'Strike a Pose' Voge's: June 2012

Swim Lessons

The girls are taking swim lessons again this year and this is Syd's first swim class! We put her in the Daddy and Me class since she isn't quite as confident as Hallie was at her age in the water. She's only a few classes into the session, and she can already jump a few feet out to Cameron from the edge of the pool without needing to hold his hand, swim by paddling and kicking her feet with just our hand under her tummy, and she is definitely more comfortable in the water.

Hallie is in level 2 this year since she skipped a level last year and is one of the better swimmers in her class. She likes her teacher, Miss Amy. Since the beginning of class Hallie can now do a front float and back float without the noodle holding her up and swim with her face in the water, coming up for air then continuing swimming. She can dive for toys under water and loves to jump into the water. She's a little fish and says she wants to be just like Aunt Stacey: on the swim team when she gets bigger.

Here's a video of Hallie diving under water to get two rings...

Bentley and I hang out in the kiddie pool while the girls and Cam are in their swim class and Bentley LOVES kicking his legs and splashing himself and I. He gets so giddy when you put him in water and almost hyperventilates with excitement.

An 8 Month Old Bentley... What a Handsome Dude

It would be nice to actually own an 8 month old Bentley (ya know, the car?) but I'd rather have our little Bentley any day. Look how this little man has grown! I'm such a sucker for bath pictures. There's just something cute and innocent about naked babies, especially my own.

I couldn't choose just one.

Second Best Neighbors

In both states and houses we've lived in, we've been so lucky to live by the best neighbors in the world with kids the same ages as our kids. Although our current neighbor's have big shoes to fill from our neighbors in Indiana (you know who you are), these neighbors in Ohio are the second best neighbors ever. They have the funnest toys, the biggest water slide and the coolest bounce house (yes, they own it!) ever. Luckily they are the same ages as our girls and they all get along great. Our whole street is filled with such nice and helpful people really, one of the perks of living in a bit more rural suburb.

Meet Grace and Donny...the reason why my kids don't want to be at home during the day in the summer. And I'm okay with that.

Ward Campout

Our ward at church had it's first annual Ward Campout at the John Johnson Farm.. which is an important piece of Kirtland, OH church history... how cool is that!? The campsite behind the Johnson Farm is the church's best kept secret. It is so clean and so well kept. Here is the Johnson Farm...

So on a Friday night, we all drove down there to camp out with the ward for the weekend and it was so much fun. Each family was in charge of cooking their own dinner so we cooked hot dogs over the fire with baked beans, carrots, chips and peaches. Dinner of champions. Then the ward provided s'more's--the kids always love cooking those--and the Bishopric provided breakfast in the morning which were yummy chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes, bacon and watermelon.

Here are some of our friends around the campfire... Makenna, William, Brother Cutler (he's the other counselor with Cam in the Bishopric and he upkeep's the campground and does a great job), Natalie, Cam and Karen (another one of Hallie's good friends).

CAUTION: S'mores can get messy if eaten too fast. Noted. Where's the wipes?

The kids all got along so well and just loved exploring in the woods and catching fireflies at night. That was the nice thing about having a private campground, the kids could go off and explore and we didn't have to worry about them getting hit by cars or wandering into strangers campsites. Bentley was just happy watching the kids have fun. He did great sleeping through all the noise and in a strange place and slept all night. And yes, being the paranoid mother about babies while sleeping that I am, as soon as I snapped the picture, I took his binky strap off...no need to worry.

Hallie and Makenna have become quite good friends lately even though they're a couple years apart. Makenna's Mom, Tina and I are good friends, so I love that our kids get along now too.

Hallie and Makenna had a little too much fun swallowing water out of the pump then squirting it out like a fountain as we packed up our tents.

Daddy took the girls on a hike before we left. Sydnee just loves her Daddy. I just love him too.

Maddie became Bentley's bud while we were camping. Look at the love he's giving her.

I managed to escape every picture that I took, but just know that I was there behind the camera having a good ol' time too.

