Kade's 5!!!

Can't believe Kade is 5 already. This year we did the marathon of birthday parties. We had cupcakes on his actual birthday in Amboy after Depot Days Carnival. Then we had a brunch in Amboy while Chris, Kristin, Olivia and Peyton were home. Then finally we finished our tour at Grandma and Grandpa Girton's.
Here's the birthday boy with shark cupcakes.

Birthday brunch at Grandma and Grandpa Stenzel's house. Here are all the cousins-Peyton, Olivia, Kade, Noelle and Karter.

Opening presents at our house.

Kade's birthday breakfast...pancakes, eggs and bacon.

Kade with his shark cake. This cake was all he could talk about for weeks! Wasn't sure I could pull it off, definitely challenged my skills:)

Opening birthday presents at Grandma and Grandpa Girton's.

School Days

Can't believe it is time for school again. Kade started Kindergarten this year and Noelle started Pre-K.

Here's Kade by his locker at orientation night.

First day of school.

Since he is in Kindergarten this year, the bus comes and picks him up @ 6:40 am. Since we all know what a morning person I am, we all know how fun it is to get up and ready!

First day of Pre-K. She is loving school.

Noelle in class doing her preschool screening.

Busted:)

Just went in to check on Karter during his nap and found this. OMG!!! Another thumb sucker? Hopefully not. This explains him self-soothing at night without the pacifier!

Karter's eating cereal

We started cereal with Karter last week. Here he is sitting in his brand new high chair, thank you to everyone at work for that!!! He is not sure what is about to happen.

He was so different from Kade and Noelle. He really didn't want anything to do with the cereal and they were just the opposite! He only ate about 5 bites total.

He kept making the funniest faces like I was feeding him the nastiest tasting stuff ever. The cereal is actually pretty sweet, not sure what the faces were about.

He just wanted to put his fingers in his mouth and play with the "new stuff", so now his hands stay under the tray when he eats!
I did manage to get a smile out of him after A LOT of coaxing. Now he eats a little better, but he still really has no interest in eating, I guess it will be a process with him!

Karter is on the move.

Karter has started rolling this past week or so. We didn't know he could do this because we never let him play on the floor. Kade and Noelle would bother him. So this past week, we put a big blanket on the floor and no one was allowed on it but Karter. He almost immediately rolled from his belly to his back. And several times he has gone from his back to his belly. Unfortunately he did this 2 times during the night and was not happy about it, so I went in and rescued him!

Catching lightning bugs

The kid's new favorite summer activity is catching lightning bugs. They ask every night if we can go out and catch them. It is hard to tell what they're doing in the pictures, but they are chasing the lightning bugs.

4th of July Fun:)

Over the weekend of the 4th we were professional picnickers! We went to the fire station for their annual picnic on the 4th. The kids got to ride in the firetrucks. They have been in the trucks before, but never had a ride.

We went to Nate's Aunt and Uncle's for a picnic on Sunday. The weather was perfect for a pool party! It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too sunny. My kids were in the pool almost all day. They were out for about 20 minutes to eat lunch!
Here we are, even Karter liked the water after awhile.

Karter was a little unsure about the pool at first, but he settled in and had a good time. He was in the pool quite awhile before we took him out. He had fun floating in his raft.

Karter and Granda Girton under the tent. We took our quick up tent to the picnic for Karter to have some shade and it was a hit with everyone.

Noelle, Grandma Girton and Kade about 30 seconds after we got to the picnic!

Karter just chillin' on a blanket that almost matched his swimsuit. He loved being outside and being around all the new sights and sounds at Aunt Sue and Uncle Noel's.

Ashley's Kitties

Nate's cousin Ashley has been babysitting our kids this summer. She informed us of some new arrivals at their cabin a few weeks ago and we had to go and check them out! Here's Ashley with the four kitties. They are so cute.

Kade likes the 2 dark kitties and Noelle likes the 2 white kitties.

They got to bottle feed the kitties.

Pancakes and Spelling!

Tonight was pancake night for supper. Nate has basketball on Wednesday nights so we always do something fun for supper. I saw in a magazine instructions for making letters with pancake batter. The kids loved seeing their names in pancakes. Also a little education while we are out of school working on letters!

Loving the jumper!!

Over the weekend we tried putting Karter in the Jumperoo. Kade loved it, Noelle hated it. The verdict is in and it must be a boy thing. Karter loves is and jumps tons everyday. I think he loves being off the floor the most and out of the line of fire. The thing he really loves is watching Kade and Noelle play while he jumps.

Karter and the girls

Nate's sister Erica and her family were home over the weekend for a wedding. We went down to Jody and Marsh's for lunch on Father's Day. The girls can't get enough of the newest Girton! Here he is with Sydney, Sammy, Izzy and Noelle.

Karter loves garage sales:)

My friend Margaret had a garage sale last week. So the kids and I went over to help her set up. Karter was the life of the party! He fell asleep under the tables.

In the big tub

Karter started taking baths in the big tub. He took his first one with Grandma Stenzel and cried and screamed the whole time. Here he is during the second try and he is much calmer!

Kade's surgery

Kade had his tonsils out on Thurs morning. We had to be at the hospital very early and as you can see he wasn't very happy to be there! Nice mad face after putting on his hospital PJs.

I finally got a little smile out of him.
This was the bed they had him in. He looked like a caged animal when they put the sides up. Even Kade thought it was funny, he asked if he looked like a tiger!
He got to pick his surgical hat from several different colors. He got to keep his hat and bring it home with him.
Here he is waiting to be taken down to surgery. He kept peeking around the corner watching for them coming to get him.
When they came to get him they took him to surgery in a dragon cart. He thought that was really neat. He did really well as you can see, he just waved and said "See ya later mom"
Here he is just after we got to come back, he was sitting on his bed eating a Popsicle.

When we got home he immediately ate 4 bowls of jell-o and 4 Popsicles. He just kept devouring the jell-o and Popsicles so he now has an almost permanent kool-aid like mustache! He is doing pretty good, the only trouble is getting him to take the medicine. Here he is trying to share his Popsicle with Karter!

Our little cheerleader

I recently found this cheerleading outfit at a garage sale. The colors are perfect for daddy's team the Hawks. She immediately had to put it on and wear it. She can't wait to wear it to the games next season.