I know, I know...

more swimming pictures! Hey, what can I say with the temps up in the 100's swimming is really the only thing you can do outside without roasting!

More swimming...

Okay, you guys are all probably getting sick and tired of seeing swimming pictures...but that's really all we've been doing lately! Anyways though, this time I mixed it up a bit by playing around with my editing software and "funking" up the pictures a bit! Atleast the kids sleep really good at night! I also took pictures of flowers around the swimming pool as well, but I'll post those another time!

Our BBQ Swim Party...

Happy Birthday Aunt Jenni, we partied hard for you! The kids had fun swimming. Jaxon worked on his cannonballs off the side of the pool (it's pretty cute, he yells cannonball and than jumps in) and Doogie and Jayde also worked on their dives. They are all getting alot better. I really need to remember to bring the video camera one of these days so I can get some video of them jumping off and swimming too!

Happy Birthday Jenni

Happy Birthday Aunt Jenni (as the kids would say!) We hope you have a great day and have a fun weekend with your friends! We wish we could be there...but we are going to have a bbq and swim tonight in your honor! :)

Keep on swimming....

I think the kids are going to start growing fins pretty soon they love to be in the water so much. Ryann is turning into a little fish. We let her go without any floaties when she is in the shallow end and she is doing awesome swimming around and diving under the water. Jaxon discovered that jumping into the pool was alot of fun. At first Papa had to hold his hand when he jumped in, but pretty soon he was jumping in all by himself. He was pretty proud of himself.

Swimming on Wednesday

Here's some pictures of the kids enjoying the pool Wednesday evening. You can always tell when they have a day of swimming because they sleep really good that evening!

"You can't change other people...

only your reaction to them." A friend of mine shared this quote with me recently. Yes, Doug...you have been trying to tell me this for a while as well. It's a very hard lesson to learn, mainly because it is hard watching the people around you be fooled by someone else. You wonder to yourself "why are they so blind to what this person is really doing, really like?" Then of course when someone does try to tell them what this person really is (a lying, whining, manipulative person who probably plays the victim card better than anyone you have seen...especially for that age), they go into denial and jump to the defensive instead. They aren't even willing to open their eyes and ears and hear and see the truth. They think they know this person pretty well...they feel like they are close to them. I just think they are too close to the situation and they need to take a step back (okay, a lot of steps back) and see it from a different view. It's especially hard when this person uses their manipulating and lying against you and your family and then their side is taken because "oh, they wouldn't lie to me..." Well you know, it's just hurtful!

It hurts to see the people you care about the most get pushed aside by the people who should care about them as much as you do in favor of the manipulator. But again like Doug is always telling me "if they want to act like that than there is nothing you can do about it. But they will be the ones missing out in the end." He's right...though it's hard to let it go. If they want to put all their time and energy into the person that is using them instead of into the people that truly care for them, then they will be the ones missing out in the end. But you can never stop hoping that someday (preferably soon) they will open up their eyes and see the truth (see the person for what they really are and stop thinking that they are "part of the family"), before the people who should really matter (and are really part of the family) are hurt and relationships are damaged beyond repair.

Hot summer days

Whew, the weather is hot out there this week. We even have a heat warning in place and are going to be in the triple digits all week as well as into the weekend and maybe even into next week! The kids and I went over to Grammy and Papa's pool yesterday to cool off a little. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the pool, they were having so much fun with eachother. I didn't get any pictures of CJ and Jaxon though by the time I had gotten out the camera all of the babies had gone inside already.

Camping at La Wis Wis

Wow! What a great camping trip, though I'm still trying to recover from it! We left Jaxon and CJ behind with Grandma and Grandpa and just took the three oldest with us. I felt like I was on vacation without having to chase CJ around everywhere making sure he was staying out of stuff! We missed the little guys, but it was sure a heck of a lot easier camping without them.

We camped with a couple other families that we knew from Doogie and Jayde's baseball team so the kids all had someone to play with which made it so nice. The kids would go off together and just play for hours which meant us adults actually got to relax! Behind one of the campsites (our friends were camping next to it) there is a huge hill, the kids spent hours playing on it. They also liked to search for treasures...the treasures in this case being bb pellets. The orange ones for some reason were the hardest to find, so they really treasured those and were making trades with eachother. We joked around that next time someone needs to come early and scatter bb pellets all over the place for the kids to find because the hill combined with the bb pellets kept them busy for hours.

