Paint Party

This week I did something that I have been meaning to do for a long time. I went to the store and bought some washable paint. Then this morning I got out the clothesline, put up a sheet, and turned the boys loose!

The first thing we wanted to do was paint with squirt guns, which I saw in Family Fun magazine. We mixed the paint with water as directed so the squirt guns would not clog up. Then we put it in these squeeze bottles so we could actually get it in the paint guns.

With their weapons loaded the boys were ready to start squirting!

We were a little bit disappointed by the way the colors squirted out of the guns. It was more like water colors and was not as bright as we wanted.

So I got out the pie tins and put paint in them and let the boys get messy.

They had fun painting on the sheet with their hands.

Jacob even wrote his name on the sheet!

The finished product was much more colorful and fun than just squirting the paint on!

Then we sprayed the sheet off and waited for it to dry. Later in the evening when it was cooler I put paint in the pie tins again.

This time I gave the boys foam brushes, and they got busy painting the sheet.

They had tons of fun with the paint brushes! They enjoyed splattering the paint on as well as brushing it on.

The best part is that the sheet washed out completely. So now we can do it again another day!

Sunday Morning Snapshots

Here are some Sunday morning snapshots.

Amelia likes to play with her "talktopus". We like to put it a little bit out of the way so she has to roll on her side to get it!

Jacob is SO excited to start Kindergarten! When I told him how close it was getting to the start of school, he got a little nervous that he might write his name wrong. So we got out his folder to practice.

He is going to do great in Kindergarten and I know he will love it!

I wanted to take a picture of Amelia in this cute dress that she can now fit into. But she was so tired after church that she went right to sleep!

That's o.k. because I think she looks like a little angel when she is asleep, don't you?

Last day of swimming lessons

Hooray! Today was the last day of swimming lessons!!

I think I am the only one in the house who is excited for swimming to be over. Of course the boys absolutely LOVE swimming lessons, but it is definitely a mommy-killer. The effort required to get everyone dressed and ready every day, sitting out in the heat, and getting everyone home and dry... I get exhausted just thinking about it!

Today I got some great shots of the kids. They have been talking about going down the water slide all week!

Ephraim loved the slide and kept asking his teacher to go down "one more time!". Of course once in a while he had to wait while someone else had a turn.

But he did get to go down at least three times and loved every minute of it!

My favorite picture of the day actually wasn't even one of my kids. Since I have such a great camera that is wicked-fast, I end up taking pictures of everyone else's kids on the water slide too. I think this picture of Ephraim's friend Clara going down the slide is absolutely awesome!

I was glad that this time Jacob got to go down the slide three or four times. He had so much fun!

The classes are sent to the slide in shifts, so when it is not your turn for the slide you get to swim in the big pool. Here is Jacob working on his crawl stroke.

And I got the best picture of Ephraim while they were playing "Alligator, Alligator, What time is it?". Ephraim was the alligator, so he was in the middle of the pool all by himself. He was having fun, so I caught him with a great smile.

Looking at these pictures almost makes me sad that swimming lessons are over... almost! But I think I can handle waiting another year before we do it again! I was so proud of the progress the boys made this summer. Ephraim actually passed Level 1, so he will be in Level 2 with Jacob next summer. I am sure they won't end up in the same class since Jacob is quite a bit ahead as far as skill goes. He will probably pass Level 2 next year!

Swimming in the big and little pool

Hmmm... more swimming pictures. Can you tell that this is dominating my life right now?

Today when the boys got out of the pool they both played around in the shallow end for a bit. So I took a ton of pictures and got some really cute ones.

I especially like that Jacob doesn't have his goggles over his eyes so you can actually see his face!

The other day I realized that summer is nearly over and I still had not put up our kiddie pool! So after Daddy mowed the lawn on Monday, I filled up the pool. The boys were so excited that they had to play in it right away, even though the water was FREEZING!

They got out all the tub toys and put them in the pool. They even thought the basket for the tub toys was fun to play with.

I can't believe I didn't get the pool out sooner! It is one of the boys' favorite parts of summer!

I am sure the boys will be playing in the pool each day after swimming lessons and probably in the evenings for the next week! Then we will have to take it down before Sunday so Daddy can mow the lawn again. Who knows, we may have to put it up again next week and maybe even get Amelia out in it!

Holding Amelia and Swimming

Our kids start "reading" books at an early age. Here is a picture of Amelia checking out a soft book. She was absolutely intrigued with the bright colors and shapes.

