Princess turns 4!

Maya turned 4 today.  Wow!  Can't believe she is already 4.  She is such a sweet (and spicy :) part of our family.  I am so grateful I get to be her mom.  She teaches me daily how to truly love someone and show them that you love them through kind, genuine compliments and little moments of affection.  She is a great example to me.  

We had an awesome day.  Grandma Julie came up for the weekend.  We love how Grandma Julie tries to come for our birthday celebrations.  It is nice to live close to her.  The children definitely know that she loves them.

We started the morning with Maya getting to open Grandma's present (Mini Cupcake maker) and one card (She chose Aunt Autumn's :) Then the kids played with Grandma.  Then we headed to the beach.  It was a little overcast/cold at first, but shaped up to be a nice beach day.  It was a riptide warning so we couldn't get in the water, but the kids liked playing in the sand just as well.  After the beach, we napped :)  Then, we headed to eat at Chili's.  We had a coupon for free kids meals so it was a fun, inexpensive time.  When we came home Maya opened her gift from us (Barbie Squinkie House) and from Jadyn (Squinkie bracelet and ring).  We then had cake/ice cream and played Squinkies until bedtime.  It was a fun-filled family day.  We love you Maya!

*Note: I convinced Maya to use leftover decorations from her party 2 years ago.  I had to make note of this for you observant folks who maye think it looks familiar.  Yes, I am lazy.  However, I am also enjoying not stressing about the decorations/perfect cake, etc.  I am enjoying just being with my children and having a fun-filled day on their birthdays.

Bennett took the frosting tip from Maya's cupcake maker and accessorized!

He proceeded to walk around the room with it on his foot

On our way to Chili's for dinner: happy birthday girl

She was so sweet and let Bennett have her chocolate milk

Maya absolutely adores her Dad

Giving Bubby a pat pat

Sisterly love (still can't get Jadyn to smile showing her teeth most of the time)

Party!

Maya opening Aunt Beverly and Aunt Loretta's card

Wahoo, money!

Barbie Squinkie house

Maya was so excited to blow out the candles...we told her to wait until we sang her Happy Birthday....so she blew them out as soon as we started the song :)

Minimal effort cake...I mean, how exciting can it look when I only took 5 minutes to decorate it.   I have realized my efforts to make pretty cakes were too time consuming and it tastes the same!

Part of Jadyn's present to Maya: I love what she wrote to her.  They love each other so much and truly are best friends.

Sous Chef

The bubster loves to help in the kitchen.  As soon as I start making anything, he wants to pull a chair over to help.  He gets mad when I don't let him help.  Tonight we made baked ziti, salad, and breadsticks.  He especially loved picking all the little pieces of remaining breadstick dough off the table and eating it.  Too cute :)

Whew: blog is updated!

It is amazing how daunting the task becomes to update the blog once I slack for awhile.  However, since this is my only form of a "journal", it is always at the back of my mind.

We have been having a fantastic summer.  I love summer: our days our filled with the beach, or swimming, or parks, or berry picking, or sprinklers/baby pool at home, etc.  We have fun-filled days that wear us all out and therefore the kiddos sleep very well :)

I wish we had two seasons of summer....we could just skip winter.  I really don't think I need cold, snowy weather to appreciate the beauty of summer.  I would appreciate it just fine without experiencing the cold :)

Swim lessons

The girls are taking swim lessons from a friend.  It has been great.  We have had 5 lessons so far and my timid little girls are now jumping off the side and swimming (with some help still) to the side of the pool.  Jadyn even jumps into the deep end and brings herself up to the top of the water.  This is amazing.  The girls were so scared of water at the beginning and now they are getting super comfortable.

Maya is itching to get in.  If I don't watch her like a hawk, she tries to jump in the pool as soon as we arrive

Sisterly love

"Alligator" Maya

Getting the mask just right

Jadyn listens well and really tries to follow the instruction

Super cute little swimmer :)

DQ, jewelry boy, and other random fun :)

We went to DQ to use free coupons from the library program.  Bennett LOVES ice cream

He would take a bite and some would get in his nose and he would wipe it and say "Nose Ice Cream" and repeat the process!

Maya did not want a cone and cried to the cashier then promptly turned it to a smile when the cashier said she could just have it in a bowl.  This girl can go from hot to cold in 2 seconds flat....it is a skill!

