Mom's been slacking so prepare yourself for a long update with loads of pictures. Since our last post, we went to a birthday party for Gavin. I insisted on wearing my yellow fairy dress that Mom bought at Market on Central. I'm not really that into girly things, but I love yellow!Here's the birthday boy and his sister Vanessa. They're going to have a new baby sister or brother very soon. I bet they'll be great helpers!There were lots of kids at the party and they tried to get a picture of all of them. We're missing the three babies, but us older kids cooperated for a split second.Go Cyclones!We had lots of yummy food and then it was pinata time. Vanessa was the live music. I was the muscle.Take that!The pinata wasn't breaking at all so Gavin took a dandelion picker to it and stabbed away.At one point we both took bats to the dinosaur.The pinata did get opened up eventually. You'll have to check out Charlotte's blog to see the rest of the story with that one.

I went to the aquatic center with Nana and Papa while Mom had a special day with Charlotte. We got there right when it opened so it wasn't too busy at first. I love swimming! There aren't any pictures of it, but I've gotten the courage to jump off the diving board into Dad's arms. I can also swim with my puddle jumpers on in deep water, as long as someone is within my reach because I panic sometimes.Oh, and Macy showed up when we were at the pool so we played for a bit. I love living in the same town as my cousins because we see them all over the place. It makes for a happy surprise.A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to color pictures and mailed them to a few people. I sent a picture to Dad, Matthew, and Dr. Knox. Dr. Knox sent me a drawing and it was soooo funny. Ewww, Hawkeyes! That's what I kept saying and then I giggled and giggled.Matthew sent me a Cars picture (the blue one) and I had Mom put it up on our special bulletin board in the kitchen. I can look at it whenever I want.Community Orchards opened for the season on August 1st so we went as soon as the weather cooled down enough. Milo and I tried out the trikes.I made terrible faces while I did my goat impression.Little sis and I were enthralled by the goats and fed them lots of corn.I did sit down for a few seconds. There are pictures of me in this train from when I was a baby and still used diapers. Can you believe that?Mommy told me to look out the window and make a cute face. This is what I did. We always do a "How Tall this Fall" picture so we went ahead and did it the other day even though it isn't fall yet.Anya decided to be a cow. She's hilarious.Here's how tall my big cousin Anya is. She's over 5 feet!Grandma helped Charlotte get measured and I decided to get in the picture too. What's better than one girl? Two!We have lots more plans in store so we'll see you soon. Until then, I'll leave you with some brags. I'm working on learning to spell words. I can spell moon, dog, and mom. I'm very interested in spelling and ask my parents how to spell things all the time. I can identify my letters and can write some of my letters dependably - H, O, M, P, and A. I can sometimes identify rhyming words. My parents like that I'm curious about rhyming and ask whether things rhyme all the time. I like to make up knock-knock jokes. Most of them make absolutely no sense, but I make everyone laugh with my giggles. I love hidden pictures puzzles and learning video games. I'm awesome. I'm so ready for school.

Sis and I have had some fun days with the grandparents while our parents spent a day at the lake with "Uncle" James and then went on a trip to Minnesota without us. We also had our only living great grandfather over for a visit. Mom did the annual "A Day in the Life" book so there have been plenty of pictures of us recently. She posted the link to the book over on Charlotte's site. Don't tell her if you find any mistakes because it's too late. Anyway, here are some of our more recent pictures.

Mom tried to wake board and partially succeeded. She much prefers riding in the boat relaxing.Daddy can jump!We all went to a Karl Kind Band concert this past Sunday. Charlotte loved looking at animals while we waited for the show to begin.I took this picture of Mom. I just love photography.Check out my totally awesome outfit that I picked out.Charlotte sat still briefly, but then she ran all around and introduced herself to the crowd.She also directed the band.There was a slow part of a song so I pretended to sleep.I mostly danced like a crazy person and defied my mother. That's my new thing.We went to the splash pad yesterday for a meetup. Mom took some terrible pictures, but Charlotte's "something smells" face is pretty funny.
Hop on over to Charlotte's blog to see the book!

Hi!It's me! Check out my balance. Mom still needs to get a video of me going down the big hill, but this gives you a preview.


Mom brought Charlotte up for her nap and this is what she came down to afterwards. Aren't we cute together?
I'm excited to spend time with both sets of grandparents this weekend. I love all my family.

Who says I don't make eye contact with the camera?Charlotte is gonna steal my food!See?!Charlotte is a happy little sister. A man raised his hands like this at church today and Charlotte copied him just like this.Hey lady, want a piece of popcorn? We were at the Market on Central opening day yesterday. Awesome!Kissing sisters.I took Mom's camera and snapped a bunch of pictures. These are the best ones. I caught Charlotte sucking on Mom's arm right before she bit down.My Mom and Dad posed for me.I love to play in the gazebo in the town square. This is one of my artsy pictures.Any great artist has to be able to do a self-portrait.Mom took over and told me to look at the part of the camera that I'm not supposed to touch with my fingers.
Have a great week!

4th of July

We went over to Grandpa and Grandma's house on Sunday night to have supper before the fireworks. I played and played and played.Yummy watermelon!Hailey did sidewalk chalk with me. She hangs out with me at least once a week because she's Mom's helper every Tuesday this summer.I chased lightning bugs before the fireworks started.Hailey had a lightning bug butt on her nose thanks to Daddy.I really love my Daddy!We did a partial family picture. See how well I cooperated?I laid out on Grandma during the fireworks.

I learned how to balance really well on my balance bike over the weekend. I go reallllllllllly fast. Pretty soon I'll move on to a bike with pedals.

As you saw above, sort of, I've learned to float in the pool. Sometimes I kick when I'm floating and it moves me. I built up a lot of confidence in my swimming classes.

I'm getting interested in learning to read and spell. I like to ask my parents how to spell words and I spell out words I see in books.

I'm in a phase of loving to jump. I particularly love to jump from my desk to my bed in my room during nap time. Mom and Dad aren't fans of that behavior, but I don't care because it's so much fun.

New Experiences

I've had a fabulous week and a half since I last updated you. Summer is awesome!I still prefer my trike over my balance bike. I love to go really fast down the slope of the driveway and I make funny faces like this.Don't I look tough?I like to write words with the sidewalk chalk. I'm really good at writing "HO".Typical. We practice this at home so that we can really tire Mom out when we're out and about. This is an especially fun tactic at the pool.Mom took me to a concert this past Sunday and Dad took me the Sunday before. I just love the ice cream and music!I danced during almost the entire concert and then it started to thunder and rain so we went home.I have my last swim lesson tomorrow. I've learned a ton. My cousin Leif is in my class and my friend Chloe is in my class too. I went swimming with Mom yesterday and I let her hold me in the water while I showed her how I can kick. I've been too scared to do that for about a year and a half.

I also did some art classes this week. I made a tambourine, bracelets, a painting, and a pet rock. Mom dropped me off and I did my thing. I love independence!

We've been enjoying the latest session of story time. They had a special story time today with the Wonder Weavers and we got to be LOUD in the library.