June 2012 Other activity photos

Dinoguy is in the middle on the block about to dive

Waiting to swim a leg of a relay

Dinoguy was on the city swim team in May and June in 2012. It was a very positive experience. They swim every day and it is the only way I know of to help a child become fairly proficient at swimming. He earned the Most Improved award in his age group at the end of the season. He wants to swim again this coming year and Trainboy wants to join him.

Trainboy on a waterslide

Trainboy at swim lessons

Trainboy took two weeks of swim lessons that he enjoyed and that was a huge positive. He did not come as a natural water lover like Dinoguy. The fact that he enjoys playing in the water now is awesome. I tried mommy child swim classes when he was a toddler and he just clung to me the whole time trying to get out of the water.  So seeing him excited to swim and learning basic skills was fabulous.

I squeezed another summer out of this awesome baby swimsuit set I was given. Looking at pictures it was really a bit too small.

Time for a snack? Or just hating the water sprays?

We did go swimming at the city pool several times this summer.  Not as many times as I thought we would. Princess was surprisingly comfortable in the water, much like Dinoguy has always been. Baby did not like to leave my side most of the time, except when he was enjoying the baby water slide. But usually he was holding on to me for dear life, whimpering about being at the pool. Some kids love water, some don't I guess. 

Swinging at the park remains a favorite pastime of both Princess & Baby. They could do so for hours. All of the kids love to swing really, Dinoguy hangs out on his swing in the yard all the time.

What our new house looked like shortly after we moved in. I have gotten to cut down a lot of stuff. :)

We moved at the end of June out in a more rural area. The move was motivated by cutting our rent in half. I loved our house, but the rent was killing us financially. Really, Fixitman pointed out, I loved the yard. Our new home has an even bigger yard since we are in the country. Lots of trees, lots of land, lots of work. I have enough gardening projects to last me several years.

My foot in a lovely walking cast I borrowed. Ow.

Did I mention I badly sprained my foot on moving day? I could not put any pressure on it for several days. I was given a walking cast to borrow and that made it possible to sort of move in to our house and finish cleaning the old one. Being injured during moving week is not good timing. My foot hurt for months afterward, it was so weak and recovering. I think I tore all of the ligaments.

The rest of these photos are just random ones I took in June 2012.  Sometimes every day pictures are better than any thing else.

Dinoguy being cute

Baby is just cute all the time.

Princess playing cards.

Good morning wake up calls are free in my house.

How did this cute boy get so big?

Moreover, when did this one turn into a big kid?

Dinoguy and the first dinner I made in our new home. An enchilada casserole.

June 2012 Cub Scout Camp

I went to Cub Scout camp with Dinoguy for a week this year (2012) as a parent leader. Princess came along and went to the little kids camp. Trainboy and Baby stayed with Fixitman and sometimes with friends during the day. I really wanted to go with him last year when I was a Wolf den leader, but Baby was too young to be separated from me for that long and it wasn't possible to bring him. I loved the experience. I loved being with all the boys and all the fun activities. Dinoguy had a blast also. I didn't take many pictures, but we did have fun.The weather was pretty good most of the week too - the last two days got into the 90's but we adjusted.

Cub scout camp is like Boy paradise

Earning his silver bullet

Learning to play golf

Meeting some animals

He loved the BB Gun range

Finding bones in owl pellets.

Dinoguy has red shorts, and loves archery

This coming year I am planning to go again. It was that much fun. Also, Trainboy and Dinoguy will both be at camp and Princess asks if she gets to go again so we will almost all get to go have fun. I don't think Baby will be potty trained in time so he'll have to stay home with Dad or friends.

June 2012 Transit of Venus

The planet Venus moved in front of the sun in June and safe viewings were available on campus so we took all of the kids up to see it. In May there had been a solar eclipse that we had tried to make our own viewer for, but it didn't work very well due to the eclipse being at sunset here. So finding out they had telescopes on campus to help see this one was nice.

There were also some awesome goggles available for looking at it.

It was a small black dot moving along the side of the Sun. Not super exciting like when the sun had looked like a crescent in May. However it won't happen again until 2117 so it really was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Sweet Baby with his Daddy.

Tried to line the kids up for a picture. in front of the fountain. Baby wasn't interested.

June 2012 Viking History

We worked on history projects in June about the Vikings, a favorite topic of Dinoguy. He loves Viking myths and history. Here you can see the Viking ship, longhouse and Viking bread.

Here you can see how good Sarge is with kids, as he lets Baby straddle him. I don't allow the kids to be mean to Sarge, but babies inevitably try out climbing on the dog. He tolerates it when they are little until I've successfully taught them it's not nice. It's now six months later and Baby tries to feed treats to Sarge instead of sitting on him, so we're making progress.

May 2012 Activities and photos

Since it is six months later that I am posting this finally, let's go with quick summary style. Here are the best pictures from the month of May and short captions to try and explain what happened that month.

Baby wearing training pants. Mostly because I think I ran out of diapers that day.

Princess and Baby were spontaneously wrestling. It was funny to watch.

Princess grew these beans and was very excited to eat them.

He's just super cute.

A monster patch I did on Baby's pants.

Mother's day breakfast with my four helpers.

Trainboy lost a front tooth.

Pretty Princess

A history food project. One of our favorite things to do.

Baby gets a toddler bed. He was thrilled until he realized what it was intended for. Did not sleep in it for months. (Now demands to sleep in it though.)

An old hotel was imploded in town. We got up really early to go watch. It came down loud and fast!

My sister was visiting at the time. Here we are waiting for the blast.

Yay for early morning explosions!

Princess began her muffin making career (with Jiffy mixes) in May

Trainboy expresses his love for doing dishes. See the joy in his face?

Dinoguy attempts to defy gravity with a chair while reading.

Showing off some history projects.

Trainboy is ready for a battle.

Cutest civil war union soldier award.

Scrumptious cheeks for kissing.

Princess shows off her new jumper that Grandma made her.

New baby (for a dear friend)

The last week in April was spent at a friends' home helping her while she had a baby. The kids loved visiting friends. I also enjoyed seeing my dear friend and also enjoyed that I got to see another new child come into the world which is always a sacred experience.

Kids with water balloons

Yep I filled up approximately 100. It's a labor of love.

Water balloons plus trampolines are super fun.

It was a memorable birth because of events that were unexpected. However that is my friends' story, not mine. What I got was a chance to snuggle and care for her newborn baby more than I was expecting! 

Introducing her kids to their new baby sister. My sweet kids, including Baby and Princess are quite interested too and had to be reminded not to crowd out the siblings.

Love this cute pic. Trainboy is right there loving on the new baby too.

Her three kids first picture together!

Me with the new baby wrapped on in her mei tei.

Precious new baby!

It was a memorable birth because of events that were unexpected. However that is my friends' story, not mine. What I got was a chance to snuggle and care for her newborn baby more than I was expecting!