Quick Kitchen Remodel

Since the day we moved in, Cameron (and I, but mostly Cam) hated the kitchen cabinets that hung down over the counter-top. It does date the kitchen but I needed the cabinet space... or so I thought. So a year later, I decided that I was officially sick of them and wanted them down. I was tired of ducking under them to see the kids in the next room or in the backyard or even just ducking to have a conversation with someone at the table. It was ridiculous. Besides, it wouldn't be our house without a kitchen remodel in there somewhere. And I figured all the bumps and bruises on my head from hitting it on the edge of cabinets would thank me.

So on a random Friday a couple weeks ago, I asked Cameron if he would take down the cabinets if I found a place for the few items I had in them. He of course was thrilled that I had seen the light and was happy to take them down. He also came up with the idea to add lighting above the counter-top to complete and update the kitchen. He always out-does himself when doing a remodel project which is something I love about him so he added a separate switch underneath one of the cabinets to turn the bar lighting on and off while still keeping the over-the-sink light on since they are wired through the same switch. That man is so clever and so handy, how did I get so lucky?

So in one day, this was the transformation...

BEFORE....

AFTER....

...much better.

Getting Tangled Up in Sydnee's 4th Birthday

My little girl turned 4 this year... wow! You'd never know it by looking at her size but boy is she a cute 4 year old..and a sassy one, but we love her! She's been practicing all week holding up "4" fingers now instead of "3" fingers for when people ask her how old she is, so cute.

The kids always love seeing their pictures of themselves at each age to see how they've grown.

Our kids get a birthday party on even years and then a date with Mom and Dad on odd years so that I'm not getting worn out by doing birthday parties every year. Brilliant idea, I know, but that's the way I grew up and we really liked that idea so we stuck with it. Sydnee wanted a Tangled/Rapunzel themed birthday party this year. So my first mistake (or triumph) was logging on to Pinterest to find Tangled themed party ideas. That sparked my creativity and I went a little crazy.

I created this cute Rapunzel birthday invitation...

I braided about 75 feet of hair (which was 12 strands of yarn braided together to make it thick enough) to drape all over the hallway, dining room and family room and over the front door. Sydnee's friends thought it was so cool to see Rapunzel's hair all over our house when they walked in to the party! Even Sydnee thought it looked just like the movie, which meant I had done a good enough job.

I also made 8 lanterns just like the movie to hang from the ceiling; and during the party, the kids each got make their own lantern to take home.

Then the cake. I treated myself this year and bought a Rapunzel cake instead of making myself go crazy trying to create a towered birthday cake. I figured the bakery did a fine job.

It took Syd forever to blow out her candles because as you can see in the picture, every time she would blow her lips turned UP instead of down to the candles. Pretty hilarious. Benson and William next to her were getting ready to help her out.

At the end of the party each girl guest went home with a tiara and long braid attached to it--just like Rapunzel--to wear in her hair that Grace and Hallie are modeling...

And each boy went home with a satchel just like Eugene in the movie that Grandma Drake made. These were actually left over from Hallie's scavenger hunt b-day party earlier in the year and I just thought these worked out perfectly for the boys!

And all guests got some Rapunzel paints to take home. I was so pleased with the way it turned out and the kids... especially the girls LOVED going home with their party favors.

It's hard to get an organized group picture of seven 4-year-olds so this was as good as it gets...

(From left to right: Grace, William, Benson on the glider, Anna, Sydnee, Donny, Anna W.)

Sydnee loved all her presents, but her favorite was "the shooting gun thingy" (a.k.a. a Nerf gun) which is one of the presents she was really hoping for. When she opened it she screamed, "This is the shooting gun thingy I wanted!" Haha, Cam didn't know whether to be excited that one of his kids wanted a Nerf gun or worried because it was his daughter asking for it instead of his son.

Cam and I got her her first training wheeled bike that had a bag on the front of it. Can you guess the first thing she did? Yep, filled it up with her "stuff."