July

July was BUSY! A 1.5 week long trip (see separate post for all the stories and pics), a week of swim lessons and 2 birthdays made for the whole month feeling like we were always getting ready for the next thing...

Drew has a phrase he likes to use every now and then when he's surprised, etc: "OH MY G-O-S-H!" and yes, he spells out the word gosh in this expression! I don't know where he heard it, likely a movie or sorts, but it cracked us up the first few times we heard it!

We celebrated the boys' birthdays and had a great time! One Saturday we celebrated with the McCoys and went to Build A Bear (the boys' first time) and then to the new Minion movie. The following weekend we had some of their friends from summer camp over for a swim party. So lots of fun was had, as well as lots of cake! :) The boys enjoyed their birthday presents from different people of course, and with them being so close, it feels like 2-3 weeks of birthday celebrations! A good friend of the family was so sweet and kind, as always, and had bought gifts for the boys. We hung out with them a few days prior to when they were planning to actually give them and Drew went up to the Dad and asked specifically for K'Nex toys. Well, this Dad couldn't resist this boys pleading request and returned their original gift and went and bought the K'Nex. Drew was ELATED! I was touched by their thoughtfulness. Drew loved it so much, but was really concerned about Noah playing with it and found some masking tape and a pen and put it on the box and then asked us how to spell something and we realized he was trying to label the K'Nex box for 6 years old and older! So funny! He then went on to describe that as he aged, the age on the label would change as well so that Noah would essentially never be able to play with them! We let it go the the night, but of course discussed the importance of sharing, etc. later on!

Drew has lately had this 'obsession/concern' of our house catching on fire. I don't know if he saw something in a movie or someone mentioned it or what, but he gets really worried about it every now and then lately. It's usually at bedtime and he gets a bit anxious about what is going to happen if the house catches on fire and how he will get out, who gets who, and just being scared that it will happen at all. We have of course reassured him and talked about all the options etc and have taken this time of interest to go over our family plan if there were to be a fire. It's just so curious where and how they come up with these things that get in their heads. Drew especially is such a little worrier and can get pretty worked up...

The boys had a week of swim lessons this month and both did FABULOUS! Friends Seth and Ava joined for lessons as well again, so it was fun to see them and their families. The McCoys stayed a few nights for dinner and the kids had just a wonderful time together. They stayed late to swim in the dark one night and we all had fun with that, but the funny part was Noah and Ava. After we all go out, they played under their towels like they were ghosts on the patio. And then they laid down under the water table with the towels over them and in less than 2 minutes, they were starting to fall asleep...hilarious! Noah can now swim without floaties pretty well. Don't get me wrong, we still have to keep a very close eye on him, but he did amazing! He can also swim down to the floor of the pool to dive for toys as long as it's not too deep. This boy was DETERMINED to swim like the big boys this year and he did! He's so happy and burns SO much energy when he's out there! Drew did great as well, learning different swim strokes and starting to learn to dive! So fun! Kate loves the pool too and doesn't like being stuck in her float - wants to be out in the water like every one else apparently! Oh, she loves it!

Ok, little Miss Kate...things she is up to these days besides being adorable! She is sitting and playing all the time now. She will sit in one place and just spin around and around to get facing just the right direction, or just likes to move, or something, but it's so cute! I remember Noah doing the same thing. Drew might have too, but I just can't remember any more! :) She is pulling up and standing all the time too! She just loves to stand, and seems like she just really wants to walk. She's taken a few 'falling steps' some this month too (when we were with the fam in the Ozarks actually). Now that she's standing, she's followed in her brother's footsteps and finds books and shelves to pull everything off. She doesn't even look at them really, just likes to pull them down. She gravitates toward a certain bookshelf usually that has some of Matthew's favorites (Chronicles of Narnia, etc) and has pulled those down so many times that we've now moved those up! She still likes to pull open drawers and pull everything out, but sometimes will start putting them back too. She tends to do this mostly with her clothes drawers...it's humorous to me to watch her do this...it's like she's re-organizing (maybe she'll be like her Mommy that way!) And of course there's the kitchen cabinet with the kids dishes and tupperware...she loves that one too!

She is loving eating finger foods more and more and we are enjoying that as well - steps closer to eating the same foods we do, which will be so nice! She's been pretty clingy to Mommy this month (just normal development phase I think), but then going on vacations with large groups of people didn't seem to help. She is still very social though in that she certainly doesn't like being left out. When the boys goes outside, she turns to get there as fast as she can and stands and bangs on the door and just cries/screams - she wants to go too! Oh, and a random thing...she's fascinated with bath drains. She's always been interested in them and trying to figure them out, but more so now that she can actually get right up to it. As soon as I pull the drain, she is eyeing it and putting her hands in it, really trying to figure out what is going on...so funny! She seems to be trying to figure out lots of things lately!

