Great Wolf Lodge Staycation

Last Thursday, we drove to Concord to stay a night at GWL. Here are my wolves howling at dinner. They had delicious soup and sandwiches in the restaurant.

Haven and Jeremy are at the top of the treehouse on the right. Jeremy and I definitely want to go back so we can do all of the big rides together.

We went for the show and bedtime story. Haven loved it. She was so cute sitting there in her pjs.

Then Jovie woke up with a fever after being asleep a few hours. So Haven was the only one sleeping at 2am when the fire alarm went off. We had to go outside and wait for the all clear. They said it went off in the kitchen, but that there wasn't a fire. When we got back in our room around 3am, Haven was ready for a snack, but she was too tired to sit up.

We spent the next morning at the doctor (jovie and mom) and swimming at the waterpark. It was fun even with a few hiccups.

7 months old!

Our sweet Jovie is ringing in her 7 month bday with a fever. She has a virus that is causing a fever and fussiness. She weighs 14.5 lbs. She wears some 3-6, 6, 6-9 clothes and size 2 diapers. She has started saying things like, "nana" "dada" and mumble jumble that sounds like she is talking. She is still working hard on sitting up. She has eaten dinner in a highchair at a restaurant. She can play independently a lot longer now, but still needs a lot of mommy attention to go down for naps and bedtime. She can scoot around on the floor on her belly. She slithers around or rolls around. She hasn't been able to hold her head up enough yet to actually crawl, but she is getting close.

Big Sister wanted to wear a headband too.

Girls

The girls have really started giving each other a lot of attention. Jovie wants everything Haven has and Haven wants to play with Jovie all of the time. I love it! Here they are playing in the tub one day. The little duck is perfect for Jovie, but Haven wanted to play too.

Haven has really started to enjoy drawing more. She has started drawing things and telling me what they are. We have also been practicing connecting dots. This is a picture of a person. Can you see the long arms, legs, and feet. I thought it was pretty good for an almost 3 year old. She also drew planets with Lexi on the driveway the other day.

First Day of Preschool 2011

Haven went for her first day of preschool last Thursday. She was only there for 2 hours that day, but did really good. She even told us goodbye, but she cried when I picked her up. Then this past Tuesday was her second day and she screamed and cried for an hour even as I tore away from her and left her in her class. I called back an hour later and they said she calmed down in 5 minutes and then she had a great day. They said she was happy the whole time and a big helper to the other kids in her class.

Her sign said, "i am a preschooler. 2011."

I think we are both going to really enjoy preschool this year. Hopefully, Jovie and I can have some nice time together while we get errands done and Haven will have fun with her new friends.

40 years

My parents celebrated their 40 wedding anniversary this past Sunday at the beach. Haven and I made a 40 cake for them. She was very proud of it. It was so nice to play with them at the beach. The girls love having them around. We are so thankful for their marriage and love.

Grammy and Haven making breakfast.

Pop and Jovie watching tv.

More Beach Fun

We took Haven to the beach one evening and she had a blast just running around and exploring everything that people left on the beach that day.

See how excited?!

Our family of four.

Our girls

Daddy long legs!

Me and my honey!

Gymnastics

Haven started a new gymnastics class with Bethany on Wednesdays. Jake came the first week and gave me this funny, no teeth smile.

Back to School Shirts

I wanted to make the kiddos shirts since it had been a while. I saw a clorox process a few weeks ago and wanted to try it out. I thought having their names on the shirts might help out their preschool teachers.

I started with a freezer paper stencil for the names.

Then I sprayed clorox with a spray bottle on the shirts. You can see that it ate up the girls' shirts fast. I guess a few seconds would have worked better. Jake's shirt must have been made of a little different material.

Since their names faded so fast, I went back and stitched some parts of the name and an extra little special something for each of them.

I think they turned out really cute. I hope they like them.

Beach Babes

Happy Labor Day from OKI! We are so glad to have some family time with an extra dose of sand and sea. Not even a trip to the urgent care (Jovie had a nasty cough Thursday) or sleepless nights can put a damper on a little getaway. Kids definitely take the rest out of vacation, but they add many smiles and lots of special memories.