All Stiched up

 An accidental drawer left opened, meant stitches in the nose for Kyler. He was brave and only had three stitches, so no real harm done. Although, I was a little annoyed that the ER nurse practitioner did such a sloppy job on the stitches!

But this made ER trip number two in just four weeks! The first was a little more traumatic for everyone when Kyler fell off a picnic table at soccer practice. He didn't move a muscle for 15 minutes, and the ambulance was called. He had fallen onto the concrete with the metal bar of the picnic table at the base of his head. Gradually, he was able to move his arms, then legs, and about 5-10 minutes later could then talk again. It was one of my scariest parenting moments! It made me realize how quickly life can change! Fortunately, he was OK and all is well. By miracle, Dave showed up after work right after it happened and gave him a blessing.

Having a boy is wonderful, but these accidents are harder on mom than anyone! Hopefully, I can keep this boy's energy directed in a positive and safe way!

Papa and Grammy fun

A summer visit from Papa and Grammy has one constant -- fishing!

Grammy, Papa, Mommy and Daddy kept busy re-baiting their lines and pulling the fish off their hooks. The kids caught so many fish that all four adults kept busy.

The kids caught and released many small fish that they caught with worms, but we actually had a fun fishing story to tell. Aubrie caught a small fish and then a gigantic northern pike ate the small fish on her line! Her tiny rod couldn't handle it and we had no net, so it got off, but she was able to reel it in close enough to see it in the water. Her pole was bent in half! Notice Aubrie's bandaged knee from her terrible bike accident just days before.

We love to pack in the fun when we have visitors. We decided to check out the Minneapolis sculpture garden and mini golf course.

A mini-golf course designed by modern artists created quite the quirky course.

Kyler loves anything that he can have a reason to use a stick. He actually did remarkably well for a three-year-old! We love making memories with our Papa and Grammy!

Kyler LOVES his Papa. We chuckle how much Kyler looks and acts like him too. We love this photo of the Papa/Kyler swag. If anybody knows my Dad or Kyler, you know exactly what I mean by this! They both have a special confident strut -- sorta like they own the place.

The Happiest Places on Earth

After Utah, we hopped in our rental car and drove to California for the next fun leg of our summer trip. On the way, we picked up Lauren in Vegas.

Although Kyler had been to Disney World when he was a tiny baby, he obviously appreciated Disney much more this time -- he especially loved 'Small World.'

Lauren and I had to recreate this picture that we took at this same spot 16 years ago!

We have changed just a little in those 16 years! This picture hung on my fridge for years!

After Disneyland, and a wonderful visit with some old friends, we traveled up the coast for Dave's family gathering at Carpinteria State Beach.

Dave's family has been gathering generations of cousins and friends in this small town for the past 30-plus years. This year's gathering may have broken a record for the amount of kids ages 10 and under.

 



This year was particularly fun for Dave as he was able to convince his two best friends from high school--Bob and Eric--to join in the fun. Dave has met up with Bob, maybe only three times, since high school.

Prior to the meeting, the duo set up their daughters as pen pals. Aubrie was thrilled to meet her pen pal in person.

It was also fun to see Eric's three girls and one boy match up with our kids.

Ellie and Tori were insperable -- and despite the height difference, they are actually the same age (Ellie is even a few weeks older!).

One of the kids' favorite parts of Carpinteria is the candy shop -- Robitaille's.

Well, and another favorite is boarding with Daddy.

And jumping the waves.

We love Carpinteria! 

Enjoy the highlight reel!

Short Utah stop

Planning our summer vacation took hours more time than we had hoped. Finding the right balance between spending enough time with everyone we wanted to visit and having it not cost a fortune, was beyond exhausting. But, we finally found a plan, but this plan only allowed three days in Utah. So, we packed everything we possibly could in those short days. At the top of everyone's list was to visit with our good friends who have since moved from Minnesota. It was so great to be united with them, even just for a few short hours. Jamie was so gracious to host and feed us. We loved seeing their new beautiful home. Between Jamie, Necia and I, we now have 15 kids (in July it was 14 1/2 though)! 

Another favorite tradition is going with the kids' cousins, their Aunt Toni and Grandma to Gardner's Village. We all love window shopping through the cutesy shops. As you can see by their faces, it was a HOT day.

But the most important reason why we squeezed in a three day visit to Utah was to see my 91-year-old grandpa, because we knew his days were limited. We were so grateful we could say goodbye to him one last time.

It's the red, white and blue

Fourth of July is my personal favorite holiday. We continued with our bike/scooter parade tradition. This year the weather was much more cooperative than last year--it was stunning.

Wearing red, white, and blue is a big part of the fun.

