The Swedish Birthday box has arrived!

Every year we get two boxes full of gifts from Sweden.  One for the summer birthdays and one for Christmas time.  The birthday box has arrived, so Charlotta got to open her gift right away.  It was a cute doll named Lottie!  Lotta did not understand that her and the doll had the same name, but the scarf was a huge hit and the fact that "Lottie" likes dogs just like Lotta.  A home run!  Thanks Swedes!

 

Baseball Season!

So, this is where I live Monday-Thursday nights in June.  The baseball fields.

 

 Thank goodness they have a park right at the fields for the little ones to play on.  All the kids enjoy coming, but man, they are DIRTY when we get home!

 

 Meanwhile, back at the baseball game, Skylar cheers her brother on!

  

Going for the home run hit!

 Kellen's turn.

Memorial Day Weekend

It was a pretty miserable weekend.  It was cold, windy, and rainy.  James and Skylar each brought a friend up, so all seven kids were cooped up in the house.  Things were a little rough and tempers flared (ie. a lot of fighting)!  See Exhibit 1 below.

 A little rough housing and Skylar lands on the side of the couch.  She cried for a good 30 minutes and I started to think maybe she ruptured something, so we went to the emergency room to be sure. Everything turned out fine, although Skylar was totally humiliated at having to pee in a cup.  Later that day, we did see a fantastic movie, Epic.  It was really good.

Finally, as the last hour of our first weekend up at the lake came to a close, the sun decided to shine!!!  The kids dashed into their suits and attempted to get into the water.  The boys chickened out (remember, they got in the water in March last year) and decided on a paddle boat ride instead.

  

 Skylar and Cassidy braved the water for 3 seconds each and then had to warm up in the sun!

 As we were pulling out of the driveway, it was miserable again, but we were sure happy to have those 15 minutes of sunshine!

Charlotta is3!!!

Since Papa has to go to Mexico on Charlotta's birthday, we decided to celebrate a little early.  Charlotta is very excited to be turning 3 today.  We start the day off with a little special breakfast.

 

 

Yummy!

 Later in the day, we have the party with all the bells and whistles.

 Loving her new bike!

Brennen was so overcome with happiness at the gift he gave Charlotta, he couldn't help hugging her!

 I can't believe Brennen picked my favorite--chap stick!

 Always a few extra helpers to open the gifts.

 Charlotta and Annabelle in matching outfits:)

Loving her new computer!

I will try and upload the happy birthday song later, but something is amiss!

This baby could swing for hours!

 She is running for the swings as fast as those legs can go.  She never wants to do anything, but swing.  I wish she would try the slides...

A beautiful day!

We have not seen many sunny days, so we really took advantage today.  We went on a bike ride to the park to meet up with my friend Katrina and her kids; Trefor, Olivia, and Ian.  We packed a lunch in our picnic basket and threw it in the back of the bike trailer.  What a wonderful time we all had!

Charlotta's "cowboy hat"

I guess cowboy hats have changed since my time as a kid, but this really does not qualify as one, Lotta!  (She insists on calling it her cowboy hat!)