Goodbye school... summer is here!

Summer is here! Our beach trip was so fun, and we are looking forward to many other things this summer. I know some weeks will be busy with planned activities, but I am hoping we'll also enjoy some quiet, lazy summer days... they are really some of my favorites! :)

Andrew does well to have a little schedule... he loved MMO this year. Miss Katie and Miss Betty were his teachers and they were wonderful! They planned fun crafts and activities for the class. Forrest went to MMO this year for the first time and loved it. His favorite toy in the room was a "guitar" and was always ready to play! He had several sweet teachers... he was just not interested in having his picture made with Mrs. Melinda and Mrs. Karen. :)

The boys are ready for their last day of MMO. It was Andrew's last day at Highlands... next year he'll be at his "new preschool".

Andrew with Mrs. Betty and Mrs. Katie... he loved them!

A sweet picture with Mrs. Katie

Andrew and I also went to Kindermusik this year. It was our first year to do this, and with Ann Evelyn being born in August, it was the perfect time for us to do something for just the 2 of us. As you have probably read on my blog before, Andrew loves music. But Kindermusik really is great to teach following directions, vocabulary, listening, interacting with others... and it's just a lot of fun!! We had a great time!

Egg shakers were the instrument for the day!

Going to the "listening box" to hear special sounds

And there is a lot of movement! Here the kids are going thru a tunnel like a train!

We are looking forward to going back next year and taking Forrest with us!

Beach!!

We just got home from a wonderful beach trip. We hadn't been since October, so we were all very excited to get to the cottage. We love being there as a family, and the children love the beach! The last time we were there Ann Evelyn was just 8 weeks old, so I was interested to see how she'd react to the sand and water. She loved it! And the boys were in heaven!

I've posted a lot of pics...

Sitting in the sand on our first day on the beach

The boys have so much fun running back and forth on the beach. Forrest wants to do whatever Andrew is doing... they were big buddies on the trip (they are all the time actually!).

Sissy's trying on big brother's sunglasses. She just about got them on!

Sissy got a new pink swing... so cute!

Andrew and Wilson went fishing a couple of days... they caught us a lunch of fish and crabs that were so good! Andrew had so much fun that he wanted a fishing pole of his own. We went to Walmart, he picked one out, and fished with it the rest of the week!

Forrest and Sissy had fun playing together in the sand while Dada and Andrew fished.

And this fellow hung around just in case the fisherman caught anything!

"I'm two."

This is his swimming gear... he thought it was fun to wear it all the time - funny boy!

Crawling thru the tunnel,

and pulling up!

We've been working on a bow for a while now... She's got enough hair, I think, but it just slips out. Still... pretty adorable, I think!

one of my favorites of our "dress-up" pictures...

These were taken at 7 am, and we still have squinty eyes! I think we'll try 7 pm next time!

one of wilson's favorites...

And a ferry ride on the way home was a fun ending to a great trip. Can't wait to go back!

More Mother's Day Pictures

Here are a few more pictures of our Mother's Day. It was a beautiful spring day, and Mom set tables on the back porch to eat lunch. My boys loved this, of course, because once they finished eating they were off to run and play!

My sweet baby girl

Andrew helped May-May open her Mother's Day presents!

The boys hunted lizards in the flower beds.

Baby Girl had her picture made by May-May's purple verbena.

What a fun day with our family!

9 months old

Ann Evelyn is 9 months old! I cannot believe how quickly the months are going by... I'm just not ready for my baby girl to grow up. Over the weekend I was looking at pictures of her and how she has grown... it's bittersweet. I love seeing her grow and change, but I am so sentimental about my baby getting so big!

She is at a precious stage...

She's babbling a lot. She loves to imitate words that she hears us say. "Hey" and "Bye-Bye" come out the clearest, but at the doctor's office last week, she showed off a little and said "thank you"! It sounded like it anyway, and her doctor thought it was the cutest thing...

"I think she said 'thank you'. How sweet," he said.

I was proud, of course, as any mama would be. :)

She waves and claps. She is a wiggle worm and can get wherever she wants. She's not crawling on hands and knees yet but she can do a great army crawl! She has started pulling up, too. She pulls up on her piano (just like her brothers did at this age), and for the past couple of days has pulled up in the crib.

