1st Tooth

Rachel's first tooth broke through today!!! She will be 8 months old next week, so it was about time.
Sorry no picture of her, but she is a little cranky!!!

Scout Camp

Brandon came home from scout camp today. He was dirty and tired, but he had a blast.They were up near Flagstaff at Lake Mary.
He did fishing,archery,rode a canoe,swimming,some nature stuff (his words), and whittling.
I was a little nervous this being the first time he was away without at least one of us, but he loved it.
He learned so much and can't wait for next year.
I didn't send him with a camera so I don't have any pictures. If anyone who went has any pictures we would love a copy!!!

She's Crawling

Today Rachel officially started crawling. She has been doing it for about a week if she didn't have to go far. Today she had on a longer dress at church, and after church she was having trouble getting around on her tummy.She kept getting up on her knees, put was getting frustrated, so we took her dress off and she just started crawling everywhere. Good thing we baby proofed a few weeks ago.

Father's Day Card

Today in church Ethan made Bob the cutest Father's Day card. I don't know why he put Bob instead of Dad, but it is sweet either way.

Funny Story

So this morning I had a little bit of a scare as I got Rachel out of bed. She usually wakes up really happy and today was no exception. I went in and she was just sitting in her bed talking and playing.
I look down at her to say 'good morning' and notice white cotton-like stuff shredded and scattered all over her bed, her clothes, and on her pacifier.
I am completely baffled at what it could be. So I yell for Bob. While Bob is walking down to her room I notice she has a mouth full of it. So I fish it out, and really start to yell for Bob. It looks like the filling from a diaper!!! If you've ever seen a disposable diaper come apart you know what I am talking about.
So I yank her out of bed and begin pulling her onesie off to see if she has somehow managed to tear her diaper. It was still intact.
As Bob is gathering all of this stuff out of her bed he comes across a little square piece of adhesive backing, and it dawns on me she has shredded a breast pad with her mouth and, from the looks of the carnage, enjoyed every second of it.
I guess when I fed her at 5am this morning one of my breast pads ended up in her bed with her. Note to self: No matter how tired you are don't leave a breast pad in the baby's bed!!!
We weren't sure if the absorbent stuff was dangerous or if she even ate any. After watching her for a few hours we decided she was fine. I guess we will know in a few days if she got any.
Here is her handy work (left - before; right - after):

Luckily she is so cute; this is right before church:

Jiffy Pop

This last week we were watching MythBusters and they had some myths about popcorn. This got us all talking about popcorn.

Apparently we have only ever made microwave popcorn here at home. The kids didn't know you could make it any other way. So Bob and I had fun telling them about the "old fashion" popcorn you could pop on the stove and how it made a big tin foil bubble.
The next day we went to Wal-Mart and sure enough they had some. So that night we made popcorn the "old fashion" way.
The boys thought it was pretty cool, and it brought back some fun memories for Bob and I too.

Swimming Lessons

The last few weeks Ethan and Zachary have been doing swimming lessons. They have both come really far this summer. Zachary still likes to do things "his way", but has lost the fear he use to have and tries so hard and never gives up. Ethan wishes he had gills. He spends more time under the water than he does on top. He has gotten really brave. Just yesterday he asked his teacher if he could swim in the "deep" part of the pool. He actually swam from one end all the way to the other.

Ethan swimming through the hoops:

Ethan just popping out of the water:

Zachary doing his back float:

Zachary swimming across the pool:

Ethan swimming through the hoops:

Zachary swimming across the pool:

Bad Hair Day

Zachary is going to hate me for this,but it gave us such a good chuckle to start our day we had to share.
Zach took a shower before bed last night and went to bed with his hair a little damp!!!
This morning it was a work of art.
He was actually not grumpy at all. He was laughing too, the picture just caught him at a really bad moment, which made it all the funnier.
I love you Zach, thanks for being such a good sport.

What we've been up to.....

We have been enjoying summer the past few weeks and laying low. Zachary and Ethan have been doing swimming lessons, Brandon has had scouts and is now getting ready for scout camp on the 24th. We've done lunch a few times, a little shopping and summer movies. We have just enjoyed being home and together with no real schedule. Rachel has been busy learning all sorts of new tricks. She still isn't crawling but can scoot about anywhere. Especially where she shouldn't be. She LOVES to pull herself up and stand at the couch or the end table. I often walk away from her playing nicely on the floor, and come back to her standing somewhere. I have had to lower her crib yet again since she is usually standing when we go in to get her. This week she learned to clap also. You would think that we have never seen a baby clap before. We will all sit around and do anything to get her to clap. Below are a bunch of pictures, and a video of Rachel and her new tricks.
This is where I often find her:

See how proud she is:
And yet again:
Just because she looked cute:(she is mid clap here)
Here is a video of her clapping and then crawling off to climb up the couch.

Picture Day

Today I had the kids pictures done at Target. Considering that Rachel is teething and not sleeping, Ethan was mad at me and Zachary hates to pose. They turned out pretty good.
Here are a few favorites.




I love this one. It was her best smile of the day. She was pulling Brandon's hair!

Best Mother's Day Gift

For Mother's Day this year the boys and Bob got me an ipod. It has been a great gift. I have recently started listening to books on tape and it is so nice not to have to carry a CD player around the house with me.
Plus the boys LOVE to listen to it. It is great motivation for them to get their work done so they can borrow it.
When I came down stairs the other day and found Ethan on the couch just kicking back listening to music I had to post it.