Warning: Very Long Post!

My one goal today was to blog, but it didn't happen during the day, so here I am this evening at my parents' computer with no children to interrupt me. Sweet. :-) I'll start by saying that awhile ago, my parents bought tickets for themselves, me, Matt, my sister Donna, and her husband Doug to go to a Portland SeaDogs game on July 9th. It was to be an adults only event and Norm's Barbeque was in the plans as well. Then Donna and Doug cancelled their trip to Maine, so we decided that Zoe and Emily would go to Portland with us. Then plans were made for Aly and Phil to come to Maine, so my Dad bought 2 more tickets for them and they were included in our trip. I was going to have Noah weaned and sleeping through the night (which he is, but not without crying first), so he could be left behind, but he's not weaned and I decided I couldn't leave him behind, so he was included in the trip. Well, yesterday was the big day of the game, so Aimee agreed to keep Eleanor, Zach, and Kate at her house last night, so after swimming lessons and after my mom and I went shopping for picnic food (Norm's was not going to happen with little money, and children with us), my mom and I drove to Bar Harbor to drop the kids off at Courtney's house and then Aimee was going to pick them up there. We had planned to drop them off at 2pm, but it was 2:30 by the time we got the kids settled in and we left. We wanted to leave Bucksport by 3pm at the latest, but we left at 4pm. The game started at 7pm. We parked the car at 7pm and we still needed to have our picnic before going in to the game. We had our picnic and we made it into the game during the 2nd inning. We could finally relax! Noah did better than I expected and we all enjoyed the game, even though the SeaDogs lost by one run. We had awesome seats. We tried to keep our eyes on the ball at all times because foul balls were flying all around us into the stands.

Noah really got into the excitement of the fans. He entertained the ladies sitting behind us.


Zoe, Emily, and Aly met up with Slugger (the mascot) to shake his hand. Aly was the ring leader.

Zoe and Emily stayed over at my parents' house last night. We got home at 1am and I was up this morning at 6:40 and I needed to leave at 6:45 to pick up Eleanor, Zach, and Kate from Aimee's house. Aimee needed to go to work and I needed to get Zach and Eleanor to swimming lessons. The kids had a great time with Aimee and her daughter, Marian. Eleanor left with some tadpoles. She was so excited to finally have some pets to take care of! The highlight of staying at Aimee's was getting in her bathtub that makes bubbles. If only bathtime could be so much fun at our house!

Kate, Noah, and Zoe stayed at my parents' house during swimming lessons today, so I was able to take some pictures of Zach, Eleanor, and Emily during their lessons. Zach's and Eleanor's classes start by running across the shallow end of the pool.


Their classes played Green Light Red Light today where they had to blow bubbles in the water every time they stopped.

Ring-around-the-Rosies is popular, too. The kids blow bubbles in the water instead of falling down.

Eleanor's class practiced holding their breath under water. Here is Eleanor under water while her class counts. She was under for 6 seconds.

Here is Eleanor practicing her doggie paddle as she swims across the pool.

Zach is supposed to use a noodle to practice his doggie paddle, but he prefers to make his instructors hold him instead. Here is Zach with Sam...

Jumping into the deep end is the last part of swim class. Today was the first time that Zach jumped by himself while Sam stood near to catch him.

Here is Eleanor jumping into the pool...

Emily is required to jump in at the beginning of her class. She stays in the water during her entire class, which is an advantage on cool, Maine mornings! The younger children spend the majority of their class time shivering as they sit on the side of the pool and wait for their turn. This morning was hot and sunny, though.

Here is Emily practicing her rhythmic breathing...

And here is Emily putting her rythmic breathing into action...

Emily practicing a back stroke...

I took a few pictures of Zach last week with his instructor, Emily...


Here is an example of the younger kids sitting and waiting...


Eleanor was so excited to sleep over at Aimee's house that she wanted to pack her suitcase the minute she found out about the sleepover...4 days before it happened. Yesterday morning finally came and Eleanor says to me: "Mom, it's fun sleeping over because you get what you want and you want what you get." No wonder she was so anxious to get on with this sleepover!

