Happy, Happy Birthday!

Happy 3rd birthday to our sweet Drew & Lauren. It's fun to look back and see how much they've changed in just 3 years. They are definitely starting to behave more like children than toddlers even. It's fun that I don't have to do quite as much for them (depending on the day and their attitude.:), but with that sense of independence has come lots of battles. They have mastered the art of throwing a fit, but are also very sweet and helpful.

Lauren loves to play with her baby dolls and to color and sing. She still seems so dainty to us, but she's as rough and tumble as the rest of them (hence to two broken collar bones!). She says some funny stuff and is very easy to carry a conversation with.

Drew loves his trains and Buzz Lightyear. He is very much all boy (except for when he's playing dress-up with the girls) and is quite rowdy at times. He loves to roar like a dinosaur, especially when Ryan is trying to take a nap on the couch.:) We recently had his speech checked out because he is very hard to understand. I wasn't sure if it was because Lauren is so easy to communicate with, but she thought he would benefit from some speech therapy in the fall. We're working with him on some ending sounds this summer. I always feel bad when I can't understand him, but he does pretty good with it and doesn't get too frustrated. Lauren is often able to understand him so she sometimes translates! Ahhh...it comes in handy having a twin sometimes.

It still amuses me that we have twins. I often think about if they would have been identical and we would have double of one of them. I can't imagine, plus then we wouldn't be blessed with both of them. They are great friends, and I hope it always stays that way. They do have their moments, but for the most part they love to hang out together. It's been a fun 3 years and I can't wait to see how they change in this next year. We love you Drew & Lauren!

Can you spot the difference?

She's done it again! How one little girl can be so accident prone, I'll never know. I came home from getting groceries on Saturday and she was crying. When I asked Lauren what happened she told me she tried to jump. It turns out they were playing on the stairs (which we've told them countless times is a bad idea) and she apparantly tried to jump down some stairs and instead took a tumble. Bummer for her....another broken collarbone, but this time on the other side. This was at around 5:30 on Saturday, so we debated if we should take her in. She was acting very similar to the last time she did this, so I made her wear her sling and gave her tylenol. We decided to wait until the next day to see how she was doing and try to save ourselves an E.R. visit. I knew all they would do is tell her she needed a sling and tylenol, so it wasn't worth $100 for them to tell me that. The next day she still said her arm hurt, but she was using it and acting a lot better. I still had her wear the sling some just to be on the safe side. When she woke up during the night on Sunday and said her arm was still hurting, I thought we better take her in. After some x-rays her Dr. said it was indeed fractured. He said it was fine that I didn't take her in earlier and that it was good that I had her wear the sling. They could tell on the x-rays that it was already starting to heal. I'm not sure what to do with that girl! Even with the sling, she's trying to jump off the couch and climb all over things. Like Dr. Williams said, "we still have make it through 3!":)

Keeping cool

We've enjoyed our first weeks of summer vacation. The kids have done a ton of swimming in our little inflatable backyard pool. It's not much, but it keeps them cool. Yesterday we tried out some sidewalk paint. We went out at 9:00 in the morning to try to beat the heat. It was probably already 80 degrees at this point though. Today on the other hand is rainy and cool. I love Iowa summers! Reagan is supposed to have her last softball game of the season tonight and Ryan and Luke are heading to the Iowa Cubs game. Luke and my nephew Jaren are part of the Knothole gang (a Christmas present from Grandpa and Grandma), so they get to go to a bunch of games this summer. Hopefully I can get Ryan to snap some pictures.:)

Luke found Ryan and my snorkel gear, so he thought he'd try it out in the pool. I'm sure he saw some unique species of marine life out there.:)

Movin' on Up

Our little girl is now officially a Kindergartner! Can you believe it? She had her last day of pre-school last Wednesday and on that same day received a letter in the mail saying she was ready for school in the fall. I think that makes it official. I have a feeling our house will be a lot quieter during the days. Drew & Lauren will miss her because she does a great job of playing with them in the afternoons. Lucas has 4 more days of school and then summer vacation can begin. I'm ready for a breadk from driving back and forth to school everyday and being able to have a more lax schedule. I think the kids are ready too!

This was actually taken on her 2nd to last day. They had zebra day at school and needed to wear black and white.

Lauren wanted to be a part of the picture, too.
And not to be left out, Drew needed his picture taken. Nothing like a mini-photo shoot in the middle of our crazy morning routine!

Speaking of moving up, I found Lauren sleeping at the top of the stairs like this the other day. I don't know how she could do that. Thank goodness she didn't fall downt he other way. That would have been a rude awakening!

And I'm moving up in age. The 3 youngest helped me make a decorated cookie for my birthday. Luke was at a friend's birthday party, so he couldn't help make it, but we let him eat some anyhow.:)

Luke...I am your brother

Tulip Time

Last weekend we had the perfect weather for Pella's Tulip Time. The kids and I head down every year, and they couldn't wait. Luke had a birthday party for a good friend after school, so we picked him up and got there in time for the night parade. The next day we were able to see some beautiful tulips (they also were perfect this year), watch the parade and eat some yummy food. Luke and I were fans of the Dutch Corndog this year....Pella bologna dipped in corndog batter. Yum!

Reagan was so excited to head to Tulip Time that she suggested we make tulip shaped pancakes for breakfast.
Grandma and the 3 oldest girls heading to out to find some tulips.

8 of the 11 grandchildren. We didn't get any pictures with the other 3 cousins. My mom already says that we're all dressing up together next year though, so stay tuned for that.:)

Grandma and the grandkids posing by the tulips.

I wanted one nice pictures with my kids. This is the best of the 3 we took.

This was taken right before Lauren fell into the bed of tulips and smooshed a bunch. Oops!

Out two girls that would love to be tulip queen someday.

Scholte gardens

Some tulips in Central Park...the girls picked pink ones to stand by and Drew hopped in with them.

When I asked Luke what his favorite part of Tulip Time was, he said this cannon. It must be a boy thing.:)

Grandma always had someone or two on her lap.

We aren't going to make it to Orange City's tulip festival this year, but their Orange City Christian's junior high band was down, so we got a little taste.

This was the highlight of the parade for Drew. We saw the lighted night parade the evening before and he sat on my lap until he saw Thomas heading down the street. Then he took off so he could get a front row view. The next day he kept asking when Thomas was going to come by again. He was very excited.

Hey Batter, Batter

Baseball and softball season are now underway. This is our first year having two playing, which makes things a little busier. We have at least 2-3 games per week plus practices for Luke, so I feel like we're quickly eating and heading out to the ball field most nights. Luke & Reagan are having fun and Drew & Lauren have a good time playing in the rocks and dirt, so I guess it's a successful season!:)

Posing in her uniform.

A little pre-game pep talk...go Pandas!

Who's on first?

Such concentration...and it was a hit!