Soccer Camp

We spent the week battling the 90 degree heat so that Benjamin could have lots of fun at soccer camp. He went each day through the week learning new soccer drills and enjoying one of his favorite activities.

His coach, Luc, explaining the next drill.

Practice, practice, practice.

High-fiving all the coaches on his way to get his award.

He got a soccer report card type award that raved on how great he did.

Posing with his coach and the other kids in his group.

There were three coaches with about 10 in each group. It was pretty cool to watch all these little five and six year olds running around together when they became a big group for something. The last thing they did together was have a huge water fight, which was a big hit!

Even though it was super hot, Benjamin really enjoyed himself. He loves soccer so much! On the way to his last day I asked him if he was sad that this was the last day of camp. He told me, "I'm a little bit sad that it's my last day and I'm a little bit happy that I won't be so tired anymore." I thought that was so funny because the poor guy was pretty tired (and ate a ton of food) after working so hard. He never slowed down when he was out there. Even with the heat, he gave it his all every single day!

Father's Day Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Dave as an awesome father. I had a rough couple of days with contractions and a lot of back pain Thursday and Friday, so we spent Friday evening letting the kids run through the sprinklers while Dave grilled and I sat. ;) Then on Saturday we had to get Dave's car fixed and work on some Father's Day projects. After our errands we went to Brown County to swim and ate at their yummy restaurant. Then on Sunday after church we had a party. It was Anna's idea to throw Dave a surprise Father's Day party. So we had balloons, presents, dancing, supper, and we all made cupcakes together that resemble one of Dave's favorite treats, hostess cupcakes. He was quite surprised and we all had a blast!

Reading the funny card the kids picked out for him.

Here's one of the presents we got him. It's a picture of each kid and on the back has all their favorite things about their Daddy. The kids did a great job coming up with wonderful (and funny) things they do with Dave.

Faces

Benjamin was finishing up a school project so Collin, Anna, and I headed outside for a bit. They wanted me to take pictures of them. We started off with sweet faces.

Then we did mad ones.

My favorite was when they tried to do sad ones. I had trouble capturing it with the camera because they would both start smiling and laughing right away. See the smile in his eyes?

Anna's turned into this beautiful smile before I could catch a sad one.

Some fun with photo editing.

Benjamin came out to excitedly show us his finished project. He made a family tree for history.

Daddy came home. Yay! We're excited to spend father's day weekend with the best father a momma could ask for her babies!

The next evening I had a fun project for the kids while Daddy grilled some supper for us. You freeze different small items in water and create ice treasures for the kids to find. We had shells from our trip, small toys, coins, etc.

The kids then use squirt bottles and toothbrushes to dig into the ice and discover the treasures. We all had a lot of fun!

Anna's First Dance Recital

Anna had her first dance recital this weekend. She has been so very excited!! She had a rehearsal on Friday and she did awesome. I thought maybe she'd be a little shy or nervous, but she just went up there and happily performed!

We were all pretty proud of her! She kept telling us, "That was my very first time on a stage!"

Saturday morning Collin finally got his hands on Pepper. He has all of a sudden become a big time cat lover. His whole face lights up with joy when he sees Pepper or Max. He snuck up on her when she was on the back of the couch and pet her for a bit and then all of a sudden put his arms around Pepper and pulled her down onto his lap. He would tell everyone that passed "I'm holding her like a baby!" He was so incredibly happy!

Anna's grandparents and her aunt Katie and cousin Katrina all came to her recital with us. We started by eating at a restaurant together. Dave and I had a little gift for her.....

a new dance bag to carry all of her stuff.

After dinner we got her all dressed up.

Anna and her cousin posing together. They love each other so much!

When we got to the recital we ran into one of Anna's friends from church, Hannah.

Then it was show time!!! (Anna is in the middle.)

They danced to "Got No Strings" from Pinocchio and did awesome!

The end!

Flowers from Grandpa.

Even though the recital took three hours, Anna loved every minute of it! She either sat seriously studying every dance like below or was clapping and smiling. She would turn and tell me which costumes she loved and how much she loved the different routines.