There also was a big river that ran next to the camp site. One of the places we went with the kids was called Blue Hole. It had some deep areas where someone had hooked up a rope swing from the trees so you could swing off of them into the water. On the side that we were on the rope wasn't long enough to get the kids out into the deep water so luckily one of the people we camped with had brought some ski rope and the guys worked on getting it hooked up. It still wasn't working quite well, but on the other side of the river it was alot deeper and there was another rope swing hooked up. The only problem was the current was a bit strong on that side. So Doug swam across with the rope and hooked it up on one side of the river while Richard (one of the other people we were camping with) hooked it up on the other end. We were trying to get the kids to wade/swim across and hold on to the rope so that they could swing off the other rope swing, than one of the adults would stay in the water and catch them so they wouldn't get swept down river with the current. After a few failed attempts one of the people at the river who had been watching us suggested we use there tube to go across on. The kids loved that, in fact they just thought it was more fun to go back in forth across the river. So the only people who ended up using the rope swing on the other side were Doug and Richard. Oh and did I mention that this water is freezing?!! The kids didn't seem to mind it as much and Doug said once we got in it didn't bug you as much (but I think that was also because there bodies were numb by than!)

We also went hiking up one of the trails with all the kids where they have a little waterfall. The kids had fun wading through the water and a few of the braver ones used the waterfall as a slide to go down. Once again...remeber that this water is freezing! What you can't see in the pictures is how there lips were quivering as they were wading in!

Anyways, we definitely had a great time and are planning on going back in August. The little guys will once again stay with Grandma and Grandpa. There is just too much water around for me to be comfortable with them going. Not to mention to get to the water you have to go down steep hills and then get back up them to leave! So I would of ended up just hanging out at the campsite with them while everyone else went to the water and that just wouldn't be any fun for any of us. I think they enjoyed being spoiled rotten by Grandma and Grandpa too, and it's not often that they get to have all the one on one attention since the other kids are usually around too.

Preschool Playdate

What a fun morning we had. There was a great turnout for the playdate today, probably because the summer trainees were there from the church and they brought lots of fun things to do with the kids. Jaxon was thrilled that his teacher from last year was there and dragged her around the park with him for most of the morning. Ryann latched herself onto one of the trainees there and dragged her around with her as well. I feel bad that I didn't get many pictures of Doogie, but he disapeared into the trees for most of the time there! They had alot of fun playing with the parachute, blowing bubbles, doing sidewalk chalk, playing on the toys and of course having snacks (this is CJ's favortite part!)

CJ's birthday party

We just had a small family party over at Grammy and Papa's house and the kids swam! CJ loves the water (they all do!) They are all a bunch of little fish! Ryann got to take her floaties off (she stayed in the shallow end where she could touch) and practiced swimming without them. She did really well, don't think it will be much longer before she is swimming around the pool without them all the time.

We bbq'd hamburgers and hotdogs and then for desert we had cupcakes and ice cream sandwiches to celebrate CJ's birthday. Then the kids helped CJ open up his presents.

Happy Birthday CJ!!

Calvin Jamison Crowe
born July 14, 2007
8lbs 3.7oz
20 1/2 inches

Hard to believe that this little guy is now the big bad two! Look at all that dark hair, now it's very blonde!

Happy Birthday CJ! My two year old, 30lb something ball of trouble! You light up our life and we are so happy that you are ours. Can't imagine our lives without you in it. We love you buddy!

Swimming at Papa's

Sunday, after our camping trip we headed over to swim at Papa's pool. It felt good to cool off after a hot day. Jaxon really gets into swimming now and CJ is just fearless! He thought it was really cool to cimb into the pool by sliding himself over the edge instead of using the steps!

Camping

We had a fun time camping last weekend (we'll be camping again this weekend too!) Our trip started off interesting. Doug and a friend of his welded on a travel rack of some sort to the back of the tent trailer so that we could put things on the back while we were traveling and not have so much stuff in the back of the car. Things were fine until after we left Walmart (we had to fill up the cooler and other containers with food) and we were on the highway. As we started going down one of the hills the tent trailer started swaying back and forth making the suburban move back and forth. When Doug would put on the breaks it would swing more as would when he would accelerate. Doug figured that it would do less damage if it tipped over if we were going slower so he went ahead and put more pressure on the breaks and the tent trailer started to slowly come back in line with us. We figured the problem was that the cooler was heavier on than the other containers were so it was making things lopsided which caused the tent trailer to swing. So we moved the cooler inside the tent trailer, readjusted the other boxes and started out again (this time with no more swaying!) The kids of course thought it was really cool that the suburban was going back and forth on the road and wanted to do it again!

The rest of the drive was uneventful. We decided to try and find a camping spot at one of the first camp sites we got to this time (the kids were getting hungry and tired of being in the car for 2 hours). The first camp site was full, so we ended up going to the same campsite we had before. As luck would have it one of the very few campsites open was the exact same one we had stayed at before! The kids thought that was pretty cool! We unloaded, got unpacked and fed the kids. Than while I stayed at camp with the little guys trying to get them to take a nap (CJ finally did, but Jaxon and I ended up hanging out and making things with rocks!) Doug took the other three on a long hike. They had a lot of fun building dams, saving fish, and crossing the river (Doogie crawled across a big tree trunk all by himself to cross the river!). When CJ woke up from his nap we all went down to the river to play for a while before we had dinner. Jaxon has gotten really brave lately and went right into the water, CJ on the other hand thought it was way too cold and as soon as his feet got wet wanted someone to hold him! Anyways, we wore the kids out playing down by the river and playing some games around the campsite. At bedtime I went and took CJ in the tent trailer, we thought it would be easier to get him to sleep first before we brought the other kids in...yeah...that didn't work! He ended up being the last one to go to sleep! Jayde was the first, followed by Jaxon, Ryann and than Doogie!

