Memorial Day

Daddy got off a 24 hour OB shift bright and early at 7am Monday morning. But thankfully he was ready to spend a fully packed Memorial Day with us! We started out by heading to Eckerts to get some strawberry picking in before the crowds hit. And it was a fun, warm experience once again...
Brynn and Tyler were great pickers; but Dylan preferred to have me pick ones for him to eat. Kate didn't love her first strawberry.

And all the picking must have worn Kate out cause she fell asleep right in the middle of it...


Then we came home for lunch and naps. And then I heard a shriek from Brynn who then yelled and told me to look at where she found Kate...

...not cool. My life just got ten times more complicated.

And then we gathered up all our gear and went to start out our swimming season at the "Froggy Pool".

Big day for Kate - first time climbing the stairs; first time in a swimming pool...


She liked sitting and playing in the water. But wasn't a fan of her froggy floatie...

...or when water was splashed or poured on her.
And then rest of the day of course included a little golf practice for daddy and a BBQ with friends. The perfect Memorial Day.

Mom to 7

This weekend we got to have a double sleepover with our friends the Shumways. Brookie, Andy, and Macie stayed with us Thursday night to Saturday night while their mom and dad were off on an anniversary getaway... dont' worry pay back is coming their way ;). The kids had been looking forward to this so I knew we had to do it up big - not to mention I needed to entertain 7 kids for 2 days so everyone didn't go crazy.
So Friday we had a picnic lunch at the Mascoutah park with friends...
(Anya and Macy Hartman, Brookie, Brynn & Kate, Ashlynn and Maggie Hughes, Ally Hartman, Tyler, Andy, Macie, Max Hartman, Caden Hughes, Dylan)

The weather was beautiful and we were there several hours.

Then that night we had a pizza party.
Saturday morning the older 4 went to their last day of swimming lessons at the Y. Dylan and the younger two stayed home and played with PJ.
On a side note: Dylan had originally started out in a Mommy & Me swim class - and while he was perfectly content to sit on the side and play in the water with the toys by himself, he absolutely refused to get in the water with me and screamed and cried and so I was done after three attempts. We will for always miss our AZ swim lessons/teacher. PJ and I decided we'd have to work with Dylan on our own. Which we have done at our community pool a little bit and he's done pretty good...

Anyway...Saturday afternoon, after quiet time and naps, PJ took the older 5 to see a movie...
...No, not Transformers. Its not even out yet. But the boys were EXCITED to see Optimus Prime standing there before their very eyes. They are pretty into Transformers right now. Tyler was pretty hyped to show me the picture he got. So that was fun. And so was the movie they actually got to go see - Kung Fu Panda 2. And then we took everyone to McDonalds Play Place for dinner where they even got toys that were from the movie they just saw. Really does life get any better than that?! :)
Glad the kiddos could have fun non-stop fun with their friends.
And as a proud mommy, Brynn's picture came out in the paper this weekend too...
Here's to getting summer started off with a bang ;)

9 Months!

Right after she turned 8 months - like the week after - Kate started pulling herself up on things into a standing position. She also got her second bottom tooth. But other than that she's just been brushing up on all her new skills from the previous month. Her doctors appointment is next week so no stats just yet. She's just glad school is out so she has more entertainment all day long.

Stars R Us

Last fall Brynn started taking dance classes at Stars R Us dance studio. She went back and forth but decided to do a Jazz/Poms class instead of ballet/tap. She has loved going to dance over the last 8 months and this past weekend was her first recital!
She and her friend Brooklynn Shumway were in the same class and they loved carpooling, getting ice cream after class, being dance partners, and practicing together at home with music blaring.

At the recital PJ and I had a moment of, "wow, our daughter is really growing up". She didn't even hesitate to get up on stage and perform?!

Her brothers, especially Tyler, were very excited to watch her...

He thought the recital was cool and watched very intently... for about an hour. Then, one hour into a THREE hour recital he lost it. Major meltdown, beyond description. So Grampa Peper took one for the team and took the three kids home (after seeing her first dance).

Brynn had four appearances - a poms dance, a jazz dance, the finale, but also she and PJ danced in the daddy daughter dance (with Scott and Brooklynn also)...

I was very proud of these two guys for putting themselves out there to make their girls very happy.

The girls had fun, the guys tried, and it made for a cute number...

***I've been trying for 3 days to get the videos of the dance to post with no luck. I'll keep trying...

Field Day

Today was Brynn's last full day of school (preschool ended last Wednesday for Tyler and Brynn still has to go in tomorrow for one last hour) and it was also Field Day. I went in the morning to help out and was asked to work the 'Leaky Bucket' race. Brynn was not shy - had a lot of fun - and got thoroughly SOAKED. And no, the kids did not bring a change of clothes. But don't think they noticed - too much fun...

There was all sorts of fun to be had like good old tug-of-war , dunk tank with their favorite gym teacher Mr. Barnes , inflatables, snow cone truck, DJ, etc.
Gramma Peper and Uncle Steven came to check things out (still visiting for a long weekend). And while I was 'working' they followed Brynn around as her fan club and took pictures. Steven had a little bit of a run in with a tent-gone-wild...

You can't see the blood all over his shirt but notice it smeared on his visitors pass?! Quite the battle wound for an adoring uncle just trying to check out field day. So proud he would throw his body in the line of fire to save a group of little kids ;)