Summertime fun

Well, on Sunday we took the training wheels off of Spencer's bike and he's doing great. So I thought I'd share some pictures of him riding his bike and other summertime fun here at our house.

Of course Brenden had to show off some moves too. He likes to scare me to death now with his tricks.

This is what Cassidy was doing while they rode their bikes and she didn't want to ride her Dora bike. So she's sitting at the tree and playing with the mulch. Now some fun in the pool. Neighborhood association rules state we can't have a pool unless it's inground so this is as much backyard pool fun that we can have. Pools can't be over 1 foot tall. How crappy is that. Ok, how crazy is this picture! Brenden had been balancing it on his head and I took a picture of it on top of his head and I also got this one too. It looks like it was placed there but it's not, it's as it was falling. Cool picture isn't it. And Cassidy is helping me take pictures. Here she's taking a picture of me while I take one of her.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

Visiting with my Brother

My brother was up to visit last week from Florida. He stayed with us for a day and Mom's for a day and then he had a family reunion on the Truesdell side in Manchester area. It was nice to have a few days with him since I only see him once a year, but I talk to him at least bi-weekly, sometimes weekly. Here's a picture of Mom, me, brother (Kent for those of you who don't remember his real name other than brother since that's what I call him!) and my 3 monkeys all of whom have decided to have their own expressions in the picture. You'll notice that Brenden is the one posing and smiling because he knows I'll keep taking it until I get a perfect one. But I decided to share this one with you to show their personalities a bit. We were taking pictures on my camera and on my brother's camera so they were pictured out by this time and being ornery!

We had a nice time and hope to all go on vacation next year together at the OuterBanks.

I also wanted to share this picture that I took of my cousin Erika leaving the church at her wedding on the 12th of July. There is a bubble right in her face which I didn't notice when I took it. I love this picture. And yes, I will forward it to your email Vic and Tammy. Congratulations Erika and Nic.

Fun time at the Wynonna Concert

Wynonna was at the Lancaster Festival last night and I was at the concert with my mom. It was awesome. Her voice is beautiful. She sang "Love can build a bridge" and "Grandpa" from her days with her mom and "Only Love" and "No One Else On Earth" from her albums (others too but these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head) and she sang the Christian song "I Can Only Imagine" beautifully too. She sang with the Lancaster Orchestra band and did covers of a lot of other songs too cuz with an orchestra she can't really do all her country stuff without her band. This is part of her orchestra tour. Nonetheless, she was great, covers or her original stuff, didn't matter to me. She could sing the phone book. She looked great too. She had a little boy come up on stage who brought flowers to the stage for her and she had his mom take their picture together. That was cool. She got his name and age (Travis, 8) and told the audience that she thought is was great that a kid knew who she was. A toddler was dancing down front at one point and she had her camera guy put him up on the jumbo tron....that was sooo cute! She is so friendly and really is great for a family crowd. She loves the little ones. I'll remember that cuz if I see her again I'll take the kids and maybe I'll get to meet her. She told stories and sang and I just really enjoyed the concert. I listened to her as a kid with my parents and then when she went out on her own I listened to her of my own free will. If she comes to your town, I recommend seeing her. You won't be disappointed.

I love New Kids......Still after all these years!

Ahh, they make me feel like a silly school girl all giddy and giggly everytime I hear their song come on the radio. I've saved their video on DVR and the kids love to sing and dance around with me too! They are coming to Cleveland in October and if they come to Columbus or Cincy I'll be going to that concert. I'm a little scared to drive to Cleveland since I don't know that area at all and it's 3 hrs from here too. So, if they come around here, I've been asking Richard for tickets for my birthday so I'm hoping they add another stop in OHIO! Any one else still loving the New Kids? Do you get that same feeling? This is the first time that I think I've embarrassed Brenden (not in front of friends though...yet!) cuz I get so excited and screechy and he rolls his eyes and makes a funny face at me. I've told him all about my New Kids and how they were the big thing...15 years ago....before Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers and I went crazy for New Kids the way kids go crazy for Hannah and Jonas Bros. Ahh, they make me feel young again!

a big girl bed and a birthday party

As promised here are pictures of Cassidy in her big girl bed. I still have to take a picture of it alone so you all can see what it looks like. And I'm throwing in a picture of her on her last night in her crib too. She loves her Dora bed as you can see! Her room looks cute and has Dora stick ups on the wall and everything. I did the stick ups during her nap so when she woke up she came in and was pointing to everything telling me what and who they were. It was so cute. She said "Awesome" about her room and that is what she had just said when I took the picture below.

Along with giving her a big girl bed she had to give up her binkies. That has gone amazingly well. She cried about it on the first day during naptime but didn't cry again that night or since. She has however caught Brenden's cold (and Spencer too) so she hasn't slept through the night in her new bed yet. She sleeps with us when she's sick cuz she's so restless and wakes up so much and with her right beside me I'm there to wipe her nose in the middle of the night. I've always done this with all the kids when they were this small.

On to birthday news for Brenden. He turned 9 on June 23 and had a skating party at the skating rink on June 21. We got him Jonas Brothers tickets and he was so excited! I kept that a secret from him for like 2 months and I was so happy to get those for him!!! He had said he wanted to go but when Richard first looked up ticket info he saw something that said the tickets were like $500 so we told him there was no way that would happen. Then I looked it up and found out when they actually went on sale and got them for way under $500! We are not on the floor cuz I didn't think he'd be able to see over everyone standing so we are just 6 rows up on the side, but we have a front view of them...does that make sense? I'll put up pictures after the concert which is August 23rd. Mom got him a Nintendo DS which hasn't left his hands too often in the last 2 weeks. We had about 15-17 kids at the party and it was probably the best party yet. He's had parties yearly but this was the first low maintance one for me and Richard where all we had to do was the cake! He got a lot of money from friends and we gave him money too to pick out a video game or two that he'd like. And here are a few pictures:

Getting big isn't he! Brenden skating Brenden and friends....minus a couple of kids who had to leave early.

Spencer skating

Cassidy skating

Have a safe and happy fourth of July everyone!

The finality of it....

We are taking down the crib today. Last night was the last time anyone will sleep in that crib for 15-20 years (when Brenden has his first child....it had better be at least this long!). Cassidy is 2 years and 3 months old and it is depressing me to take it down but it's time. She is getting a Dora toddler bed in place of the crib. She is really excited about it because she loves everything Dora the Explorer. But this letting go of the last baby thing is sucky! I sold the swing and playpen and highchair and all the other big baby things last summer. But this makes the baby days be gone forever. Cassidy will be the last baby in our house. And now she's not a baby anymore....she's officially a toddler. I don't want another baby, I just want her baby days back! I love when the kids are babies. I don't mind the not sleeping at all. I have always wished that for the first 6 months of a baby's life they didn't grow so dag on fast! And now taking down the crib makes me have to deal with the finality of it all. There will be no more baby days around here. So today I'll cry and tomorrow I'll be fine with it cuz the Dora bed is cute and it will make her happy to sleep in a big girl bed and I know that 3 kids is enough for us! I just won't be watching any of the baby videos any time soon, that's for sure! I'll post pictures of the Dora bed soon! And in the next post I'll tell you all about Brenden's 9th birthday party! It was great......Ya'll come back now, you hear!