4th of July at the Cabin

We're back! We got the camera back just in time - Thursday morning before we left for the cabin. But, now it's not working again. Well, it works, but is having some of the same issues it started out having before it broke completely. So we have to call again - I really missed not having it though.

Anyway...we had a wonderful vacation at the cabin yet again this year. It's something we look forward to all summer. I was sick the week before, so we didn't get up there as soon as we were planning, but still made it on Thursday. Everyone was there Thursday night except for Morgan and Nicole - they had the practice bar exam, so they came up Saturday morning. Friday and Saturday were beautiful - we got in lots of swimming time! There were a ton of mosquitos at night, so we didn't do a fire or anything. Kailee had about 20 bites on one leg! Sunday it rained all day. I don't think we've ever had a day like that before. We still went to the parade, but that was all for outside. Sunday was really hot and muggy; we left around noon so the girls were able to swim in the morning. We're so thankful to the Deda's for letting us stay there every year. We have such wonderful memories, and I look forward to Kailee and Jocelyn making even more memories!

Each little kid gets their own sign above the playhouse door. So cute and nice!

Cory with the snapper he and Calvin caught

One day she was down by the water and I wasn't going to have her swim, but she really wanted to, so it was in with her diaper and nothing else!

Daddy and his girls waking up in the camper

So the four of us went for a canoe ride. We're about 2 minutes out, and Calvin looks back towards shore, and here come Ellie and Ginger, swimming out to us. Ginger despises water, so she must have been pretty sure we were going to leave her there forever! Dumb dogs. Ellie turned around when we did, but Ginger kept coming. Cory had to pull her into his kayak and bring her back to shore.

Playing stickers with Uncle Cory

Kailee's fish

Jocelyn had fun playing with the playhouse toys - we found some antiques - toys we had when we were little!

Auntie Angie and Nettie

The boys playing cribbage

This is one of her favorite books, and she's been loving sunglasses lately too!

Watching the parade from the shelter of the doorway

Ama and her girls

Eating her first piece of parade candy

I hope the candy is worth it!

Getting our yearly foot massage!

All the fireworks that were set off on the 4th. Two of the six dogs HATE fireworks, and Ellie is one of them. She sat in the shower the whole time they were setting them off. Poor thing.

Kailee and Lexi

Running after the dogs

Swimming on the last day - she got braver and braver - she just started walking out until she couldn't touch anymore! All by herself!

Pat relaxing on the water

I didn't have any group pictures taken with my camera, so I'll get them from someone else and post them later.

June

Warning - no pictures on this post! Our camera is broken, so it's been sent away to get fixed. We've had a busy last few weeks - summer's off to a crazy wild start! The first weekend in June Jocelyn and I went to Mom and Dad's for a wedding. So nice to see friends and catch up! Then Calvin's brother, Cory, graduated from high school - way to go! He's going to the Army in August. His party was the second weekend in June, and it was great to see a lot of family there. The rain held off and we had so much wonderful food! Kailee is done with school for the year - hooray! She had VBS last week and will be going to the YMCA this summer. Hard to believe it will be her last year of elementary school next year! This weekend we went camping with Mom and Dad. We hadn't been camping for a few years and neither had they, but we had such a fun time. The weather turned out to be great - didn't rain and we had fun hiking, swimming and just enjoying the outdoors. Jocelyn had a great time and did really well for her first time camping.

The garden is coming along so great! We've eaten our first crop - lettuce. Calvin had to thin some of it out, and we moved half of the tomato plants because they were getting too crowded. It's so fun watching everything grow! I think we're doing it more for me than the kids! :)

Jocelyn is her usual cute self - nothing too new with her. She did go poop on the potty a few weeks ago - and told Calvin's mom ahead of time! We're not ready to really start potty training yet - she has no idea about pee yet, but hey, it's a start! She's started calling me Mommy now - much to my dismay. I was hoping to be Mama for a little bit longer, but at least it's not Mom yet. She's been really happy and silly lately.

Calvin goes back to work tomorrow after a week off; vacation is never long enough! But he starts another vacation July 1st - we'll head up to the cabin for 5 days with his family. I'm taking a day off then as well - we're really looking forward to that trip.

I hope to have the camera back soon to get some new pictures up!

Catch Up #2

Okay - I guess it hasn't been that long since I last posted, but it feels like it. It's just hard to sit inside when it's so beautiful outside! So, here goes the last few weeks - they've actually been quite eventful!

Last Sunday we headed over to the Cities for Morgan and Nicole's (Calvin's brother and sister in law) graduation from law school! What an accomplishment - I am amazed by people who can do that. They both graduated with honors also - what a couple of smarty pants! We had a nice day watching the ceremony and visiting at the party. Cal and I (mostly Calvin) did the food for the party, and of course it was about 90 degrees in an apartment with no AC!

The only family picture - not very cute. We were all too hot and sweaty.

Congrats Moe and Nicole! We are so proud of you!!!

