June 2014

June is our first time to experience a summer break being out of school. We all have had to adjust being around each other every day again. However aside from the rainy, humid rain forest type weather we have been keeping busy playing with the water table, riding bikes, going to the park, hanging out with friends, printing off paper movie characters, and much more in between popsicles.

We have spent more time at the park this summer as we walk over to nearby Legion Park. Judah likes to spin with his friends at the park when they join us for play dates. Krissy loves everything about the park especially swinging as a big girl on the swing, going down (or climbing back up) the big slide, and water. When Krissy climbed all the way to the top of the rope at the park just out of reach of mommy's hands, it was pretty clear that she is not afraid of heights.

We allow for bike riding each day. Judah rode his bike on the trail to Colby Park for the first time (June 3) and biking a total of almost 5 miles alongside mommy with Krissy and the trailer. If he was not tired yet, we played at the park too. Unfortunately the bike chain came off on the way home and Judah had to ride with Krissy in the trailer while we towed the bike in the back of the trailer. Needless to say, we ended up walking the last leg home together after several people stopped to help. Each day Judah improves his skills without using training wheels except for stopping. Krissy also is so fast on her little car pushing with her feet and keeps going all the way to the mailbox save for stopping to put something in her car or see a "lady bug." Other times she is on her tricycle practicing her pedaling.

Water and sand have become an almost daily occurrence around the house. Krissy in fact likes to do both at the same time ending the day in the bath tub upstairs. With all the rain we have had, Judah prefers the mud puddles as his medium to make mud soup. We also kick the ball around, color with chalk, and play games.

Indoors, we play a lot of angry bird star wars. Judah likes to print, cut out, and color the characters so that later we can set them up for a battle. The birds beat the pigs every time and Luke Skywalker beats Darth Vader. Krissy on the other hand rocks and reads to her babies or makes sure they are fed from her specialty ice cream dish from her kitchen.

We have fit in some summer activities to see the zoo for a day. The sea lion show made an impression on Krissy. Judah then attended morning VBS for a week with the neighbor girl at Shepherd's Flock. The jungle safari was an adventure indeed eating cool snacks, making crafts, and finding clues about God along the journey. Krissy also showed her delight in the gymnastic bars when we went to a class at the Little Gym. Several times we went to the fountains or the splash pad playing in the water. Other times we go to the library to check out the computers and a load of books to read. Judah also moved up to red group in Sunday school at church.

Krissy has been practicing taking off and putting on her clothes. She now removes all her clothes several times at quiet time in the crib rather than napping. Obviously she is giving up naps. Alas though we figured out her two year molars are coming in (the bottom left). Now she is back to napping again but with her chew toy and her favorite Baby Anna.

Mom painted Krissy's nails for the first time while the boys went to buy fishing poles. I should say she painted her nails just like a pro, holding the brush and not knocking over the paint. Still mom cleaned her up to finish her nails and toe nails. Afterwards, she bragged to dad how we painted our nails.

We had family and friends over for several get together at our house.  Nana came down to spend a Monday evening walking with us on the trail to Dairy Queen. Philip joined us for supper and Aunt Sara even surprised us by coming over to say hi. The next day, we took Nana to our first visit to Ashby splash park on the most beautiful summer day in the low 80's. Tuesday night we had all our neighbors over to celebrate birthdays and kick off Okoboji 2014 Bike Ride. Another weekend we actually went out of town to visit Uncle Matt and Aunt Hilary in their new house in Forest City. In spite the rain, we had a good time playing with Liddy, going to the park, and to see the church.

Judah also celebrated his fifth birthday this month. Our house was filled with 17 kids and 12 adults the first rainy Saturday. His dinosaur dig though was a great success as all discovered dinosaur skeletons in the sand. Then we filled our omnivorous appetites up on dinosaur eggs, carrion on a stick (kabobs), and dirt cake. Friends visited with us into the evening staying for pizza and enjoying the sand box.

The last week of the month, mom and Judah came down with the stomach flu knocking us out for a several days cooped up in the house. Tim was a saint to care for the kids all weekend taking them to the Des Moines Arts Festival and the library.