Something to Blog About

We've had a pretty relaxing couple of weeks, as far as our social calendar is concerned. Other than the Fourth of July, we haven't done a whole lot that I can blog about. But, that doesn't mean we don't have new things to share, we just haven't had many plans...and its been great.

Like I said, we have plenty to share and the kids continue to grow, regardless of our plans. The biggest news may be that Jack is up and on the move. He has recently started sitting up on his own. It took a while and I was beginning to think he was lazy. But, he must have decided it was time because one day I sat him on his little bottom and he just stayed there...before intentionally rolling onto his belly and crawling away. By crawling, I mean dragging himself along on his tummy like a army recruit scurrying under a barbed wire fence. It may not be graceful, but he gets where he wants to go and he can get there pretty quick if he's motivated.

Here he is, taking advantage of Lilly's nap time to play with her doll house and eat some of its people.

Another blog worthy event is Lilly's swim lessons. She loves to play at the pool, but hasn't ever been a huge fan of leaving the steps. We've all tried to coax her out into the deeper water and even attempted to teach her some beginner swimming, all with not much luck. So, we decided to hire a relative stranger, Alex Masten, to come over and teach her and her friend Avery how to swim. Both girls have progressed at a rapidly and are right on target for their age. Lilly looks forward to her lesson and loves her teacher. She blows bubbles, puts her head and face under, kicks her feet, attempts some strokes and even jumps off the edge to Alex. The next step will be to use a kick board and maybe jump off the diving board to her teacher.

One day at lessons Avery showed up with the same suit on. Unlike adult women, Lilly and Avery were delighted that they had on the same swimsuit on the same day and in the same place.

Jack likes the water too, but isn't quite ready to join in the lessons. Although, I doubt we'll have any trouble getting him into the pool when its time.

July 1st..and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th

For the third year in a row Bryan's sister, Cammie, and her family, along with Bryan's parents, joined us for the fourth of July. As usual, we kept busy and had a blast. But, this year was made even more special by the fact that July 4 came on the heels of the Maynard's move from Germany back to the US and the fact that Ed was able to join us. Celebrating Independence Day with a soldier and his family brings the holiday into a whole new light and makes me appreciate that I get to spend every holiday with my family.
Every year the kids in our neighborhood put together a small parade on the morning of the fourth. And, every year we stand outside and watch it and say how much Lilly would have liked to have been in it. Well, this year we were prepared. Morgan helped Lilly design and decorate a head band to wear. Then, a few of us (not Bryan, kind of a sore subject) made tie dyed shirts to show our spirit. See, look how much fun we're having. Granddad, Lilly and Jack practicing for the parade.

Cammie and Jack. Jack misses his aunt Cammie, she was always there to change him, feed him and hold him while I did other things. It was the most liberating weekend I've had since he was born. I miss aunt Cammie too...

Third of July fireworks: because you just aren't American if you don't spend your mortgage payment on explosives.

Heading off to finally be in the neighborhood parade!

Morgan and Jack sat the parade out, but still wore their new t-shirts.

The parade. Courtney and Aiden stopped by for a visit just in time to join in on the fun.

Everyone in their new shirts.

Later, we headed down to the park for some inflatable fun and later the fireworks. Lilly loves the inflatables and didn't even need Matthew's help this year.

She was so proud to climb up all by herself and then slide down.

Lilly didn't need Matthew to help her climb up the slide, but she still took advantage of him for a shoulder ride.

I love fireworks and worried for days that I was going to have to miss them because Jack would be afraid. I even bought him some ears plugs and had an emergency exit strategy when the show started. It was all for nothing. Jack fell asleep before the fireworks started and never even flinched when they started going off. But, you can see the little green ear plug.

A League of Her Own

I am very proud to introduce my new niece, Lilly's cousin.
Kristy and I have joked for several years that because Lilly has been the only child and a central part of our entire family for almost three years that any other children would just be known as Lilly's brother or Lilly's cousin. For anyone who has seen 'A League of Their Own' recently you get the joke that my parents might introduce their granddaughters by saying, "This is our granddaughter, Lilly. And this is our other granddaughter, Lilly's cousin."
Well, that is not the case because Samantha Lee, born on June 20, has stolen the show. She is a teeny little thing at 6 lbs 6 ozs, but I can already tell that she is going to have big attitude. Wes and Kristy brought her home less than a week ago and she is already in charge of their house.
Samantha at the hospital, resting with her lamb.
Lilly giving Samantha a copy of one of her favorite books. This book just so happens to be one that Kristy always liked reading to Lilly. Clearly, Samantha is not happy with her gift...and Lilly doesn't seem to be too thrilled to be giving it either. I hope this isn't the begining of a rivalry.

