Happy Birthday Eliana!

Eliana woke up this morning and said to Joel, "I'm 4 for real now!" She's been waiting for this day! She was a little disappointed to wake up and not have really long hair. I guess she thought her hair would just automatically be long.

Electric bill

We just got our electric bill. Yikes!! It was a good reminder that we probably should have cleaned the AC unit a couple of months ago. Oh well, maybe next year we'll get it done at the beginning of the summer.

The boys do good work!

Evening bike rides

We've been enjoying quite a few bike rides lately. We ended up being out after dark, but our route is mostly sidewalks. We like going on the "windy path" and one particular dip in a sidewalk.

Karis seems to like going. By the end it sounded like she was "talking" and listening to her voice vibrating as we went over the bumps.

All ready to go!

Eliana likes going with dad--She's not quite fast enough to keep up on her bike.

Birthday secret

Eliana's birthday is coming up this weekend and she is very excited. Today she asked me quietly, "Can you tell me what my birthday present is? I'll keep it a secret."

Ice Skating & the Zoo

The kids had free admission for ice skating thanks to the summer reading program and really wanted to go with Joel. Eliana was going to skate, but then decided against it once we got there. It was probably a little crowded for her first time.

They loved watching the Zamboni.

We also went to the zoo for a couple of hours. We hadn't been in a while so it was neat to see the changes. The new tiger house looks like it's going to be nice once it's finished.

One thing that amazes me is how much the kids enjoy the big over-fed fish. They can just sit and watch them and you have to drag them away to go see the other animals.

The penguins were being fed while we were there and the zookeeper was telling us all about them. We had recently watched the "March of the Penguins" but the penguins at our zoo are not the same as those in the movie - the ones in the movie wouldn't be able to handle our heat!

The balance beam

Daddy on the balance beam

Drawn by Caleb

Olympics

We've been watching a lot of Olympics this past week. We might watch more if they didn't get over so late at night! So far we've watched mostly swimming and gymnastics. Before every swim race the kids have to know which lanes the USA swimmers are in. Last night, Eliana walked in the room while we were watching some more swimming and said, "Is Michael Phelps in this race?" I wonder if she'll remember watching these Olympic games when she's older.

High altitude "emergency"

Joel went flying one evening this week and took Caleb and Eliana. They were having a good time until Eliana had to go to the bathroom really bad. Joel tried to calm her down and told her the flight was almost over but that didn't help much. Eliana wailed for almost 20 minutes. Joel was sure he was going to be cleaning up when they got back. Once they landed back at the airport, Eliana immediately relaxed and informed everyone "I had a fun time." (She did make it to the bathroom and with time to spare. Just knowing she could go seemed to take the edge off her panic.) When they got home, Eliana ran in to mom and with a huge smile said, "I had a fun time."

Handy man

Joel's a handy man to have around. We've been having problems with water sitting in the window down in our window well. Joel had to replace all the boards and siding around the window, so while he was at it he just took out the entire window. He thinks he found how some water was getting in our basement floor area, too, so hopefully that will solve the water issues. The hard thing with these big projects is having a good chunk of time to actually get it done. It seems like it rained every day he tried to get to it. On a nice day recently, he came home a couple hours early from work and just worked into the night so he could get the window out and back in. The joys of home ownership.

New playground

A playground near us was recently redone a couple of weeks ago, and the kids have been wanting to go really bad. We finally got to check it out the other night--It's got a lot of cool things to climb, spin, and slide on. Playgrounds have come a long way!

Joel calls this the Tongue slide. Something different, a skinny slide with no sides.

Eliana on the Tongue slide - Yep, it made me a little nervous without the sides.

Lots of good climbing!

She's gotta try out the big kid stuff.

Reading Rewards

We enjoy the library's summer reading program every summer. One of the favorite prizes is a pizza party at Pump It Up. It's always fun to jump with some good friends!

No time to stop for pictures!!

She's rolling

I wasn't expecting Karis to be rolling over so soon. I know it's time, but yikes! Eliana didn't roll over until she was 8 months old. So this seems soon. It's amazing how each kid develops so differently.

Karis has also found her hands. She's so cute when she just sticks her hand out in front of her and just stares at it as she slowly moves it around. She seems to be studying it so seriously. I wonder what she's thinking.....