She even rolled onto her side to get a better peek when it fell down next to her! She is going to be moving around before we know it!

This morning Jacob asked me if he could hold Amelia. It has been a while since they asked me, so I said "Sure!". I think Jacob was pretty happy about that, what do you think?

He absolutely adores Amelia. He loves to get on the ground next to her and talk to her and try to get her to talk back. She definitely recognizes her big brother!

I had Amelia sitting up against Jacob, and he told me that he wanted to "hold her like he did when she was littler". So I had to lay her down on his lap. Isn't he a cutie?

Of course Ephraim wanted to hold Amelia too. It was a bit more challenging for him to keep her upright, but he was very excited about it.

And of course today we went to swimming lessons again. I didn't really feel like going out in the heat to take pictures, so I didn't mind at all when Karyn took my camera and got some fun shots for me.

I love this picture of Jacob in midair! So cool!

And if you haven't seen this enough, you haven't been paying attention! Repeat after me, chicken-airplane-soldier!

Here is a picture of Ephraim in the water "wearing" his goggles. What a nut!

The boys just LOVE swimming lessons. I love that they are having so much fun, even if it is a bit of a pain in the rear for me. It has been especially hot lately, so when we get back to the van it is roasting! At least it is getting cooler in the mornings, which means fall is on it's way- hooray!

Swimming Lessons Round Two

With the beginning of August we also started another session of swimming lessons! The boys were so excited. After we finished our last session, Ephraim would come into my room in the morning and ask, "Do we have swimming lessons today?" When I said "no" he would respond with and agonized "oh!".

It is actually quite a challenge to get the boys ready and out of the house for swimming lessons every day. Not to mention bringing along my camera and everything I need for Amelia! Oh well, it is worth is to see how much my boys love to swim.

I am really impressed with everything Jacob is learning this time around. Preschool Level 1 (which Ephraim is in) is basically playing around in the water and going all the way under. Preschool Level 2 they are actually learning different strokes.

As you can see, this particular day they were working on the backstroke. They have also been working on the crawl stroke, the elementary backstroke, glides, watermelon floats, pancake floats and who knows what else! It's a lot of work and Jacob is doing great!

Ephraim has a great time playing in the water and is definitely all boy. Check out this picture of him punching the water... isn't it funny?

He is a bit braver now about putting his head under the water. I have finally started to "forget" to give Ephraim his goggles because he kept wearing them on his forhead and never putting them on his eyes!

Jacob on the other hand is not one to go without his goggles! Today I noticed that perhaps his goggles were a bit too tight, so we adjusted them after lessons.

Amelia is a good sport during swimming lessons. Sometimes she takes a nap while I go take pictures, and sometimes I get her out of her seat and we play. Either way, she sure is a cutie!

August, Amelia, and my three little piggies

Look what was on my clothesline a yesterday!

Now that Amelia is 4 1/2 months old she is finally starting to get too big for her 0-3 month clothes! (What can I say, she was only 5 lbs 13 oz when she was born, so she really is getting big!) So I got out the 3-6 month clothes and washed them. Aren't they adorable all hanging out on the line?

Luckily I have a wonderful friend who is passing on her girl clothes to me, since she has three girls and is done having kids. Without Melinda's generosity I would have absolutely no girl clothes! Isn't she awesome?

 Speaking of awesome chicks, check out what Amelia has been doing!

This afternoon while the boys were finishing up a movie that we started while I was helping out Melinda this morning, I set Amelia on the floor by the boys. The next time I looked I found her trying to watch TV, completely laying on her side!

She is not actually rolling over... she is too smart for that! She has figured out how to roll onto her side and stop there so she can play with her toys.What a smart cookie! (not to mention dang cute!) She has done it quite a few times since then.

Jacob and Ephraim have been having fun playing together. Here is a cool Lincoln log tower that Jacob built yesterday.

Of course Jacob gets all upset when Ephraim knocks his towers over, but we are slowly convincing Ephraim not to do it as much and telling Jacob that he can always build it again! They mostly play nicely together, but occasionally they really get on each other's nerves!

Here is something completely random. So I found the cutest little piggy banks at Hobby Lobby, so I had to pick them up for the kids when they are on sale. Aren't they cute?

There is one for Jacob, Ephraim and Amelia. The boys love their piggy banks. They are very excited to get money to put in their banks. I figured it would be a great place for them to keep their birthday money and any other money they happen to earn. Plus they are dang cute!