Congratulations Wes and Kristy. I am so excited to watch Lilly, Jack and Samantha grow up together and become friends and playmates. But...maybe not Jack quite yet. He is very interested in his little cousin and he also has much better motor skills, that's why there is no picture of the two of them together. Jack has Samantha by about ten pounds and she just doesn't seem safe around his grabby little hands and pokey little fingers. Don't worry though, we'll get a comparative photo soon enough. We may have to tie Jacks hands down, but we'll get one.

The Great Outdoors

Last night Bryan and Lilly had their very first camp out. It started off with a bang and Lilly was very excited. Very excited! She asked Bryan about a million questions while he set up the tent, then requested several items for the tent. She asked if she would have a sleeping bag and if she could bring her pillow. When those items were confirmed she asked for more...books, toys, and, of course, Monkey and Blankie. After all that was taken care of and settled Bryan built a fire. Again, a million questions. She wanted to make sure that Bryan knew they would need marshmallows, sticks, and plenty of other random things.
It took over an hour to get everything ready for the camp out. Then, it took about 10 minutes to roast marshmallows, followed by jammies and teeth brushing. Finally, Lilly and Bryan both settled into their sleeping bags. I opened the window so I could hear them and all I heard was more questions. "Um, Daddy? What's that noise?" "Um, Daddy? What are you doing?" "Um, Daddy? Is that thunder?" "Um, Daddy? Are you scared?" After about an hour, they came inside and went to bed. As Bryan carried her from the tent to the house she was pleased with the success of their backyard camp out, telling Bryan, "That was fun!!"
Sitting by the fire.
Roasting marshmallows.

And, finally in the tent.

Maybe next time....

Relay For Life 2011

This past weekend was The Rowdy Bunch's third Relay For Life event for the American Cancer Society. Our team was small this year, but we still raised $3880 in donations, luminarie sales and our on-site fundraiser, selling chicken salad sandwiches.

We started the day by watching Lilly's gymnastics class do a demonstration.

Then, we opened up shop and started selling Debbie Deweese's homemade chicken salad. Here's our booth.

Lilly and Avery manned the 'lemonaide' stand and people couldn't turn them down. Avery is a born saleswoman, yelling at passersby to buy some lemonade.

After a long hot day it was time for the best part of Relay, the lighting of the luminaries. Bags are decorated and lit to honor friends and family who have suffered from cancer. Bryan lit the bag during the ceremony that represented grandparents.

Here are some of the bags that we made...

Lucky Number Seven

Last Friday Jack marked his seventh month off of the calender. He's usually pretty happy and a laid back and easy going guy so, he opted to spend his day in a pretty low key way.
He lounged in the pool.

And, played on the floor, practicing his own unique crawling technique. He puts his head down, rolls onto his side, pulls his feet and knees under him and then pushes off. It has a very 'inch-worm' look, but it is effective and Jack gets where he wants to go...until someone turns him around.

Lilly, not so laid back and easy going, still got in on the lounging action in honor of Jack.

Bathing Beauty

Its officially summer, the pool is open and ready for swimmers. Last year Lilly had to ease herself into the pool and then coaxed off the steps. She was just starting to love it when it was time to close the pool up for the season. We worried that it would take half the summer to get her excited about swimming again, but that wasn't the case at all. On Memorial Day, the first day that I took her to swim, we met Wes, Kristy and a couple of friends at the pool. She didn't waste any time stripping off her sundress and asking Uncle Wes if she could get in. He said 'yes', of course, and she spent the rest of the day in the water, only coming out to demand snacks or drinks.
Too cool for pictures.

Jack seems to really like the water. Like everything else, he took to swimming like it was no big deal...as long as he can bring his giraffe along.

I'm so brave...I'm posting a picture of myself in a bathing suit on the internet...granted I'm under the water.

I don't know if this actually counts as swimming, since Lilly's not even touching the water, but she sure thought it was fun.

...and another person to carry her around in the water.
Lilly started swim lessons today, so maybe next time there will be some pictures of her actually in the water and not just being carried over it.