My Water Babies

If there is one thing that we have done this summer, it's play in the water. Eli and Landon love to play in the water and it keeps everyone cool, so we do it almost every day. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Here we are at the splash pad. It has water shooting out of the ground, showering down from big poles, and pouring out of buckets. It takes Eli and Landon a little while to warm up to it, but they like it once they get used to it. It seems to me like it would be a wonderland for an almost-two-year-old.

They are very easily distracted by snacks, so we spend a lot of time sitting in the shade, eating goldfish crackers and sipping on a capri sun.

On the days that I don't have the energy to get all of our swimming paraphanalia together, we just play in the backyard. We fill up their little pool or put a sprinkler head on the hose and we just play at home.

They both love to drink the water that leaks out from the hose connection. Silly boys.

Dustin and I recently bought the boys a slip-n-slide. Best.Eight.Dollars.Ever.Spent.

Landon had a good idea to fill up his dump truck. It was all going fine until Eli took it away from him.

We also go swimming with our good friends, the Poseys, every once in a while. The boys got new life jackets and it has revolutionized the way we enjoy the pool. I no longer have to hold both of them up at all times. It is SO much easier. They can be pretty independent with these Puddle Jumpers.

Even baths have been a lot more fun lately. Eli and Landon request bubbles at every single bath and have a great time playing until they are prunes. I love bathtime.

Well, that's just a touch of what we've been up to. Eli and Landon really seem to be growing and changing every single day. Not so much physically, but very much so developmentally. I just don't know when they grew up so much!

Housekeeping Tip

Tip #1: Don't feel any pressure to sweep that food up immediately. Leaving food on the floor after mealtime has many advantages.

*If you leave it for a few hours, it allows the food to harden enough to make the sweeping process a breeze. If you try to sweep too soon...the food is still moist and it just rolls around on the floor and makes a bigger mess.

*Leaving the food on the floor a little longer ensures that your children get enough to eat. They are welcome to stop by and have a bite at their leisure.

* This also minimizes the amount of time you spend sweeping....especially if you just wait until after the next meal.

Be careful not to leave the food on too long as this can cause some problems. You'll have to scrape it off of the floor before it can be swept up. Not only is this totally gross, but let's be honest, who wants to bend over? That takes way too much energy.

I just thought I'd share a few housekeeping tricks I have up my sleeve. Tune in next time when we discuss: Is it really necessary to wash the highchair trays after every meal/snack?

We're Famous!

Well...maybe that's stretching it, but we are being featured on the Multiples and More blog today!

This one is for Papa

(Please ignore my obnoxious voice.)

My children are odd.

Camp 2010

We spent all of last week at camp...like we do every June.

I have such a love/hate relationship with camp...especially the last two years with the addition of Eli and Landon into the mix. I love being with Dustin's family for the week. I hate the heat. I love watching Eli and Landon run around and have fun. I hate being off our schedule (read: cranky boys). I love all of the Bible study, worship, and fellowship. I hate that I miss most of it because Eli and Landon don't want to sit still 4 hours a day (imagine that). I love not having to cook or clean for a week. I hate when we have air conditioning and sewer problems in the camper. I love being around great friends for a week. I hate sweating.

I think you get the point.

Despite all of that...the love always wins out and I find myself wishing it weren't over quite so soon...the time just flies by.

So, without further ado, I present: Eli and Landon's Highlights from Pecos River Family Encampment 2010.


Nemo got us a little red wagon. We loved being able to climb in and out and ride all over the camp in this thing. (Mom only got a little tired pulling us all over the place).

We ate.

Mom was worried about there not being enough chairs for all of the babies, so Dad engineered this little ditty for us. We just had to be careful because if one of us got out...there was a dangerous see-saw effect!

We could not keep our hands off of Mr. Neil's "car" as we called it. If we spotted this thing anywhere around...we made a run for it. Here we are driving Miss Daisy Avery.

This was the scene at night and most nights we ended up with this exact view. I don't know why mom wouldn't let us yell and scream in there and always brought us to the back !?

We spent most mornings and free time down here at the rock pit. It was the hangout for all of the two and under crowd.

In the afternoons, we swam. Here we are with Madison and Brynna.

We also went down to watch the kids during recreation. These are a few of our favorite people!

Family picture

We ate a LOT of ice cream. We love Nemo because she denies us nothing!

We often at breakfast on the run because we slept so late.

We got a lot of attention from the pretty girls.

We loved Bible Class (as long as Mom, Dad, or Nemo stayed with us the whole time).

We led singing with Dad several times.

And we rode in the wagon with Avery a few times.

We watched the bigger kids play Pillow Polo.

We laughed at all of Heath and Hunter's jokes.

We helped Seth fix the sprinklers (as in...we played in the water and got soaking wet).

We ate more ice cream.

We watched movies in the camper when the heat was just too much.

Eva came to visit us and that made mom really happy!

We spent a LOT of time with Nemo.

We ate watermelon (are you seeing a trend here?)

We played with Uncle Lance.

We rode in the wagon some more.

And played with our friends in the rock pit again.

We went everywhere with Dad.

We played in the water. Mom was only slightly concerned about thirty kids all slip and sliding at the same time. Somehow, no one suffered a concussion.

We watched Uncle Lance in the talent show.

By the end of the week, we were leading singing like old pros.

We had a really great time at camp. We don't understand mom. What's not to love?