She really is crawling and exploring lots now. She is all over the place and it's so great! She is working on more sounds and jabbering and such...lots of Da and De sounds. The boys are highly encouraging the word "Dada" for some reason! ;) She enjoys mimicking sounds with her brothers, and they get a kick out of it too of course! She is starting to figure out and play with her tongue and making sounds with it as well, already playing with spitting...yay, another one making spitting noises! She is clapping more, and likes to clap toys together too to make a different sound.

Summer trips

I know I've said this before, but I will say it again because it is SO true...our pediatrician coined this phrase and I use it all the time to describe when we travel..."you don't take vacations with little kids...you take trips!" It is HARD work to take this circus on the road. But something we do because it's part of journey and I go stir crazy if I don't leave town for a long while at least on a yearly basis!

We (Grandpa, Nana, Mommy, cousin Cari and 3 kids, Uncle Kevin and Andrea met us there) spent 4 days in Iowa to go to the Glienke family reunion and visit the Otto family as well. Almost all of our Glienke family from Florida was able to make it, so that was especially fun to see them. The boys had fun with Tyler of course, and also enjoyed harassing Luke and Aaron along with Uncle Kevin! But it was also great to see/meet again the large Glienke family! There are lots of genuine and kind people in our family and it was so nice to connect with some of them...there were just too many to even try to meet them all. But we had such a wonderful time with everyone and huge shout out to Dorothy (Grandpa's younger sister) for letting us take over her house while we were there - she's AMAZING!!! We all had a wonderful time soaking in the wonderful Iowa country...took me until I was an adult to grasp the awesomeness of that farm land! We checked out some of the different family farms, pig farms, corn fields, hay bales, hay rides, bonfires, tractors, more animals - such fun!

Tried a consequence a friend told me about...made the boys hold hands until they made up after fighting! HA!

Noah had a funny/sad adventure...he's off roaming around some on the farm and following or being followed by one of the dogs. No one he knew was directly around (this is why when people say, "There will be so much family, we will all help" it just means no one knows who is watching who and everyone assumes the kids are being watched by someone but in reality, they also think someone else is being responsible...ok, off my soap box) and so I think he was backing up and stepped back, not seeing there was a very large hole, more like a small ditch, that was right next to the path, and fell about 4 feet! Thankfully someone was around to see him and help him out, but he wasn't too happy that the person was a stranger. So, we had a bit of an event, but he wasn't hurt, just scared! But, that pretty much ended our time at the bonfire, leaving Drew with Grandpa and Mommy, Kate and Noah back for bed!

Noah found some chapstick and painted his face and tasted it of course!

Then it was off to the Ozarks to get together with the large nuclear Thompson family. We picked up Daddy in Kansas City and made our way there. It was Beautiful, but SO hot! And yes, TX is hot, but this was horrible humid hot! So we were either in the water or inside! The boys had a great time with the cousins, and of course spent as much time with Timothy, Jake and Nick as they could!

While there, Noah managed to run outside of our condo at least twice to go and explore all on his own. This is not surprising to us, but always alarming of course. He seriously just wants to explore and go on his little adventures every now and then and we can't seem to get it through his head that he needs to be with someone when this urge strikes. He doesn't do it when he is home, it seems like it happens when we are out of town - he wants to see what this new place is all about. Any way, so to attempt to avoid another escape, I told Noah one day I would go look around with him. We explored the area and walked up and down all the boat docks. He was so full of energy! So I asked him, "Noah, where do you get all this energy from?" (it was a somewhat rhetorical question), but he answered, "From God!" I loved it, so I followed up, "Why does God give you so much energy?" Without a second thought he responds, "To fight the bad guys!" YES!!! Love it and love him!!!

So, we had a fun, busy week with the Thompson family...saw a very cool cave (and avoided an intense heat advisory while underground, whew!), putt putt golfing (which Noah lost interest about 2/3 through and then started antagonizing Drew, yay), pontoon boat with tubing - both boys rode with Mommy and had a blast! Swimming in the lake and kayaking with Grandpa. Playing with cousins in the condos and in the pool. The boys went along to see a movie with the cousins as well (Inside Out). Both boys loved riding on the Jet Skis, as did pretty much everyone else that did it. Grandpa threw Mommy off the ski ASAP of course, and Mommy returned the favor as requested - silly Grandpa! We had a great time with this wonderful family of ours!

But, it was time to get home! The kids did pretty well on the ride back. The boys stayed happy with the trip toys and movies. And Kate required Mommy's attention any time she was awake. But we powered through and made it home in one long day of driving...oh, so good to be home!