Curls.

If you look at Grace now, you'd never guess she had curly hair.  She did though.  But over the course of the last year, all her curls have gradually disappeared.  Claire's hair, on the other hand, has gotten much curlier this summer with all the humidity.  Even curlier than Grace's hair at the same age.  I'm sure Claire's hair will be straight in another year or two, so I'm going to enjoy getting pictures of it now while I can, especially since she thinks Mom's camera is fun at the moment.  Look at these ringlets. . .

Breakthroughs.

Grace has been taking swim lessons all week at our community pool.  After the first three days, I was beginning to think the lessons were a waste of money and time.  Well, Mike took Grace to her lesson this morning, and I was so thrilled to get the call that she let go of the instructor's hands and swam on her own.  Needlesstosay, once Tyler woke up, I rushed to the pool to see for myself.  Not only was Grace swimming on her own, she was even jumping in the water and swimming to us.  I truly cannot believe this is the same girl who would not take off her swim vest five days ago.  We have one more week of lessons, so I hope this progress continues!!!!

And for the second breakthrough in our family, Tyler has not used his pacifier in one week!  He never really liked it that much, but during bible school last week, he was actually using it more than normal because we were out of our typical routine.  I feared we were going to get into a bad habit, so we made a conscious effort to not give it to him ever since then.  So far, so good!  We had to take away the pacifier from both girls at age 2 (and they both immediately stopped napping), so I will be so thrilled if this continues (and I finally have a child who naps beyond age 2)!!!!

Ice cream.

Grace has been taking swim lessons this week, so we've been at the pool a lot.  At the beginning of the summer, I was so scared of going to the pool with 3 kids, especially since Grace and Claire both have a fear of the water.  As long as Grace has a vest on, she will at least get in the water and happily swim on her own.  Claire, on the other hand, clings to me the entire time even with the vest on.  Thankfully, Tyler is usually happy sitting in his float.   

Today was Grace's third day with lessons and already she wants to swim without the vest and is actually putting her face entirely in the water, so we're seeing improvement.  To reward her effort, we decided to treat the girls to ice cream tonight after dinner.  As we pulled into the ice cream place at 6:30, we were surprised no one was there (except for the drive-thru cars).  We quickly realized, however, that 6:30 was still a little early to be eating ice cream as no one could eat there's fast enough. 

Good thing there's always wipes in the car :)

Yum, cake!

I think Grace loved every minute of her cake. . .

. . . and especially enjoyed trying to get the entire piece on her fork! 

P.S.  Excuse the long bangs. . . we briefly thought about trying to grow them out.  That lasted about one week!

Late, but not forgotten.

Almost two weeks after the fact, I'm finally ready to start getting pictures up from Grace's 5th birthday!  It's hard to believe I have a 5 year old who is almost ready to start kindergarten.  Where did the time go? 

Grace was so excited about her birthday this year.  Honestly, I think she was most excited about getting cake. 

More to follow tomorrow. . .

VBS.

Once again, I'm finding it hard to blog this week.  Our new church is having Vacation Bible School this week, so Grace and Claire have been attending from 9-12 each morning.  I have also been staying and have been helping prepare and serve the snacks to the kids.  Grace is really enjoying VBS.  She especially loves the music and has been playing the CD of songs each night for us.  It amazes me she already knows the words to all the songs.  Claire, on the other hand, tells me everyday that she does not want to go back to VBS.  I do, however, think this week has been good for all of us.  By volunteering at VBS, I have been able to meet some really nice members of the church and Grace and Claire are hopefully getting more comfortable since they'll be starting religious education here in August.  

So it's been a good week, but we're all tired (and it's only Wednesday).  I'm already looking forward to recouperating this weekend!

Playset.

Today, on our 6th anniversary, we spent pretty much the entire day finishing the playset.  As my mom said to me today, "Six years ago, would you have ever imagined this is how you would be spending your anniversary."  Obviously, the answer is no, but with three kids filling this house, a playset has been long overdue.  Needlesstosay, Mike and I are extremely exhausted after working all day in the sun and mid-90 temperatures.  We've been working on building the playset on and off for the last 5 days (Mike's entire vacation from work), but it needed to get done, so it was time well spent.  Here's a picture of the final product.  Now it's time for me to go to bed!

MIA.

