Peter Pan & Hiking

I'm going to be induced on Thursday unless things decide to happen on their own (my due date is Tuesday). So this was our last weekend before the baby and we filled it up! Friday evening we took the kids to their first play, Peter Pan. It was a super magical evening! Especially for Anna who is very much in love with the story of Peter Pan and has been for quite some time (she even pretends that John and Micheal are her children). They didn't allow photography during the play, but we snapped a few shots before with the beautiful decorations they had out in the lobby like this tree house for the lost boys.

Pretending to swim after they were made to walk the plank.

Excited for the show to begin. It was a big hit!!!

Then on Saturday we took advantage of the cooler temperatures and went for a hike around one of the lakes at Brown County. It was cooler, but the humidity made up for any decrease in heat! We still had a wonderful time.

We had a grand time pretending. There were plenty of little bridges to cross, so we of course had to look out for trolls. The trail was around a lake but sometimes we went deeper into the woods, so that meant we had to watch for witches. Lastly, there is a beaver that clearly lives here as there are trees either partially bitten into or completely broken off around the lake. The kids enjoyed looking out for Billy the Beaver as we came to call him.

Daddy really got into posing all of us.

Check out those muscles!

We all thought these trees were cool.

The boys! (Wonder if there will be another one soon?)

Daddy and his girl! I LOVE this picture!!!!

It immediately reminded me of this picture from not too long ago.

After our hike we headed over to the nature center to enjoy a raptor program. This little guy is called a kestrel and was one of the prettiest birds I've ever seen. The picture doesn't do it justice.

This little owl fell out of his nest as a baby and has a condition similar to down syndrome and keeps the characteristics of a baby owl even though it's an adult now.

They also had two hawks to share with us.

Great weekend! Now we're all excited to meet our baby!!!!!!

County Fair 2012

We braved the heat and had a fun evening at our county fair. It was still above 90 degrees, so that was a little rough when you're 39 weeks pregnant. But it was still so much fun! We started off seeing all the animals in the barn. Benjamin found a baby cow!

Lots of big cows too. Collin wasn't interested in petting any of the animals and wanted to be held the whole time (he gets scared around animals). But at least he let us take him in the barns.

Goats!

Here are my little duckies quacking with the ducks who were playing in a kiddie pool.

Collin wasn't afraid of the birds. He was actually really interested and tickled by them.

Pony rides!

One of the horse owners was nice enough to pull her horse out for the kids to see and pet. Our little cowgirl LOVED that!

The horse loved Benjamin though and turned to give him a surprise kiss. He was quite shocked but was super tickled afterwards that the horse picked him.

Collin's favorite part....getting to play in a school bus. Dave pretty much had to drag him out of here when it was time to move on. He LOVED it!!

Dave and I got to sit for a nice long break and listen to some bag pipes while the kids played in a cornbox. I had never seen this done before, but it was a huge hit with the kids. Some of their friends even showed up and played too.

Collin was so in love with this hot air balloon. He watched it until he could find it no longer and then kept asking, "Where's my balloon?" and telling me, "But I really liked that balloon!"

The kids had lots of fun playing on all the tractors and posed for some cool pictures.

The wheel that the boys posed in above belong to this monster. Someone left the ladder in the back out and Dave and I were shocked that parents were letting their kids climb and play on the top. It made us so nervous as they were SO high in the air and it would have been a straight drop down if they fell. We both breathed a huge sigh of relief when someone who sells a different brand of tractors came by and saw what they were doing. He made them all get down and put the ladder away. It was really so dangerous!

We ended our evening by going through the little kid barn where they have some baby animals. I loved these little guys. I don't think I've ever seen such little baby goats before and immediately fell in love! : )

Collin found baby cows!

The momma cow was close by and let out a big moo when the boys were looking at her. Collin's new favorite thing is to tell us a fact by asking "Do you know that ....". It started when Benjamin taught him that cats can see in the dark. So he now tells us at least a few times a day "Do know that cats can see under the dark?" It's really cute. So after the coo mooed for them, he came running to tell each of us "Do you know that the cow said MOO! to me?" Here he is telling Benjamin (check out how sweet of a big brother Benjamin is by listening so intently to something he'd already heard).

All together now......MOO!

(Collin came by while I was working on this and saw this picture and said super enthusiastically, "Momma! Did you know that the cow said MOOOO! to me?")

More Randomness

Collin is really keeping us on our toes here lately. He fights going to sleep for quite a while and then when we are all asleep he wakes up randomly through the night. He either comes in our room and I wake up and see him or I stumble across him in all kinds of different places in the middle of the night either awake or asleep (on the floor next to our bed, in the hallway, across Dave's legs, etc.) This is where we found him when we woke up from our family nap on Sunday. It's stressing us out just a bit!

Benjamin got these glasses at a carnival a month or so ago and they continue to keep us all laughing!

Anna insisted I take a picture of her too since she was wearing her favorite dress. She's such a girly girl!!

Can't wait until there's a fourth little one that I can post pictures of!

This & That

Grandma bought this for Anna and it was so cute that we had to take a picture. She made me smile all day as she fluttered around in her dress and hat.

Collin has been doing really well with going to the bathroom and I even switched him to underwear this week. He loves his pull-ups though and has been doing this a lot lately. He refers to himself as "pull-up boy". They are pretty obsessed with super heroes these days!

Pepper stays hidden away for the most part during the day when the kids are awake. But when Collin first wakes up sometimes he happens upon her on the back of the couch and sneaks up and grabs her onto his lap. Few things make him happier (or more still) than getting to cuddle with Pepper. He even calls her his baby and princess sometimes. He's quite obsessed with cats! He has a lot of fun with Max too because Max will actually sit and let him pet him and play without running away. I think he's more into Pepper though since she plays hard to get. ; )

I had to get a picture of Benjamin to capture his smile as it is before it changes forever (sniff, sniff). We discovered his first loose tooth and can't hardly believe he's old enough for this!

I was about to give the boys haircuts and Dave wanted to take a picture of Collin's hair first. He has developed two-toned hair as you can see below (it's like that in the back too) which we are pretty tickled by.

Benjamin showing off his loose tooth.

Got her again! (He requests that I take their picture together.)

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.