If you need a smile

i took this video of charlotte one night last week. she was hanging out in her exersaucer watching us get the big kids ready for bed and just chattering away! she does this all the time lately and i just love it! i really never get tired of hearing her sweet voice.....i do think that she's already realized that to be heard in this family, she's going to have to speak up. :)

splishin' and splashin'

one of the most fun parts about our new swingset has been the amazing slide. it makes me want to go down it, and i have and it's awesome. so it wasn't long after setting up the playground that the kids started begging to put their pool at the bottom so they could slide into it.

this has made for some fun, fun, fun playtime. i mean, the kids have spent hours out there and they just never seem to get tired of it! i have a feeling that before summer is over, you might even see matt & i out there as well. :) we'll just have to get a bit of a bigger pool at the bottom first.

when they get to going down that slide & they're all wet they zoom through that water. we've even put the slip n' slide at the bottom & boy, oh, boy was that fun! but the pool is still the best. sure makes for some super-tired kiddos at bedtime, too. ;)

Birthday Celebration

i'm finally getting around to posting pictures of madeleine's birthday. i had a great time planning something special for her big day. i wanted her to wake up so something special that would make her feel special. :) this is what i came up with:

my sleeping princess. i actually woke her up. i just couldn't wait any longer to start her big day!

we had a super fun morning meeting up with mimi and grandad at rick's bakery for breakfast. we watched them decorating the cakes -- such fun! -- and then picked up madeleine's cake. since the kids had slept so late, we got home not long before matt got off work. (hurray for summer....he only works till 12 right now!)

after some lunch, we let madeleine go ahead and open her gifts. she just couldn't wait any longer!

the only things she'd asked for were a mermaid mini barbie & a fairy barbie. she got them both, plus quite a bit more. :)

opening her mermaid barbie set from harrison. we always have the kids get each other something for christmas/birthdays to try and teach them the joy of giving. sometimes it works, other times, not so much. harrison kept asking madeleine if they could share each gift.

the rest of the afternoon, while harrison and grandad napped, madeleine played with her new stuff. i love this picture. she's got on her new tutu and sunglasses and has her new barbie pool all set up under her new barbie umbrella. love it!

then if was off to red robin for dinner. madeleine wore her birthday crown for the event. :)

then home for some yummy cake and ice cream. she loooved her cake! it was so stinkin' cute.

sugar and uncle stewart made the drive up to join us for dinner, but i have no pictures of them. boo. it made madeleine's day that they came to share it with her (have i mentioned how much my kids just love stewart? well they do & he's so good with them).

i still can't believe that my girl is 6. wow. we had a great day celebrating miss madeleine!

Six

My dear baby girl turned six today. I guess she's not really a baby anymore, although she's still my baby.

Six years. Six years since I looked into that beautiful face for the first time. Six years since I first felt the indescribable love that a mother feels for her child. It's a love that strikes so hard and fast. Six years of constant worry. Six years of feeling her little hand in mine, growing bigger by the day and knowing I'll never forget how if feels. Six years of listening to her little voice becoming not so little anymore. Six years of countless hugs and kisses. Six years of "I love yous." Six years of bedtime stories and lullabies. Six years of three in the bed. Six years of snuggles. Six years of wonderful.

Words seem to simple in many ways to express how much love I have for you. I can thankfully say that I know that I have not taken any of it forgranted. I have loved every single day.

You are our sweet one. You are caring and thoughful. You're a pleaser. And you're growing and changing all to quickly into a little lady. You have changed more this year that I'd ever imagined. You are just so big. Your thoughts are so grown-up. You have worries for the first time. You think beyond the next day or week. You can read. You are the child in the class that everyone likes. And you're ours.

I thank God every single day for allowing me to take care of you for a little while. And I am so proud of you. You have a love for God that already shines through you. You take care of your little brother & sister. You shares with them & others. You love to sing, and you especially love to sing church songs. I'll never forget the sound of your voice just belting them out from the backseat of the car. Priceless. You love going to bible class and are constantly amazing me with the thoughts you have on what you've learned.




So, happy birthday sweet Madeleine. You have changed our lives forever. You have made the past 6 year such fun and quite an adventure. I cannot wait to see what the future holds.

Other Weekend Fun

While Matt & I worked on the playground the kids found lots of other fun things to do outside. Matt had to move their existing playground and pool to make room for the new one. Where the pool had been left a very flat, muddy area....which they loved. They played in the mud/pool most of the day on Friday.

Saturday morning was rainy here. So while Matt tackled the playground (such a trooper, he is!) the kids and I did some indoor crafts. We started by painting suncatchers, then moved on to paper.

Miss C had to get in on the fun as well. She is happy just watching big sister & brother at work.

The crafts couldn't keep Harrison indoors for long, though. He just had to be outside if Daddy was out there. So, being the great mom that I am, I let him play outside in the drizzle/mud all day. He had such fun!

He spent about 3-4 hours outside entertaining himself in the rain....with Daddy close by. :)

And he was one muddy boy when he was finished!! I had to bathe him 2 times just to get him clean, one scrubbing wasn't enough to get off all that mud. And, the tub got a good cleaning afterwards as well.

Sunday afternoon brought much nicer weather & back outside they went.....this time mud-free. :)

Or almost, mud-free. Harrison is such a boy & just couldn't stay away! At one point someone made a mud snake that looked a bit too real & scared me!

Playground Palooza

We spent most of our fourth of July weekend constructing a huge new playground for the kids (and by "we" I mostly mean "matt"). After weeks of researching & reading online reviews and checking out many, many playgrounds, we finally decided which one we wanted to buy. We knew going into it that it was going to take several days to build & so we were prepared....kind of. :)

Day 1
The first day we unloaded the boxes and organized all the wooden pieces. We went over all the packing lists and made sure that all the pieces had been sent. Ironically, we had all the pieces except the instructions! Definitely needed those. So, after a quick trip back to the store to get an extra copy, we were ready to begin.

The kids were so excited. Actually, I'm not sure excited accurately describes how pumped they were!

Day 2

Construction begins. I tried to take pictures along the way so we could remember just exactly how much work went into this project!

The kids loved getting to help when they could. They toted wood from the garage to the backyard when it was needed and placed screws.

Did I mention how tall this is??? The kids are eye level with my kitchen when they're on the second level and look down on me from the third.

Day 3

This day it started to look more like a house. The sides went up....which took Matt a long time to do. He also built the picnic table.

By the end of Day 3 it looked like a house!

Day 4

First the swingset part was installed. That was no easy task!

The rockwall & and ladders were built.

Day 5

The house was finished! Matt installed the slide & attached the rockwall. He added the handlebars and made some other final adjustments. We tinkered with some of the other parts and changed a few things to make it feel a little safer (for our adventuresome 3 year old!).

The finished product!

The kids couldn't wait to play on it!

This is the view from their house. Fabulous!!

Harrison sneezing. Cute.

This is one cool playground! The glider, the rockwall, the awesome slide & 3 levels make for some fun times!

The best part is, what began as Matt building the kids a playground, turned into a fun family project. We spent the better part of 3 days outside all together. Matt actually told me last night that he was a little sad it was over....he'd enjoyed it that much. He said it gave him such pleasure to do that for the kids and have them help & be involved when they could made it even that much more fun!