Dance Camp

Kate's busy June ended last week with her dance camp at Miss Shelly's. She went last year and loved it so we signed up again with Caroline and Caroline for a week full of dancing and crafts. The girls had a ball again, however, they were more interested in who got to ride in who's car for carpool and the nail appointment that Miss Clara took all 3 of them to on Thursday after camp. Needless to say, this week is a detox week from activities and we're just sort of hanging out...which is much needed and welcomed!

Kate's "Flower Princess" hat

The campers

Maggie and Ben hung out with me while Kate was at camp. Mags was not pleased to be left out of another camp and the activities that occurred after camp was dismissed, so we planned a few special things to do together.

Mags had to get her nails done too


A Chick Fil A lunch with Clark

We are enjoying this week of nothing. The girls are constantly asking what "special" are we doing today so I think that's an indication that we need to slow down. So, expect nothing "special" from us for a few weeks!:) And Ben had a good week too. He just tagged along and was happy!

7 Months!

Sweet Ben is growing up way too fast! 7 months have zoomed right past and he's still happy so we must be doing something right!:)

Some highlights from the last month:

• Ben is sitting up - he's actually really good at it but that doesn't mean that we don't have the occasional topple over
  


• He graduated to a convertible car seat - he was way too heavy to be carrying in the infant seat but this is also a bummer because there's no more sleeping baby while at Target, Wal Mart, etc.
  


• Went to his first VBS
  


• Started Zyrtec - I'm afraid that Ben is taking the Kate route, which means eczema and allergies. He has had a cough for the last 3 weeks so I took him in last week and Dr. Hughes is really thinking that it's allergies. Hopefully the Zyrtec will bring him some relief from the coughing.
  


• Ben made his first road trip to Illinois to visit and meet PopPop's family
  


• Went swimming for the first time but I see alot more of this in his foreseeable future!

I love this boy so much and could easily squeeze him and love on him all day long and so could his sisters, especially Kate! He is just so happy, and smiley, and giggly, and agreeable...he makes it easy to love him.

I'm afraid that sign days are behind us. He
just wants to put it in his mouth!:)

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

We ordered Ryan his favorite bbq from Jack
Stack in Kansas City

Home-made cards

Maggie's (purple one) says "Love you
daddy. Thanks for driving me in the
black car." (She told me what to write)
And Kate's says "I love you daddy." And
she drew a picture of Ryan with an ! after
him!:)

Kate, Maggie, and Ben are so lucky to have such a great daddy. The girls think he hung the moon and Ben lights up everytime daddy comes in the room.

Thanks for loving us, providing for us, and being a hero to our 3 kids. We love you!

Learn to Swim with Mr. Kem!

Another year of swim lessons for Kate with Mr. Kem and Maggie's first year of lessons with Mr. Kem. Both girls were successful!

I'll start with Kate because she was the easier of the two!:) Since she's done 2 years already, she worked mostly on her strokes. She also revisited her "accident" drills to show Mr. Kem that she knows what to do in the event of an emergency. Kate did awesome this year! She is able to swim the crawl stroke and the backstroke, she is working on her breathing underwater, and Mr. Kem deemed her "drown proof!" On the last day she dove to the bottom of the deep end to retrieve a golf ball and did a cannon ball through the air. She graduated and doesn't need Mr. Kem's lessons anymore. Pretty impressive for a 5 year old!

Onto Maggie...she did great considering she was scared. Maggie is not as brave in the water as Kate is so she continually told Mr. Kem that she was afraid and a "scaredy cat." Her first few days were rough and by Wednesday I was convinced that she would need more than the normal 5 days of lessons. But Mags stepped it up and by Friday she could be thrown in the pool and get herself into the "starfish" which is the safe floating position. That girl has some determination! She still doesn't love to swim and we definitely have to keep working with her when we swim together but she's good until next summer's lessons.

I'm super proud of both Kate and Maggie! Mr. Kem makes them work extremely hard and there's some tough love going on during the process but they both rose to their challenges and did great!

VBS: Extreme Heart Makeover

Yea for Bible school!

Maggie was ticked because they
took her banana away to take
her picture so she showed them!:)

Sweet Kate had a great VBS with
the other incoming Kindergarteners

I love this picture of Ben (note the
drool hanging from his chin!).
He also had a great week because he
was loved on by Miss Heather and
Miss Jolene!

Cooking Camp

Kate had a cooking camp at Monte Cassino last week with her friend, Caroline. They had a fun week of cooking, trying new foods, and learning manners. Kate is now really onto us if we have our elbows on the table..."Maggie, Maggie, strong and able, get your elbows off the table." We hear it regularly!:) Their big take home souvenir was a cookbook with recipes from the week and also a recipe submitted by each "cook." Kate's favorite recipe that we submitted was Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich with Campbell's Tomato Soup. I'm sure we'll try out a few other recipes this summer!