She's still a big girl... 23 lbs 12 oz & 28.5 in. I'm not sure how this measures on the growth chart. The doctor didn't tell me, and I forgot to ask. I'm thinking her weight is still probably close to the top though... that's mainly because she weighs more than a lot of her little nursery buddies (who are mostly boys).

Ann Evelyn loves her brothers and is content to sit and watch them all day! She is really content most of the time actually. She loves to sit on the floor of the playroom with her toys... or her brothers' toys. She usually ends up with tools or trucks in her hands now that she is scooting around! Her doll is one of her favorite toys still, and she loves to be read to aloud (especially touch & feel books). Playing outside has been a favorite thing lately and she loves swinging, riding in her pink car, or riding in the wagon with Forrest.

She is my "Baby Girl", and her daddy's "Sweet Pea". She's "Sissy" to Forrest, and "Evelyn" to Andrew. But one thing is for sure... she's the sweetheart of the house!

Thankful

We enjoyed the day with my mom today. What a precious Mom God gave me...she has given so much to us and now my own family, she loves us and is always there to help in any way she can, and she always make us feel so special. I am so thankful for you, Mom! Thank you for being a wonderful mother and now for also being a precious May-May!

And I am so thankful for these precious children the Lord has given me. What a proud Mama I am! Being a mother is a much harder job than I could have ever imagined it to be, but it is truly so rewarding... the hugs, the "i wuv you"s, the little hands to hold, the precious laughter, the sweet singing voices, the cooing, the smiles... the list is endless. There is nowhere else that I would want to spend my days then in our home with these 3 little people. The Lord has taught me so much through Andrew, Forrest, and Ann Evelyn... I feel so very honored and blessed to be their mother.

(I love how in the 2nd picture of me and the kids Andrew has his arm around AE and Forrest is holding her hand... the boys love their sister!)

My helper

Andrew was quite the helper today. I had left the boys in the kitchen eating pretzels while I put Ann Evelyn down for her morning nap. After laying her down and leaving the room, I could hear some funny noises in the kitchen. I was fully expecting to see someone climbing something and standing on the counters (or something of that nature). Instead, to my great surprise, I found Andrew sweeping! He had gone to the laundry room for the broom and dustpan and then had swept up all of the pretzels off the floor. He is becoming such a big boy and I'm a proud mama. :)

Ann Evelyn and Meredith

Ann Evelyn and I went to the Stuckey's for lunch after Meredith's baptism. Thank you, Kristi & Alan, for including us in such a special day! We loved being a part of it!

Sweet friends...

Three sweet faces

I have some catching up do with the blog, but for now I thought I'd simply post these sweet faces!

Forrest's Birthday

Look Who's 2!!

Our Birthday Boy!

We are having a fun day with our precious 2 year old!

We love you, Forrest!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. It was a sweet morning at home. I loved having Wilson with us all morning and then all riding together to church. We even were able to take a few pictures of the children before we left. Forrest wasn't really in a picture taking mood, but we were just happy to have all 3 in the same frame! And 2 out of 3 smiling is pretty good, I think!

Then we went to May May and Bubby's for lunch. May May always sets a beautiful table, complete with special "favors" for each person at their place. Andrew can never wait until meal time to see what "surprise" is at his spot. I think it's because of May May that he loves "parties". She always makes special days extra-special.

Sweet Baby Girl

I loved having a little girl to dress for Easter! :)

A family picture

"I found one!"

This boy was all about the egg hunting this year! And he was great at it!

But he was also very sweet to share the eggs he found with Forrest. Forrest did a little hunting, but he had to open each egg when he found it to see what was inside. This slowed him down a little, so Andrew had to help him out. :)

Forrest and Bubby

(or should I say, Little Forrest and Big Forrest)

They are big buds. Forrest is holding Felipe in this picture, but he was most likely trying to convince Bubby to take him to the storage room to get "screwdrivers". He likes to carry Bubby's screwdrivers around and "check batteries".

My kiddos