Steven Helps Make the Donkeys

Tim's favorite meal is Glumpkies, a traditional Polish dish (aka pigs in a blanket). He has changed it a bit and added his own spin on the receipe, but now it is Steven's favorite dish too. Steven affectionately calls them "donkeys" and is now a family joke. Steven loves to help us cook, and you can often find him and Tim in the kitchen or by the grill together. Today they made the donkeys.

We were looking for Andrew for awhile, and this is where we found him. Guess he partied a bit too much last night!
MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Sunday Afternoon Fun

Kendyl got a pool of her own yesterday! The water was warm, but still a bit overwhelming for her, so Steven sat in there with her. He is an awesome big brother.
Enjoying the new outdoor toys.
Sitting in the little puddles was a bit more comfortable for her. Her brothers try so hard to make her happy. What a lucky little girl! She was even the hit of the party this weekend. Most of the boys either held her, or played with her - too cute!
Not quite a bikini body - but oh so cute!
Finally having fun in her pool by herself.

More milestones!

Look what Kendyl learned this week! Now when we go into get her from her crib, we see a smiling face with a silly laugh as she is sooooooooo proud of herself! She can now roll over and sit up on her own. Tim even found her standing in her crib last night. This is all in a weeks time. We are in soooooo much trouble. Looks like she is one the move any day now.

How does an 11 year old celebrate his birthday?!?!?

AT THE DRIVE-IN!!!!

All but one of his friends was a drive-in virgin - until last night! The plan was for Tim and I to take 2 cars and drive Andrew and his 7 friends to the drive-in (1 hour away). Tim ended up getting sick and 2 friends cancelled so I had just enough room for Andrew and his friends. Steven kindly agreed to stay home and watch a bunch of movies (thanks to the Quinty's) with Tim so I could still take the kids. It was a little squishy with all the chairs, food and coolers of drinks, but hey - it's a party! We went to see Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda. Thankfully the weather held out for Wall-E, but we had to leave about 10 minutes into the 2nd movie.
Andrew, Jamie, Duncan (it was his 11th birthday too!), Mike, Joe and Wyatt
Do Andrew's friends know him or what?!?!? Jamie gave Andrew this cool pretzel along with a gift certificate to his favorit pretzel place. Mike also gave Andrew a pretzel gift card to ANOTHER local pretzel joint. He also got a baseball pinball game, Yankees stuff, Nerf basketball, a model and more. Great friends and good times where had by all.
Yes, another cookie cake!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

11

Where has the time gone? Mom and Pete came over to celebrate Andrew's big day with a pizza dinner and homemade cookie cake. Andrew got lots of money (thanks MomMom and PopPop, Uncle Chuck Aunt Rina and Cousins Kyle Jason and Alex, Grammy and Poppy), a Skimboard slip and slide (thanks Grandmom and Grandpop), camping gear and legos.


Oops - guess it will take some practice. It's easier at the beach!

Random Photos and Thoughts

Flowers!

I just love these flowers in our garden and wanted to share. I'm not much of a gardener (just pick it out and Tim plants/maintains it) but I love these. Even better they come back every year.

Kendyl and Grandpop

Awwwwwwwww
And my wild and crazy Andrew. You just never know what he is going to do next. We are trying to get to the park 1-2 a week so I can walk and the boys ride their scooters or bikes. As we were leaving the other day, Andrew decided to make a new ride - yet that is 2 scooters at a time. He starte from near the playset, made all the turns in the walkway and onto the parking lot, to the car. I am still wondering where he gets his coordination! Not from his parents!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day

We want to wish a Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there, including Pete/Grandpop, Dad/Poppy and PopPop.
We spent Father's Day at Marsh Creek Pool. It was Kendyl's first time in a pool, and she had a good time. She clung to us for awhile, then relaxed and had fun in her floaty. She had to have her binky (security), and loved the splash balls too.
Then she fell asleep! Yup - right in the pool in the middle of the action. Our bathing beauty!

Summer Reading Clubs

Friday afternoon we stopped at the library to sign up for the summer reading club. They earn a book buck for each day they read 20 minutes, then they can buy prizes at the end of the summer.

Andrew did NOT want to do this, but I insisted. As soon as we got home, they both started reading (Steven started in the car) and read for at least 40 minutes! Andrew even wants to go to some of the "teen" activities as he is now in a different group than Steven. Steven finished his book on Saturday - wow!


So this is how I caught them Saturday morning. Andrew wanted to do his 20 minutes of reading BEFORE leaving for the Boy Scout car wash!!! See Kendyl in the background. She loves hanging out in the playroom with her brothers.
And here is the pizza girl! She ate a whole slice of pizza for lunch.

Last Day of School

Our tradition - 5 years strong!

Each year they boys have a 1/2 day on the last day of school. I also take a 1/2 day and we go play mini-golf and get ice cream. This year we switched it up a bit, by joining some of Steven's friends at the park for lunch, then going golfing. The winner (Andrew) got to pick our ice cream place.

Then we went to pick up Kendyl from her last day of school. She will be starting with a babysitter (starting a daycare in her basement) on Monday.

Then we all stopped at the library to sign up for the summer reading club. Kendyl loved sitting by the board book bin and just looking at the books while I helped the boys pick out some books.

It was a great afternoon - a tradition we look forward to again next year!

Moving Up!

Today was Steven's Cub Scout Ceremony to move up from a Wolf to a Bear. Usually the ceremony is done at the church and they bridge over a "bridge" which is a skid. Tim has been wanting for years to graduate over a real bridge - and this year we finally did! It's a shame is was sooooooooo hot (95+), but we all enjoyed having it outside - followed by a BBQ and games.

Steven bridged/graduated from a Wolf (yellow neckerchief) to a Bear (blue neckerchief).
Tim reading the parents code of honor as the parents repeat and agree.
And the BBQ was a hit with Kendyl - especially the watermelon!

Growing too fast

So proud of herself!

She can't do this on her own yet, but if I put her standing in her crib, she will hold onto the railing and rock back and fourth - so darn proud of it too. Not only that, but she just looks so darn old today. She seems to have matured overnight. She needs to stop growing so fast.

And here is our 8 month old girl with Forky. Oh how she has grown.