Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah has been waiting since Kate's birthday in February for his birthday!  So, we started celebrating in the morning.  He is the only one that got his birthday cereal on his birthday! 

 He opened cards from Jerry & Judy, Emily & Eleanor.  He got fun stickers from Jerry & Judy.  :-)

Then it was off to church.  We had a lot of visitors in primary today!  We sang Happy Birthday to Noah and to Ian, who turned 4 yesterday.

We ate when we arrived at my parents' house after church.  The only food Noah requested for his birthday was watermelon, but then he didn't want any when we ate.  Silly boy!  Noah was more than ready to open his presents after we ate!  He loved the pokemon wrapping paper AND the beach toys inside!

 What could this be?

 Sombrero from Daddy!

 Fun party hats!

 Getting his new Spiderman watch on from Great Grammie.

 This sombrero makes you act silly!  Getting ready to open his favorite box from Grandpa & Grandma! He got a new flashlight and cars. :-)

 The bigger box had an awesome life jacket in it!

 Noah received many fun gifts!  Thank you everyone!

 The cake Noah picked out for his special day.

Remember Noah...you promised to stay 4 forever!  We love you!

On a different note...I added Funtown/Splashtown pictures to my July 3rd & 4th post and beach pictures to my Blue Hill Beach post.

Birthday Eve

This was Noah's last day being 3! I tried to convince him to stay 3 forever, but he really wants to be 4. He's willing to stay 4 forever, though. This morning was spent getting things done. I got things ready for Sharing Time. Matt mowed the lawn and went to the dump with Eleanor. Zoe did some cleaning for my Mom. Emily, however left with Ansley & Daisy to go have fun at the water park in Trenton.
Matt took Zoe canoeing this afternoon. Zoe was proud of the big bass that she caught. :-) I took the 4 younger kids swimming at the pool. Then I picked up Noah's birthday cake and brought it over to my parents' house for tomorrow. Zoe & Aly had decorated this morning for Noah's party. Noah looked at his presents that were set out and he got excited to see his little box from Grandpa & Grandma. We received the box on Tuesday and Noah insisted on bringing it to the parade Wednesday morning. I told him he could bring it in the car, which he did. He brought the box into my parents' house after the parade and it has been there ever since. He also received a bigger box from Grandpa & Grandma, but he didn't latch onto it like the smaller box. Noah is going to have a long day at church tomorrow as he thinks about the presents waiting to be opened in the afternoon and the cake to be eaten!
Zoe is understandably upset that her iPod is still missing. Matt took apart the front console in the Yukon, but he didn't see an iPod. We still haven't checked the back of the Yukon, so there is a little bit of hope.
My Mom burned her hand on her stove this evening! Her hand is red and blistering and hurts really bad. She could be at the ER right now getting it looked at. Matt went over to give her a Priesthood blessing with my Dad. He also brought over burn cream and bandages that we had leftover from Noah. We didn't have the stronger pain medicine for my Mom, though, so we encouraged her to go to the ER.

Blue Hill Beach

After swimming lessons this morning, the kids & I met up with Tasha & her kids at the Blue Hill beach/park. We haven't seen each other in a long time, so it took our kids awhile to warm up to each other. By the end of the day, they were hugging each other and planning our next beach day. :-) The kids had fun swimming and catching crabs.

We had fun jumping off a big rock into the water. It was scary at first! We played at the park before heading home.
Zoe was reading on her iPod on the way to the beach, but she couldn't find her iPod as we were loading up to go home. We searched high and low throughout the Yukon. I found $40 that Matt had left in the Yukon last Saturday, but no iPod. I hope it is tucked away somewhere and not stolen!
Matt & I went to Pizzeria Uno for dinner and then we went birthday shopping for Noah. He is very excited for his birthday on Sunday!
Our laptop is having issues and the cord that goes from the camera to the Xoom seems to have a bad connection, so I'll have to upload pictures soon from my parents' house.

