Visitors

This past week we hosted two of my children's best friends for a few days. We spent everyday by the pool at my mother-in-laws house, because when you are not used to having five kids, going places seems difficult! The kids were all so well-behaved, I was totally shocked that my stress came solely from feeding, bathing and housekeeping, not dicipline. Here is Hannah doing a trick of some sort and next is Cohen and Emma playing a game:

Piper did spend some time sulking in a chair because she wanted Hannah to play only with her and not include Cohen:

And Hannah and Piper playing after the sulking stopped:

I think Cohen and Emma were playing Ring Around the Rosey, not sure:

Swim Meet

During their gymnastics hiatus, the kids are trying swim team at the local YMCA. They were good swimmers before but are improving rapidly with the swim training. Piper is even doing the butterfly stroke now, which seems impossible to me!

The coach set up a mini meet for the students to get a feel for what a real swim meet is like. There were young people at the end of each lane timing the swims and the kids received blue, red and white ribbons according to their performance. Out of 4 events, Piper received 2 1st place ribbons and 2 2nd place ribbons. Cohen swam in 3 events and received 2nd place ribbons in every one.

The lighting by the indoor pool did not allow me to get great pics of the actual swims. But I love the last pic, you can totally tell they are siblings!

Abe's other new thing

The van is like a really big playpen to Abe. He loves to climb into the driver's seat and pretend he is driving. He messes with the blinkers and wipers and radio, and squeals while trying to turn he steering wheel! I placed him in here while we picked veggies and he had a blast! (Disclaimer: It was still quite cool outside, so he was in no danger of getting too hot.)

Our first harvest

The kids and I were thrilled to retrieve yellow squash and 1 zucchini Wednesday morning! I love the feeling of growing and enjoying our own food. Although our garden is tiny this year, we have some hearty plants and should get quite a harvest!

I kinda wanted to do the "picking" myself but let the kids do it. Obviously we all get excited over home-grown veggies!

Our much loved dog

During a recent thunderstorm, Piper wrapped Rome (or whatever his name is) up in her Hannah Montana shower wrap. She played on the porch so he wouldn't have to be alone during the storm!

Abe's new thing

Currently Abe is getting into the cabinet and retrieving the bag of Reeces peanut butter chips. He promptly removes the clothespin on top, pours the chips all over the floor, and eats his fill! It reminds me of the Marley and Me movie where Marley spills all the puppy food in the floor and eats until he is too full to stand up :)

Check-ups for all

Yesterday I took all three kids to the pediatrician for their yearly check-ups. Although chaotic at best, it was nice to knock them all out in one trip. All three were quite healthy and pretty average on the growth charts for their ages.

Abe- 29 3/4 inches, 24 lbs 6 oz.
Cohen- 40 3/4 inches, 39.6 lbs
Piper- 46 3/4 inches, 52.2 lbs

Piper needed 2 shots to finish her 5 year vaccinations, which she chose to have together yesterday. She was so nervous about them until I allowed her to make the choice whether to have one or both at the visit. Something about allowing her to make the decision seemed to ease the anxiety. And this year it did not take three people to hold her down, that's a huge improvement over last year's experience.

But the funniest part of the visit was that Cohen asked for a shot. He was not due for any but asked the doc if he could please have one! She said he was old enough for the 5-year DTaP and he was thrilled. He sat up there on the exam table holding his sleeve up and smiling the whole time! As soon as his father got home last night he was bragging on his own bravery. Chad just smiled and said, "You really are the Stokes County Wild Man!" A Wild Man he is, and proud of it!

A year of gymnastics...

is complete! Piper and Cohen finished their gymnastics year's with a Gold Medal ceremony this past Thursday (Cohen) and Friday (Piper). My camera died before Piper's started, so I only have pictures from Cohen's. Cohen climbed to the top of the rope (see 3rd pic) for the first time ever at the ceremony, so he got an extra round of applause :)

They are both so talented when it comes to gymnastics but I am having them take the summer off. I really like that a young man teaches Cohen's class and he is not teaching this summer and Piper has been taking year round since August 2005 and she has progressed to the point that her class time will double in the coming year. She will be required to take 2 - 1 and 1/2 hour classes a week, which is a huge committment. Then the next step is TEAM which is 3 - 3 hour classes a week, I just can't imagine. I guess you find out which kids really LOVE IT when you require such extensive class times!