Ready for photo overload? The kids are watching "Oz the Great and Powerful" for the first time, so I should have enough time to complete a blog post.
I've been taking a lot of portraits of the kids in hopes to update my enlargements on our living room wall. So far only Erin's is done, but I continue to try to get the "money shot" for Jack and Grace too.
I've also been working on my editing skills. This is actually the one I picked to hang up in the living room. Here's a before and after:
Out on Uncle Mike's boat. At one point I got in the water with my camera to get some action shots of the kids jumping in the water. They are all total water bugs!
These are the pictures I edited from that day:
We went to meet Grandma's new dog this week, and I thought I'd try to get a new background and take some pictures of the kids. I didn't have any cooperators though!
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| Found them like this one night when Grace was gone for the night. So sweet! |
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I'm pretty sure I took this after one swimming lesson. Swimming wears them out! Everyone can swim now. Between swimming lessons for 3 weeks and being at the pool almost daily all summer, they are all finally comfortable in the water without floaties. Such a great feeling! I have a million videos to share, but I'm going to limit it to the swimming ones for this post.
Erin swimming
Erin jumping
Grace swimming |
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| This was one of the writing activities I did with Jack this summer. We read the book called "Why Am I Here? and then we brainstormed ways he could be the best version of himself. He came up with - chores, manners, help sisters, fill buckets, learn, honesty, and share. Love his spelling and his great ideas! |
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| Lip gloss, of course! |
Jack was having a sleepover with Uncle Mike, so us girls went out to lunch at San Jose's.
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| Is there any other way to eat your yogurt? |
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| Daddy and Jack went scalloping. Jack loved it! |
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| Again...Post Swimming Lessons |
My friend and I took our kids to The Orlando Science Center this summer. They all loved it soooo much! If it was closer, I'd get an annual pass. Lots to learn and do there!
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| This little one will be in Grace's Pre-K class, and they really hit it off. It will be great because they will have a familiar face in their new class. |
Daddy's birthday!
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| Sisters |
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| Erin sat through an entire mass, quiet and still for the most part. Usually Jack OR Grace comes with me, while the other 2 go to the nursery. Erin really wanted to go to the "big church", so we tried it. |
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| Jack blinked the first time I took this picture, so this was his expression when I tried again. LOL |
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| Daddy and friends out on the lake one day a couple of weeks ago |
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| A McCormick pile up on our couch! |
I found this little park about 2 minutes from our house. The only downfall being that it is right on a fairly busy street.
I bought a bunch of cookie cutters, and they love playing with them. I bought them thinking I'd do some letter activities with them, but we haven't done much. They've used play dough and we also tried sugar roll out cookies (disaster!).
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| Jack spotted this guy right outside his bedroom window. |
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| Honestly, we've had some rough moments with behavior this summer (amongst many laughs and good times, out course). One night Jack got sent to bed in trouble for something he had done. I was on the couch watching TV, and I heard him shout from his room that he had slid something under his door for me. I really just love his spelling and writing!! |
Another boat ride:
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| How we grocery shop |
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| Playing "marry" |
The big kids had an absolute awesome time at The Plaster Cottage summer camp. This was their first day. I couldn't get them to turn around for a picture.
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| This is one of Grace's pieces. I'm using it as a ring holder in my bathroom. :) |
Erin and I had some fantastic one on one time in the mornings during art camp. Looooooove my time with them when I can focus on just one kid. We had lots of fun!
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| Jack is so stinkin' creative! He's really into martial arts these days, so this was his makeshift karate outfit. |
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| At one of his favorite spots - the library. And he found the jackpot of all books for him. This is a book of costumes and it tells you how to make each one. |
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| I brought my laminator home to try to get some work done the other day. The girls were enthralled with the thing! |
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| The Hello Kitty girl! |
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| Some girls I work with and I went to this place in Lake Alfred called "The Barn". There was shopping and lunch. A fun morning out! |
Grace modeling her new school shoes. I was so happy with the deal we got. They are Nike Free shoes that were $52. I had 20% off coupon, Kohl's cash, plus tax-free weekend, making them $20. She loves them so much that she brings them to bed with her. :)
I finally came to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to get any Disney passes, so we took Erin to the lady that cuts Colin's hair. You can see the baby hair at the bottom was starting to get really straggly, so it was necessary. The only problem being that she cut her bangs a little too short, so now we begin growing them out. She only has bangs because Erin cut herself some bangs!
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| Grace got a trim, too. |
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| Grocery shopping with these 3 |
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| Storytime at night |
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| This was Colin one night. Every single kid had climbed into bed and piled on or next to him. I need my space when I sleep, and the kids apparently know it! |
Yesterday we took the kids to the Tampa Lowry Park Zoo. It was somewhat of a chaotic day. Colin had to deal with car issues right when we got there, so he dropped us off and then came back at the end. After about an hour, we got stuck in a downpour. Thankfully it passed pretty quickly, but then it left us in a hot, muggy mess of weather. We were, however, thankful that we weren't in the blazing sun. They really enjoyed seeing many animals. Erin just wanted to the see the baby elephants, and that was her favorite part! They all loved it!
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| I want to say that I had tears streaming down my face while watching Colin on this roller coaster. It was the funniest scene. He was just so giant amongst a bunch of kids, and it really struck something with me. I couldn't stop laughing hysterically. The best part was that he could only take one kid at a time, so I watched him do it twice in a row. That kind of laughing is good for the soul. :) |
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| I love the happiness on Grace's face here! |
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I brought my good camera thinking I'd get some shots of the animals, but I was too busy with the kids. I only got one of this guy while waiting in line for the roller coaster.
Enjoy the rest of your week. We are going to soak up all the rest of our uninterrupted time together before the craziness ensues when we all return to school. I go back on Monday, and the kids all start back the following Monday. I will for sure be back with 'first day of school pictures', if not before!
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