Just keep swimming

I'm not sure how many people still read my blog, but I know that my sister does, and she loves when I update it.  In fact, if I haven't updated in a while, I can count on a nasty text from my sister who puts me back in line.  And guys, today is her birthday!  So as a little birthday gift to her, here is an update - Happy Birthday sis!

My boys love the water lately.  They can't get enough of it.  Every single chance they get they are begging to turn on the hose, play in our kiddie pool, or run through the sprinkler.  Finally, after many days of begging, the weather was finally warm enough to get out the little kiddie pool and make a splash.  

Jake wasn't excited or anything.  It's hard to get any sort of emotions from him... ;)

Joseph has also been doing a lot of continuing ed classes, and since his company pays for travel and the hotel, we've tagging along and taking a lot of mini-vacations.  Of course, all the kids care about is that we get to spend time at the hotel pool!  Before we are even out of the car, the goggles and floaties come on so they can jump in the pool first thing.

(Even as I type this, Eli is coming up to the computer looking at the pictures yelling, "WATAH, WATAH!!" (water, water))

Hey, at least they're pretty easy to please!  :)

Camping out!

About two weeks ago our friends in MO called us and said that their ward was having a father/son campout and wanted to know if we would like to join in the fun!  Of course, as is usually the case, we didn't need too much coercion to make the trip (we're pretty much always looking for an opportunity to get out of Ottumwa for a couple of days, hint hint you guys.)  The two dads took the older boys while Jess and I stayed home with the babies.  Jake and the twins were in absolute heaven!  Jake has been wanting to camp out for basically his whole life, but we haven't been adventurous enough to take the whole family yet, so this was his big chance.  It was all he could talk about for days.

Joseph said that Jake was even excited to go to sleep!  Around 9:00 they were all sitting around the campfire and Jake asked if they could go in their tent so he could get in his sleeping bag.  I don't think he's ever once asked if we would put him to bed at home.  Maybe this whole camping this isn't such a bad idea...  

Jake in front of the tent

 Can you tell he's excited to get in there and get in his sleeping bag?

The boys in camping heaven

Of course, Jess and I enjoyed a wonderful night of our own!  No pics since the boys had the camera, but it included shopping, manicures, ice cream, and girl talk until the wee hours of the morning.  :)  Love these guys!!

Let's go fly a kite!

We had one of our favorite people come visit us this past week, my sister Bethany!  One of the days she was here it was SUPER windy outside so we decided to go out into the backyard and fly a kite.  I’ve never had a kite fly up so easily.  We just let it go and it flew right up! 

That little speck up in the sky is our kite!

We were having a great time flying our kites until this happened:

 

 It got all tangled in this tree in our neighbor's yard:

By some miracle we were able to finagle the kite down from the tree without the use of a ladder.  After that we called it a day!!

Lesson learned: Don't let Eli hold onto the kite by himself!

Mother's Day Tea

Jake's preschool put on the sweetest Mother's Day program yesterday.  It was a special day just for moms.  As each mom walked into the room, their child was waiting with a corsage they had made ready to give to their mother, then escorted her to her chair.  The kids put on a program where they sang some adorable songs, then one by one, each child went and picked out a cookie for their mom, carefully poured "tea" (which was really punch) and gave her some gifts they had made.  It was the sweetest thing ever!

Here are the kids singing their songs:

Jake took his responsibility to pick out a cookie for me very seriously.  He stood looking at the cookies for a long time deciding which one he thought I would like the very best.

Then he very carefully poured me some punch.  He said that they had practiced this part many times in preschool using water.

Jake painted a tile with flowers on it for me.

I had so much fun watching Jake and I can't believe how fast he is growing.  It's the moments like this that makes being a mom all worth it.  :)