Birthday Boy

 

Our #1 Son is now seven years old!

How does that happen so quickly??

Lincoln spent the morning at basketball camp and then went out to lunch with his buddy JD.

He then requested that we spend the afternoon at the pool before coming home to a dinner of Dad's chili - yum!

We had to be a little creative this year since my oven is still out of commission, so we made cornbread in the donut maker and ...

 

a Rocky Road cake in the crockpot.

I'm beginning to think an oven is more of a luxury than a necessity... but no, it would definitely make life easier around here!

By the end of the night we were surrounded by BeyBlades and space clocks and marshmallow shooters.

But the prize of the night was the harmonica - now we just need to learn how to play it!

We are so happy to have Lincoln in our family.  He loves to learn and has a super imagination.  It's so fun to watch him play with his siblings or listen to his latest scheme or watch his enthusiasm for whatever activity he happens to be doing.  Lincoln lives very much in the moment, so when he's happy...he's really  happy.  And when he's sad or angry, he's really sad or angry.  It's actually rather refreshing because there's no guess work involved.  What you see is what you get!

And we love what we got!

Happy Birthday Lincoln!

Our First Adventure

We headed out for our first Texas Nature Challenge today.  Lincoln had basketball camp this morning, so we picked an easy one that we knew wouldn't take too long.  Besides, my boys have been begging to go to the "Dinosaur Museum" for the last two weeks. 

  And that is how we found ourselves completing a scavenger hunt at the Texas Memorial Museum

  I put Leah and Lincoln in charge of finding the answers to the clues

While I spent my time trying to keep this wild child from getting into too much trouble!

 

Peter took the scavenger hunt very seriously - although I think he may have confused being a scavenger with being a secret spy so he decided to go incognito and wear a disguise.

 

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, since this is how the child comes to Family Night - you know, in case there is a freak flood or snowstorm :)  

You can never be too prepared!

School's Out for Summer

 Today was our first official day of summer vacation!

We started the day with haircuts for everyone.

Then we headed out to Krispy Kreme so the big kids could redeem their report card A's for free donuts.

Between the two of them, there were plenty of donuts for everyone!

 Next we had to hit the splash pad so it would really feel like summer vacation

 Since we no longer have a newborn or a napper, I decided we need to physically wear everyone out everyday.  To that end, I've created "Mom's Summer Camp". If you'd like to see what's in store for us this summer, just check out the page I've added on the sidebar.  I'll also hopefully be posting pics of all our adventures.

Here's to a fun summer!

Camping

 This weekend was the ward Father/Son campout so the boys took off Friday evening for a night of fun, fire, and s'mores.  

Leah and Eli were a little disappointed to be left behind, so they went outside to watch the birds and squirrels for awhile.  I think they were glad to be able to come in when the mosquitos showed up to the party.

When the boys came home on Saturday, all they could talk about was the tarantula that Dad found - definitely the highlight of the trip... that and the s'mores :)

The tradition continues

 I was about 8 years old when my mom taught me how to cross-stitch... and it didn't take long for me to be hooked.  I think it's a great way to introduce kids to fabric arts because it's a relatively easy way to learn to use a needle and can be as simple or as complex as  you want.

 I got Leah started during General Conference this year so she would have something to keep her busy while sitting in one place and listening to the speakers.  Her first project was this little ladybug - a great simple pattern to help teach the different stitches.

Then she moved on to a bookmark pattern that she could give to one of her favorite teachers - we found this cute bumblebee fabric to match and I helped a little on the sewing.  She was so excited to give it to her teacher!  And she's already started a new one for another teacher.