What happened in June?

What happened in June?

Our girls participated in a dance/craft "camp" hosted by some teenagers from church.  They learned some Irish dance steps and made some nifty crafts and snacks.

Mom and Dad celebrated their 10 year anniversary.  Mom decided to try on her wedding dress for the occasion.

It looked better 10 years ago.

Dad brought roses and breakfast in bed in the morning, and in the evening we had a romantic candlelight dinner for six.  Mom made a bouquet of chocolate dipped roses for the centerpiece, which made up for the leftovers served for dinner.  Afterwards we danced to "our song" that we danced to at our wedding reception.  Ashley and Sienna watched with big grins on their faces, while Colby ran into the other room.  Dallin kept calling Mom a "princess."   We also showed them the video we showed at our reception, as well as some wedding footage.  It was almost more than Colby could handle. 

So that was the family celebration of the big event.  The next day we left our kids with a friend and headed two hours away to Chattanooga.  We didn't want to go too far or too long, since Mom was within range of delivery.  We stayed at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo (a train converted into a hotel) and went to see Rock City, which was very cool.

 

 

Getting ready to go through "Fat Man Squeeze."

Another highlight from June was inviting three other families over for the "Great American Backyard Campout."  We even built a firepit in our backyard to roast S'mores.  We also went to a Nature Center on June 5 to watch the "Transit of Venus," borrowing special binoculars to look at the sun and observe Venus passing in front of it as a shadow.  The kids continue taking swimming lessons.  Ashley has learned to swim, although it's more of a doggy paddle with her head dipped in the water a few times.  Bryan, Sienna and Colby are still big time into birding.  One early morning outing allowed them to add the great blue heron, wood duck, northern rough-winged swallow, and barred owl to their individual bird books.  They each have something around 40 species in their books.  Bryan has biked the 13 miles to work and back nearly every day this month, combining his exercise and commute in one.  And the kids have done several activities from their "Summer Fun Jar" to keep them entertained.  Such as:

Peanut Butter Play Dough,

 

Paint and roll marbles,

 

Candy making,

 

Teddy trucks,

 

Sumo wrestling,

Popsicle stick crafts, TP tube train, Glowing fireflies, Milk jug ball toss, and a backyard water obstacle course.  It keeps us busy during record setting temperatures.

More Video Family Favorites

From 2008, the Grand Winner...
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"


Other favorites...

"The Family Song"



"Baby, Ew"



"Driveway Races"

You have to watch this one first, in order to understand the hilarity of the second one.  (And no, there was no baby involved in the second one)





"What's Your Name?"



"Prince and Princess"



"Loving Brother"



"Cheese"
Watching this movie is always followed by a family chorus of the quote "Get me a bite, Mommy!"



"Car Wash"

Favorite Family Video

I've been working on the project of organizing and backing up family videos.  We've had fun watching them on Sunday afternoons.  I thought I'd post a few favorites.

From 2005...
SMILE Angel



From 2006
Hilarious Salad Dressing



From 2007
Cheers




Spit Bubbles



and
Pumpkin Carving

Picture-worthy events from May

Colby removed his belt after church one day and couldn't keep his pants up, so Bryan told him to go put on his pajamas.  He only made it half way.
Result: Clark Kent stuck in transition

We got a cooler full of strawberries from an event at Vanderbilt.  For my Mother's Day gift I requested a fresh strawberry pie.  Mmmmm... tasty.

Dallin made the transition from his crib in a room of his own to the bottom bunk in a room shared with Colby.  It was rough going for about a week.  The freedom was just too irresistible and he had to be returned to bed (or the travel crib) several times every nap time and evening.  But now he stays put for the most part.

Summer has begun!  As part of Mom's plan to keep sane, each of the kids have a list of chores to accomplish every morning.  Some are more fun than others, like helping plant flowers.

When they've finished their chores they get to do random fun stuff (picked off from Pinterest, usually).  Like make instruments, play with water balloons, or have a Silly Picture Day.

Thanks to Uncle Nathan, our family is now into birding.  Bryan, Sienna and Colby each have a bird journal and like to look for and identify birds.  It's kind of weird to hear your 6-year old casually remark, "I think I just saw another Common Grackle."

For our Memorial Day outing we went Newt hunting with some friends.  Since the pond where we went was all dried up, it really was a hunt to find them, as opposed to earlier years when they were easy to come by. 

This little butterfly was almost as entertaining.  He visited just about everyone, then adopted Colby as a pet and stayed on him for a good half hour or so.

Happy Birthday Dallin!

Dallin turned 2!  We had a very entertaining birthday celebration.  This kid loves anything to do with the Cars movie.  So he was very excited to get his "car-car" (as he calls it) pajamas, and even more thrilled when he actually opened the Cars movie.  He was ready to stop right there.  When we tried to get him to open his last gift he said "no" and ran away, so he could stare at his "car-car mo-mo" in peace.  When he finally came back, the gift bag got knocked over and toy cars of Lightning McQueen and Mater tumbled out.  He could hardly contain his excitement!  He couldn't let them out of his sight the rest of the night, preferring to zoom them around on his high chair tray around his cake, instead of eating the cake.  He is a very funny kid and we all got a kick out of his enthusiasm.  Happy Birthday Dallin!

26.2 miles

Over the last few months Sienna ran a marathon.  She ran a mile at a time, usually with Dad.  Her last mile was on a course in downtown Nashville with thousands of other kids, on the eve of the Country Music Marathon.  Way to go, Sienna!

Mini-golf

Thanks to Groupon we spent a fun afternoon at a nearby Fun Center, playing mini-golf, riding go-karts, trying out the batting cage, and playing arcade games.  We all had a lot of fun.  Dallin quickly caught on to the idea of mini-golf.  I think we found Grandpa's next golf partner.