TN trip 3

Gram and Papa had scoped out the area some before everyone arrived and discovered this cool park and stream so we decided to head out there one day to play and have dinner. The kids LOVED it. The water was really cold but they just threw in rocks and climbed around on fallen logs. Jackson and some of the other bigger cousins, and Matt, went off exploring so there are fewer pics of them. It was a really neat place. Kami and John did hot dogs and smore's on the grill.

TN trip 2

Gram and Papa planned a luau one night. It was very fun. Maggie loved getting her name tag with her hawaiian name on it. The girls also loved it when they got to hula to some hawaiian music. Caleb was into everything as usual..... and Jackson is nowhere to be seen - as usual - he was either watching TV or playing video games every chance he got :)

TN trip 1

We went to TN for a week with Matt's family to celebrate his parents wedding anniversary. It was fun to have the four siblings and all their kids together. We stayed at a timeshare apartment - the Presidential Suite. It was great. There was plenty of room for everyone. It was excellent having a kitchen and a laundry room too. I didn't take nearly as many pics as I would have liked. It took both hands to keep the kiddos corralled most off the time :) There was a lot to do there at the resort. There was an indoor waterpark, two outdoor waterparks and an indoor activity center. The surf rider was a big hit with the kids and adults. Jackson and Maggie loved the indoor ropes course. Maggie was brave and went way higher than I expected her too. There was also a climbing wall, mini golf,  laser maze and a small devils drop ride. They did everything over and over again.
 They all loved the wave pool at the indoor park.... and the big waterslides were a lot of fun. It wore the adults out going up many, many stairs with kids who wanted to go again and again. Hailey was sad that she wasn't big enough for the big slides but there was a pretty good smaller kid area that she liked.

Hailey

Hailey has been an avid thumbsucker since she was about 3 months old. Recently we have tried to wean her from it. It isn't going well..... :) We tried bandaids at first. It worked for about two days. Then we tried the yucky tasting nail biting stuff. She stopped sucking her thumb.... and starting sucking her finger. So we put it on the thumb and finger..... she starting sucking her pinky. Then we put it on all her fingers and thumb...... now she just sucks it off quickly and keeps on sucking her finger. So apparently we successfully stopped the THUMBsucking and now have to figure out what to do about the finger. It is turning out to be quite a challenge. SO MUCH easier to wean from a pacifier!!

Body surfing

This is one of my favorite pictures from our vacation at the beginning of May. I will post A LOT more soon :) The indoor surfing and body surfing was so fun.

Skates

We have quite a collection of skates that the kids like to use around the house........ they can't use them out in the driveway because it's WAY too steep. Hailey especially loves to get all decked out and ready to roll. Caleb is getting into it now too but he's harder to take pics of since he keeps falling down :) Eventually we are going to try out the skating rink. It was really fun taking them ice skating but difficult to stay up on my own feet with at least 2 hanging onto me.....

Maggie turns 6

 

Whew. Another birthday come and gone!!Maggie turned 6 on April 29th. She chose a purse cake this year. I was kind of relieved - that girl can come up with some pretty fancy ideas!! This one was really easy and she loved it. She loved helping me get the table ready with pink, white and some flower petals for decoration. The flowers in the middle of the table are from Matt. We are trying to start that as a tradition for our cute, fancy, flower loving girl. Hailey is pretty excited to get flowers for her birthday too :) We also had the $ in the balloons for Maggie.
We love this girl. She loves all things sparkly, pink, princess, fancy-in-any-way. She can be so much fun to be around. She likes to play with her siblings and the neighbor girls but sometimes needs time to herself. She loves school and really likes it when she has homework. That might change when it becomes an everyday thing!! She like to come up with creative dances and songs to perform. She loves to help out and is disappointed when we won't let her for whatever reason. She is funny, caring, creative and so very entertaining :) She loves to play with barbies and any game that involves a Mom, Dad and baby. Whenever she and Hailey help out in the kitchen they wear their aprons I made for them. They have decided that one side of the apron is for cooking and the other is for serving. It has to be changed around before they will switch roles :) She has grown a lot this past year also. She used to be the most cautious and least-likely-to-give-us-heart-attacks but over the past year she has really started to get into things too. She climbs the trees, jumps off the diving board, LOVED body boarding and the huge water slides on vacation..... She is growing into an amazing little lady and we are so excited to see her continue to grow.