planned to hit the beach on Saturday. However, we found out that several families from our church were going on the Monday following Jenna's birthday, which was Memorial Day. We let Jenna choose which day she wanted to go, and she chose Monday.

We left around 7am, and drove to North Topsail Beach, about 2.5 hours from our house. We went to a part of the beach that not many people know about, so it wasn't crowded at all. We had so much fun playing in the sand, jumping waves, and body surfing.

This was our first beach trip here in NC, and sadly we were not vigilant enough about sunblock. We all got burned. Kevin and Jared were the least burned, just some red cheeks (they were both wearing rash guards). Jenna and I were next with burned shoulders, arms and legs. We were uncomfortable, but within a few days, we were OK. Sadly, Derek didn't fare so well. He was less diligent than the rest of us about applying sunblock, and ended up with sun poisoning. He got 2nd degree burns all over his back., plus burns on his legs, arms, face, and stomach. He also got very sick. He actually missed work on Tuesday because he was so sick. I felt really bad for him. It was a full weak before he wasn't in terrible pain.

That said, we all had a great time while we were there, and hope to go back soon. Next time we will be very diligent about reapplying sunblock. :) If anyone wants to join us, we would love some company...just bring your sunblock.

Our stuff. Jared is playing in the sand under the umbrella. This is where he spent most of the day.


Jenna


Derek is to the right boogie boarding. Kevin is standing just left of Derek.


Jenna, Jared, and Kevin eating lunch


Derek, Jenna, Jared, and Kevin eating lunch


Derek, Jenna, Kevin


Jared - This is the closest he got to boogie boarding. He wouldn't even go near the water most of the time.

Jenna's 6th Birthday

On May 27 Jenna turned 6 years old! She had a great birthday. Her birthday was on a Friday, with the following Monday being Memorial Day. We celebrated with cake and present opening on her birthday. However, she decided that for her birthday she wanted to go to the beach. So on Memorial day we joined some other families from church and headed to the beach. That trip will be detailed in a later post.

Jenna had an awesome birthday. I am pretty sure that she got everything she really wanted. She also got a couple of things she needed. She is really into fairies right now. She wanted a fairy cake. I thought of a couple of different designs before settling on this one:



It is supposed to be a green hill, with lots of flower patches (indicative of fairies - at least in one set of books she reads), and then the fairies hanging out on top. I think that it turned out pretty cute. Jenna liked it. She especially liked that she got to keep the fairies to play with later. :)

A big thank you to everyone that sent gifts, cards, and/or called to wish her a happy birthday. You made the day very special for her.

Jenna is the peacemaker in our family. She is very good at making people feel loved. She loves animals, fairies, dolls, and anything creative. Competition isn't really her thing. She likes everyone to be a winner. She is very smart. She reads very well and is quite good at math. She is getting less and less shy. She is the best daughter ever. She loves her brothers, but would give anything for a sister. Sadly that is one thing that we haven't been able to give her. We love Jenna very much, and we are so glad that she is part of our family. Happy birthday, Jenna!

Jenna with her cake


Jared


Jenna with her new book


Jared and Amanda


Jenna


Kevin (who purposely avoided all other pictures) and Jenna licking frosting off the end of the candles


Pile of gifts (minus the cell phone - that's mine)


Derek


Amanda, Derek, Jenna


Jared, Jenna, and Amanda


Jenna with her new iPod touch. Very excited!


These three pictures are for Grandma and Great Grandma. They sewed these adorable outfits for Elizabeth (Jenna's doll). She looks so cute in them!

New Dress


Pajamas


Pajama with Robe