My Constructor

Tate LOVES to build stuff.  He's an engineer and constructor.  He spends hours outside building contraptions with water and buckets and any other objects left in the backyard.  He loves blocks and legos and marble runs (and I bought him some sweet Laser Pegs for his birthday coming up, which are pretty much light-up legos).  Also on his wish-list are dominoes.  He likes to look up domino runs people have video taped on YouTube. Anyway, this is his pillow fort custom built for Henry.  He was wearing quite the fancy constructor hat =), but I suppose you don't need a hard-hat when working with pillows.

Avery is Always Running

 Tate just finished his first session of swim lessons ever.  It was almost 2 weeks and he learned to be a little more comfortable in the water.  They gave me the Red Cross level Polywog check-off sheet with his accomplishments today.  It includes skills such as front and back flotas. He mastered entering and exiting the water =).  They were trying to get him to float on his back today assisted and with a life jacket.  He was crying and saying "Actually, I'm done now!".  Other than the floating parts, he liked lessons, and that's what matters most at this age.  I love water and swimming and have had Tate in the water since he was a baby, but he doesn't share my love of water.  Oh well, I still insist he learn for safety.  Avery plays in the kiddy pool next door while we wait and one day grandma showed up.  She's such a good sport to roll up her capris and get in with the kids. They are lucky grandkids.  Lane came, too.

Eric's Childhood Glasses Found (and some fuzzy pictures just because they are cute)

Twinners-5 years apart

I Literally Sit Around All Day and Eat My Baby...

...but who can blame me?!

**Photos courtesy of Tate.**

Monkey Business

 We have been doing a babysitting swap with 3 other families this summer.  It's great because the kids enjoy time with friends, usually a water party followed by a movie inside, and us adults enjoy 3 hours of dating each Saturday.  Eric and I always take Henry with us because he's too much fun to leave behind =)  Here's a picture of him eying some of Eric's burger.  Ashlynn, the kids' usual sitter, asked to take the kids bowling,  which led to McDonald's to play and eat ice-cream, which led to Walmart to pick out candy.  Then she dropped them off for us to enjoy as they ran wild in a sugar-induced state.  The last picture is Henry trying to fly like the planes on his quilt made by Grandma Stoddard.  We are seriously so blessed with quilts in this home between our two talented grandmas!

Henry is 4 months old now and likes to do mini sit-ups nearly every time he is placed on his back.  He also can roll from his tummy to his back.

Comings and Goings

 This has been a very hot summer.  One week it hit 114 degrees here in Kennewick.  So the kids have spent some quality time in the water and mud of the backyard.  I like this shot of Avery caught just after her mud door art.

One day I was up early feeding Henry when I heard Eric's alarm clock go off.  So I decided to jump on him as a good morning salutation.  Mid-air, he saw me and in fear, raised his elbow which collided with my EYE-BALL!  I can still hear the squish sound weeks later.  It hurt.  I cried like a baby right there on the bed.  Moments later Avery decided to join the party by covering her fingers in peanut butter and running around the kitchen clapping as she enjoyed the flying sticky mess it created.

 Also recently, Tate had a play date with a little guy he met at church recently.  They were instant best friends and ran around holding hands.  Avery really wanted to go to the playdate, so I treated her to a manicure since she couldn't join Tate.  She sat pretty still.  The workers were so kind as they gave her hot pink with sparkles and a heart on each thumb.  And my favorite part was that it only cost $4.

 We made a quick trip to Portland on the 4th of July, which was the super hot week.  It was very nice to have some weather under 100 degrees.  Here's some pictures of the kids in the car and on the zoo train.  Also, Avery posed in front of a waterfall and her arm nearly disappeared.  The zoo train was a nice pit stop for me to feed and change Henry, who had a blow-out, probably just so he could mess his onesie and show off his abs.