It was in the 80's this afternoon! Of course we went to the pool. Eleanor brought the tadpoles along for the ride (which I didn't realize until we were at the pool) and she was heartbroken to find them dead when we were done swimming. It was sad to see her so upset. She was determined that they were not dead. We came back to my parents' house after swimming to eat dinner and to watch "Wipeout". Matt was here, too.

Noah turned 1 on Wednesday (the 8th)! He showed us throughout the day that he is 1 (or #1). I think he feels special because he is our only 1 year old to be officially walking on his/her birthday! Yay, Noah!

Aly is always saying how cute Noah is and she is right! Noah started out the morning opening his gifts from his Great Grammie. Much needed diapers! This was truly a tithing blessing because we had used our last diaper the night before and we had no money for diapers. Thanks Grammie! The kids love that the diapers have Blue's Clues on them. Here is Noah with his first gift of the day...

Notice the long sleeves and pants? It was rainy and in the 60's on Wednesday. Too cold for July!


Noah had a fun birthday party in the evening. My parents, Aly and Phil came over to celebrate. Right before they arrived, Noah's package from Grandma and Grandpa arrived. Yay! It was a Noah sized sleeping bag. I don't have a picture of it yet because I didn't have my camera with me when we got the sleeping bag out of its bag, but it is the smallest sleeping bag we have seen, which makes it so adorable! All the younger kids had to try it out. Eleanor squeezed herself into it, but she didn't look comfortable.
Noah was not anxious to open his presents, but his sisters were, so he watched them.




Noah had more fun playing with the wrapping paper.

The kids were having fun playing with Noah's new toys, as Noah looked on, but we interrupted their fun for cake. I had the cake closer to Noah, but he tried to demolish the cake, so I moved it away from him.

Noah needed help blowing out his candles, too.

Zoe was so excited to watch Noah make a big mess with his chocolate cake. Noah started out using his spoon...

But he soon abandoned the spoon and used his hands...


Several of our 1 year olds have needed a bath after their birthday cake, but Noah stayed pretty clean. Zoe was disappointed. I love the green sprinkle on his chin!


Tuesday was another day in the 60's, so I cleaned. The Booths also came over for a visit. Noah opened a present from them and we all enjoyed the cookies Judy made for us. She is such a great Visiting Teacher...and not just because she makes delicious treats for us. :-)

Monday was in the 70's, so we made it to the pool. Janet, the kids and adults at the pool LOVE the bathing suit you bought for Kate for her birthday. I need to take a picture of her because she does look adorable in it!

We had FHE in the evening.

On Sunday, we all made it to church in Ellsworth. We went over to my parents' house for dinner.

4th of July: Hot and sunny?

No. I could have used this weather last year when I was heavy with child. We felt a few sprinkles while watching the parade, but it was nothing major. Zach was prepared, though.

Zach had a bit of a tantrum when we wouldn't fold up the poncho exactly the way it was before we opened it, so he could open it himself. We were well into the parade before he settled down to enjoy it. Kate enjoyed it after she got used to the horns and loud noises. The candy she received made her happy.

Noah went with the flow.

After the parade, Zoe wanted to have a picnic and then get ice cream and walk along the waterfront in Bucksport. We didn't have money for the Dairy Port, so we decided we would get ice cream at the grocery store and then use the cones we had at home and walk along the waterfront. Zoe was fine with that. We went to the grocery store to pick up some food, we met my mom, Aly, and Phil at our house to put together the sandwiches, and then we headed to the waterfront for our picnic.

Notice Zach is crying? He was having a tantrum because I didn't buckle him in his seat when we left for the picnic, someone else buckled him in. He cried from our house to the waterfront and he was still crying when we settled in to eat. I brought him back to the car, buckled him in, unbuckled him, walked back to the picnic table, and took a picture of him...


A cruise ship came in as we were eating...

Our view...

It didn't rain on our parade, but it did rain on our picnic...


