All grown up!

Miss jade is quite the young lady! she had her first real haircut today! lynzy gowing who cuts my whole family's hair now, got to initiate jade into the world of fashionista hair. jade did really well although she was pretty ansy. we gave her some bangs cause she has a pretty big forehead.. lynzy did a great job and jade is looking like a little toddler and not so much my little baby anymore. it makes me so sad! i want to freeze time and keep her my little bubbly baby! :(

ben and i also did tie dye with the boys today. it actually turned out really really well. thankfully ben was much more skilled and new how to teach the boys. i was clueless. :) but zander and ronan both did the shirts mostly by themselves and chose the colors themselves. here are some pictures of the tie dye and of miss jade's first haircut!

tie dye! zander did the one in the middle by himself!

Before the haircut! crazy hair!All done!

Ronan's version of potty training

so ronan is doing well at potty training...but...there's always a snag. yesterday at the park i was sitting over by the play structure when i looked up and saw ronan way out in the open field with his pants around his ankles...peeing....in front of many onlookers. i screamed and ran to him and told him that he needed to not pee in front of people and that i had brought a bottle for him to pee in. so about an hour later i look over at the bench with our stuff on it (right BESIDE the play structure = lots of kids). there is ronan peeing in the bottle. AHHHH!!!! so i run after him again and he says "i peed in the bottle!" what do you say to that?! sorry parents for my naked boy. :)

Where's your toothbrush been?

tonight at dinner i was telling ben about how i was so proud of ronan going poop! ronan had been pooping in the little potty and then i would have to flush it out and clean it up. so anyways, i'm telling ben that ronan emptied his potty all by himself after pooping and even cleaned it out! ronan was beaming. then zander says while eating (almost to himself) "he used his toothbrush to clean it out." so casually! oh my word...ben and i both almost peed our pants we were laughing so hard! ronan seemed proud and said "yup i used my brush cause the poop wouldn't come out!" oh my flippin' word. SOOOO gross! and somehow ronan couldn't understand how that might be terribly disgusting! i'm sure he would have gladly used his toothbrush again tonight. good grief...nastastic!!!!
but he is still using the potty perfectly! just a diaper at night! woo hoo!

pictures

These are pics i took in the backyard. i decided prof pics aren't in the budget this year so off i went! i think they turned out pretty good. even if jade and ro are drooly all the time.

AHHHH!!!!!

Insert and jumping up and down like a two year old. i'm so ticked off. we had the inspection at our new house today and of course....crap. there is a leaky sprinkler head that has leaked into both of the kids closets (that are back to back) and there is MOLD. sooo.....the closing date is probably going to be extended 30 more days! UGH!!! that means that when school starts after labor day, i have to drive z to school 20 minutes ONE WAY! poor ro and jade are going to get dragged two and from four times a day! seriously?! someone shoot me. please please please pray that the bank decides to work hard and get it done earlier than later. they've been super cooperative and good so far, but i just would love to close before school starts.
on a positive note, ro is in underwear! wooo hooo! just pull ups at night! go ro!!!!!!

Insects, snakes, frogs....

on saturday i took the boys to an Insect fair with my mom. it was quite possibly the most amazing thing for my boys. and well, for jade too. she loved it. they were absolutely in heaven! there were bugs, snakes, frogs, birds, and tons of things to touch! everything was down at kid level and they could hold and touch lots of things. the boys held a snake, a stick bug, beetles, and even petted a bird. they were hilariously excited. my mom and i even ate a fried worm for them. cause well, they wouldn't of course. they got to make crafts, dig in dirt, got a free plant, etc. it was great. it was at san diego botanical gardens so i recommend taking your kids next year!

Zander ponderings

No worries everyone! Zander informed me: "aliens are creation. God made them."
Set your minds at ease.....

btw...potty training 101 with ronan, well...SUCKS! he has no problem peeing on himself.

Ronan's 3rd Bday pics

happy 3rd birthday ronan! i love you!!!

we're back!!!!!!!!!!!

we just had the best vacation ever in michigan! it was so relaxing and amazing. we stayed with ben's parents (oma and opa) in delton and had a great time. it was like out of an old novel. they have a huge amount of land for the kids to run around in. they also got to catch lightning bugs (they'd never even seen any), pick wild blackberries, light fireworks, etc. it was just fun. oma and opa even have a tall swing attached to a tree and the kids loved flying high on that. we also went to a water park in battle creek and the park in GR and had a birthday party for jacob and ronan. ben and i also got a night out with my brother and sister in law in grand rapids. oma and opa watched the kids! only our second night away since kids! it was FABULOUS! we all laughed so hard and acted like 12 year olds. i loved every minute! another night ben and i got to go see eclipse on opening night. so i was pooped the next day but worth it! the last day we were there we got to spend with my side of the family. all of us at millenium park and at lunch. i love being with family. and it's so fun to watch all the kids play together! oh and did i mention i got to meet two brand new babies?! a niece - lily marie lillis (chris and jen's baby) and a nephew - joel benjamin annen (jay and cheryl's baby). it was a good good trip. but oh, did jade scream on all the flights. so traveling wasn't so fun, but the trip was worth it! now we head home to house stuff! tons and tons of paper work and money out the door. its going to be a long month! we close on aug. 13

here's a few pics