Beautiful Baptism

We went to a very sweet baptism this morning. Alea turned 8 a few weeks ago, so she was our next primary child to be baptized. Turning 8 in the summer is fun because you have the option of being baptized outside. Alea chose to be baptized in a lake in Lamoine. It was a beautiful spot on a beautiful day with a beautiful girl. :-)

The kids & I went over to my parents' house for lunch and then I took the kids to the pool. This was one of our last days at the pool with Aly. :-( Noah has mastered jumping into the deep end, floating to the top, and then swimming to the side. At the beginning of the summer, I would have to be in the water while Noah jumped into the deep end. Now, I can sit close by on the bench and watch him. It is so much fun to watch Kate & Noah jump into the pool over and over again. They love it!

Zoe & Emily are at Great Skates this evening with Aly, Phil & my Dad. I hope they are having a fun time!

Already?

Today was the last swim class for this session.  Noah had his class with Carrie and he passed!  Yay Noah!  Kate had her class with Johnny and she needs to work on swimming across the pool without touching before she passes her class.  Noah & Kate are now in the same class.  Zach had his class with Taylor.  She is a new lifeguard and Zach thinks she is great!  Zach needs to work on swimming the back stroke in a straight line before he passes his class.  Eleanor had her class with Brandon and she passed!  Yay Eleanor! She is one class away from being in the water safety class with Zoe & Emily. The kids had a surprise visit from a past lifeguard, Emily today! She found out when our kids had swimming lessons, so she could come see them. So sweet! We miss seeing Emily at the pool!

We spent more time today with Aly & Phil. The kids went swimming for a short time this afternoon and then they spent time together while Matt & I went canoeing & fishing. It was a peaceful evening on the water. :-)

I took Zach to see the doctor today for his bee sting allergy. We have a prescription for "epipens" and he will see an allergist about possible allergy shots.

Fun activities

The younger 4 had swimming lessons today and then we went to hang out with Aly & Phil. When my Dad got home, we went to the Dairy Port for yummy ice cream. :-) Zoe played in the community soccer program this evening. Anyone 7 & older can play soccer for free on Tuesday & Thursday evenings. The rest of us went to the evening swim at the pool. Aly joined us. Matt & I talked while the kids swam, which was nice because we haven't spent much time together lately. We had a late family dinner, which was also nice.

Here is a random picture of Noah & my Dad enjoying peanuts together.

Best day of his life!

After Zoe's & Emily's water safety class (at 8am!) and Zoe's basketball (open gym with coach Frost) we went to play at the Dalton's camp. Anne, Andrew, Sunshine & her kids were there. After spending some time swimming and jumping off the dock, we piled in the boat and did some tubing. This was a first for most of us. The younger kids looked so cute as they enjoyed a slower ride. We all had so much fun! Zoe, Emily & I went at the same time. We had a long, wild ride until I fell off. Even that was fun, though! Before most of us went tubing, we rode to a beach and did some more swimming. Noah's new sand toys got some use. :-) At the beach, Zach was heard saying, "This is the best day of my life!" It was pretty awesome!

We went to the church when we left the camp. Zoe had Young Women's. They made a poster for their value food drive. Each month, a new value from the young women theme is chosen. The color of that value for the month is the color of the food to be brought in for the food drive. So, January was Faith. Faith is white. People brought in sugar, flour, marshmallows, fluff...anything white and nonperishable. The young women have been taking inventory of the food brought in. Then the food goes to President Dauk to be given to families in need. I love this project! It is a great way to learn the young women values...Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice & Accountability, Good Works, Integrity & Virtue. It is fun to see what food you can think of to go with the color of the month. It is great that the young women have given us a way to help those in need in our branch. :-)

I was able to attend the Boy Scout Court of Honor while I waited for Zoe. I am proud of the accomplishments of our scouts!

The kids & I went to Subway for dinner. I like Subway toys much better than McDonald's. The Brave bags will get used a lot I bet. The kids ate really good, too. They were all full when we left.

Duck Dynasty

Zoe is back home.  :-)  She was going to come home on Sunday, but she stayed a few extra days.

We brought Aly with us to the YMCA in Bangor this afternoon to swim with the Peterson's.  Caroline wasn't there, though.  Annie had some free passes for us to use.  We were going to meet at the lake again, but the weather didn't cooperate.

We watched "Duck Dynasty" with my parents & Aly this evening. We're trying to get them hooked. Matt, Emily & I love the show!

Matt has been working on an appeal at work this evening. :-(

SUMMER

We are loving the hot, sunny Summer weather!  We picked Aly up and went swimming at the pool this afternoon.  :-)

Picture Post

Noah enjoying the sunshine and bubbles.

Having fun at Ian's birthday party! 

 How often do you get a present at someone else's party? 

 We love being recipients of Sunshine's sewing talent!  Ian received the same awesome blanket! 

 Look at the awesome dragon pinata that Ian's Grandma & Mom made!

 Fun frog toy!

After the party, we went to Brooklin to visit Zoe & the Bairds. 

