Old Glory Parade

In celebration of July 4th, the Kindergarten summer school class performed an Old Glory Parade at Eastland Mall. I was in Colorado for training, but was thrilled to get pictures of Brady in the parade from Chris.

School Yard Rhymes

School yard rhymes have changed since I was in school...

Burdette Park Family Reunion

Awhile back, a group of us decided that we needed to get the family together for a summer reunion where all the kids could run around while the adults visited. This Saturday, we had a gathering at Burdette Park at one of the shelter houses. It was the typical group that gathers at Christmas time with a few additional family members. The kids had the chance to play with their 1st cousins, their 2nd cousins, and some other distant cousins.  I think there was about 15 kids all together.  The day started out with a little thunderstorms, but turned out to be a great day later on.

The kids started out the day playing some board games and after the rain stopped, headed outdoors.  They had a blast traipsing through the creek and hillside and going on hikes with their oldest cousin, Shane.  They had a squirt gun fight and played on the nearby playground. They watched the adults playing horseshoes and cornhole.   Claire, bless her heart, wanted to be right there in on the action.  This time, we had to draw the line on her independence.  Luckily, we had a lot of volunteers to help with Claire.

It turned out to be a great day and will most likely be repeated again next year!

Brady turns 5-Years-Old!

Sci-Fi Show

As soon as we heard about the Evansville Philharmonic's Sci-Fi Show, we decided if there was any show to take the boys to, it would be the Sci-Fi Show since 1/2 the show would include music from Star Wars. As parents and former "band-geeks", we want the boys to have an appreciation for music.

They have been looking forward to the show for weeks. As an extra surprise, I ordered Star Wars costumes for them to wear to the show (and hopefully they can use them in October for Halloween). Brady was Jango Fett and Connor was a clone/stonetrooper (he claimed he was part of Episode 3 when he is switching over). They had a really good time meeting some of the characters and listening to the music. I was concerned that they would only be interested in the Star Wars music, but they were genuinely interested in the entire selection of music (ET, Back to the Future, 2001 Space Odyssey, Avatar, and more).

I am glad we took the boys and they had a lot of fun!

Claire's Adventure Outdoors

What a beautiful Sunday morning! This was the first time that Claire has been let loose outside now that she is walking and we aren't in the midst of snow or flood seasons. It was fun watching her react to the grass and hang out with her brothers! Connor was the very protective big brother walking her around and redirecting her. Brady also had fun giving Claire a push in the baby swing.

Happy 1st Birthday Claire!

The Saturday after Claire's birthday, we had a birthday celebration with our family and close friends! It was an organized chaos as usual where the kids all run around playing from one end of the house to the other, the adults visit, and we all watch the guest of honor enjoy their day. At the beginning, a handful of the kids participated in an animal parade..they marched through the house showing off their animal of choice and making the animal sounds for Claire!

After the kids played for awhile, it was time for cake. Claire wasn't sure what to think about everyone surrounding her and singing Happy Birthday to her. However, she had no problems digging into her special cupcake! After devouring her cupcake, it was time for a quick bath and wardrobe change. That's normal, right!

After cake and clean up, it was time for presents! Claire received lots of help from her cousins and friends opening presents...towards the end, she was finally getting the hang of what it meant when you ripped the paper off. Yes, there is a toy behind there! Thank you everyone for sharing our special day with Claire...Happy 1st Birthday Sweetie!

School Play - Roboteacher 3000

For the third year, the boys have participated in their annual school musical/play that the entire school, all 150 children, participates in. They practiced the song and the dance moves for a couple months, had a formal dress rehearsal, and then performed to a packed house at the Centre. This year's selection was "Roboteacher 3000". Connor was a Raven singing a song about reading and Brady was a Globe singing a song about geography. This was perfect for Brady since his favorite subject is geography!

