Summer Is....

Camping!!!
Even if it is only in the backyard. :) My uncle gave us a tent for the kids to play with and they had soooo much fun setting it up and playing in it. Kristen and Jenna even tried to sleep in it one night, but it got too cold for them.

Summer Is.....

A Lemonade Stand!!
Kristen and two of her good friends decided to have a lemonade stand. They spent a lot of time planning it and then finally were able to all get together to pull it off. They were good little sales girls and sold quite a lot and had a fun time doing it.

Camera Woes---again

We can't find the cord to our camera, so it's kind of hard to get the pictures off. Argh! Where oh where can it be?! Stay tuned....it's been a fun, busy month.

Bangs

The last time I had bangs was when I had Kristen. I grew them out right after she was born and swore I'd never get them again. But....I've been thinking that maybe some long swoopy bangs would be fun. So when Kristen asked to get them, I requested that she wait until after her end-of-the-year dance recital to do it. She ended up getting about 4 inches off her hair too. She loves it and I think she looks adorable!!! So many changes in that girl in the last month--hair, glasses, etc.

Speaking of changes...we just measured Kendall and he's now 5'1 1/2" tall--just barely over and inch to go until he passes me up. :(

4 years with Jenna

Jenna....she's our baby! Although it's safer not to call her that. It took awhile for Jenna to join our family. We decided to be surprised and not find out if she was a boy or a girl. I was leaning towards boy though. Kendall was FURIOUS when he found out he had a new sister, but he took one look at her and his heart melted. Jenna was only 15 days early, so I felt like I went overdue. I woke up one morning and thought I was in labor, but since I had a doctor's appointment 2 hours later, I just waited to go in until then. I decided, since she was our last baby, I wanted to do it naturally. I was in labor for just over 6 hours, but it only really hurt for about 10 minutes. She was my biggest baby, at 6 lbs. 9 ozs. and 20 inches.Jenna had colic for the first little while. From about 5-6 pm until 11 pm, she would scream and scream and act like she was in so much pain. After that wore off, she was a pretty mellow baby.She can be the sweetest ("Mom, I have a surprise for you--a back scratch!") girl and the moodiest. She used to put people in "jail" if she was mad at them or didn't like something. Her hair didn't start curling until she was a year old and the front didn't start until she was over 2. She has this wild, curly hair and sometimes the personality to match. She can be feisty, but then a minute later, very sweet and cuddly. She HATES princesses and girly things and LOVES animals!! She's been a ton of fun!

7 years with Jarren

I had forgotten that I did this with Kristen, so I'll have to back up and do Jarren and Jenna. :)

Jarren....when I found out I was expecting with him, I was really happy, but then I had a scare and I thought I was miscarrying. I didn't, thank goodness, but I did have a strong feeling that he was a very special boy. I wasn't surprised at all when we found out he really was a boy. I had a doctor appointment 4 weeks before my due date. This appointment was the day after Memorial Day and I had been having contractions off and on all that weekend (which was nothing new, but there were a ton more than usual). I was having them 4 minutes apart the whole 30 minute drive to the doctor. I walked in and told him that and he said he wanted to listen to the heartbeat before he checked to see if anything was going on. I went to lay back on the table, so he could listen to the heartbeat, and my water broke. I didn't have my bag; I didn't have Jon; I wasn't prepared yet! I was soooo worried that he wouldn't be ready to be born yet, but after a 6 hour labor, he was just fine--5 lbs. 11 ozs. 19 inches. He came home from the hospital after a day and a half!Jarren's always been a busy boy--he started rolling a 4 weeks old; he was walking by 11 months; he didn't crawl much, because he would roll and roll and roll to where ever he wanted to be. He's never had much interest in typical learning--he loves to be read to, but not to read. He doesn't like to write. He loves tumbling, bike riding, video games, dressing up, and Legos! He's always been a crazy, goofy kid with bright, sparkling blue eyes and a huge smile and laugh (dimple included).I now know why he's so special--this ADD has been a huge challenge for all of us, but he's a strong enough spirit to deal with it. I love you, Jarren!!

Jarren's 7th Birthday

Jarren turned 7 years old today!! I went to Young Women last night and found out that we had a Youth Conference meeting right after--that was unexpected--for me, at least. I came home a little early to get the kids to bed, but couldn't, so I had to take them back over with me (Jon and Kendall are in North Carolina for the week). So...they didn't get to bed until 10:30 pm and I didn't get the cake baked until then! Jarren wanted a Fossil Stallord cake (a bad guy off of Zelda).
I couldn't find any patterns online, so I had to freehand it. He's such a funny kid--he decided that since it's his birthday, he can do WHATEVER he wants to do. He decided to wake the girls up at 8:30 so he could open gifts. We did the typical clue-in-the-balloon scavenger hunt for him. Then he decided that he doesn't have to do homework or reading today, since it's HIS day. I wanted to take the kids to see Shrek or How To Train A Dragon, but he did NOT want to go. Kristen suggested Classic Skating, so off we went. Ugh. We just went last week, so it wasn't as much fun for the kids today. But we still spent 3 hours there. He wanted his cake for breakfast, but I said we were going to spread things out a little--we'll do cake after his special dinner of spaghetti tonight. He didn't get many things this year--every thing was too much money. He got the new Super Mario Galaxy 2 game, some coins, a new shirt, some mini recess's peanut butter cups (about 5), a Viking ship Lego set, a Links costume (from Zelda), and some money from grandmas. Jenna was sooooooooo mad! She kept crying and crying, saying that she wanted her other birthday to come. Poor girl--it's so hard to understand that she can't have a birthday every time someone else does. :)