Finn's birth

Tomorrow we will be celebrating one year with Finn!

One year ago, when we were getting ready for bed, I started feeling faint contractions.  I knew that with both Molly and Elijah, I was already quite dilated when I started to feel contractions, so I paid attention right away.  When I timed them, the contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart, so we called the doctor.  We went to the hospital about midnight, and spent the rest of the night alternately walking the halls and watching the monitor.  My first two labors started slow, but went REALLY fast at the end, so we were all prepared for things to speed up at any time.  Finn decided to take his time, however.  Later in the afternoon, I got an epidural (my first - I was so scared!) and took a short, much-needed nap.  Finn finally made his appearance at 5:09 pm.  We were so excited to meet him!  He took to nursing right away, and we enjoyed spending some quiet time together.  It was a wonderful day.

Finn Patrick, 7 lbs 12 oz and 19 1/4", July 22nd

It was a very, very hot week.  During the first night it finally dropped below 100 degrees around 2 am.  The monitors around the halls of the hospital reported the temperature outside all night.  We were glad to be inside in the air conditioning!

Adventure Aquarium

We met Aunt Diane and the girls at Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ yesterday.  It was such a fun day!  My animal-loving kids, especially ocean-loving Elijah, were thrilled to see (and touch!) all the creatures.  It was beautiful, and we loved spending the day with Diane and Rylee and Brynn. 

we got to watch while they fed the hippos

Elijah at the huge shark tank - a happy boy

so cool

trying to touch a ray

happy baby at lunch time

all 5 cousins ("Look Ma, I'm a big kid, too!")

touching sea stars

Playing in the fountain was such a fun way to end the day!

Elijah's shark party!

Elijah turned six today!  We had a fun party to celebrate on Saturday.  Elijah chose sharks/oceans for the theme and we had a great time getting ready.  The kids helped make some decorations:

Everything turned out great, and we had a fun day celebrating.  

It's your birthday, Chum!

The birthday boy!  Finn was wearing his matching shirt, but we didn't a picture of them together.

Elijah's best friend, Isaac, and his brother Levi

All the kids loved playing in the pool, but Molly was in there ALL DAY

They also had a great time with the sprinkler.

Shark cupcakes!

Elijah, Molly and Evan got their shark tattoos on their foreheads!

Elijah and Molly proudly wore their shark tattoos to church the next day.

They became slightly famous at church.

Summer fun

Wow, we have a lot of catching up to do around here, as usual. =)  Lots of pictures of kiddos enjoying their summer!

Silly girl!

a fun end-of-school party at the playground

 

"hi, molly!"

Cooling off and chilling out, and snuggling together

our little artist

The kids love to play with water on the deck - a bunch of containers and kitchen stuff and they are set for a full day of fun!  We had a very hot day where they stayed cool by playing with water in swimsuits, followed by a very rainy day.  They wanted all the water stuff again, and had a grand time splashing around in their rain gear!

In a blanket fort with cousin Evan

Our sweet girl is FOUR!

Molly turned four years old on Wednesday.  We celebrated last week at Koenobel's with Patrick's family, and we tried to make sure her actual birthday was pretty special, too.  She loved her Strawberry Shortcake decorations and reveled in choosing all her menus for the day.  We had 'M' and '4' shaped pancakes, smoothies, and "noodles with white sauce," of course.  Aunt Lorrie and the cousins came and took Molly and Elijah to a movie, in the theater!  And Bobbi came for dinner.  We had strawberry lemonade, strawberry cupcakes, and strawberry ice cream.  She was thrilled with all her gifts, including lots of Jessie and Hello Kitty and her very own (pink!) Legos. 

in her strawberry shirt, too, of course!

crisscross applesauce

Molly is spunky, silly, and full of energy. She loves to draw and color and is learning to write lots of letters.  She is really looking forward to preschool in the fall, and seems to be a little less shy around new people this year (although you never know when she's going to suddenly need to hide behind my legs or just need a few minutes to warm up).  She loves to play pretend with Elijah, or her babies, or just pretend!  She "has volleyball practice on Friday mornings" with her pink volleyball, and loves to swim and dance.  She is also our resident artist - she loves to color and draw and paint and write "notes."  We love this little girl, and the four years we've had together!