July 2013

The biggest event of July is, of course, Caleb and Levi's 7th birthday! But that will get a post of its own. All three boys took swimming lessons, and finally did really well. None of them really like the water all that much, but they all made some good progress so it was worth it.

These are out of order, but oh, well. Near the end of the month we went to visit grandparents, since my sister from far away was visiting, and my boys like to celebrate their birthday with their grandma, with whom they share the day. And, two of my brothers live nearby so that was an added bonus :). I won't put up pictures of all our fun times swinging, swimming, building with blocks, visiting the doughnut store to watch them make doughnuts, and all the fun things we did there, but I did figure out how to blur a face because I had to put this picture on here. I made Ellie and her 7 month older cousin matching skirts, and they were so adorable together! Makes me wonder what having identical girl twins rather than boys would be like.....too cute! It was fun taking pictures of them, as well as their 6 older brothers all dressed up and looking sharp for church. Just imagine it, as well as all the silliness that comes with!

"The pretty pink pirate plays the piano peacefully" or something close to that is the sentence the boys made up for this picture.

Levi got his first bee/wasp/hornet/yellow jacket/some kind of stinging insect sting :(. It got swollen up (he's putting ice on it) but felt better andit  looked better pretty quickly, thankfully.

Ellie's Fourth of July hairdo.

We went on a hike on the Fourth of July around a nearby lake. It was really pretty, and the hike was easy enough for small legs, and for daddies who carry even smaller legs on his shoulders :).

This is John working on the floor. The hardwood near the front door has been dirty and yucky looking since we moved in and for Christmas John said he'd help me re-do a room. So I painted the entry way area, but we waited to do the floor since we'd have to go outside and around the house to get downstairs while it was drying. This is his tent to sand under so the dust wouldn't spread. It was super hot and yucky under there for him, but nice for me to not have to clean everything in sight like the last floor sanding project. He was able to varnish it while we were out of town, meaning we didn't have to go outside with the laundry and every time we needed to go downstairs  - what a nice guy!

And we were able to go on our first family bike ride! Levi and Caleb did really well, we went on a bike/walking trail near our house. And Ellie did well with her first time in the bike trailer. All around, it turned out great, so now I know we can do it again, even if Daddy isn't home (at least on the bike trail, not sure I'm ready to take Caleb and Levi out on the open roads just yet).