Josiah v.s The Bike

On Sabbath Justin took the training wheels off Josiah's bike. Justin worked with him the whole afternoon. Today just three days later we took his bike with us on our walk to the post office. On the way there he had to push his bike a lot because it is up hill, but on the way back he was able to ride his bike most of the way. He is still learning how to stop, so for now he drags his foot to stop himself, or runs into things.

Jada v.s. Interesting Creatures

"Mom, come look at this "intrusting" creature I just found!" A phrase Jada has been using frequently lately. It melts my heart when she tries to say interesting, and it comes out intrusting. She loves bugs, lizards, and especially kittens.
We have tons of June bugs that come out at night, and for the unlucky few that don't make it back home in the morning, they are captured by our little entomologist. She keeps her collection of bugs in a cubby located on the back of her trike. The bugs really creep me out, but she loves them. We were outside playing the other day when a June bug flew into my face at which point I screamed. Jada asked, "What Mom?" I replied, "A June Bug just flew into my face." In the sweetest voice she says, "Awe my little June Bug." It was like her bug just did something super cute. 

The other day we were out walking and without missing a beat she reached down and caught a horned toad. She has been trying to catch a lizard that lives in our yard, but it has been able to elude her....so far.
Oh how she loves her kitten. She had taken to the black one, The Tiger of Dinnello. It seems to have given up trying to escape her grasps.
Here are some pictures of her and some of her intrusting creatures she has found.

June Bugs!

The holding cell.

Jada's "Baby".

Horned Toad!

Summer Time Fun

We have been busy, busy, busy.  We went fishing, celebrated Independence Day, and spent lots of time with family.

The kids went fishing for their very first time. They had a blast. They didn't catch anything, but Dad and cousin Zane both caught a fish.I guess Josiah did catch a dead crayfish. I think we are going to try to take the kids fishing, to a place designed just for kids, this weekend. This way they will be able to catch a fish. They have been able to practice casting their fishing poles out in our yard. They love it.

On Independence Day we went to the local parade. The kids all loved the Smokey the Bear float the best. After the parade, we went home and took a nap. When the kids woke up, we went over to Grammy and Grampy's, had a BBQ, ate s'mores, played horse shoes, and spent time with  family and friends. We had  really great time.

It has been a busy and fun past couple of weeks.
Here comes the photo bomb!

Waiting...

Ready to catch something.

Here Fishy, fishy, fishy.

 She was super excited she caught a dead fish!

 Fishing with Dad.

 Sitting with Mom.

Dad's Catch.

Fishing!

Fishing with Grammy.

Hanging out with Grampy.

All Lined up for the parade!
Notice the hat my awesome sister-in-law got me....I love it!

Yep, she has a sucker in both hands.

Here comes Smokey the Bear

Playing Horse Shoes.

 Sticky Hands.

Trying on Auntie Seana's sunglasses.

Sitting up by himself now!

These two biked all the way to the lake, almost 40 miles!  I just think this picture is too cute!

Such great memories!

Lions, Tigers, and Grandparents. Oh my!

We got a couple of kittens in hopes to keep the chipmunk and mice population down. Let me just say that I am not a cat person. I really don't even like touching them. Queue the kids. The girls especially, can not get enough of these little creatures. I am constantly telling Juliet to put the kitten down. She likes to carry them by their neck. My goal is to keep her from killing the poor things. The kids have named them the Lion and Tiger of Dinnello. Where is Dinnello? It could be the land Jada lives in, we really don't know were they came up with the name.
Grammy and Grampy came over on Sabbath to play with the kids. Josiah was very happy to get to play ball with Dad and Grampy!

Meet The Lion of Dinnello!

Are you my mother?

Meet the Tiger of Dinnello!

Playing ball with Dad and Grampy. If you look to the lower right corner you can see the ball.

Swinging with Grammy.

Good throw.

Fun with Friends

We had some friends invite us to go to the lake the other day. We had a great time! Jada was the first one to go into the water, followed by Juliet, then Josiah. Josiah was very hesitant to go in at first, but once he did, he had a great time. I would really like to go back and do some camping there, maybe next year. Here are some pictures from the fun outing.

Testing the water.

She couldn't wait to go to the "beach".

Interesting!

Now he is liking it.

He seemed to have a good time too.

Too cute.

Follow the leader!

Having a blast!

Wading!

My friend Laura and Me.

Happy Father's Day Justin!

I am not exaggerating when I say Justin is the best Dad. Let me count some of the ways.

 Whenever a child wakes up in the middle of the night, Justin is the one who stays up with them, snuggling them, catching their vomit, taking temperatures, giving medicine and doing laundry.

 When  Justin gets home from work he gives the kids his full attention. He sits down with them, listens to them, talks to them, loves on them and plays with them.

He likes spending time with the kids. He is counting down the days to when he can take Josiah to work with him.

He will hold and rock an upset child even when his back and ankles are in excruciating pain.

 He takes the time to slow down and teach the kids, when the kids want to "help" him with something.

 He loves, he protects, he teaches, he disciplines, and he provides.

He is their Dad.

 Happy Father's Day Justin!

Jameson vs Teething

Poor little Jameson has started teething. It really seems to be hitting him hard. He is really gnawing on things, and is super irritable. He wants to be held all day, which is understandable. Anytime I put him down he will cry. I usually have carry him in the Ergo carrier, but when I really have to get stuff done and need use of my arms I will put him in a baby hiking carrier we got from a consignment store.  He is usually content in either one, which is wonderful. On Tuesday afternoon Jameson woke up with a fever. He had no other symptoms of being sick. The fever stayed around until early Thursday morning. I have to chalk the fever up to teething, even though "they" say teething doesn't cause fevers.  Also, nobody else got sick.

I am so glad we purchased this carrier!

The kids have been having lots of fun on their new playset this week. Last night I was outside grilling and I looked up to see Josiah at the top of the slide getting ready to go down it on his little tractor. I was able to stop him, but apparently Jada had already gone down the slide. She said she didn't get hurt and that she only got rocks in her eye.

This is what I saw the other day!



Notice how her water bottle is not tipping over.



I have no words.

They love swinging on this together.

One more of this little cutie.