I was able to attend the dress rehearsal the night before the actual performance to get a nice little preview and some video footage (in the event they didn't perform the next night). The night of the actual performance, the boys did an awesome job and their performance was witnessed by the three of us, all three sets of grandparents, and their Aunt Julie and Uncle Marx. Connor was so cute with his Raven outfit trying to act nonchalant to overcome the nervousness (so he claims). Brady was a bouncing globe with no arms, so really put the expression in his dancing and bouncing.

am so impressed at how well all the kids do with memorizing their lines, the songs, and the actual performance! Great job boys...we are really proud of you!

Oh Yeah...Claire is walking!!!

I can't believe I forgot to say that Claire is walking in my 12 month update...I guess because she has went to an occasional walker to a full-fledged, crawling is for babies, walker!! She took a couple steps when she was 9 1/2 months old and we thought she was going to beat her brothers' records (Brady walked at 10 months and Connor at 10 1/2 months). Instead she opted for a slow progression...

• She took a few more steps at 10 months old and the occasional couple steps from one person to the next.
• At 11 months and 8 days old...she was officially walking. 
• A week later she was already squatting and standing back up. 
• A week after that she was doing a downward dog move to stand up. 
• At one year old, her transition to walking is automatic and she wants to walk as fast as she can.  She has the occasional stumble...then gets right back up to keep on going.

She has been having a great time "perfecting" her walk as she chases after her brothers and comes running around corners looking for us.  She is just so darn cute...

Look who is One Year Old!!

Our baby Claire turned one year on April 13th...I can't believe she is already one year old!!! Here are some things Claire can do at 12 months:

•  She had her last bottle on her birthday and is now only drinking out of sippy cups (she is not very happy about this, but we recently realized that warmed milk seems to help)
• Says mama, dada, uh-oh (all the time), and has occasionaly said other phrases that we are still waiting for the repeats like Papa, Boys, and Nana (for Connor we believe)
• Has the cutest little giggle and smile...especially when her brothers are talking to her 
• Has a strong personality...she will let you know when she does not appreciate having something being taken away from her or being told no
•  She is VERY, VERY curious....she has explored every cabinet and drawer in our house that she can reach...she loves to rearrange the entire contents of most as well
• Waves bye-bye underhanded and gives the occasional open-mouthed kiss
• Has a great appetite and understands the baby sign for “more” and "all done" (important things to know)
• Makes yummy noises when she eats or when you ask her if something tastes good
• Has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom (since she was 7 months old)
• Loves to be picked up and held...especially if it is mommy or daddy!
• Sleeps from 8:30 – 6:30...takes naps at daycare regularly, but at home is a challenge just like the boys (so afraid she is going to miss something)
• Wears size 12 or 18 mos clothes and size 3-4 diapers
• Weighs 22 lbs, 10 ozs. and is in the 95% for height and 75% in weight...she has been at that weight since about 6 months old with the occasional ups and downs

She is such a joy to our family...and such a great baby! We have been so blessed having her in our lives and to see the impact on our family dynamics. We can only imagine what the coming years hold!!  Enjoy the slideshow of her one year pictures below....

Spring has arrived...

What a beautiful day today! While the original forecast predicted a skip and a hop past spring right into summer, it ended up being a great day of sunshine and perfect temps. After spending the afternoon at the Fun Fair, we had our first cookout of the season. Our friends, the Johnsons, came over for a visit. The kids all played on the playset and chased each other around and the adults even had the rare occasion to visit amongst themselves.

This was a great opportunity to introduce Claire to her swing...which she absolutely loved! She giggled and laughed! She was having so much fun...you know, she is one of the big kids now with her first birthday fast approaching!


Enjoy the picture and the video below...

Fun Fair

We decided to venture out in this beautiful weather today and take the kids to Holly House's 3rd annual Fun Fair. This is a community event to bring awareness to their cause and they do such a good job of providing a fun afternoon. The boys played a few toss games to win some prizes and spent some time in the bouncy house obstacle courses. Brady decided he wanted to get his face painted like a lion, while Connor watched a Martial Arts demonstration. Connor was amazed at their ability to fight like that and was most impressed with the boards and cement block breaking. At the end, the boys tried the Bungee Run where you run as fast as you can to see if you got further than your partner before being sprung back by the bungee. It was fun to watch them and was a fun afternoon outing!