A little bit of this and that...

I have been saving some pictures from the past few weeks to put in one post. So, here they are...

HAMILTON COUNTY 4-H FAIR
Last weekend we went to the Hamilton County 4-H Fair. The kids LOVED seeing all the animals and petting some of them, too! We had a great time but it was HOT!!!

Claire, Courtney, Reagan and Brandon & Reagan and Brandon


Christian was waving to the pigs.


The girls loved the horses! We got to pet one in her stall and then they watched them before they were "shown".


RIDING ON TWO WHEELS

Reagan got to go for a ride on Daddy's motorcycle... around the yard:)



UP and DOWN IN and OUT



Christian has really taken off this week trying to walk (any day now) and is climbing on, in and out of EVERYTHING!!!


DOUBLE TROUBLE

Claire climbed in Christian's bed BEFORE he was really up from his nap and then they started jumping and laughing as hard as they could. Claire also stole his pacifier and she doesn't even take one!! These two are going to cause us so much trouble when he gets a bit older, God help us!!!

LOOKING THROUGH DADDY'S "EYES"

Claire got Todd's extra pair of "eyes" (as she calls them) and his motorcycle magazine and was just sitting at the table reading so good. I should have known right then and there that she was up to something!!

DOUBLE TROUBLE, AGAIN!!!

I told you they were going to cause us trouble... They unrolled almost a whole roll of toilet paper and were playing and laughing; just having themselves a good 'ole

time!!

Chuck E. Cheese's

The kids and I met Jacque for lunch at Chuck E. Cheese's this past week. The kids had a great time, of course!! It brought back a lot of old memories of when I used to go when I was their age. We won over 300 tickets and the girls got to pick out several different prizes.


We wish Claire would have been in this picture. Jacque had to hold her so she wouldn't freak out....


Christian, Claire and Reagan all rode with Chuck E. Cheese and got their picture taken with him :)




Some pictures of them playing games and riding the rides:

Not long after we left, Reagan was asking when would be going back.... Gotta love her!!

Me and Papa's house

I took the kids and Libby up to my mom and dad's for dinner. The girls got to help Papa in the garden. We got to eat fresh home grown green beans... They were soo good!! We can hardly wait for all the other fruit and veggies to ripen so we can go up there and eat all the fresh food.


Claire and Papa heading down to the garden. What will Claire find.....


A tomato!!! She was so excited and could hardly wait to eat it. Claire's favorite food in the whole wide world is tomatoes. She will be in seventh heaven when Papa's tomatoes turn red.


Reagan and Claire helped Papa shuck the corn he bought from a farmer down the road.


Are they too cute or what???



Claire loved the corn so much she had two ears and didn't want any of her other food.


Reagan also had two ears of corn. It was some of the best corn we have ever eaten, Yummy!!!


Claire is trying to get Molly to say "Cheese" for the camera. She grabbed her head and said, "Say Cheese!". It was too funny!!!

Swimming at Sahm's Water Park

I took last Friday off and took the kiddos to Sahm's Water Park for the afternoon. Kimberly and Madeleine went with me to help out and get some sun themselves. All three little ones had an absolute BLAST!!!


Claire and Reagan hanging out at the water's edge. They loved that it was shallow then got deeper.


The girls most favorite thing to do was walk on their hands around in the water.


This was the first time that Christian actually went swimming in a "real" pool. He LOVED it!!!
The pink wrist band they all have on is to let the life guards know that they are under 9 years old.


More fun in the water....

Hanging out with cousin, Madeleine. It looks like he wants to go back into the water...

Claire splashing around all by herself... She thought she was HOT stuff!!!

And the little water bug, Reagan! We will defiantly have to go back so they can release all their energy because they took AWESOME naps that day! Lucky me!!!!

Brandon's 13th Birthday

Well, it is official, we have a teenager in the house.... Brandon turned 13 on July 18th. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner, played Putt Putt and then went to my mom and dad's for cake and ice cream.