Jadyn chose the mint dilly bar.  She said she could not decide whether she prefers the regular dilly bar or the mint one.

While I was organizing closets and the girls were otherwise engaged, Bennett got into the girls jewelry.  He used the stick on earrings like stickers and the girls were mad

Getting ideas for Maya's birthday.  Bennett was hilarious with this big stuffed animal

Typical dinnertime for Bennett.  I was excited because he actually tried 3 bites of his chicken, but then he pushed his plate away and proceeded to take the peas out of the shells and chuck them at Maya across the table

Jadyn currently either wants to be a chef or an art teacher when she grows up.  Today she made herself a chef hat out of paper.  It is amazing the things this girl dreams up to make out of paper....which is why I am currently almost out of the entire box of computer paper I bought not too long ago :(

Berry Picking

One of our favorite activities to do during the summer in Michigan is pick fruit.  This year has been tough because it is so hot that much of the fruit did not produce very well.  So far this year we have picked strawberries, blueberries twice, and blackberries.

Maya ready to pick....I mean eat!  This little stinker loves to go hide in the bushes and eat the blueberries.  Once I finally convinced her to stop and fill her bucket, she was actually my best helper.

Jadyn finds some good berries on the bottom of the bush

Bubby kind of wandered around...did some eating, some picking.  I was surprised how well he did at only picking the good berries.  When the girls were his age, they would often pick the unripe berries

See any ripe blackberries?  Nope?  Well, we had to really search for them and it was super hot and tiring work.  The blackberry cobbler made all the effort worthwhile :)

Wandering boy

Maya refused to drink water while picking the blackberries.  She does not like to be told what to do.  This is what she looked like after: completely hot and tired :(

Destination: Utah

Since we were only 5 hours from our Utah family, we decided to head down there after our Jackson Hole family reunion.  We had such a great time.  Hit both Seven Peaks waterparks, kids had a blast with Tay and Carter even though they only got to spend a day together, got to have a short visit with Nathan's aunts, got spoiled a ton by Aunts Krista, Megan, Sarah and got to rough house/joke around with Uncle Brigham and Michael, snuck in a Cafe Rio visit :), and had some other great food.  We are definitely glad we went to Utah as we always have a fun and relaxing time.

Playing at the park right down the street from Aunt Krista and Uncle Brigham's house

Bubby loves the slides

Girls finally got a nap this day and they were wiped out.  When I went in to wake them up, they were all cuddled up together :)

We went to visit the grave site of Nathan's aunt Rosemarie who passed away a couple years ago.  It was a good experience to be able to explain to the girls about what happens when we die.

Nathan chatting with Aunt Beverly

We went to the Provo 4th of July Parade.  It was super hot!

Bennett did not like the idea of staying in the stroller

Much happier now

Jadyn waving to the princesses.  She always thinks they are so pretty. 

Maya sure loves her Daddy

Aunt Megan is a super cool Aunt.  She had the girls over to her house for a sleepover and the girls are still talking about it!

Getting ready for fireworks.  Nathan is absent because he came down with a severe case of pink eye in both eyes so he was out of commission for a few days. 

What is cuter than the Bubster?!!

Uncle Mikey brought flashlights for the kids to play with.  Bennett almost looked possessed as he came around and tried to flash it in everyone's eyes.

Bennett is definitely all boy and loves to explore wherever we are

Jadyn eagerly anticipating the firework show

Maya eagerly eating the firework snacks....she loves the rare occasion when I let her eat fruit snacks!

Bubby is so cute with his language skills.  He is saying new words daily.  However, he still will put quite a big pause in between his words.  So, fireworks is fire....works :)  So cute!

We had a great trip to Utah.  The trip home was a little challenging as I had to drive the whole way since Nathan could not see well enough to drive because of the pink eye.  Now that we have driven the trip to Utah for 2 summers in a row, we say "Tag your it" and hope our family will come this way next summer :)  Michigan is wonderful in the summer ;)

After two weeks we were grateful to be home to get some good rest in our own beds.  It took us a few days to recover.  Here are the boys during their nap the day after we got home.  Bennett was so tired that after he woke up from his nap he wanted to lay back down with Nathan to sleep some more!