Summer Fun List: #8 and #9

We've been busy crossing things off of our summer fun list lately.  We made it to the bouncy house place, the girls had a tea party with Daddy (yep, that was something they decided should be on there!), we've been swimming a number of times already and this week hit the splash park as well. 
I haven't been good about taking pics of the fun, but I did remember to snap a few pics at the end of our splash park fun with some friends as well as the last time we went swimming. 

Ella has become pretty confident in the water this year and can now jump in by herself and swim a good 10 feet all on her own. Maggie is totally comfortable in the water this year and loves bobbing and seeing how long she can hold her breath, but is still practicing getting the balance right on her floats in the water. . .that skinny little thing just needs a bit more weight on her. . . Obviously when I take them swimming on my own the big girls wear their life jackets so we can swim a little more stress-free. Hads LOVES any chance she has to be in the pool with her big sisters, and giggles like crazy when we sit her on the edge of the pool and she can jump into us. Call me crazy, but I really do think I want a pool someday. . .there is not much that is more fun than hanging out with the kiddies in the water!

Hadley's "I'm ready for a nap" face. . .

Rhymes and such

(While driving in the car. . .I saw her picking her nose in the rear-view mirror)

"Mom, BOOGER and SUGAR rhyme. . .

And they both are yummy!"

She is very into rhyming right now and tells us throughout the day what words she knows that rhyme as she figures them out in her little head.  Sometimes the words are made up, sometimes they are real, but we are certain she definitely has the rhyming thing down.

There was something else she said that was funny the other day, but I can't seem to remember now. . .maybe Brad can help me remember later . . .

Another favorite photo from when she turned 3--I like her goofy smile here, I think it shows so much about the mischief that is going on in that little head of hers.

Ella and Maggie are fighting a lot lately--not sure why, but every night when I go and check on them and tuck them in before I go to bed, I find Maggie sleeping on the floor next to Ella's bed. It does my heart good to know that in those sweet moments before falling asleep they really do want to be close to each other. I imagine it will always be this way with these sisters growing up.

Maggie never seems to get tired . . .she doesn't take naps and will stay up SO late (over an hour after we put them to bed sometimes) talking to Ella and singing in her room. Ella says she is tired, but Maggie won't let her sleep.  She can be exhausting, but the FUN potential in this girl is out of this world!

The Little Things

Sometimes it is so nice when you have an extra half hour or so before bedtime and the whole family is together to spend it at the park making dandelion wishes, playing "Duck, Duck, Goose", and rolling down the hill.  It can be so great to be a kid again, and I'm so glad to have Brad and these little ones to remind me just how much fun it can be to do the simple things that don't require any money or even that much time.  I hope our kids will always remember doing these ordinary things with us and making them fun, and I hope I will never forget the laughter and ear-to-ear grins on their faces.

I'm glad I happened to have the camera with me so I could capture the fun!

Finally!

Hads is FINALLY crawling! I know that may sound a bit dramatic to everyone else, but we had a rough few weeks with this babe in May as we knew she was capable of crawling but she just wouldn't do it. She would get in the hands and knees position take two little crawls then lay on her stomach and just scream and scream until I would come and get her. I felt like for 3 weeks straight she was constantly screaming at me and was never happy! On her 10 month birthday Brad decided enough was enough and he was determined that she would be crawling by the end of that day. I shrugged it off, not thinking he could really do it as I had tried SO many times to encourage her myself. Luckily for all of us though, Brad is definitely more stubborn than each and every one of our children (unlike me) and he won out in the end in this battle of wills. I just don't know what I will do if I ever get a child who is MORE stubborn than Brad. :) Hads crawled that night and she has been crawling ever since.  Hooray!

And on a side note, I have a HILARIOUS sight to share with all of you faithful blog readers, but you're going to have to look closely. . .

I'll give you one more picture in case you just can't figure out what we think is so funny about our Hads. . .

She has FANGS!!  The funniest and cutest sight you could imagine.  If only it was Halloween or the release of a Twilight book/movie. . .