Mia LOOOOVES being goalie. Who wouldn't? Less running, right?

MIA IS A LITTLE WISER

DUDE! I am really starting to perfect this month-in-between-blog-posts thing, aren't I? We have had a few exciting things that have happened recently. MIA TURNED 7! Whoa, wasn't she just born like yesterday? She thinks it is just rad that she is now 7 because now she only has 1 more year until she can be baptized. Her birthday was, ahem, 2 weeks ago.....so now she only has to wait 11 1/2 months!

If you are wondering why all the pictures are pretty much the same, it is because we didn't really get any great pictures. Much to my chagrin. And, if you are wondering why Mia looks a little nerdy with her hair parted down the middle and plastered to the sides with barrettes.....keep reading below.....

this is why.....Mia got her head split open at school just 2 days before her birthday. A beam that separates the double doors at her school was not secured properly and fell right on top of her. Her nose bled like crazy and so did her head. She got stitches and a concussion and now has a nice wound to prove how tough she is. I was NOT happy about it at the time but we are so blessed that she wasn't hurt more badly. She was a trooper through it all.

ALKI BEACH

okay, OKAY, PEOPLE! Yes, it's been over a month, so sue me. I promised more pictures from our trip this summer and here is the first installment. Then I will post more.....and then first day of school pics.....and then first soccer game pics. I should get that all done just in time to be behind on the holidays too.

ANYWAY, our first excursion in Seattle was to Alki Beach. We started with a picnic and then let the kids explore and have a great time.

Mia and Cami ready to dig into the food so they could go play.

Cami spent plenty of time just running up and down the park area.

Mia with all of her "treasures" A trip anywhere wouldn't be the same if Mia didn't collect something to bring home.

Cami's excitement for being outside could not be contained. She LOVES the outside. Well, this was the end of July/beginning of August and in GA it was about 110 degrees. So, we weren't spending a lot of time outside . We might have melted....or died. But Seattle was a WHOLE LOT cooler. It was on the edge of being too cold for us southerners. But Cami......oh, she LOVED it. She spent a lot of time outside the whole trip.

Cami and Addy spent a lot of time digging around in the rocks. If you think Cami looks HUGE compared to Addy, I AGREE! Aren't they cute?

I LOVE this picture of Dallin running with a seagull. His inner boy could not be calmed.

Loved this picture too! Dallin had a great time exploring everything. I am sure he was saying, "hey, look at this!"

Not a great picture but it shows that we are all having a great time.

SWEET CAMI

I will make a much larger post about our recent trip to Seattle and Spokane but as I was looking through the pictures, I just kept stopping on these. I think these are the sweetest pictures of Cami. The last one is my favorite!

Father & Son Campout

I (Ben) have decided to catch up on a few events. And rightly so, since Diane wasn't at this event.

Dallin is taking a break from running around with some of the other boys.

We went out on a night stroll and took a look at the pond.

Dallin decided to eat his breakfast in the tent.

Who doesn't like to play in the sand, right?

Summer Fun

WARNING: This is a post made by Ben.....the captions are a bit boring!
Mia and a little ice cream treat
Dallin had a batman treat
Cami playing in the pool
Diane, Mia and Grandma Engstrom out on the Tombigbee Waterway
Diane riding the wakeboard

Ben jumping across the wake
Cami enjoying her time on the boat
Captain Dallin driving the boat

SNIFF.....SNIFF.....THEY'RE GONE

This is the second post I have done about my children's curly hair. The first post was not as positive as I would have liked. I LOVE my kids' curly hair and that all 3 have it. I especially love Dallin's hair. It is not too thick or too thin. It is a pretty shade of brown......and oh, how I love the curls. I think we can all agree that is is definitely curly! Take a look......

I took this picture one day because his curls were really defined.


This is a picture form our recent trip to Disneyworld. His hair gets even more curly when he is hot and it had been really humid that day too.


I LOVE the sweet little curl hanging down on his forehead in this one.


But then his hair always comes to the point that it gets too long and unruly. Ben had been hounding me for weeks to cut it. I didn't want to but I knew I needed to. I would ask Dallin about every other day if I could cut it and he would say, "no thank you". But, yesterday I asked him again and he agreed. This was right before the cut. Unruly....dontcha think?


This was the pile of curls....so sad.


This was him after a bath to wash all the hair off.....much better. Still as cute as ever even without the curls.


A good side view.


You can't see really well but right in the front on the sides his curls are already starting to peek through. If he would have let me take a picture this morning you can clearly see one already. There is hope.....we'll see them again very soon ;-)

CAMI Had A Birthday.....Shout Hooray!

I can not believe that my little 4 pound preemie had a birthday yesterday (the 6th) and now she is a chubby, yet cute, 2 YEAR OLD!

She enjoyed her orange cake with cream cheese frosting.


She got a baby doll from her nearest Aunt, Uncle and cousins.....she loves it because now Mia can't take it away from her. She played with it a lot today.


Her big gift, that was a collective purchas from both grandmas and mommy and daddy, was a set of Toy Story toys. She loves the movie and she was delighted to get these.


Here she is playing with Hamm.....he's also a flashlight and he talks.



This was taken right before she got her jammies on and went to bed. She looks like she had a great birthday, don't ya think?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I had a great Mother's Day. It started with Ben and the kids waking me up with breakfast in bed, flowers, a card and a movie. Then Ben's early morning church meetings were cancelled so I happily let Ben get the kids ready and we had a good time at church. Then I got in a nap and a great steak dinner made by Ben and the kids. Mia wiped and set the table, wrapped the potatoes in foil and grated parmesan cheese into the ceasar salad. Dallin made the corn. Cami napped......which is helpful too. I'm so blessed to have these beautiful, sweet children as my own!

I know that this picture is rediculously outdated but it is still one of my favorite pictures of all 3 of my sweet children.

Cami's nursery leader made these little cards for all the mothers that have children in the nursery. I thought it was so cute and took a lot of forthought considering she had to get the pictures taken the week before. We loved ours.

 

I'M BAAAAACK!!

Sorry for the huge lapse in posts. I have no excuse besides pure laziness. I thought I would start my re-blogging with a gem from our trip to the zoo this last week.

This is a classic adolescent mullet. I felt badly for him........he must have no clue.