I was on such a good streak with daily blog postings, but that all came to a halt this week.  Mike is off this week, so we've been spending most of our free time building the kids a playset.  Not to mention a lot of us have been under the weather lately.  I'm on antibiotics for a sinus and ear infection; Mike is also on antibiotics for his sinuses; and yesterday Tyler started running a fever.  The pediatrician this morning said that he may be starting to get an ear infection as well, so now three out of the five of us are on amoxicillin.  Hopefully the girls can stay well. 

Maybe I'll get a picture posted tomorrow of our progress on the swingset.  It seems like it is taking forever, but we are making good progress considering the 90+ temperatures here.

A new look.

I had been thinking for a while that I wanted to cut Claire's hair.  Her hair is so curly (and was slightly out of control), so I thought a little trim might help.  Well, after she got out of the bath the other night, I got a little carried away and ended up cutting off almost four inches.  About three inches too many in my opinion!  Poor Claire was almost mortified when she first looked at her hair in the mirror (and I have to admit I was too). 

We're all getting used to the new look. . . it's actually even starting to grow on me.   Here's some pictures of Claire the morning after.  The first picture is very similar to the facial expression she gave me right after I cut her hair :)

Obviously she's not too upset at me as she enjoyed being silly for the camera!

Seven months old.

Last month I was five days overdue on posting my monthly update on Tyler.  This time I'm ten days behind.  I wanted to get our vacation on the blog, so I briefly forgot about Tyler turning seven months old on Wednesday, May 26th.  So here's some information about Tyler right now:

• Tyler is still our happy and overly smily child.  If you smile at him, he smiles back with a huge grin. 
• In the last few weeks, however, Tyler has been a little more fussy than usual.  I think frustration is starting to set in that he cannot move around as he would like.  Tyler has done better this month at sitting up.  He can sit up for quite a while and enjoys reaching for toys around him.  Sometimes if he reaches too far forward, he gets stuck and cannot get back up.  So he usually ends up on his belly and gets frustrated that he cannot move.  Other times he will arch himself back while sitting up and ends up on his back.  Tyler is much happier on his back, so he's usually more content if he ends up in this position.
• This month Tyler has shown that he can roll over from his back to his tummy.  He usually does not do either though.  When he's on his tummy, it seems as if he has forgotten how to roll over to his back because when he's had enough of his tummy, he just gets upset and waits for me to help him. 
• Now that preschool is out, Tyler's sleep schedule has become a little more regular.  He goes to bed between 6-7pm each night.  For most of last month, he was waking up around 5:30am (about an hour earlier than last month - ouch!).  But Tyler consistently takes a nap at 7:30am and usually sleeps 1.5-2 hours.  He'll then take one or two more naps in the afternoon.
• Tyler is still babbling the same words as last month.  Still says "Ba Ba" and "Ma Ma" but that's it.  He seems to be shrieking more lately though.
• I still nurse Tyler five times each day.  He is also eating cereal twice a day as well as fruit in the morning and a veggie/meat at night.  He always eats a full serving of cereal, but only on a rare occasion will he eat an entire jar of baby food.  He also likes Mum Mums and is trying to figure out Puffs.
• Tyler now weighs 16lb. 10oz and measures 26 1/4 inches.   He's now wearing 6-9 month clothes for the most part, though some are still too big.  On the other hand, some of his 9-12 month rompers fit.   He is still wearing size 3 diapers.
• Tyler still rarely uses his pacifier.  If he is overtired when I put him in his crib, I will try giving it to him to calm him down.  Usually after a minute, he takes it out and falls asleep on his own though.  I never have to give it to him while he is up during the day.  He's usually happy without anything.  But if he does want something in his mouth, he'll stick two fingers in or he also enjoys the linked rings and his toy giraffe. 
• Last month, I thought Tyler was getting a tooth, but it appears I was wrong.  There are no signs of teeth yet.  Claire did not get her first tooth until around 13 months, so he may be following in her foot steps. 
• Claire and Grace had dark hair as babies.  Tyler, on the other hand, still has light, almost blondish brown hair (similar hair color to mine as a baby).  

I never got around to taking a picture of Tyler in the onesie at 6 months, so here is one of him at 7 months and his picture at 5 months for comparison.

Family Vacation. Day 4.

Our final morning at the cabin.  Tyler and Grandma took in some final moments on the rocking chair.

While I snapped a picture of our view from the back.

Before loading up in the car, we got a few pictures out front.  (If I had actually thought about the fact I'd be taking pictures by the cabin, I would never have dressed the girls in orange. . . a little much with the wood color!)