Blowing out his candles (they actually made the smoke alarm beep, ha!)


Reagan and Claire checking to see how much money he got...


A group picture of the birthday boy with Reagan and Todd.


This was Reagan's first time playing Putt Putt so of course I had to get some pictures of her. She had a great time and even got a hole in one!!


"Where did it go?"... That is what her expression looks like she is saying.

Happy Birthday, Brandon!!!

In Loving Memory....

We had to put our "Haley Girl" to sleep this week. It was a very hard decision for us to make but we know she is in a better place now. Haley was not getting much better nor would she eat anything other than scrambled eggs and boiled chicken I would make her everyday. Therefore she was losing weight rapidly. We rescued Haley in 2003 from a German Shepard Rescue Shelter in Ohio in June of 2003. She was just dropped off there and we thought she was so pretty that we had to have her. She was a crazy dog:) but so loving and sweet and so good with the kids. We will miss her greatly....


This was just after we rescued her and one of our most favorite pictures.


Taken a snooze on the couch when she thought no one was looking:)


A great picture of her "Radar Ears" was we called them.

We love you and miss you Haley Girl, May God be with you and you rest in peace!
Haley 2002-2008

Holy Spirit Festival & 11 Months Old

This is a double whammy post....

Holy Spirit had their annual festival this weekend. I took all three kiddos and met Grant, Luke, Max (whom I babysit for) and the rest of their family for good food and fun times. We all had a blast watching all the kids ride the rides and play games. Even Christian and Max had a good time hanging out with each other.


Here is our little group of friends... Claire, Reagan, Luke and Grant. We have known the boys since about April of 2004 when Reagan and Luke were just little bitty babies.


And here are our set of babies we have now... Christian and Max. I hope they will be the best of friends like their older brothers and sisters are.


The first ride they went on was the Ferris Wheel. It actually turned into a big ordeal because Claire was not tall enough to ride even if I went with her. So, Reagan rode with Joey (whom I also sit for) and his mom, Penny. Luck just had it that they were a few people in line behind us. As you can tell from Reagan's face, she loved it!!!


Next up was the swings.... I was a little nervous because I didn't know what Reagan would do if she did NOT like the ride. But thankfully, it was her favorite ride the whole night! She is in the red swing to the right with the back of her head showing. Joey is sitting next to her and Luke is in front of Joey in the yellow swing and white shirt.


The little clown ride was the first ride that Claire got to go on. Reagan and Grant rode together while Claire and Luke rode together. Again, I was nervous because Claire was not old enough to ride the rides last year.


And this was her reaction.... She has her face covered the whole time. It was too funny!! She did enjoy herself on all the other rides once she knew it was alright.


I just LOVE this picture.... The four of them together on the motorcycles. As you can see, Claire was having fun!! I didn't get anymore pictures after this because my camera battery went dead (of course I'd forget to charge it:). Therefore, I didn't get a picture of us in the Strawberry ride (that was eventful!) or the girls on the Carousel and Christian and I on the Carousel. There's always next year......


Christian turned 11 months old on July 2nd. I cannot believe he will be a year old in less than a month. We are busy planning away his first John Deere Tractor party. Anyway, on to what Christian is doing... He has all eight front teeth, two molars and two molars that are so ready to pop up any minute. He is starting to not want his baby food so he is eating a lot more table food. And LOVES most anything I put on his tray, That's my boy!!! Christian waves bye-bye, says "go go go", patty cakes, tries to give kisses to me and many other things. I took a few pictures to show him off in action....


Christian at lunch time... He is eating chicken nuggets, corn, green beans and peaches. And with his buddy, Carter, they are drinking "Big Boy milk" (vitamin D) with their "Big Boy cups".

One of Christian's favorite places to go when available is the bathroom. He likes to pull the toilet paper off and then eat it and hide behind the shower curtain. Look at that face... Way too cute!!!

And finally, he got a "BIG BOY hair cut" this time. Here is the before and after the haircut pictures... Boy, was he shaggy or what!?!?