How summer flies!

I just love babies! My little guy (Jake) is so funny! He is so happy that all I have to do is make eye-contact with him and he giggles. He can't stop moving around. He started sitting up at the early age of 4 months, and now he's like a freight train that can't be stopped! He's 8 months old now and he thinks he can walk! He actually can't, but that doesn't register with him, apparently! He weighs 24 pounds and can't stand to be put down. I'm going to need some serious chiropractic work pretty soon! When he starts to stand up all by himself, he gets so excited that he tense up his whole body and screams in delight, then immediately falls over because he wasn't balancing himself in all his excitement. Sometimes it gets hard to hold him since he thinks that he can just dig his feet in and climb me like Mt. Everest, but he still makes me laugh. Today, for the first time, he laughed when he farted. Oh, my stinky little boy!




I always know when Chloe has been somewhere. She organizes. I don't know where she got it, because it's so hard for me to organize, and I don't think Joe has ever tried. But she does it well! I found this plate with her abandoned fruit snacks all lined up and couldn't help but grab the camera. After having a few wild little boys in this house, it sure is a treat to find such a cute and sweet little personality floating around making my life balanced! (as a side note . .. after taking this picture, the fruit snacks disappeared! So mysterious!)


Jake the tank loves balls. All kinds. He likes to crawl after them, roll them, and even chew on them!
This summer, Chloe's chore was to fill up the tiny swimming pool every morning so it would be warm by the afternoon. She never complained about her chore, not once!

And for the record . . . yes, we live in a small town where having your own chickens is common, and no, we wouldn't change it for the world!


After swimming, I took the kids to the snow shack. Jake just had to have a taste!


I actually can't get Sam to stop posing. I know that everyone thinks it's me telling him to pose a certain way, but actually he's the one with the silly sense of humor!

This was Sam's first year of swimming lessons. He's so proud!

Colten's an old pro, but the diving board was still a little intimidating!

I can't believe that my husband is camping out with 3 of our kids by the fire, under the stars for the last time before summer is officially over! What happened? Was June so cold that I didn't consider it really summer? I am so sad that summer is done, but I have to admit . . . a few extra moments of having only 2 kids at home might be kind of nice! Could I actually jump in the shower before noon on a regular basis?!?!?!?! Well, that might be a lofty goal, so we'll just have to see how it goes. I was thinking that I would be so sad if I didn't put in a few pictures from some of the things we did this summer! I know, that's all this blog has been since it's only about a month old, but STILL, I hope you like them!!!

Yeehaw! I'm important!

Once I get a background set up, my kids can't help but start posing for me! In fact, I don't even have to have my camera with me , they just start yelling, "Take a picture of me, Mom!". This is their impression of "falling through the sky".


I finally made it! I made "the first word" list! Last Saturday, Jake said his first word - "mama". We tested it, and the verdict is in . . . it's me!!!!! Here's a picture of my chubby little guy.

CHALK CREEK WEEK!

Chalk Creek was so much fun this year - I can't believe we packed so much in to 3 days! We got to do it all . . . hiking, horseback riding, four-wheeling, fishing, flowing picking, campfire singing, smore making, and not to mention all the bug swattin'!
The little creek by the horses are the favorite place for the kids to play when we're at the cabin! Chloe loved throwing rocks in the river and watching the dogs lose their minds trying to retrieve the right ones! Dogs are such great entertainment!




Look! I'm actually in a few pictures!!! Hooray! I made the photo album!
Notice my nice little brace? What a mother wouldn't do to open up a new toy for her children! Sometimes I don't make good choices . . . I don't think using a pocket knife to saw into a packaged toy was the best choice. I must have gotten a little "over-zealous" in my cutting that I sliced right into my thumb - all the way through so that I looked down and saw my tendon looking up at me! I then had another choice to make: 1) go into the nearby store and ask if they had any superglue I could use, or 2) make the drive back home, keeping my thumb up high above my heart, find a babysitter for my kids, and sit for a few hours at the doctor's office to get it all stitched up. As much as I wanted to just grab the superglue, I figured that it was time I try to think things through a little. So, I headed off to the doctor's office. In our small town, our doctor hasn't seen much more than strep throat and football physicals in the past 10 years, so he seemed very excited to perform minor surgery! He was humming and chewing his gum loudly while he worked. Can you believe that he had to stitch a vein and put 3 stitches in my tendon before he could stitch the cut? I can usually handle watching anything being performed on my kids, but when it was my thumb being stitched, I had to stare at the ceiling! Yuck!
The boy's favorite thing to do up there was riding the tiny four-wheelers that my husband's Aunt and Uncle let them ride. They got completely OBSESSED with them! So, I guess I'll add those to the list of "wants."
Sam fell in love with a tiny frog that his Aunt Katie found at "Ladies Lake."


Big thanks to Aunt Patty - who our kids have wrapped around their little fingers! They love her so much! She's going to make the BEST mom!



Even Chloe got to go on a few rides with the boys!



Gus wins "Happiest Doggy"!

We love Chalk Creek so much! It helps up make such great memories with our kids - it's a treasure!

Here's Grandpa and Grandma Hansen - they are so much fun!

Here's Grandpa Steve leading a pack of baseball-hat wearing cowboys!
Aunt Katie is so pretty!


Chloe insisted on wearing the paddle-boat life-jacket/cowboy hat combo! She actually fell asleep in her car seat, but I worried about her outfit cutting off her air - so I moved her to the back of the car and there she slept for about an hour and a half.
This was Sam and Colten driving the little four wheelers past me.



Baby Jake got to try out the four wheelers! He felt like such a big boy! He took his first "crawls" in the cabin this week! I can't believe he's growing up so fast!!! His little walker had built up his self-confidence so much that when I hold his fingers to help him walk around, he tries to wiggle his fingers free to walk on his own. It would be fine if he knew how to walk on his own, but he's only 7 months old and I think he needs to master a few other things before walking . . . like maybe sleep though at least most of the night! Does he think he has to check in with me every couple of hours at night to make sure I'm still there? What's the deal?!?!