Happy Birthday Kip!

Dad has made Kara waffles on her birthday for as long as she coud remember. Since she wasn't living at home this summer, she asked if E and I would make her some. Easy to fill that request! She may now be regretting it since we brought her the waffles in bed and came armed with three kids and a camera.

She then had a 10 hour shift at work to get to...thankfully they let her out early on account of it being her bday and her and Ross got to go out to supper and then spend a night playing Sequence with Eric and I. Yeah. Best birthday ever, right?

We continued the celebration the next day by heading out on the boat and actually getting in the water for the first time all year. Ross thought Tate should test the water temp with his head...

Which ended up giving him a pretty sweet 'do...

The birthday girl...



Since Tate said the water was nice, Ross and Tate decided Kara should be the first one to try it. Ladies first, Kipper.



Yep, can you tell she loved it?



Then on to the tubing...Tate enjoyed it as always. The bigger the waves the better!







When we finally went slow enough that Avery could poke her head out of the tube, she loved it too. =)



So fun to share your bday with you, Kara!

Tate's Preschool Graduation

After two wonderful years at Mount Olive Lutheran Preschool, Tate graduated at the end of May. He was so excited to graduate since he knows that means he will be going to Kindergarten, which he is SO ready for. They had a nice little ceremony where they sang songs.

He LOVED his teachers Mrs. Monson and Mrs. Mornson. When Mrs. Monson was on maternity leave last year Tate would talk about when she was coming back every few days. He would say "I really like Mrs. Crosby...she does a good job, but I sure miss Mrs. Monson!" He carried a picture of his class from Halloween around because it had her in it.

Mrs. Monson told me after the ceremony that when they were lining up Tate said to his friend Whitaker "Can you believe we're GRADUATING??" Both teachers have always been so good to Tate and understand and have gotten a kick out of his stories, sense of humor, and figures of speech. We can only hope we have the same for him in future years!

Tate is so lucky to have so many people who love him and to show up to events like this. Grandma Sandy, Grandma Becky, Kara, Rachel, B, and Jack all came to celebrate with Tate. Kara just may have shown up a little late since she had to walk the last mile to the church. Her car ran out of gas on the interstate, but that's just how dedicated of supporters he has...LOL!

Eric and I figured out we will have kids at Mount Olive for a total of 6 straight years, so him and I haven't quite graduated yet.

We love you Tater!

Bikes, Trikes, and Scooters

A pretty much daily occurrence around here, so here a few from a few different days in May...

This kid HATED helmets last year, but this year its pretty much a part of his wardrobe.





This girl, too, is both a bikes & scooter fanatic...would do it every minute of everyday. Not to mention she is a bit of a dare devil...



and loves the camera...





Tate on the other hand has never been overly interested in riding bikes. He'd rather look for bugs or frogs while the other two ride, although he does occasionally hop on and join them...might even whistle a tune while he does it!



But if I try to ask him to ride with them, this is about the best I get...



He is getting older and no longer puts up with the camera being constantly in his face. Its "so embarrassing, MOM!" Aaaahhh. So quickly their enthusiasm for their mother fades. :)

He HAS talked about maybe trying to ride without training wheels later in the summer. We'll see about that...not sure if I'M even ready for that...

Kip and Water Fights!

My sister Kara moved in with us mid May. None of us could be more excited that she is here, especially the kids! We don't see her as much as we thought we would due to her busy work/tap/school/boyfriend schedule, but just seeing her and hearing her laugh has been fantastic. She and I have also started taking a nightly walk in hopes that our jeans will fit a bit better by the time we go back to school, but the talks that come along with them are the best!

A favorite past time of my (and pretty much ALL) kids during a MN summer is getting swim suits on and attacking each other with the hose. One day Kip came home and told the kids a water fight was in order...

It's bound to be a great summer with her here!

Monkey goes for a ride...

As I said yesterday, Becks pretty much lives on a trike this summer. One day the funniest thing happened...I was happy to just follow with the camera!

He INSISTED on bringing Monkey outside after his nap. He was having a little trouble waking up, so I gave in. Then he got out his trike...

and decided to give Monkey a ride. Then he decided maybe Monkey should drive...

but of course not without his helmet!

Monkey goes for a drive...

but then Beckett decided he wanted them BOTH to drive!

Man this kid cracks me up!

Mother's Day and Flower Planting

**UPDATE...for those of you who asked where I ordered the calendar...it is from Em Tanner Designs...LOVE all her stuff and our kids are even featured on her site {click here to see!} ***

Mother's Day this year was wonderful...I had ordered my own gift (see the dry erase calendar below that I've wanted FOR.EV.ER), my fam took me to brunch, and I even got a nap in the afternoon! Unheard of around here! Here are the kids and I before brunch...a little windy so they weren't too excited about taking pics, but its the best we've got...

My gift...LOOOOOVVVEEE it...who cares if I ordered it myself! :)

Usually on Mother's Day (this year the week after due to above said nap) we plant our flower pots. This year the older two kids really did most of the work themselves. They did an awesome job and the flowers are even still alive today!

Thanks, Gary, for the free flowers!!

Our little hairdresser...

Okay, so onto the story about Ave's hair...

Like I said in the last post, this was Avery the day before...we have grown the sides of her hair out for three straight years, cutting the back time after time to let the sides catch up.

A few weeks ago I had an important phone call to make, so I brought the kids upstairs in my bedroom with me to play so that I could fold and put away clothes, they could play, and I could make the phone call.

I had been on the phone for about 10 minutes and Beckett and Avery (T was at school) were both playing nicely in plain sight. I walked into the bathroom to put away a couple towels away and I stopped short...

Long pieces of brown strands everywhere. I mean EV. RY. WHERE. It took a second to register. Then I realized what it was...

At first I was furious. I yelled for her to get in there and when she came I said "Avery, what were you thinking?!" She replied "I'm so sorry Mom, I was just trying to be pretty." Of course, that softened me a bit, and I said "Oh honey, we only-" and she interrupted with "cut paper, I know." and burst into tears. GULP. How can you be mad at that? She had used my 2 inch eyebrow scissors. I thought she was putting on my makeup, which I sometimes let her do. Apparently that baby is pretty sharp. :)

So by the time I called Eric I was laughing. I mean, laugh or cry, right? I choose laugh a million times over. I'm pretty sure that girl will always keep us on our toes, but man does she make us laugh. So here you go, our little hairdresser...

This pic was from the afternoon after she cut it. We've since had it fixed and she has a cute little bob with bangs. It's just hair...it will grow. And now we have a great story to torture her with when she's older. :)