A clean house makes me happy

Eleanor, Zach, Kate & Noah had swimming lessons this morning. Then I got some much needed cleaning done! We went to the pool for about an hour and then we went to my parents' house. We ate Chinese food for dinner. I wanted Chinese food yesterday, but Ming's had closed for the holiday. Good for them, but not so good for me! After we ate dinner, my parents, Phil & I played a game of Phase 10. Well, most of a game. It got late, so we quit early. The rest of the kids got on a Harry Potter computer game that Aly introduced them to. I read a few pages of the 2nd Harry Potter book to the kids this evening. I am so glad that Zach is really into the Harry Potter books. He seems to be more interested in reading the older he gets. :-)
Matt came home this evening from camp since he has court tomorrow morning. It is so nice to see him!

July 3rd & 4th

The kids & I are having a super fun 4th of July week! We had non-stop 12 hours of fun at Funtown/Splashtown yesterday. The kids had so much fun going down the water slides and going on rides!

 Kate loved going down the pink slide on a raft with me.

 Eleanor & Aly went down the blue slide, which goes straight down!  Eleanor is my fearless one!  Zoe went on the green slide, which is more twisty.

Favorite rides were... Zoe ~ Excalibur (wooden roller coaster)
Emily ~ Tilt-a-whirl

 Eleanor ~ Drop Zone
Zach ~ Swings
Kate ~ Teacups
Noah ~ Red Baron

The kids are at perfect ages to take to an amusement park.

I used to work at Funtown and I would operate the kiddie rides.  These bumper boats are at the edge of the park, so not many kids go on this ride.  It was nice to be able to walk in the water on a hot day, though.

 Kate & Zach were too big for the little bumper boats.  Kate had a hard time getting back to the side on her own when the ride was over, but she was very brave to go on this ride by herself!

 Kate, Noah, Zach, my Mom & I took a break to eat Dippin' Dots.  This squirrel was nearby having its own snack.

 Noah & Zach loved this hopper ride, but Kate DID NOT!

 Zoe lit up when we arrived at Funtown/Splashtown and she saw a Reese's machine!

 The kids are all tall enough to go on rides by themselves and they bounced from ride to ride to ride.

Emily tolerates the rides, but she was a good sport. The kids enjoyed themselves all morning, afternoon and evening and they left happy. :-)  We even saw bonus fireworks before we left!

We had a tired, down day today. We made it to the parade this morning

 and the fireworks this evening. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, playing Phase 10, watching the hot dog eating contest, Nanny McPhee Returns & Treasure Planet, and playing games on the computer.

 I am grateful to be an American!

Beach Photos

The kids, my parents, Phil, Aly & I are going to Funtown/Splashtown today!  We are excited!

Clean or Go to the Beach?

That is a no brainer!  I had plans to clean and do massive amounts of laundry today, but I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to hang out in the sun with friends at Little Tunk Pond.  We had so much fun!  The water was warm, there were lots of tadpoles to catch, a few frogs to catch (and kiss...ewww!) and fun friends to play with.  :-)  Thank you Sunshine for inviting us!

This morning, I heard Zach telling Noah that it is okay that they are different.  They are still best friends!  Awww

They keep growing

It is weird to think that some day our children will be grown and there will be no more looking for a missing shoe as we should be heading out the door.  No more 5 year olds getting grumpy during Sacrament Meeting because a sibling is touching her.  No more watching our girls do each others' hair.  No more stories about our 13 year old sharing a sweet testimony at Girls Camp.  No more stories about our 11 year old teaching a Sunday School Teacher.  No more 7 year olds wanting to build a paper house after church, just like he saw in Sharing Time.  No more cuddles from an almost 4 year old.  *Sigh*

Temple Trip & Scout Camp

My Mom, Grandmother, Zoe & I went to the Boston temple today.  We saw other members of our branch there, too.  Brooklin took good care of Zoe in the temple, which was sweet of her.  We had a very good day.  We stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel on our way home.  :-)

Scout Camp started today.  Matt went to the camp this morning with our boys for a little bit to help out.  He will leave early tomorrow morning for camp and stay until next Saturday.  Camp on Sunday AND on the 4th of July...don't get me started about that!