Benjamin always gets a metal or trophy after his soccer season and when Anna started really getting into her dance class she kept asking me if she would get one after her recital. Her Daddy and I fashioned one for her  and she was so surprised!

Happy girl!

At the end of the recital all the dancers went up group by group and bowed for us. She was pretty excited to get to go up on the stage again and was so well behaved and gleefully clapped every time we did. (She's the second girl from her group from the left.)

My sister and niece stayed the night and spent the next day with us which was so great. We ended up eating dinner at a playground and I just had to capture a picture of the four cousins in their matching/coordinating outfits.

After a full weekend the kids were pretty exhausted. Collin likes to make piles in different places (the stairs, on a rug, a couch, etc.) where he collects any number of different items (clothes, toys, blankets, pillows, etc.). He did that this morning when I was doing school with the other kiddos. After lunch he climbed down from the table and silently walked over to the couch. I saw him relaxing there and just assumed he was watching a show (even though he very rarely does). Then when I looked again I discovered that he had actually zonked out right in the middle of the pile he created. He was so tired and slept over 3 hours!

Going Home

One last ocean picture before we said goodbye to our condo on Saturday morning. It was sunny right in their eyes but they were still sweet and posed for a picture for me. The kids did so well on the car ride home. Even with losing an hour we were able to drive straight through to my parents' house and didn't have to stay in a hotel again.

After some rest that night we fit in some special family time. We spent the morning with my parents and then headed over to Dave's parents. The kids found some old costumes and had a lot of fun playing dress up.

The knight is protecting the princess from the scary dragon. : )

After a quick nap for Collin we met up with my sister and niece at my grandma's. She's getting ready to move in with her daughter so she passed down something very special to me....the Swiss mountain man statue that belonged to her parents' before her and that I always loved playing with as a little girl. My kids are pretty excited that he lives at our house now! She also gave me an adorable blanket for the baby that she made.

Collin thinks that my belly button is access to the baby. He tries to somehow open my belly to get the baby out through my belly button and he talks to the baby through it as if the belly button were some sort of microphone. It's pretty funny. He's so excited for the baby to come! So when he found out the new blanket was for the baby he immediately lifted my shirt and tried to give it to the baby via my belly button. : )

Grandma and her great grandkids.

Last Beach Day (& One of the Best Days Ever!!)

The beach finally was back to normal on our last day. The sand wall was gone and replaced by a nice flat area of soft white sand and the algae/sea weed had started to wash back out to sea. It sprinkled off and on the first few hours of the morning. We headed out and enjoyed the cooler air since the sun wasn't beating down because of all the clouds. It was so much fun!!

The kids did a beach dance for me....

Dave and Benjamin enjoyed some sand tic-tac-toe.

I spent the morning sitting in the sand as the water washed up and kept me cool as I watched my beautiful little girl run around pretending and dancing. She is so creative and so much fun to watch!

Benjamin and Collin joined me. The air was cool so you noticed the water temperature more and so as the waves would reach where we were sitting the boys would squeal and laugh in delight!

Me and the baby relaxing on the beach watching all the fun. It doesn't get much better than that!

Next up the kids made this game where they squatted down and waited. When the water finally reached them they took turns yelling something silly at the water and then went running up the beach. They had a blast!

Dave went out and started diving into the waves. The kids thought that was pretty entertaining to watch!

Dave started going out into the water a little and then would pretend to be an ocean monster and chase the kids down the beach.

Run!

It's amazing how much energy these guys have!

The kids turned things on their Dad and got some of our empty drink bottles and started chasing him and throwing water at him.

Collin and Anna were so funny. Even after the chasing had stopped, they would run and run!

Collin ended up falling asleep on me after all that running. So Dave ran back to the condo and grabbed some  lunch for all of us and we lathered ourselves with more sun screen and played through lunch and nap time. Benjamin and Anna especially enjoyed the extra play time.

We couldn't get any pictures obviously, but after Collin woke up and ate we walked the kids out into the water and did what Dave called wave hopping. The waves only crashed once or twice, so if you walked past that you could just float gently over the waves farther out. So we would all "hop" over the wave together as the kids squealed with delight. It was a wonderful way to end our time at the beach. They had so much fun!!!