Sometime in the middle of the night we heard a thump. Doug jumped out of bed and went to investigate. Doogie had fallen out of the bed and had hit the step on the way down. Doug woke him up (since Doogie was fast asleep through it all) and asked him if he was okay. Doogie said "yes" and promptly fell right back to sleep. Not too long after that Jaxon woke up crying (I think he was cold) so he ended up sleeping with me and CJ and I had Doug turn on the heater (love having a heater!) Doug than transferred Doogie from the floor to where Jaxon had been sleeping. Doogie doesn't remember any of this! The next morning Doogie's eye was all puffy and swollen. He didn't remember falling out of bed or Doug asking him if he was alright or moving to Jaxon's bed. We teased him and told him that a squirrel had broken into the tent trailer and beat him up...he really needs to stay away from those squirrels!

Anyways, we went for another hike that morning and after we ate lunch we packed up and headed back home. This time without any trailer swaying mishap!

I really thought that Doogie would have more of a shiner, the next day (Sunday) his eye was almost swollen shut but he didn't have any discoloration. Now it's just a little puffy and you really can't tell that anything even happened unless you are looking for it!

Why is that....?

We packed up the tent trailer on Friday and took a short camping trip this weekend. We got back Saturday afternoon (pictures to come later). This post isn't about our camping trip though, well not really. It's about Mr. Jaxon...why is it that when we are out an about he uses the potty perfectly but when we are at home he has accidents? I decided to put him in pull-ups for the camping trip and wouldn't you know it every single time he told me he had to go potty he was perfectly dry! Now when we are at home he will still tell me when he has to go but he will sometimes be slightly damp because he has waited a little too long to tell me. So I just have to wonder why this is... Maybe we should just run around and do errands all day every day and then he wouldn't have any accidents? Then again...that just sounds like way too much work!

A day at the park

Another preschool playdate day. The kids really enjoy these, though Doogie was a little bummed that a couple of the boys that he has been playing with (from the last couple playdates) weren't there today. Jaxon used the potty for me while we were there (though he was slightly damp). He's biggest problem is he waits a little too long before he runs to the bathroom, gotta get him to realize he needs to get in there a little bit earlier. He did really well yesterday and even pooped in the potty for me! However, when we got home from the park he went out in the backyard to play and pooped in his pants.... :( I think we are starting to get there though. CJ ended up stubbing his toe really good while we were at the park (he had taken off his shoes to get the bark out and he took off before I could get them back on. He didn't fuss very much though, in fact I didn't even realize how badly he had stubbed it until we had gone into the bathroom for a potty break. He's a tough little guy, that's for sure. Luckily I was able to find some bandaids in the first aid kit in the car for him. He was getting a kick out of showing his "owie" to everyone though and getting lots of sympathy.

Making Progress???

I think we are making some progress on the potty training with Jaxon. I have to admit I was a little worried there for a while and thought it was going to take forever like the girls did. But ever since Thursday he has been doing alot better. He's also been starting to tell me when he has to go potty as well. Now we just have to work on that dreaded #2...he's still not crazy about doing that in the potty yet. But I think we are getting there with #1. So hopefully soon we'll just have Mr. CJ down to diapers (well except at night) and he has been showing some interest in the potty himself since we've been working on Jaxon. So who knows maybe he'll be potty trained soon too! Hey, I can dream can't I???

More swimming on Sunday

Talk about a weekend full of fun in the sun! Sunday we headed back over to Grammy and Papa's house for some more swimming. I think the kids were pretty much swimmed out when we left that afternoon. All but Doogie (who got up before 7:00 for some reason) slept in until 9:00 this morning.

4th of July

The kids had alot of fun on Saturday. They swam with their cousins and then we did some fireworks when it started getting dark. All of them (but CJ) got to help Daddy light off some fireworks. It was fun watching the expressions on their faces!

Out on the boat

Friday we took Aunt Jenni out on the boat to do some tubing and waterskiing. While Doug, Jenni and Doogie stayed on the boat to ski, they dropped the rest of us off on a beach so that they would have more room in the boat and less confusion. The kids had fun playing in the sand, collecting seaweed and playing in the water. I was able to get a few pictures of Doug and Jenni skiing from the beach. I guess Doogie even got in to try and ski and actually "kind of" got up for a couple seconds. Of course they didn't do it where I could see it so I wasn't able to get any pics. Doogie was pretty pleased with himself though and can't wait to try it again (and hopefully this time I'll get pictures!)