Father's Day 2012

 For Father's Day we went back to Forrest's favorite childhood lake, Lake Arrowbee.  The day was hot but the lake was oh-so refreshing.

 The kids wasted no time getting right into the water with all their toys.

 Dad's first obligation was to bait the hooks; Jacob loves fishing and this is his highlight in coming here.  He did catch one, and we saw another man there with a monster of a catch, probably about a foot long.  You can guess Jacob borrowed one of his lures and went after the same (without any luck.)  That was by far the largest fish I have seen come out of that lake.

 I made shishkabobs for dinner, alongside fried rice and watermelon.  I love packing up a picnic and eating outside; there is nothing better.

 Kaitlyn chose to eat her dinner in the back of Dad's truck.

 After dinner I swam the kids out to this floating dock in the middle of the lake, where we dared each other to dive into the swarms of bluegills.  Ashlee swears that they "spine" you with their sharp fins so we kept shooing them away from each other.  It was a grueling swim on the way back, with an oasis of seaweed just below the surface.  I swam fast and tried to stay shallow; that stuff creeps me out.  At one point the kids' raft tipped and they were all tangled up in it.  I laughed.

While I was gone, Anthony kept rolling things down the hill towards the water then going after them.  I think this was his way of trying to get in.

Babies Turn 1

This past weekend baby Desmond turned 1.  Karen is my high school bestie, and it was fun being pregnant together.  It seems like just yesterday we were at her baby shower comparing round bellies.  Our little boys were born 3 weeks apart, and now that first year has come and gone!  Karen put on quite the party, planning and preparing everything herself from healthy, homemade snacks, to custom party bags, to the most adorable jungle cake I have ever seen with hand-made fondant animals.  Thanks for letting us celebrate with you guys!  I look forward to many fun years to come as these guys grow up together.

Intro to Summer

Noah looks forward to the tadpoles in our pond every year- this is where he will be spending his summer, studying their life cycle.

I can say we have already gotten our money's worth out of our $24 Target pool.  It's a great way to stay cool and enjoy the sunshine while we are out of a vehicle.  It's sprung a couple of leaks and requires a little bit of maintenance, but it beats the price of a community pool pass for our large family for sure.

She finally learned how to climb over the wall and likes to just stand.

(Shhh... no one tell this guy he's supposed to be walking yet.)

Kaitlyn's lunch for the fairies.

I have taken on the project of completing an I-Spy quilt, so I will have 200 quilt squares to sew together this summer.

Sneaky bath shot!

Forrest build this custom cage for our newly adopted chinchillas- they love it in there.

This girl is still taking care of her baby.  I often find her "changing baby's biaper" and sh-sh-ing her to sleep.