Summer Events!

We went swimming at a friend's pool.
Michael playing on his tummy.

Well, look at this, I'm posting again and it has been less than three months. Crazy, I know. I was just going to post a few pictures and give a quick update on the last couple of weeks. We went back to Randolph to see my family on the weekend of the 4th of July. It was so nice. We relaxed at my mom's house, lit some fireworks that they got for Natalie, (which she loved), went to Rick's farm and rode the 4-wheeler and shot a .357 magnum handgun, went to my aunt & uncle's house for a BBQ, jumped on the trampoline, and then headed down to the fireworks show in Norfolk from their house. It was a great weekend.

Natalie's doll enjoyed riding on the 4-wheeler too.

Natalie loved jumping on the trampoline.


This handgun was so loud! I actually was pretty close to hitting the bulls eye a couple of times, James, of course, was a pro.
Anyone else remember these snakes at the 4th of July, they were so fascinating, Natalie thought so too.
We found out when we were back home that James' Grandma passed away so we headed up to Canada for the funeral on Monday night. We left here at 5:00pm and arrived at 7:00am. I surprised myself and was able to drive about 4 hours!!! Amazing, I know. It was a very special funeral in the sense of how personal it was. There were many special moments and stories shared about her life. It was nice to be able to spend some time with all of James' family. We went to the beach one day with James' sister Michelle and her husband Tim and their kids Daniel, Leigh, & Emma. It sure would be nice to be so close to the beach! It is beautiful.



James and Michael took a little nap on the beach.

We returned to Omaha on Friday and then James' Dad, sister Christine, and her two kids Matthew and Madison arrived on Sunday. They were here for the week for James' hockey camp. His dad helped him with that and Matthew was in the camp. It went well and Natalie loved having her cousins to play with for the week. They were great with her. When Matthew was at the camp, Madison and I would cook the meals together and she would set the table every night. She became quite the food chopper when she was here, it was a fun time. They headed home yesterday and James' dad will remain here, his mom arrives tomorrow night and we head out to Alaska on Wednesday. Natalie and Michael are staying here with Nana and Papa. We will be gone from Wednesday-Tuesday for my brother's wedding. I'm excited to go on a trip with James. We'll miss the kids like crazy but they will be in good hands.

Here's Matthew, Madison, James & Natalie downtown on our walk.

Michael is still doing great. He rolls over both ways all the time with quite a bit of force. He has the most precious smile that lights up his whole face. His eyes completely change when he smiles, it's so sweet. Natalie is still so funny. We were driving today and I was cracking up at her. I thought if anyone was watching me they'd think I was a bit crazy. Some of you know that she won't/doesn't say "baby" with the "b" sound. She says "ngng". We have no idea why. So today I was telling her to say "b b b b b baby" she would say "b b b b b ngng" Then I sang a song with the word "baby" in it and she would say all the words and when it got to "baby" she would say "ngng". Very interesting.

I'm amazed at how much Natalie understands and does. I was changing Michael's diaper today and I told her to go into my room and get one of her cloth diapers from the clothes basket. She came back with the diaper and then I told her to go get the insert for it. She came back with the insert. I told her to put her diaper on her changing table and her water on her bed so we could get her ready for a nap. I walked in her room expecting it to all be thrown on the floor but both things were where I told her to put them. It's so fun to watch how much she grows and learns, she'll be mowing the lawn before we know it.

This is what happens when I try to do too many things at one time. I started filling the sink, left the kitchen for some reason and came back to find it overflowing and Natalie playing in the bubbles. That is very typical behavior of me. To repeat a phrase I've taught Natalie "Oh Well."

Here's a little video of Natalie and James on the trampoline.




Here's a video of Michael. He would only roll over for a while when we weren't looking and in his crib. I was trying to get some video of him rolling over but he wouldn't do it. Instead, he did what he does so well, spit up. He spits up so much, we both need about 3 outfits a day.