Ella moves in with Lani...

We have a 3/2 house, so it has always been the plan for Ella to move in with Lani before the 3rd child arrives...with only 3 months to go we decided to move Ella in so that she would begin to get used to sleeping in her big girl bed.  

She is doing great so far...She has not fallen out, but I did catch her a few nights ago completely reversed in her bed! 

Fun with cousin Taylor!

First a fun fact:  Taylor was born one month after Lani,  Myra Jane was born one month after Ella.   So both of the cousins are so close in age!  On top of that, The Bennetts (Matt and Karen) had their kids one month after Amie and Russell (Taylor and Myra Jane) both times as well.   We did not plan that, but it is pretty cool how that happened!  We are now on our third and neither one of those families followed our lead...

Now for the post: They did alot more than play dress up, I promise!  Since my sister dressed me up in a see through dress when I was about this age, and paraded me into the kitchen where my parents had people over, I thought I would give Taylor something 

to talk about when he is older!

For the record, Taylor is all boy, camouflage and all...

Flashback

Looking through pictures I found this one of Lani and Jack from May 2007.  This was a trip to the Zoo!

Proud Parent Post

If it seems like there are a lot of post about how great my kids are...what do you expect? This is a family blog!  

At the end of the year we will go to blurb.com and create a book from all of our post as a new way to scrapbook.  Lindsay (thank you Lindsay for all of your hardwork!!) loves to scrapbook the old fashioned way...cutting out paper for letters and other crafty things...Well she does not have time as of late (last 2 years) for those detailed scrapbooks.  Thus the cool new way.  I cannot scrapbook like she does, but I can attempt blogging!

Now for the post:

Lani you continually amaze me with your abilities! Just another thing to remember...Making our name tags at the family reunion.  Can not wait to see how much you learn when you start kindergarten in a few months!  I love you sweet Lani!  Daddy

Lani and swimming lessons

Lindsay could write more about this one, but I did get to one swim lesson for a few minutes.  I believe this is her second round of swim lessons at this point.  She is swimming pretty well for 4, enough to where you can be just a little bit less worried about her being in and around water. She still has to really learn form and things like breathing as she swims.  Plenty of time to practice all that at the pool this summer!

While I was there the kids were jumping off the diving board and swimming over to the ladder.

Way to go Lani!  You are doing great!

 

Father's Day Card

Lani does a great job with her cards...I always save cards, but now I can scan them and put them on the blog too!

Thank you Lani for my beautiful Father's Day Card!!!  I love you sweet girl!

Poppa Daddy

Inside of the card

Outside of the card

Trip to Costco

Thursday night Lani, Ella and I went to Costco so that mommy could have some time to get some things done...If Lindsay ever needs some time, that is where we go.  I think I could go there at least once a week for entertainment.  

We were able to sample some food while we were there and pick up a few things we needed...On the way there Lani made me a list b/c she probably already realizes that I have a horrible short term memory.  

A couple of comments and suggestions:

- We buy the red seedless grapes at Costco...we freeze them and then eat them in a night or two.  Great snack.

- There are some lime tortilla chips at Costco...I believe they are called Coronados? Great Chips.  They are buy one get one free till the end of the month and may actually* lower your cholesterol.

- I bought and paid for a 5 disc set of Classical Guitar music for $9.99 and did not even know it till I got to the car. Lani or Ella?  I think Ella put it in there!

- Did you know that cocktail sausages are a seasonal item @ Costco?

Robert

spelling and typing...

fog kitten pup dad mom dog pig baby lani ella

Lani thought up,spelled and typed these. We had more to spell out, but mommy just laid down the bedtime law!

Good night world.

Robert

Lani sounding out words...

For everyone that reads this on a reader, there is a video that we want you to watch....

Lani is really progressing in being able to take simple words and sound them out...she knows how all the letters sound!  Well, do not take my word for it...watch this short video and hear for yourself.  Listen closely as she sounds out the words we give her...she even adds a little commentary about life!  If you listen really close you can hear ella in the background!

VBS Recap - Building the Wall

Ok, this is my first time to blog. I'm not particulary fond of writing, but Robert is getting me into this blog thing. He has been wanting to have a blog for awhile now, but I was not interested. But, I am seeing how this might be fun! So, here goes my VBS recap.
I love VBS! I have always loved being involved with VBS and look forward to it each summer. This year, we had a completely new format and curriculm thanks to the hard work of Rebekah Pittman. It was so much fun to be apart of this group and see God bring everything together for a wonderful week for your children. VBS was on Nehemiah - I know most of us didn't know much if anything about Nehemiah, I know I sure didn't. The theme was construction and building the wall around Jerusalem. There were different rooms the kids went to and in the story teller room, they decorated it like a little girls room. They used Lani's comforter, tent (Given to her by her wonderful Mattie) and floor pillows. She loved that! Me and my friend, Camille, were in charge of the crafts. We made tool boxes, sling shots, construction hats, shields - the kids loved it! The last day, the big kids got to do a rock climbing wall and the little kids did the Big Green Bus.


This was Lani's second year of VBS. She was in the 4 year old room since she is close to being four. But what was so funny is that she told one of her teachers every time they moved from one room to another, "I'm suppose to be with the 4 year olds. Mommy said to make sure I am with the 4 year olds." I think I had told her the first day, because I had taken her to an early room to get things ready, to let them know she went in the 4 year old class because I knew if she just told them she was 3 she would be put in the wrong class. So obviously she was determined to make sure she stayed in the right class! She had a great time though and did not want it to end. She was sad to know she had to wait till next summer to do VBS again. When I asked her the beginning of the week what her favorite thing was, twice she told me the object lesson room which is where they learned more about Nehemiah and other Bible Builders. I was expecting her to say crafts or recreation. Now I will say the end of the week she told me she loved the Big Green Bus! So overall, VBS was a great week and Lani and I both had an wonderful time! (Of course, Ella got lots of attention from Julie Trumbull all week in the nursery:)

The craft workers - Camille, Carla, Rosemary, me