A little R&R at the lake!

Jack and Ava tuckered out after a full day of fun at the lake...isn't this precious!?

Ava chillin with Grandpa before getting ready for bed...they love to cuddle with Grandpa!

This past weekend, Mommy took the little ones up to G & G Kelm's lake home once again. Daddy has been so swamped with school work, that we know he really benefits from the uninterrupted time...even though he won't necessarily admit it:)

Anyway, we all enjoyed some quality time with family once again. The kids got to go tubing with their cousins, swim and just have plain fun. Mommy was able to relax a little bit and enjoy lots of Grandma Kelm's cooking....always such a treat!!

More Summer Fun:)

Eli running through the woods...lookin for all the GOOD mud!

Jack's hot on his trail:)

Tessa...cute...need I say more?

Charlie and Jack racing up the hill.....go boys!

My smiley sunshine girl...so sweet!!!

Just wanted to post what a semi-typical day looks like at our house. Our children are fortunate enough to have their cousins (and very bestest friends...Ava says) come to their house every day through the summer. On this particular day, it was perfectly sunny and plenty warm. We decided to get the sprinkler running and let the kids just simply play and have fun in our back yard. After a while, they found that it was incredibly fun to run through the woods, get as muddy as humanly possible, then run through the sprinklers to clean off. Honestly, Mom had no complaints what-s0-ever with this......as long as the mud stayed OUTSIDE...have at it!!!!

Tessa turns TWO!!

In the hospital with the kids right after Tessa was born in 07.

This past Saturday, our dear sweet baby (well..not so much a baby anymore I guess) Tessa turned 2! We spent the day making a birthday cake and lounging around the house. She got a baby stroller from Mommy and Daddy..and her brothers and sister, which she just loved. After supper we had all of the family over for cake and ice cream to really celebrate! She received many wonderful gifts...dolls, clothes, shoes, jammie, and a cash register. All of these are her favorite things. Tessa is the funniest about shoes...she just loves them, a girl after Mommy's own heart!!

It was a great day, and I can't believe that she is 2 already...time flies!

Too Cute For Words!

Literally...what can I say about my sweet Tessa? Just too darn cute for words!

Let's Ski

This past weekend at the lake, both of our dare-devil boys decided they were old enough to start water-skiing. To be honest, the first thought in my mind was, "great...just add this to the list of activities to potentially cause major injury!" But, as determined as they were, how could I say no. So, Jack was first to give it a shot. The skis that we had were a little bit big, but they tried none the less. It took Jack a couple of times, but he popped up very quickly and made it all the way around the lake without incident. He was so proud...and so were we...actually astonished is a better word. The second picture is of him, and I don't know if you can tell or not, but he sat that way THE ENTIRE TIME. You see, his cousin Chris told him to pretend he was sitting on a chair to help him get started. Well, Jack took this advice literally and sat on the invisible chair the whole way around the lake. Later that day he did admit that his legs were a bit sore...I wonder why!!!

Next was Bubba's turn. To my shock and amazement he got up on his very first try!! He made it to the middle of the lake and slowly started going over the wake. That caused his enormous skis to spread out and he took a nose dive. He decided that was enough for the day and just rode in on the jet ski. I was so proud of the boys....they really have great determination...and guts!!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The week before the 4th of July our family took our first ever full weeks vacation at my parents lake. The kids were beyond excited as we counted down the days to leave. We arrived on a Friday and were planning on staying through Sunday the 5th.

The first few days were quite cold, so we took that opportunity to non-lake related activities. One day we all went mini golfing, which all of the kids enjoyed, including little Miss Tessa. We also took in the Longville turtle races, which were really fun. They kids all got ice cream cones at Frosty's afterward and had many little prizes to sort through at home!

Finally, the sun reappeared and we were all able to enjoy some good old fashioned summer fun. There was lots of four-wheeling, swimming, tubing, boating, and fishing to last a while. It was so great to see all of my little ones enjoying their time at Grandma and Grandpa's.

The week finally came to a close with the 4th of July festivities. We all went to the parade in town, then came home to have a down home American lunch with the whole entire family. Auntie Jennifer brought some sparklers for the little ones to do..which was the perfect ending to the day.

All the kids were so sad to leave, but we made memories to last a lifetime!