We had a few rain showers, but Zoe was still determined to eat ice cream while walking along the waterfront. The dark clouds were encouraging the rest of us to head to my parents' house for ice cream. The thunder sealed the deal and everyone except Zoe was convinced this was a great idea. When we were all loaded into the car, it started to pour. We watched an episode of "Wipeout" at my parents' before going home to eat, give baths, and get ready for the fireworks...if they still had them. Matt made pretzels for the first time and even though they didn't look like pretzels, they were delicious! I was hoping the fireworks would be cancelled, but they weren't, so I left with Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor. We picked up my mom and Aly and we headed to the park in Brewer which is across the street from where Matt works. We usually watch the fireworks from the bridge, but it costs $1 a person to get on the bridge and being low on money and having poor weather, we decided not to spend the money this year. In past years, we had seen people waiting to watch the fireworks at the park, so we tried it. I thought it was perfect. The kids were able to play on the playground while they waited (usually we're entertaining the kids as we sit on the bridge waiting), and we could see the fireworks fine from the hill we were on, which didn't cost any money. Zoe being in the mood she was in was not happy with the fireworks because we were too far away. We could have been standing next to the people shooting off the fireworks and she would have complained about them. I'm hoping that next year she will see the perfectness of that spot. I had a great 4th of July. I was with my family and we made the most of an unpredictable (weatherwise) day. My Sunday School lesson that was in the back of my mind all day was annoying, but I ignored it most of the time and finished preparing my lesson before I went to bed.
Here's one last picture of Kate's cute 4th of July outfit...

Yes Aly, WE root for the Patriots!

Swimming Pictures

The sun didn't come out this afternoon, and it barely hit 70 degrees, but we headed to the pool anyway for a couple of hours.


Here's Aly, Zoe, and Phil

Here's Eleanor with her friend, Lacey

Sun...come out come out wherever you are!

I guess my one day of structure/productivity was enough because we haven't had another one since, and that is okay. Noah woke up before me Tuesday morning, plus I was sore from exercising on Monday, so I didn't exercise on Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon turned out to be beautiful and sunny, so we spent the afternoon at the pool. I love those afternoons! I don't seem to spend as much time in the bathroom with Eleanor and Zach this year, so that makes being at the pool more enjoyable! I brought a blanket and I brought a few toys for the younger kids to play with in and out of the pool, so everyone was happy. Noah doesn't venture into the pool yet. He just walks around and plays with the toys. He also has an obsession with crocs and he steals whatever crocs he can find.

I rented "Madagascar Escape 2 Africa" for the kids and they watched it when we got home.

Yesterday, we went to storytime and then we came over to my parents' house. My mom had taken the day off from work, so she was here, which was a pleasant surprise! We started a game of Phase 10 with just the two of us and then we stopped for lunch. We abandoned that game and then we started a new game with Phil. We played one hand and then abandoned that game to start a new game to include my dad when he got home from work. We actually finished that game, but it took us awhile. We stayed for dinner and then the kids went outside to play and my mom and I played a game by ourselves on the porch, which was quite relaxing.

This is how much the girls love having Aly here...


After the kids went to bed last night, I put in my exercise video and exercised. I lasted longer this time, but then I started feeling like crap, so I stopped. Not long after, I was feeling very sick and wishing I was dead. I thought for sure I had the flu that Matt has had, but I feel fine today, so now I'm thinking it was food poisoning from a few bites of moldy cheese I had yesterday (I took the bites before I realized it was moldy). Not good.

Swim lessons started this morning. Emily and Eleanor had their classes at 10:30 and Zach had his class at 11:00. I brought the blanket and our magnetic toys for the younger ones to play with and they stayed entertained throughout the classes. I didn't have to worry about Noah going in the water since he won't go near it yet. Kate was upset before we got into the pool area because she wanted to put her bathing suit on and go swimming, but once we got into the pool area and set the toys out, she played and she was fine. I wondered how Zach would do in his first swim class ever and he did a great job! Emily, his instructor, even wanted to bump him up to Beginner 1, but the 10:30 class was full (the class Eleanor is in). Emily moved him into her 10:00 pre-beginner class which has fewer children, so she'll have more time to work with him. That actually works out perfectly because we have a few friends that are already in that class. :-)

After Emily's swim class, she left with Daisy's grandma to go play with Daisy.

If it warms up this afternoon, we'll go to the pool, but it's overcast right now and it hasn't hit 70 degrees yet. The kids are comfy in front of the tv right now, except for Noah who is getting into the cupboards.