Happy 4th Y'all!!

Starke June in a Nutshell

I bet you'll ask what the heck is going on. If this is what our June was all about then why the heck didn't I post anything about June IN June?  You know, life with three kids is really crazy. Especially when those kids all still rely on you for the most basic things. Megan is starting to be a little more self sufficient but I think she suffers from the 'first child syndrome' where she's used to having me do everything for her so she doesn't even try. Emily tries but can't do it all by herself so she has to scream and whine about it. At this rate, Matthew will be cooking 5 course meals and getting dressed all by himself by the time he is 2.  Poor third kid. I wonder what life would do to #4 if we go there. Only time will tell, I suppose.

June in a nutshell ...

Sleeping babies.

Swim lessons.

A concert.

(That's Tim McGraw, if you didn't know.)

Enjoying the concert.

The tickets were our Christmas gift to each other so we had been looking forward to this for a while!

Thanks, Mom, for babysitting!

... and Kenny Chesney too.

It was a GREAT show!

A second trip to Great Wolf Lodge. This time we went to celebrate Father's Day and stayed two nights. It was even more fun than the first trip there. I LOVE Great Wolf Lodge!!!

Sprinkler time in the backyard.

And more sleeping babies.

It's a pARRRty!

Matthew's party was a pirate theme. The idea originated from our need to get rid of a bunch of leftover stuff from parties past so instead of calling it a 'leftover' party we decided to claim pirates had stolen the booty from the previous parties. I did buy some new things though because I knew there would be pictures and I'm sure Matthew would have been mad, some time in his life, if we had used Rapunzel or Strawberry Shortcake tablecloths and cake toppers.

Your party hostesses, Megan and Emily (waiting to dig in to the treasure chest and grab some pirate treasure).

The guest of honor not too sure he likes being the center of attention.

And here we see Matthew opening more presents. Such a lucky guy to get to open everything all by himself. 

Thanks for coming to me parrrrrty, matey!

Matthew's Birthday

Grammy and Grandma came over to spend the afternoon with the kids for Matthew's birthday.  Here are a few pics from the day and later after dinner with his official First Birthday Cake. 

Here he is opening his gifts from Grammy and Grandma.

Well would you look at that! Here is is actually playing with one of his own new toys!

Trust me, it didn't last long.



Singing Happy Birthday to their little brother and rushing to be the one who gets to blow out the candle for him.

First hand in and not too sure what to think.

Yeah, he's done. Maybe a little too much for one day?  Matthew, I promise you will like cake and/or frosting some day.  Maybe not on May 22, 2012.

Kid, for what it's worth, your sisters enjoyed your birthday cake.

I still can't believe he's already one.  Actually, today he is closer to 14 months old. Time sure flies, doesn't it?

Shave and a haircut ...

Well, so there wasn't a shave involved but here are a few pics of Matthew's first big boy haircut! It was really starting to resemble a mullet so it was time (back in May) to finally get it done. He wasn't too sure about the process but he ended up being a trooper.

Not even the balloon would cheer him up.  Poor kid.

Well, OK, now that you finally gave me my paci ...

Just a little fun!

Matthew, this is the last mohawk you will ever have.  Do you understand, young man?

Great Wolf Lodge & Mother's Day

Great Wolf totally rocks! Seriously. James decided spur of the moment that we needed to take the kids there for a night and they had a blast! Honestly, I did too. It was so much fun watching them run around and just scream with joy. If you've never been or never heard of it, it's a huge "lodge" with an indoor and outdoor water park and the rest of the place is geared toward kids. They have story time every night and encourage kids to wear their PJs. They do glitter tattoos, have a kids spa with an ice cream theme, and for the older kids they have a game called MagiQuest where you search the hotel for certain things using a magic compass and/or a magic wand. Crystals light up, pictures talk to you, treasure chests open and you can either just have fun with it or go on a "quest" which is a glorified scavenger hunt.  The rooms even have "lodge" themes. Ours was a kid cabin theme so it was basically an oversized hotel room with a little area set up like a cabin with bunk beds.  The girls LOVED that.

Check-in isn't until 4pm but you can check in early for the water park and will get your room as soon as one is available.  Luckily our room was ready when we arrived at 2:00 so we checked in and changed into our suits and hit the pool!!

Here are the girls sleeping in their cabin watching their very own television. The room was supposed to have the bunk beds and an additional day bed so neither of the girls would have to sleep on the top bunk (that made us very nervous) but it was Handicap Accessible so it didn't have the additional bed. We had them send up a roll away ... and it fit perfectly in the cabin. Both girls slept in it too!

Sunday morning, also known as Mother's Day, we bought the girls some magic wands so they could play the games and light up crystals, etc. They LOVED making magic. Good thing we bought the wands because we decided we need to go back for Father's Day in June.

~Must remember to pack those wands in June.~

After running around, checking out and making magic we hit the pool again and grabbed lunch. We also were able to go to the outdoor pool for a while but since it wasn't supposed to be open yet I didn't pack any sunscreen.

~Must remember to pack sunscreen in June.~

We showered and changed in the locker rooms before getting glitter tattoos and making more magic. We went straight to Grammy's house to celebrate Mother's Day with her afterward. It was a very busy but very FUN Mother's Day weekend.

My Little Gymnasts

The girls received their progress reports at gymnastics after Wednesday's class.  Megan's coach is impressed by her strength on the bars, which makes me so proud. She is amazing to watch out there.  She's timid and isn't, by any means, ahead of the curve but she is doing well and she just looks so graceful swinging from those bars. She really loves gymnastics too. Even when Emily quit, she stuck with it and she doesn't often like to do things without her little sister along as a guinea pig. Emily decided she was ready to "play gymnastics" again so we got her back in the same class with the same coach.  She is doing well in her age group too but still requires a lot of work (and a few reminders as she marches off to the beat of her own drum).  Hey, I never planned to raise a gymnast but it's a nice INDOOR sport they can participate in while Matthew plays on the mats with blocks.  Fun for everyone!! The place is great with kids and they do have very successful competitive teams in the older age groups so if they decide to stick with it and are any good, we are in a good place.

Besides, gymnastics leotards are WAY less expensive than dance recital costumes, tights and shoes (which they seem to outgrow in a bout 3 months).