Niabi zoo!

Our day was spent at the Niabi Zoo! Grandma Betty and Grampa John treated us to a zoo trip and lunch at Happy Joe's to help celebrate Channing and cousin Noah's birthdays! My cousin Teresa and her family of 6 joined in on the festivities! It was so nice to see them all! The kids had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the day! The kids fed the fish/geese/ducks/swans/and turtles today! Even lil Gavin was helping to throw in some food for the animals! Olivia became brave by putting some feed into her hand and letting a swan take from it. Ouch! She did get a little nibble on her hand. Gavin LOVED the elephants and the train ride and then enjoyed the rest of his time snacking on his cheerios! The day ended with us eating at Happy Joe's pizza and Channing finishing off a Birthday Sundae! He loved it! It was also great to see my cousin Liz who showed up for Lunch with us! We had a great day!

First carnival of the year!

The kids had a great time kicking off the First carnival of the year! "Splash" in Bartonville had their annual family night and although we wished daddy could have come, work kept him away. :(

The night was hot and humid and we only stayed for about an hour. The kids were able to ride a few of their favorite rides, get their face painted and enjoy an ice cold lemonade shake up!

lil fishies!

The kids have been swimming non stop this past week! We have gone to the pool almost every day of this week and as the kids are getting darker, I'm getting more red so I'm taking a break these last few days from the pool so my poor burn can heal! ;) Channing has proved to us that he needs to be in swimming lessons. He's our little dare devil. Mom came to swim with us on Monday and Channing told her that he wanted to jump into the pool and she catch him. They went down by the deeper end of the pool and without waiting for mom to catch him, he jumped right in. (head and all) we started freaking out and grabbed him and he had a big smile on his face and said, "I want to do that again!" We let him jump under the water but we have to bring him back up b/c he's not sure. I spoke with the pool manager about swimming lessons and have signed the kids up for sessions in July!!! The swimming lessons are American Red Cross Certified and they start them at ages 3 and up! We lucked out with that. The kids need to have them b/c they are so comfortable with the water. Olivia only puts half her face in the water and she loves swimming with her float on! She tried to jump in like Channing, but changed her mind. Channing was non stop and It scares me to be at the pool with all 3 by myself b/c he doesn't give you notice when he's going to jump in, he just does it.
I have been lucky to have friends coming with me each day so far! Today, I was holding Gavin and Channing was just sitting on the edge of the pool. I turned my back for one second to see where Olivia was and Channing splashed right in next to me. OH MY! I have my hands full! lol!

We are looking forward to the 4th of July this year! Instead of going downtown we have decided we are going to stay in our community and enjoy the festivities they have here! In the morning they will have a breakfast and parade. Then they have face painting, contests, frog jumping, a live band which happens to be one of my favorite cover bands! Jamm sammich! We are going to cook out and then of course the fireworks! Mike's friend Zak may also be coming to stay with us for that weekend. We shall see.
Happy summer to all!

Our Father's Day weekend!

Last week Mike surprised me! He suggested we take a family trip to Findlay, ohio so we could spend Father's day with his dad! I was so surprised b/c normally it is hard to get Mike to take trips let alone, him suggest us go! We were EXCITED! I love road trips, seeing family and OHIO! In the midst of the planning we found out that his sister Tanya and her family would be there, his cousin Marlene and her husband Art were coming! We were finally able to meet our little nephew, courtney!! So Adorable!

We had a lot of fun! The trip was long, but the kids did surprisingly well! You have to love the travel DVD players! ;0) Olivia would occasionally get on the "Are we there, yet!?" Kick but all in all they did wonderful! We arrived in Findlay on Thursday afternoon! We checked into the Drury Inn and Suites! (very nice hotel!) The kids were so excited! They love hotels! We do too! We had a great time seeing family! Mike was able to reunite with a few of his friends from home as well! He had a great Father's day and was glad to spend it with his family!!!! We can't wait to go back for another visit!

Channing's 3 Yr check!

Channing had his 3 year Check up today! He had to get ONE shot and that was for the other half of his hepatitis. He barely cried at all!

Channing weighs 29 lbs and is 37 inches! The Dr always mentions how tiny our kids are and we laugh b/c we can remember them as chunky little things when they were babies! All 3 kids have a very high metabolism rate and fall in the lowest percentile. The Dr also explained that it's hard to go by charts and averages b/c nowadays the "average" child is heavier then from the charts 10 yrs ago. No worries! They are not worried one bit about the percentile categories at all!! :) That's such a huge relief! Channing checked out fine. He has a little rash on the back of his neck and the DR ruled that out as Eczema. ? other then that, he did great and looked fine!

