Claire's Roller Skating Party!

Last weekend Claire had her 8th birthday friend party at the roller rink!  It was by far one of the most fun parties that I have ever  been to!!  The kids had a great time and so did the adults!

We had the whole rink to ourselves.  The kids skated and played all the old school games.  

 We had delicious pizza.

And a little ice cream to cool off.  It was sooo hot!

Claire was so pumped when she won 4 Corners (even though I am not sure that she actually won but whatever).

Even Oliver got into it!

Then he latched onto two of Claire's friends and they helped him skate for the entire party.

I still can't believe my baby is 8!!!!

The kids all really seemed to have a blast!! 

Happy birthday Claire!!  I hope that you had a blast!!  I love you baby!!

Sara's Baby Shower

Last week was Sara's baby shower.  It was so fun to see everyone and celebrate Baby Camden! I was going to take a lot of pictures but I was so busy visiting that I didn't have time.  Sara got so many wonderful presents!  I cannot wait to meet baby Camden and get my baby fix!

Beach Days!

I know that I wanted to blog everyday but it is really hard!  We have been so busy!  But we have been spending a lot of time at the beach (as usual), so here are some pictures from our time at the beach.

It has been so fun to have friends and family come and spend time with us at the beach.  Everyone knows that if the weather is nice we are there, so just call us and meet us up there.

My Moms.  I love these ladies.  I am so lucky to have both of them!

The Komo Men (I am lucky to have these clowns too).

The kids love hanging out with their buddies!

The girls even like to do a little reading at the beach.

And we have our newest beach bum!  Harper loves the beach!!

Our two little old ladies can now help us carry all of our junk down to the water.

The beach is my happy place.  I absolutely love being there.  I am so thankful that my in laws have a beautiful cottage but I am even more thankful that they are so welcoming of my family AND all of my friends! 

Tri In The Buff

Mark is back at it!  A few weekends ago he completed the Tri In The Buff again!  He did a great job and we were all there to cheer him on!

We even got to see Mark riding his bike and our drive down to Evangola!

And of course, we were there at the finish!!

Mark did a great job and we are so proud of him!

4th Of July

We had another beautiful fourth of July this year!  We did our usual tradition of having dinner with friends and then walking up to the parade and fireworks.

The kids love getting ready to walk through the woods.

And then we get a great spot and watch the parade.   Oliver always likes the parade but for some reason this year he was SUPER into it!

And these two need to stop getting so old!  Our gorgeous girls and growing up way too fast!

Uncle Nick always gets us a great spot for the fireworks!  Then we enjoy our kettle corn and watch the beautiful fireworks!

Claire's Birthday

So it happened, I tried to stop it but it happened.  Claire turned eight.  Eight years old.  That is ridiculous. I can remember being little and wishing that I was eight because that was so old. 

After the cake debacle for Oliver's birthday we went back to our faithful place for a cake.  Claire picked a Sponge Bob cake this year.

Eight..Seriously...Eight

This year Claire really wanted a skateboard.  She is getting better but even a little shakey she looks adorable!

The whole family loved getting together to celebrate Claire's special day, did I mention that she is EIGHT!

All the cousins are getting so old and we still have one more on the way!

And I had just had to put this in!  Kayden was loving the viking helmet!  He loved running around with it on. He looked so adorable!

Awesome.

We all had a great time at Claire's party!  I still cannot believe that my baby girl is 8!  It has been an amazing 8 years.  Claire is smart, kind, responsible, and a hard worker.  She is just so good.  She helps me all the time and never complains about it.  I don't know what I would do without her!!  I love you baby and I couldn't be more proud of you.  I am so glad that you are my daughter.

Pianos And Shots

Yesterday was a pretty busy day around here.  We started our day by getting Oliver's Kindergarten shots.  He did so well, I was so proud of him.  After the doctor we headed out to do some furniture shopping and then stopped for a delicious lunch (thanks to one of my favorite families from school).

I love having so much time over the summer!  It makes it so easy to just relax and enjoy some family time....

with my favorite people.

After an eventful day of furniture shopping and new recessed lights in the family room we ended up with this!  Claire is so excited to learn to play!  To be honest, I am thinking of taking lessons too!

To end the day, Claire had lacrosse.  Her coaches are doing such a great job to make this so fun for the girls!!  Claire is just loving it!

They are really a great group of kids!

So it was a busy day but full of fun and some changes over here!

Dentist

 This is how we started our day.  I love just getting up and sitting on the patio having my coffee and hanging out with these clowns.  It has been a little chilly but I will take it!

Yesterday we did our annual summer dentist visit.  

Of course Oliver said yes to the sunglasses and brought his dragon along to have his teeth cleaned by the dentist.  

After the dentist Claire had her first lacrosse game!

She did so well and kept up with those big girls!!!  I am so impressed with her skills!

Oliver's Birthday

Today was Oliver's first friend birthday party (even though his birthday was on June 12th).  He was so excited to have all of his friends come to his birthday party at Gymnastics Unlimited.

The kids all had a blast and the weather was perfect for some indoor gymnastics fun.

The really do an excellent job with the kids for these birthday parties.  They had all kinds of games for the kids to play.

And they kept bouncing the kids in the air and catching them.

And then of course the foam pit is always a huge hit!

After a lot of fun, it was time to eat!

Oliver loved his "How To Train Your Dragon" cake (which was MUCH MUCH better than his old cake, which you will read about later in this post).  

He loved it when all of his friends sang to him.

And then he made his wish.

Oliver loved reading all of his cards.

And opening all of his gifts.

And then of course he loved playing with all of his new toys when we got home!

A few weeks ago (closer to his real birthday) we had our usual family party.

The cousins!!!

This is when we had the epic cake fail.  I ordered this cake from Orchard Fresh, where they assured me that it was noooo problem and they could easily make this cake.

 And when Mark picked up the cake, we got this...

Yeah...not even close.   But after convincing Oliver that this was in fact a dragon of some sort (and a few supportive text messages from some friends) I could easily see the humor in this debacle.

Overall, I think that Oliver had a wonderful 5th birthday.  He loved celebrating with all of his friends and family.  I still can't believe my little man is 5 and is going to Kindergarten but it has definitely been the most amazing 5 years with this guy and I love him more than words can say!  He has grown into a sweet, smart,  kind, and hilarious little person and look forward to seeing what the future brings for him!!!

I LOVE YOU OLIVER!!!  Thank you for an amazing 5 years!!!!

Eternal Flame

Yesterday was our first official day of summer vacation!!  Since it was our first day off we decided to do something fun, so we hit the trails and hiked to the Eternal Flame!

It was really beautiful and the kids really enjoyed the hike.  There were so many gorgeous waterfalls and other great naturey things.  Oliver was very concerned that we were entering "dangerous territory".  He did not stop talking the entire time we hiked, it was adorable.  Once he got comfortable and got over his fear of the "dangerous edges" he became a dragon and roared throughout the forest.

We were so excited that when we made it to the flame is was already lit (apparently it goes out from time to time).  I was thrilled that there lots of people around so I could get a family shot.

On the way back to the car we found a random picnic table and ate our lunches that we brought.  It was such a great day and a perfect way to start off our summer vacation!

And later in the evening was Claire's last soccer game.  She did a great job this season and had tons of fun with her new friends!

It was the perfect way to start vacation!  

BRING ON THE SUMMER!!!!