We were so glad Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jenipher & Elena got a chance to come visit us this past week. I can't believe it's the first time I got to meet Elena & she's over a year old! She and Jacob weren't too sure about each other, and kept trying to take each other's toys but they were still so fun to watch together! They both have a mutual love for this toy table.
The kids loved playing around on Grandma & Grandpa's giant air mattress.
Leah and Abi both loved giving hugs to Elena & playing with her.
Aunt Jenipher took the kids to the candy store, because that's what aunts are for.
Our first attempt to get a photo of all the kids together was a little traumatic, but after many bribes and promises of candy, we got this: It's a framer!
Since I have had posts about Andrew's birthday & yellow belt, and about Leah's week at camp, I can't forget to leave out my silly three-year-old. This little girl always marches to the beat of her own drum. She is definitely a free spirit. She does whatever she wants to do, which sometimes gets her into trouble. Yet she can be so sweet, and always wants me to rock her to sleep at the end of the day.
For the past week she has decided that she wants to wear her bathing suit around the house every day. We haven't been swimming, but that's what she wants to wear. Sometimes backward. I think it's because it's one of the few things she can put on completely by herself. She loves to be independent. She also hates to get her picture taken, unless it's her idea.
She loves to look at her pictures on the phone, though. In fact, she's a whiz with the smart phone.
She is busy and active, rarely sitting still. She no longer naps, and when she does, she certainly isn't going to go to bed easily. Here she's pretending to be a gymnast in the Olympics. (Or "'tending", as she says.) She has finally reached the stage where she loves to pretend things and act out stories and play by herself like her sister does. I love hearing her little made up stories as she talks to herself. She may have been later to bloom and she's sometimes still difficult to understand, but she is certainly coming into her own little personality.
This is the third year in a row we've gotten to go to our County Fair & Field Days. The kids love going every year! It was super hot the day we went, so it was a little rough for Jacob, but we still got in a lot of fun & educational experiences, and we even went back again on Friday.
We saw alpacas:
We saw miniature horses:
We saw baby chickens hatching. This man was even nice enough to teach us about them.
This was by far Jacob's favorite thing we did: He loved playing in the corn box. He would lay almost face down in the corn, push his hands all around & cover his whole body in it. He loves sensory things & surprisingly didn't put much in his mouth.
And if Jacob didn't get enough corn, he stole my corn on the cob at the all-local Vermont foods dinner we went to.
We saw a magic show.
We bounced in a bounce house. Maybe Abi's favorite part!
Of course we visited the Maple Shack. I had a maple milkshake. The kids had slushies.
We got balloon animals from creepy clowns. Which almost immediately popped, causing much distress.
We saw a fife & drum corp from the Revolutionary period. The kids were fascinated by their music.
And we saw Daddy sing in the County Gospel Choir.
The fair is always a summer staple, and its ending means summer is almost over, too!
The first week of August, we had the opportunity to drop seven-year-old Leah off at overnight camp for a whole week. Leah has barely done any sleepovers in her short life, and the few times she's been away from home, it's been with family or family friends. I was really not sure she would be able to be gone for a whole week. I knew practically she was prepared-- she's basically independent as far as getting herself ready in the morning & night, and fairly good about keeping up with her things, but she tends to be highly anxious about many things, especially getting to sleep at night. I tried to have confidence in her, since she was so excited about going and had tons of confidence in herself. And sure enough, she made it.
We weren't able to hear from her through the week, but we heard from a chaperone from our church each morning. She was homesick maybe the first night or two, but stuck it out and by the 3rd night she was so exhausted from being so busy all day that she didn't have time to think about it anymore. She seemed to have a really great time and looks forward to doing it again next year. The best part-- she accepted Christ into her heart while she was there! Of course, we've been talking about it with her for years, but weeks like this where you're surrounded by an atmosphere of learning about God, she felt the calling and told us she was saved!
We had to take the ferry over Lake Champlain to get to New York.
The check-in process was a little crazy, but organized. Word of Life is such a large camp and quite popular. They must have had 100 kids at just her camp, which was for 1st-6th grade. (Plus they have other camps for middle & high school, and even a family camp.)
She was in a cabin with a bunch of other young, first-time campers and two counselors. She got a top bunk. I was a little worried about that, and that she wouldn't be comfortable, but she didn't complain. Her counselors were great, and most of the activities they did were together as a cabin. They don't get as much free time at her age.
She knew two girls in her cabin from our church. They're not really close friends, but she likes hanging out with them when they do come to church, so at least she had some familiar faces.
When we went back to pick her up on Friday, we stayed with her to watch a skit show. Andrew and Abi are now super excited to go to camp when they're old enough!
The camp put together daily "Day in Review" videos with clips from throughout each day. Here are a couple in which Leah appeared. You'll see she got to do a ton of stuff!
At 10 months, Jacob is no longer my squishy, snuggly baby but an active, curious little boy who loves to explore, get into mischief, and of course EAT. Though to everyone else it may seem like he's always smiling and happy, at home if he's not entertained, he is whining. He can play fine on his own for awhile as long as he doesn't see me. If he does, I have to pick him up-- he loves attention.
He really is a good boy, though, and sleeps well. He is napping twice a day still and barely waking up at night at all. He doesn't care much for boring baby toys but would rather have the big kids' toys, or things that aren't toys at all-- like electrical cords or water bottles or spoons.
He doesn't care for being in the stroller at all, for some reason, but doesn't mind being in the car. He likes to go places and is usually content on longer car rides.
He recently began refusing to eat baby food or anything I try to feed him from a spoon. He only wants to feed himself. I can maybe get 2 or 3 bites in, but then he starts pushing the spoon away. So every meal I have to find bite-sized food he can gum, because he still doesn't have a single tooth. So far he loves pancakes, Cheerios, mac & cheese, and bananas. He will taste anything I put on his tray, but he may make a hilarious face & spit it out if he doesn't like it. He is usually content quite a while in his high chair as long as he has something to eat. He also still nurses about 4 or 5 times a day.
This little guy has given us quite a few scares with all his breathing issues and trips to the ER, but he seems to be developing perfectly normally and is a fun-loving perfect addition to our little family.