Fun garage sale stuff

Our church had their annual garage sale last week. Now this is one huge sale. The gym is packed full 0f stuff and the rooms down one hall are all full of clothes. All the proceeds go to the youth group and their various activities and missions. I let the kids all go find one thing and this is what they have been enjoying for the past couple of days.

Joanna found a set of Barbie's old exercise equipment.

Eliana was so excited to find this Scooby-Doo puzzle. (This girl just loves Scooby-Doo.)

Caleb found a little train set. He's been enjoying it along with Karis. I had to prepare Caleb for the possibility of the train not working, so we were very happy when it started right up!

4 months old

Another month has flown by - Karis is 4 months old (a couple of days ago.) She's our cutie and loves all the attention she can get. We love her squeaks and smiles!!

Neighborhood Night Out

Tonight was our neighborhood's annual night out. There was a pretty good crowd despite how hot and humid it was. This year we even won a good prize from the drawing -- a $25 gift card from Walmart!

All the kids go crazy when the firetruck finally arrives. They can't wait to get sprayed down.

Picture day

The kids got their pictures taken today as you can tell by the new pictures. (I haven't figured out how to make the header picture at the top smaller. I guess I'll have to keep fiddling.)

It was interesting trying to get all 4 of them looking at the camera. Karis didn't really get the idea that she was supposed to smile and not just stare at the cute little animals. She also made it "fun" with all her spitting up. For those of you who are aware of how much she spits up, today was no exception. She even had some nice projectiles for the photographer! Check out Karis in the picture below. The other 3 did well even though Karis was a big distraction.

Settlers of Catan

Have you played this game! It is so fun!! We were introduced to Settlers a couple of years ago at a family reunion. We now play it anytime we get together with family and have a blast.

Today we taught Caleb to play and he won. He had some guidance along the way. He loves moving the robber and getting to steal someone's card.

One of the things we love about Settlers is that no game is ever the same. The board gets set up differently every time you play.

Karis scoping out Dad's resource cards.

Joanna having a good time!

Just cute

Caleb loves his little sister.

A friend found this Bumbo seat for Karis at a garage sale today. She's just cute sitting in it.

3 miles!

I went running with a friend tonight and ran 3 miles on my first time out since Karis was born. I thought it was going to be a struggle to make it 1 mile, but it wasn't too bad since I had good company. I feel good tonight---tomorrow will probably be a different story.

Conversations with Karis

Karis likes it when you talk to her! (Click play to listen in.)

The Falls

Here's all of us when we were in CO except for Karis who was in the shade of her stroller!

Junior Jet Set

Joanna, Caleb & Eliana are checking out the inside of a business jet.

Cessna held a party to celebrate the certification of the "XLS+" for those who were directly involved with the program. It was nice that families were invited.

Here's a picture of all of us by one of the airplanes in the hangar.

Annual bath

....for our van that is. Our van was so dirty from our trip out to CO that it needed it bad. Since this is something we don't normally do it was a lot of fun for the kids (and Aunt Sharon too!)

(I'll post about our fun trip soon!)

Joanna and Aunt Sharon getting "blown away" by the dryer.

Trans Fats

Uncle Dan was telling Joanna that she needed to go on an all-fat diet. He told her that she disappeared when she turned sideways. Caleb then turned to Uncle Dan and said very seriously, "Uncle Dan, Joanna just shouldn't be that fat because she eats Honey Bunches with Chocolate and it's got zero grams of trans fat."

Maybe he's a little tired?

The other night Joel was reading "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis to the kids before bed. The kids were coloring, and Joel was reading along about Prince Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace on their adventure, and then without a pause and with eyes half open he just said, "Did you know our van has two air bags? It has an air bag on the passenger side as well. If one of them goes off all you have to do is replace the CO2 cartridge." When I heard that I looked up and was going to tell Caleb to be quiet because I thought he was asking Joel some weird question. But just then Joel said, "I think I just fell asleep." Joanna and I just died laughing telling him what he had just said and how he so smoothly went from reading to speaking totally unrelated nonsense. Maybe Joel needs to get a little more sleep? Oh, and by the way, Joel does know that if your air bag goes off you need to do more than just replace the CO2 cartridge!

Visitors

Grandma & Grandfather are here visiting so we've been busy playing and getting ready to go on our trip with everyone in my immediate family. Karis also broke out with some very bad eczema which has gotten infected. We all feel bad for her and wish she didn't have to be so uncomfortable. I itch just looking at her and am very thankful we were able to see the doctor before we head out of town.