Kyler knew they were choosing certain clothes, so somehow that translated to wearing the transformers hat on his head. Hey, at least it was blue!

We enjoyed partying with our dear friends and neighbors. We had a blast! I think the highlight was actually not the bike parade but the family Olympics. We enjoyed the fireworks from our loft window! It was a great day with great memories created!

Super Heroes

Watch out, here come the super heroes! We came ready to save the world at Daddy's corporate themed-picnic.

Ellie won first place for best super-hero outfit!

Kyler arrived as Batman, and of course didn't pass up the pirate face paint! 

Is this the cutest 'Jesse' ever?

And of course, don't forget this Hermoine meets Wonder Woman costume. Even though we were super hot, we had super fun!

Pinkalicious Birthday

Teyah chose to go all pink for her 6th birthday party -- themed after the book 'Pinkalicious.' We kicked off the party with a quick read of one of the books where each time the word pink was read, the girls had to do something silly.

Of course, the day was all about pink: pink cake, pink marshmallows, pink cupcakes...

pink lemonade, pink balloons, pink goodies...

pink, pink, pink!

games that involved pink dresses...

and lots of precious pink memories with girls wearing pink!

Teyah was actually afraid of the candles! I had to convince her the house wasn't going to burn down, put my arm around her, and then she was OK to blow them out! Silly girl!

Some special things about Teyah:
-Teyah is a total sweetheart and just so pure and innocent. She is loving, affectionate and such a little doll.
-She had an awesome kindergarten year! She blew away my expectations. It was so hard to decide if I should send her and to which school, but she adapted remarkably well!
-Teyah is reading!
-She learned how to ride her bike without training wheels as soon as the snow melted. She had been riding a balance bike and it was truly the most amazing thing to transition her to a real bike. It was like there was no learning curve at all!
-Teyah fatigues easily physically, but when she puts her mind to it she works so, so, hard!
-She has many friends and is well-liked by her peers.
-She is the only one of my children whose voice volume is quiet! As a result, I think her voice is not always heard among the cacophony of children in our house! I am always feeling guilty for this.

Dave's Birthday tradition

For the past several years, David has chosen to celebrate his birthday at Benihana -- where we can eat Japanese Tepanyaki.

This year we chose a new Tepanyaki restaurant closer to home. The chef's certainly impressed us with their 'volcano' and other fun tricks.

I could not have come up with a creepier birthday mask if I tried!! What a fun night!

Running in the rain

One day in the spring, I received a note from Teyah's kindergarten teacher telling me that she was very worried that I had lost the 'Run Club' form, and that she really wanted to do the club. Since Teyah doesn't ask for much, I made sure to find the form and allow her to participate. Teyah loved the club and on her own put herself into a difficult running group designed for older kids. We were pleasantly surprised by her passion to push herself as a runner! This girl is determined when she sets her mind to something! 

I asked Aubrie if she would also join the club with her to help keep an eye on her. She delightfully agreed.

The club is designed to prepare the kids for the school's 5K. But much to our dismay, on the day of the big run, it rained buckets! Because of Teyah's sensory struggles, I thought for sure she would back down because being wet and uncomfortable is extra miserable for her (just to put it into perspective, just lightly spraying her hair with a spray bottle to style her hair causes a fit!). But, as difficult as it was for her being wet, she was determined! 

Before the 5K started, the school had a mile fun run for kids who didn't want to do the full 5K. Teyah was adamant that she run that. So, she did -- the whole thing without stopping -- and so did Aubrie. Immediately following, it was lineup time for the 5K and they both wanted to still do it--even after running the mile! So, off we went in the rain. Aubrie ran ahead. I held Teyah's hand the whole way. She wanted to run fast in the beginning, although I tried to teach her about pacing. But halfway through, she ran out of gas. She started to say, "This is 'bowing' (boring) Mommy." She started to lose her determination until one of her friends ran up behind us. This re-energized her, and she started to run again. She pressed on and finished in about 42 minutes! I was amazed at her determination to not quit! Teyah has had some physical struggles over the years with strength, balance, and fatigue and as a result has received Physical and Occupational Therapy. I was astonished that she was the first kindergartner girl across the finish line! It was one of my most proud moments as a mom -- and one I will never forget. As soon as we were done, the wet clothes began to truly aggravate her, and we went home for a warm bath. What Teyah conquered that day was simply inspiring!

Even my clothes were so waterlogged, they were falling off of me because they were so heavy, and every step was a squish in the tennis shoes.

And, if that wasn't enough, when we crossed the finish line, we discovered on the leader board that Aubrie had finished as the fastest girl in her school! Not bad, for just doing it to help keep an eye on her baby sister! I have never been so proud of my kiddos!! Way to go Aubrie!!