Gavin was also in for a ear re check and that too checked out fine! We had a bit of scare today. Olivia decided she was going to unbuckle Gavin's booster seat during lunch. I had put Gavin into the seat without knowing she had done this and within seconds of me going into the kitchen, he had a terrible fall in his booster. His top tooth dug right into the top of his lip and he cut his nose. :( :( He screamed out for a few minutes but shortly after that he was fine and I was relieved!!!!! Scared me half to death!

We are making our Ohio Trip early in the morning! The kids are so excited to be going to another hotel!!! :)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Channing!

Happy Birthday to Channing! He's 3 on the 15th! We celebrated his birthday at home with a fun tractor party! Lots of friends and family came by for the celebration! More pics to be uploaded to snapfish! :) :) Happy Birthday to our sweet, little boy!

Farm park.

The kids were playing in Olivia's room while I was busy with housework. About 5 minutes later, they all come out and she's so proud that she has her brother's dressed up so they can play with her. It was hilarious. Although, I have to be thankful that the boys weren't too fond of the idea!

Today, we went to the Farm Park with our Playgroup! The kids had a lot of fun feeding the animals, playing games, getting their faces painted and being with friends! It was a really nice day and we ended our adventure with lunch at Avantis! YUM!! Imagine 27 friends out to lunch!! :) Gavin up in the corner, Channing with his face painted and Olivia with her best friend Bella! Yes, Olivia dressed herself this morning and just HAD to have her princess Tierra bc she picked a "princess shirt" lol!!

Ohio bound!

I'm so excited that we are headed to Ohio next week! Excited for 3 reasons!

1. we get to see family we haven't seen in a very long time! we also get to FINALLY meet our little nephew! I can't wait to meet him!! (we are hoping that Mike's other sister will be able to come with all of her kids so we can have all of his dad's grandchildren together at one time!)

2. I get to FINALLY use my Tim Horton's gift card and get my Iced Capp Fix! YEY!!! So excited for that! You don't know how hard it is to be in the summer months and not have A Tim Horton's around.

3. Mike is the one that suggested this and we get to stay in a hotel!!!! Another FAMILY VACATION for us!!!!!!!!!! I love this and I love that Mike is coming around with traveling! Another exciting moment is that he even agreed for me to come back to Ohio on my own in August, Like I did last year! I stayed with my good friend Julie and her kiddos while her hubby was on his annual fishing trip in Canada! This allows our kids to get together and for us to visit all of the fun places we used to frequent when we lived there! IE... zoo, splash park, mall, etc!!! I wish our mall had a cool play area as the one at tuttle does! :(

I'm just glad my family is doing a lot more together. Mike isn't working as much and we are enjoying life without all of the stress! :) :) :)

Enjoying our summer! We've been here, there and everywhere keeping busy! We're anxiously awaiting the warmer weather so we can be at the pool! We are looking forward to Channing's birthday party on Sunday!

I got my tattoo!

planning for my Ohio trip.. thinking maybe August I will take a trip with the kids! Only going if Mike goes! :)

summer!

We have been keeping pretty busy. Summer has really kicked off for us. We had a family reunion Last weekend in Iowa City, Iowa! My uncle and his wife both graduated from college while their son Max graduated from high school! We got to visit with family we have not seen in a very long time! It was a fun trip! Mike was able to meet my family on my dad's side for the very first time! He seemed to enjoy himself!! :) My grandparents from Vermont had picked us up for the trip and brought us back home! It was so nice to be able to see them! Great visit!

The kids and I are a part of a playgroup this summer! We are very excited for that and the kids will be busy all summer!

Tuesday morning kids will be starting up for our church very soon! Another great activity for the kids to experience! Olivia has been in Vacation Bible School this whole past week in the evenings! She has been going with her best friend Bella, from school! She loves it! Tonight is the last night of it and then they will put on a perfermance on Sunday morning!

Gavin is walking now. He's still a bit shakey but he's getting it down! He is everywhere and into everything! He and channing like to take their little dump trucks and race each other up and down the hall with them! So fun to watch! Gavin says "Thank You' after you give him something! So sweet! I had to take him to the DR the other day for tummy pains. Turns out he's very constipated from all of his teething. ? He is on Miralax as needed. He was weighed at the office and he is FINALLY putting some meat on his bones! After all of his past ear infections and surgery he was really slimming down but now is catching up! He's currently 21 lbs and 5 oz! My tiny little thing but very long! ;)

Channing is picking out his clothes and dressing himself now. He is really working on his appetite so that he can be in a big boy booster seat like his sister is in her big Girl booster seat! He is a "big Boy" and lets you know it! Hard to believe he will be 3 in a few weeks. We are just having a party here at home for him and then sometime during the week we will take him to Chuck E Cheese! We were going to have the party at CEC but that can be a bit much and it's also very noisy. :) He wants a Tractor birthday party!

Other then that, the weather is beautiful and we are excited for summer! Grilling out, being outdoors, swimming, traveling, etc!

I will be posting pictures of our Iowa city trip on snapfish! :)