Tautphaus Park

While (Grandma) Kathy and Angie were here to visit for a few days, we went to the zoo and to Tautphaus park to ride a few rides. These 2 pictures turned out so cute that I had to share!

Our Trip to Island Park

Yummy Strawberries!!

My sis, Kellie, gave me this idea for a fun summer picture. Thanks Kell! Here's Kaleb with a picking from Grandma Linda's Strawberry Patch.

Make a Mess!

It's not very often that I tell my kids that they can Make a Mess. But the other day, I felt like it was a good day to do just that. First we went outside with the easel and made Splatter Paint Pictures. I showed them how to flip the brushes and we also tried blowing bubbles that were tinted with food coloring (that didn't show up on the paper very well). After they were finished painting on paper, I told them that they could paint each other. They looked at me like I was crazy! But after I grabbed the brush and showed them I was serious, Kaleb really got into it. Cambree on the other hand started to cry. She didn't like being painted so I let Kaleb paint on me. When we used up all the paint, I had them put their shoes on and we walked over to a spot in my Mom's garden that she saves for the kids to play in the dirt. I turned the hose on and told them they could play in the MUD! Surprisingly, Cambree liked the mud better than the paint and of course Kaleb did too. We talked him out of a mud ball fight and made water-filled canals and lakes instead. At the end, he was rolling in the mud. I hosed them off and we went home so they could take a warm bath. I've never seen so much mud at the bottom of the tub!

Grass Heads

This Spring while Grandma Kathy was here visiting, she helped the kids make these little Grass Head people. The kids had a lot of fun and kept wanting to add more and more buttons and bells and extras. Within a week, we started to see their grass hair grow. We have given them about 3 hair cuts so far. If you have any interest in making them, here is the link with the instructions: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11916.

Before and After Pictures:

Summer Baseball

This summer, Cambree was old enough to play Tee-Ball. Kaleb was also in the Tee-Ball age group, but he would have been a year older than the little ones that signed up to play. So since he has been practicing hitting a ball being pitched to him, Cory asked to have him just play on the Pee-Wee team with the 6-8 year olds. He did just as well as the other kids on his team, so we were glad we got him moved up.

Cambree only wore the helmet once! It was bigger than she is!

Every week when it was time for Baseball, I had to convice Cambree that she was going to play. She was so excited in the beginning, but then wasn't quite sure about wanting to play after she did it a couple of times. Once we got there and she got going, she did pretty good. She just didn't like to get "sweaty." Here's how she thought would be the best way to play 3rd base:

Kaleb was a lot more outgoing this year about playing. The first year he played when he was 3, he just clung to my leg and we always had to run the bases with him or else he wouldn't do it. Now he punches his fist in his mitt, just waiting for the ball to come to him:

He really liked the batting part, but not so much the running part!