 We did a bit of rock descending to get to the water.

 Noah going to retrieve his flip flop.  He did end up losing one in the mud, so he left with one flip flop.

 Zach discovered that he loves to kayak!

 It was fun for the kids to practice in the shallow water.

Eleanor & Millie have bonded.

Emily & Eleanor wore their new skirts to church today that they made on Wednesday night.  I bought them new shirts to go with them.  :-)

Matt got stung by a wasp this morning in our house.  Everything comes in threes, so now I am waiting for one more person to get stung.  :-(

Date Day

Zach is back to himself today. I am going to call the doctor on Monday to let them know what happened. We have received great advice about this from our friends. It sounds like we will need an epiPen for Zach.

Matt & I had our date day today.  We went to Bugaboo Creek for lunch.  I tried the lobster & shrimp penne, which was good, but it didn't have much lobster & shrimp in it.  I agree with Matt that lobster is cheap enough now that we could buy some to eat at home.  I think I will put it on next week's menu.  :-)

  Eleanor & I went to Sammy's piano recital this evening. I love listening to piano music. There were 6 girls/young women who performed and they were all amazing! I wish I had told Matt that I wanted a piano room in our new house. We may have to squeeze a piano in somewhere. My girls would love to take piano lessons, but we don't have a piano for them to practice on. I grew up having a piano in our home, but I hated to practice, so I did it as little as possible. Now I wish that I had a piano to practice on.

Bee Sting

We spent the morning at the Millis' to celebrate Ian's 4th birthday! He turned 4 the day before Noah.  :-)

Then we went to Brooklin to visit Zoe, JoDee, Eden, Millie & Maggie.  We had fun talking, playing & kayaking.  :-)

Matt & I were going to go out on date night, but a bee flew into the yukon when we got home & stung Zach on the leg.  Zach was shocked to get his first bee sting and he was upset.  I calmed him down and convinced him that he was okay.  Then he complained that his throat itched.  Then his eyes hurt.  Then his ears itched.  Then his eyes became watery.  He coughed a lot.  I talked with Matt on the phone and then I gave Zach some benadryl.  He got ready for bed and then laid down. When Matt got home about 1/2 hour after talking with him, he had Zach get up to take a look at him. Zach's face was swollen.

He is now asleep and will hopefully be back to normal in the morning. More excitement this evening...Emily pulled out a loose tooth!

Swimming & Reading

The kids had swimming lessons this morning.  Then we brought Lauren home with us to play with Kate.  We went back to the pool in the afternoon for free swim.  Our fun was cut short when someone threw up in the pool.  Ewww!  We came home and the kids watched "Tangled".  Then Kate & I walked Lauren home and then we came back home to eat dinner.  We had a family dinner, minus Zoe.  We miss Zoe!  Then Matt & I introduced the kids to the show, Duck Dynasty.  It can be a bit gross, but it is a great show!

I have been reading my book today, but I have forced myself to have a productive evening.  I am going to read one more chapter (even though I am tired) and then go to bed.

Down Day

We are having a low key day today. Eleanor went to play with Anna for a few hours this morning at Anna's Grandmother's house. They went swimming and enjoyed playing games in the pool. The rest of us stopped at the library and now we are all at my parents' house to see Phil & Aly. The kids are watching "The Lion King" with Aly. No surprise there, Aly LOVES The Lion King!

Zoe called and she is doing well. They had a beach day yesterday and she is babysitting at the home today.

Emily let me borrow her kindle, so I started reading The Hunger Games today.  I avoided reading this series because I know it is going to be really good and I'm going to want to read, read, read until I am done with the 3rd book.  Zoe has read the series twice.  I see neglecting housework and sleep in my future!

 Matt is going to come home early to watch the younger kids while I take Emily & Eleanor to Activity Days. They are making skirts, so they need extra time to sew. Sewing projects always take longer than expected!

Here are beach photos from yesterday...

Annie spotted a leach in the water!

Zach & Noah became attached to some big rocks.

With life jackets on the younger kids, we swam to the big rock to climb and jump off. There is also another rock that is under the water that the kids swam to and stood on in the deep water.

Crayfish, crawfish or crawdad...whatever you call it, here it is!

Noah loves his new life jacket!

The Beach & A Movie

The kids & I met up with the Peterson's at Branch Lake today. I was happy to see the kids warm up quickly to each other. We all had so much fun! This evening, Emily & I went to see "The Hunger Games" at the $1 theater. I am hooked. I haven't read the books, but I plan to start them soon! Emily has read the books, so she was really happy to get to see the movie. :-)

Minus 1

Zoe is nannying this week for Eden & JoDee in Brooklin, Me.  She went home with them after church yesterday, so she missed Noah's party.  :-(  She is having a good time.  She is watching 2 very cute girls.  They made yummy pizza yesterday and they went kayaking today.  We have had such beautiful weather lately!

The kids & I went to the pool this afternoon.  Noah brought a few of his new toys to play with.  :-)

Lately, when Noah learns something that he didn't know he'll say "Oh! I did not know that!" It is so cute!

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.