On our way out of town, we stopped by a wood carver and had a sign made with our last name.  While he was carving the sign, the girls enjoyed a "quarter" horse ride.

And got to pick some taffy for themselves at the candy store.

Then we hit the road.  We unfortunately did not get to spend time in the Smoky Mountains this trip, but we did drive through the park on our way out of town.  Something to put on the agenda for next time, I guess.

Family Vacation. Day 3.

On Saturday, we decided to stay around Pigeon Forge.  While Grandma Marilyn took Great Aunt Kathy to the airport, the rest of us went to the outlet mall and then stopped by the track where Grace got to enjoy her first Go-Cart experience with Dad.

We were fortunate to have some visitors Saturday afternoon/evening.  The Henry's, our neighbors during our first few years in Maryville, drove to see us first.  Mrs. Henry could not get enough of holding Tyler :)

After the Henry's left, Mom's friend's Bob and Twila also stopped by.  I don't think I had seen the Henry's or Bob and Twila since we moved from Maryville in 1994, so it was a nice treat for them to make the drive to Pigeon Forge to see all of us. 

We all enjoyed our last full day at the cabin.  Claire found some ants on the back porch and enjoyed following them around.

And Tyler was getting spoiled by being held so much :)

Family vacation. Day 2.

On Friday morning, we left early to get to Dollywood when they opened at 10am.  The morning news said that storms would be arriving in the area around 2pm, so we wanted to get in as much as we could before then.  Since Grace did so well the day before, we decided to try the adult rides.  I rode the rides with Grace this time, so we did not get any pictures.  But needlesstosay, Grace was fearless.   She went on two water rides that had nearly vertical drops at the end and Dollywood's indoor roller coaster.  If the line had not been so long, we would have gone on Dollywood's newest ride, which looks similar to this, but imagine this a lot higher in the air and more complicated.

Of course, Mike had to torture Claire and make her try it.

Thanks to Aunt Kathy renting a double stroller, the girls did not have to walk around the park.  Although we were only there less than 4 hours, it was so hot and humid that the stroller was definitely a smart move on her part.

The weatherman was actually right and storms did roll through around 2pm.  We left Dollywood just in the nick of time and avoided getting wet.  Although there was more I had hoped to see and do at Dollywood, we probably stayed long enough because everyone was getting tired by the end.  So the rest of our 2nd day was spent relaxing at the cabin. 

Claire found her favorite spot on the porch. . .

And Tyler enjoyed being held by Aunt Katie. . .

Rocking chairs on a covered porch with a beautiful view. . . not a bad way to spend a rainy afternoon/evening.

Family vacation. Day 1. Part 2.

Around 4pm on our first full day in Pigeon Forge, we decided to go to Dollywood (or "Dollyworld" as Mike thought it was called).  If you enter the park after 3pm, you can use your ticket to come back the next day.  So we all ventured forth planning to stay until the park closed at 7pm.  Not knowing how Grace would do, we decided to go to the area of the park with the most kiddy rides.  We passed the carousel first and Grace excitedly jumped on a horse. 

Claire, on the other hand, did not want to go on, but Mike insisted and dragged her on kicking and screaming.  Even while sitting on a bench, she clung to Mike and pouted the entire ride. 

While on the carousel, Grace saw what's called "Sky Rider" and said she wanted to go on that ride next.  As this ride soars 70 feet in the air, I was shocked Grace wanted to ride it and thought for sure she'd chicken out right before they allowed her on.  Aunt Katie wanted to go with her and sure enough, Grace jumped on without hesitating.  She was fearless and actually leaned forward waving to us below most of the ride. 

After being tortured on the carousel, Claire preferred to sit with Grandma or watch Grace and Aunt Katie from the safety of Uncle Mark's shoulders.

The next ride "Amazing Flying Elephants" was much tamer.  Unfortunately, Uncle Mark did not figure out until halfway through the ride that there was a button to push to make the amazing elephant fly, but Grace did not seem to mind :)

Claire, once again, found a place where her feet would be planted firmly on the ground :)

Mike then took Grace on the teacups and got a good workout trying to spin Grace around. 

And Claire, well she was still watching. . .

The "Scrambler" followed and shuffled Grandma and Grace around in every direction. 

Then it was time for the mini-roller coaster. . .

Amazingly enough, Tyler was still holding strong and smiling at this point. . .

But Claire was fading fast. . .

So it's a good thing Dollywood was getting ready to close, because Grace was showing no signs of slowing down when riding the last ride of the evening, "Shooting Star."