Kailee spent most of the day outside with the dogs. She loves to take pictures of herself with them.

Monday after the party was just as hot. I think it was 95 with about 95% humidity! We couldn't stand to be outside very long, but we did have to go swimming.

She loves the pool and the sprinkler - we've played in one or the other every day I've been off!

So far Ellie's been pretty nice about sharing her pool....

The exciting news around our house is that Kailee got braces! She looks even more grown up now. All her teeth are in, so it was a good time to start them. She'll have them on for about 2 1/2 years, and has already figured out that means she gets to pick out different color bands 30 times. And that she also needs to plan ahead when it's time for school pictures. The bands, her outfit and the background all need to match.

Our garden is coming up so well! I'm super excited! I'm even excited even though I had to weed it yesterday. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the neighbors have a maple tree that dropped all its' whirlybirds right in the garden.

Today Jocelyn decided that she was too big to sit in her highchair (luckily that was only for breakfast). She was really sensitive, clingy and wimpy today - not her usual self.

We went garage saleing last weekend, and my best find was this vacuum for $1! It even turns on - I figured it was broken, but didn't really care. The little pieces of 'dirt' get blown around when you turn it on. I'm not really sure how she knows how to use it since I don't really vacuum that much.... :)

I got her hair in real pigtails today - so cute!

Here she is with her bear - close to 18 months. I don't have a sign for 18 months, but wanted to get the bear picture at least. She's much better about taking her picture now! She did great at her doctor last week - didn't even cry for the shot. It was her last one until kindergarten! I scheduled her 2 year appointment - that was a little scary. She's growing well - 25 lbs., 2 oz. and 32.5 inches.

One more funny thing to share.... They send a sheet home from day care every day letting us know what she did, how she ate, etc. On her sheet on Thursday, it said 'Jocelyn likes to tell her friends 'no-no' while pointing her finger at them when they're being naughty.' Yikes. Poor girl isn't going to have any friends left! Well, at least she knows how to follow the rules!

Catch up

I realize that I take pictures very randomly. I'll go for a while taking pictures all the time, then I'll go for a while without taking any! I need to get better about that - although Jocelyn's not changing much from week to week anymore, so it's probably okay. Thank goodness for digital pictures - I'd have way too many boxes of prints if we still just had film.

We haven't been up to too much lately. We had a nice Mother's Day - Jocey slept until 10:45 - that was her present to me. Calvin got me some nice new walking shoes and a shirt. We spent the day with Calvin's parents and brother and had fun visiting and playing outside. Kailee has started her softball season, and we've worn winter coats to two of the games already! They're pretty good - a lot of them have been together for a few seasons, which helps a lot. Jocelyn turned 18 months on the 10th. She's learning more words every day - I think she's probably up to about 40 or so. Her newest fun thing she learned is zipping. We have her doctor on Friday, and I'm anxious to see how much she's grown. I don't think she's grown much at all - a lot of her summer stuff still fits from last year! She was much chubbier then though. She's slimmed down a lot since she started walking.

Here's our first little buds in the garden! Yeah! Everything's starting to come up - these are the onions, which we planted from bulbs, so they're pretty big.

Okay - these are kinda hard to see, but this will be broccoli. It's so fun to see everything starting to grow. We had frost a few weeks ago, and a few of the tomato plants didn't make it. I was worried the seeds would be damaged too, but I think they're going to be fine! Oh, and we're not getting chickens. The city council didn't approve the ordinance.

Kailee with the hugest rhubarb leaf we'd ever seen!

My mom, grandma and two aunts go to Door County every year. This last weekend they were there, so Mom stopped by on her way home for a short visit. Jocelyn got her first skinned knees of the season! I'm sure it won't be her last!

She hardly even cried! What a tough girl.

Once she realized that when you get an owie, you get bubbles on them (foaming antibacterial stuff), she was the happiest girl around! We haven't introduced bandaids yet - maybe the bubbles will work their magic for one more year.

Mowing the grass with her baby in tow

Kissing her new baby. We just got it on Friday - I was going to get her an Elmo doll, but she picked the baby instead. It came with a backpack with a bib, bottle and toy in it. She loves babies.

Giving Ellie and Ginger a treat. This is another one of her favorite things to do - the dogs don't complain either!

She woke up with wild bead head today. Yikes.

My grandma got her a new doll on their trip. She calls it her girl. Whenever we see another kid, she always calls it a baby. So if it's a big kid, I tell her it's either a boy or a girl. And this doll isn't a baby, so therefore, it's a girl!

She finally likes to wear sunglasses - it took a while to get her to put them on. She likes to play pretend and go bye-bye. She has to have her purse, keys, and now sunglasses!

Shaving Cream

I used to work at a day care when I was in high school, and one of the activities I remember well was letting the kids play with shaving cream. It always started just on the table, but many times turned into stripping the kids down to their diapers because they had it everywhere! I gave Jocey some, but just started her out in her diaper - less mess! She had an absolute ball, and smelled like shaving cream for two days after.