The chef

They worked on the correct table setting

How funny is this "spaghetti?" - it's
yarn with fuzzy "meatballs" and glitter
for cheese

The Birthday...Finally

Kate's actual birthday was a busy day from start to finish. It's fun that she has a summer birthday because we get to celebrate her all day long.

At our house, the birthday girl or boy gets to pick breakfast, lunch and dinner and I try to let said child pick one fun thing to do as well.

So, Kate's birthday started off with a pancake breakfast complete with 5 candles (She was getting pretty good at blowing candles out!). After filling her tummy, she and Caroline (her BFF) went to their Cooking Camp at Monte Cassino from 9-12. Since it was lunch time when we picked the girls up, we headed to Kate's choice...McDonald's. That girl loves McDonald's and tries to choose it for any occasion! After lunch we were invited by some friends, Darby and Jordan, to go swimming at TCC. Kate had a ball swimming, but this year she was old enough for the water slide so she spent the majority of her time doing that. (Side note: Ben and Maggie were at Glammy's. Ben because I didn't figure he would enjoy missing nap to swim and Maggie because she chose to stay there instead of coming with us.) After swimming, Kate and I rushed home for showers and headed to get a mani/pedi. Since Kate has quit sucking her thumb, her manicure has stayed on quite nicely so that is a bonus for her! And finally, we met daddy, Ben, and Maggie at Ted's (rice and beans) for dinner. Oh, and daddy and Kate stopped for ice cream on the way home.

I think that this has been her busiest and fullest birthday day yet. She had a wonderful day and spent it with her great friends. Whew, now on to Maggie's in August. And she's already working on her birthday menu!:)

Waking up to her Birthday Girl sign



A Barbie Fairy from Mags and Ben



McDonald's with Caroline and Clark

A swimming treat with Caroline, Clark, Darby,
and Jordan

Showing off her nails and toes

Rice and beans!

Birthday Ballerina

For Kate's 5th birthday, she chose a dance party at her dance studio, Miss Shelly's. She had 11 little friends come and celebrate with her and they all had a ball. The girls danced for about 30 minutes, ate cupcakes, and watched Kate open presents. They all left happy, but that could also be because they each took a cookie and ballerina wand home!:)

It was a "wear your favorite tutu" party

The party table

"Hello my name is Joe and I work in a button
factory." Pushing the button with her left foot!

Parachute time

Kate's favorite song..."The Nighttime Song"

Kate with her friends

Happy birthday to you

Opening presents

Mags had a blast! You wouldn't have known that
this was the same girl who wouldn't dance
at her performance a few weeks ago!

Ben loved that baby in the mirror!

Happy Birthday Kate!

This happy girl is 5 today! Kate is such an amazing little girl. She is sweet, loving, funny, sassy, and dramatic and that's all in about 3 minutes!:) Some of Kate's favorite things at this time in her life:

• Ben - she is an incredible big sister to both Maggie and Ben


• artsy stuff - Kate loves to draw, do art, write, and try to spell things


• playing Barbies


• "rice and beans"


• saying words that she's not supposed to!


• dresses and skirts - shorts are "boy clothes"


• not napping

Kate - you are the best little girl that we could have imagined for our first born. We love your sweetness, silliness, and cuddles. I can't wait to see what your 6th year has in store for you!

We love you bunches!!

She was a bit weepy because her birthday was over

and I was going to take her birthday decorations down!

Road Trip

We got home yesterday from a road trip to visit our family in Illinois. 9 hours in the car (18 round trip) + 4 kids + 4 adults + 2 cars = very tired folks! No, in all honesty, we split the kids up between the two cars and it wasn't too bad. Thank goodness for DVD players in cars!! Ben rode with Mimi and PopPop, the girls rode with us, and Kamryn rotated between the two cars. Despite the long drive, we had a great time visiting our grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins. Can't wait to see everyone again at Thanksgiving!

Kamryn was the chauffeur

Ben with great Grandpa and cousin Elyse

Ben with cousin Christopher

Loving on cousin Jaclyn

Kate and Kamryn with Uncle Hite

Water gun fight!

Scooter time!


Kamryn was big time!

Mags wasn't cooperating...she missed her nap!
Hodgepodge...Uncle Bryce, Kamryn, Ben, Eryka,
Mags, Elyse, and Kate (Aunt Carol is hidden while
holding Ben up)