T-ball

Nash is doing t-ball this summer and has really been loving it. It is fun to watch him--the first day he had a permanent smile on his face the whole practice. They basically taught some skills for the first couple practices, then they play games the rest of the "season." It lasts 6 weeks. I love the rules because it allows all the kids to learn and have fun. They do live pitch in the games and if after a certain number of tries they don't get a hit, then they get to use the tee until they do. So all the kids get to hit the ball and run the bases. Nobody gets out (it is rare that the kids actually get the ball to first before the runner gets there anyway). And they all get to run home before the inning is over. Here are some pictures from his last game:

"Camping"

So we were going to go camping last weekend, but Lane was a little sick, so we decided to still "camp" from home. This turned out to be a great decision because we would have been caught in a huge storm!

After Steve got home from work on Friday we went canoeing on a lake by Steve's parents house. They have a permit to use the canoes there, so it was free! It was a really fun thing to do with the kids. They enjoyed it. and we all fit in one canoe. Lane was a little wary at first, but warmed up and soon I was worried she was going to fall over the edge because she kept trying to lean over and touch the water. Nash and Ava had fun paddling and we saw tons of dragonflies and lily pads.

We came home and cooked hot dogs on the grill and cut up a watermelon. We ate on our deck in our camping chairs.














Steve and the kids had set up the tent in our backyard while I got dinner going, so it was all ready to go with air mattress inflated and pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals . After we ate we were playing around in the tent when it started to rain.

Nash and I ran up to the deck and brought in all our food and chairs. And then it started to POUR! Crazy wind and hard rain. Our tent looked like it was going to blow away, but luckily the stakes held. After about 10 minutes Steve decided that it would be a good idea to go get the pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals because it looked more and more unlikely that we would be sleeping in the tent that night. Steve and Ava put on their swimsuits to prepare to brave the weather and rescue the things from the tent. Nash and I watched from the window (I had just put Lane to bed in her own crib). Literally, in seconds they were soaked! They ran to the tent. You could see them trying to hold it up against the wind while they were inside it. You could hear laughing and screaming and Nash and I just cracked up as we watched the whole escapade. But they were successful and came in very wet.



















Then we set up our blankets in the living room to camp out there. Actually Steve and I got to sleep in our own bed and Nash and Ava ended up on the couches.  Oh, but first we made smores over the kitchen stove and got all sticky from the marshmallows. The night wasn't as planned, but it was a lot of fun! And everyone slept in until 8:00 which definitely would not have happened in the great outdoors.

The next morning we bought fishing poles and fishing licenses and went fishing from a public pier at Lake Ryan. Ava caught a fish probably within 2 minutes of having her line in the water. No joke. It was her fist time to ever catch a fish. And luckily, Nash caught a fish, too, before we left. It was nice. Tricky to have Lane with us--she kept wanting to get in the water and we had to tie her pole to the pier because she threw it in the water on multiple occasions. :)





















So, all-in-all it was a great "campout."

Salad

Our first garden harvest--lettuce! Actually I was thinning the lettuce out, so they are little baby lettuce, but they tasted great and Nash and I enjoyed a nice salad with it. It is so fun to have a garden and to tend it and watch it grow.

I tried planting fewer plants this year so they could have a little more space and also in the hopes that I'll take better care of them. I have 5 tomato plants of different varieties, a zucchini plant, basil, rosemary, lettuce, hot pepper, and green beans. For awhile they weren't growing because there was no sun, but our weather has improved, so I hope they start growing faster now!

Happy 6th Birthday, Nash!

Nash turned 6! Wow! He is such an amazing boy and I am so proud to be his mama. We had a birthday party for him yesterday and it was a great success. He wanted to do a lego racecar theme, which all came together really well. We had fun brainstorming what to do for it.

Here he is with his friends, ready to party!

Our first activity (to do while we waited for everyone to arrive), was to see if we could build a lego duplo tower taller than Nash. We succeeded!














Then we had a racecar for each kid to build (and later take home as a party favor). They all did so well. And luckily we had 5 adults helping (thanks, Mom, Dad, and Emily!). After they built their racecar, they made a lego drivers license complete with driving nickname. Then we were ready to race!

















One at a time, each kid raced his racecar down the ramp. Where ever the racecar landed determined which candy he got to put in his bag. They loved this and it made it so no one was competing against each other (I never want to see a kids' feelings get hurt)--everyone was a winner!






















Next was presents, then cake and ice cream!

Spud Run 5K and Kids Fun Run!

This weekend was the annual Spud Run which is part of our city's festival they put on each June. We have made it a tradition to go and do it as a family.














I have been running a lot in my life lately and totally enjoy it. I ended up finishing in 26:34 (an 8:33 pace) which is a 5k PR for me. I tied as the 3rd female to finish and was 3rd in my gender/age group, too! And all that while being 3 months pregnant! I don't have a pic of me running (which is probably a good thing--they are often not too great). But here is a great pic of Steve and his dad running in:

Nash and Ava signed up for the 1/4 mile run. Ava ended up not doing it (she doesn't like attention or crowds and a few seconds after the start she realized this entailed both), but Nash went on to get third place! Here's our stud running in:

We all had fun watching and cheering on our family and friends that ran the race!

Summer!

We're so glad it's summer! The weather is getting nicer (slowly but surely) and things are growing, including our grass. Steve was mowing the other night and the kids thought it would be fun to spray him with water. He was such a good sport about it and was soaked within minutes.

And here's Nash with his new bike he got for his birthday!

















We have started a summer schedule with certain things we do each day, including workbook time (Nash and Ava each have a workbook with school work to do over the summer--and they love doing it), chores, outside play, reading time, art, screen time, inside toys, etc. They get stars on their chart when they do an item for the day. It's helping us get things done and have a summer full of a variety of things. It's been great so far.

Twins vs. White Sox

We went to a Twins game last night! Steve's dad gave us four tickets he got from work and he even babysat Lane while the rest of us went. It was our first time to see a game at Target Field. It was so much fun! Nash loved watching the game and learning all the rules and following along on the scoreboard. Ava didn't care much about the actual baseball but loved the mascot and the experience. We had great seats and it was a great game to watch, including a couple home runs, a double play, an amazing catch that prevented the other team from getting a home run. We got really into it all and danced and clapped along with all the fans. It was a blast.