Catching up - Children's Museum

Back in May, Patrick was able to take a day off and come with us to the Children's Museum! We had a fun time, and it was a lot less crowded than other times that we've gone, which was nice.

Playing with shapes and colors at the light blocks table.

One of Elijah's favorite places - the construction machines.

Taking a water break.

Some Rhode Island homes and food throughout history.



The toddler/pre-school play area - so fun! And such a relief not to be constantly run over by the big kids.



Avocado, anyone?



Water room!



What a fun day!

A long, hot day

Last week we lost power at our house for most of the day - it went out after breakfast, and came back on just before the kids went to bed. It was a hot day! The kids spent the early part of the morning playing with water outside. They had a great time, but got pretty hot after a while, even though they were soaking wet.

Measuring and pouring and trying to keep cool!

When they looked like they were getting too hot, we went back inside. Thankfully the house stayed pretty cool until lunch time. (I guess it helped that we were outside!) I stripped the kids down and let them chill out with the portable dvd player until lunch.

It always takes a long time for the redness in Elijah's cheeks to go down.

We managed to get through naps alright, even without the air conditioner or fan. I was worried because the window AC means that we can't open their window at all, and they always have a fan on when they are sleeping. Hot + extra quiet = not good! They both slept OK though, and it was pretty warm, but not crazy hot in there when they got up. We watched the construction machines across the parking lot, and the utilities truck that came to fix the transformer for a while before dinner, and then went out to meet Patrick at a Chinese food restaurant. They had air conditioning! Hooray!

When we got home, the power was back on. I was so glad to be able to turn the light on and close the door in the bathroom. =)

Construction Machines!

We have enjoyed hours and hours of entertainment during the last two weeks, courtesy of the construction going on across the parking lot. They are putting in pipes for new fire suppressing sprinklers over there. We have two excavators (one of which has been using an impact hammer instead of it's scoop for the past couple of days), a dump truck, a couple of rollers, and a skid steer to watch in action. The kids are loving it, of course!

Catching up - some spring photos

I discovered I have some catching up to do - I have a bunch of pictures from before our trip that I hadn't put up yet! Here are some from earlier in May.

A beautiful double rainbow from our back door.

Sitting in a bin ...

reading her Bible.

This is still what Elijah spends most of his indoor playtime doing - building "awesome" tracks.

Molly is getting pretty good at it now, too. "Mama, I buiwd awesome twack!"

Strawberry picking

Last week we got to spend a morning strawberry picking at a local farm with friends from church. It was warm and sunny and the kids really enjoyed it! I think we ruined a lot more fruit - the kids have a hard time watching where they are walking - and maybe even ate more than we picked, but we had fun and came home with a manageable amount of strawberries that we could eat without having to freeze them or make jelly.

Hat, check. Glasses, check. Sunscreen, check. Ready!

Arlen and Titus were ready to go, too!

Picking! Molly had a hard time remembering to only pick the red ones.

Elijah did pretty well!

Proud of his basket

Enjoying the tractor ride back from the fields.

The fruit of our labor!

Friends.

Happy Birthday, Molly!

Today was both Father's Day and Molly's second birthday!

The birthday girl

We started the day with a special breakfast - Mickey Mouse shaped, blueberry pancakes for Miss Molly, and Daddy chose granola with blueberries on top. We had a good day of church and naps and talking with grandparents (on the phone and Skype) and playing outside, and then homemade pizza for dinner. After dinner we had a little celebration for Molly. Since we already got to celebrate with my family and with Patrick's family on our trip, it was just us, some balloons, and cake and ice cream. It was fun!

The cake!

Elijah ate the frosting and left the cupcake, but did eat his ice cream!

Molly ate everything. Yum!

And she was covered in it!

In her birthday PJs, with her Daddy, ready for bed.

It was a fun day. Patrick, thanks for sharing your Father's Day this year!

Miss Molly is growing up so fast. She talks all the time, and in full sentences. She wants to be a "struction" truck worker and a mama when she grows up. She loves her baby and loves to play tea party and trains and cars with Elijah. She occasionally wants to sit on the potty, but isn't very serious about potty training yet. We recently reached a milestone - Molly's hair is finally long enough to wear ponytails! She wasn't sure about having things put into her hair at first, but after spending a week with her cousins Piper and Tallie, she thinks her "piggies" are great. I like that we can do something cute with her hair, despite the fact that it's still filling in on top, and she stays a little cooler. She continues to get taller and taller all the time, and some of her cute baby roundness is starting to thin out (just a little bit). Her 2 year visit to the doctor is going to be a little late, so we'll see how tall she is then. She is very silly and loves to make us laugh - her little gap-tooth grin is so cute! We are so blessed to have our little Miss Molly in our family.

Showing off her piggy tails

So grown up!

Knoebels

After Cameron's wedding in North Carolina, we packed up and headed north again. We drove up to Pennsylvania, where Patrick caught a quick flight home, and the kids and I got to spend a week with Patrick's family. We got to spend time playing with cousins and just relaxing and recuperating. The kids and I all came down with a cold when we got there, so we didn't do much, but it was nice to just rest and take it easy. By the end of our week there, we were feeling a lot better, and we were excited to get to join Bobbi & Papa, Diane's family and Danny's family for the annual family trip to Knoebels!

There is a large area full of rides for littler kids, so even Molly and little Brynn got to ride quite a bit! The kids had a great time, and the adults enjoyed watching and taking pictures and occasionally riding along. It was a really nice day, not too hot, and there was plenty of shade - a great day to spend at the amusement park! Elijah and Molly both enjoyed every ride they went on, without being sick or scared. Elijah went on his first (little) roller coaster, and loved every minute of it!

This little whip was a big favorite!

The purple bug ride - the site of the infamous seat belt incident of 2010, as it has come to be known. Elijah decided to unbuckle their belt in the middle of the ride, when they were about 6 feet off the ground. Molly thought that being unbuckled meant that she should climb out. I nearly had a heart attack. The ride operator was lightening fast, and had the ride stopped and a helper there to keep Molly in her seat in just seconds, and every one was fine. Yikes.

These airplanes were super fun, too!

Maiah, Evan & Lorrie on the giant slide

I was very thankful that Molly took a short nap in her stroller in the afternoon. It didn't last long, but at least she got a little sleep! It was a big day, and I think even a little nap made a big difference.

Five of the seven grandkids (Molly and Brynn were asleep)

Elijah and Evan just loved these hand cars. They went over and over and over and over at the end of the day - there were no lines.

We had such a fun day with everyone! I'm sure that all the cousins will have great memories of these Knoebels days all together. Hopefully next year Patrick can come, too.

There are even more pictures of our day up on the Picasa album and facebook. Enjoy!