Cohen's Newest Feat

While at the beach in July, Cohen practiced his "jumping" constantly. I caught this picture of him just in time!

Catching Up

The past month has been so busy, I'm glad it's over!

Now I need to catch up on July's happenings, starting with the Fourth.

Going back in time, here are pictures from the Fourth of July. We had some friends over for a cookout and fireworks. We started the kids out with the sparklers as soon as the sun went down, which they all loved!

The crowd went wild when an announcement was made that the fireworks were about to start!

I am no fireworks expert, but one of the dads put on a pretty impressive show for us!

And last but not least, here is Abe enjoying the excitement. He is always content when surrounded by family and friends!

Livin' on the Prairie

While in the car not long ago with our kids and cousin Isaiah (8 years old), Chad and I heard Isaiah singing "Whoa, Whoa Livin' on a Prayer" and the lyrics that follow. Chad and I burst into laughter wondering where in the world an 8 year old hears Bon Jovi!

Then our kids, hearing how entertained their parents were with Isaiah's singing and having themselves never heard Bon Jovi before, begin shouting out "Whoa, Whoa Livin' on the Prairie!" (We are still reading from the Little House on the Prairie series, so the kids just assumed that's what Isaiah was singing about.)

We were all cackling before long and Chad started making up lyrics for "Livin' on the Prairie" which still make me laugh when I hear the kids singing:

kinda to the tune of Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer (the chorus)
Whoa, whoa livin' on the prairie
If we get in trouble, we'll blame it Carrie
She don't care, she's just a little fairy
Whoa, whoa livin' on the prairie

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!