Vanessa's rescuing mom drawing

It is snow time and she has her winter hat on.  That black thing on her neck is a scarf too.  In her hand up in the air is a key to open the cage that mom is locked up in.  Eli is with Vanessa and is wearing a supercape (note his curly hair!).  The yellow things are lights.

It won't be long until we can get rid of the high chair

Eli has been easily climbing up and down from the black stools up by the kitchen counter lately.  He just started doing it this week.  Violet made him half a bagel this morning and he sat on the stool and ate the whole thing.  e

"Hey don't bonk dad!"

Eli has been forming longer sentences lately and the more recent one we clearly heard was this morning.  Eli was alone in the pool (I was watching him) and Dave smacked the outside of the blow-up pool with his foot to make waves and Eli said, "Hey don't bonk dad!" as clear as day.  Based on our reactions that made Eli crack up and start laughing.  He's so funny.

His more recently clear words are:

- truck
- shirt
- all done
- bite! (when he wants someone else's food)
- g'night!
- ready set go!
- poop
- train

I'm sure there's more.  He uses these all frequently.

Garden harvesting has begun!

It started with a broccoli plant needing to be picked before it turned into a flower.  It was delicious.  The kids said it was yummy too.  The garden is going nuts.  We've faithfully weeded it every week (more than that too!) and it is rewarding to watch things grow.

Violet was determined to show Eli how to pick green beans.  He did a few and lost interest quickly, then proceeded to dig in the dirt.  All the kids helped pick a row of beans. 

Calvin lost his first tooth!

It seems like we discovered that his lower two teeth were loose only a few weeks ago.  He wiggled them a lot and one day, while watching Wild Kratts, he pulled it out! 

A "before" pic (look at that loosey goosey tooth!):

And there it is, in his hands (excuse the undies!). :)

The only thing I really remember from that moment when it came out is that I was dealing with raw chicken to cook for supper and my hands weren't able to hug him or take his pic or the tooth THAT VERY MOMENT.  Violet got really upset that Calvin wasn't willing to show her his tooth as soon as it had come out and he just wanted a kleenex or wipe to sop up the blood.

Violet - first time camper! Willowbrook 2014

Violet has crossed a bridge in the life of "being a big kid" this summer.  She attended a week of kids camp at Willowbrook Bible Camp from July 6-11.  She said she was a little nervous to go but was more excited.  Selena and I drove down Ivy and Violet on Sunday afternoon.  We left right after the Sunday School hog roast from Bethany.

The girls had a fun time in the car on the drive down.  They kept asking, "Are we there yet?" while Selena and I navigated congested highways and blocked roads, following a couple detours on the way there.  We made it by 4pm.

Willowbrook is a very small camp in Des Moines, IA.  There were 39 campers the week Violet went (they considered this a big group).  The directors were Randy Costello and Tony Myers (she knows both!), the camp nurse and craft/game helper was Kris Klunder, who is Vada's mom - and she was surrounded with friends and people from our church.  The perfect situation for her to feel comfortable with her surroundings with no immediate family staying with her.  Ivy and Violet got set up in beds together in the girl's cabin.  I was so happy they got beds together!  She knew Vada, all the Gartin girls, and many others.  I had absolutely no worries about Violet.  I knew in that setting she would flourish and be confident enough to handle herself.  We got her stuff in place, bed made, and toured the camp - its pretty small so a short two minute walk in a circle was enough to see everything.  Her only question was, "What do I do if I'm hungry?" haha! 

when we arrived I remembered to snap a pic of the girls in the car before getting out

after getting their stuff all set up in the bunks

their friend Katie Costello found Ivy and Violet and greeted them!

We felt good enough about how the girls were set up.  They had started playing with their friends and we thought it was a good time to go.  I prayed with Violet quick and gave her lots of hugs and kisses.  She wasn't sad at all - and we made our exit.  Selena and I saw a full end-to-end rainbow on the way home, and then discovered upon arriving back in Cedar Falls that a tornado had just twisted through Reinbeck about 25 minutes after we had driven through.  yikes!

My mom was so kind to babysit Vanessa and Eli when Dave and I drove down on Friday afternoon to pick up Violet from camp.  We knew we planned to stay for supper and a message/slideshow to wrap up the last day of camp with her so we brought Calvin along to see it all.  Teresa Smith rode down with us and back with another friend.

These two cuties survived their first week of camp!

Katie Costello and Violet

silliness!

Bre, Violet and Libby

Doctor checkups for Vanessa (age 4) and Eli (age 2)

Along with birthdays come the annual doctor check ups for the younger kiddos.  I was able to leave Violet and Calvin with a friend (thanks Kim!) while I took Vanessa and Eli to Dr. VanSickle's office.  I knew Vanessa needed two booster shots and didn't want the "drama of getting a shot" to be hyped up by the older two, because the question going to the doctor is predictable and inevitable, "Does she have to get a shot?"  I didn't want Vanessa to be freaked out by the idea. It worked like a charm by the way. 

I had to navigate through a lot of road construction to get to Kim's.  I picked up an iced mocha for her at Cabin Coffee prior to my arrival.  I dropped off Violet and Calvin and had to explain to Vanessa that she couldn't stay at Max's house (she was pretty mad).  We got to the doctor's office and her mood lifted when she realized she could push ALL the buttons to open doors and call elevators.  Eli in the stroller left her with nobody to fight with about that.  When we got to the fourth floor, by now they know the check in and play area well.  They darted over to the toys while I checked in.   They were looking out windows at the tiny cars and trucks (it was only four floors high so not like we were on top of a skyscraper or anything, but that's what it must have felt like to them), and running to and from every toy in the area.  The goofy concave mirror on the wall, wooden pegs, and play house. 

The nurse called us back after a few minutes and the exams started.  It felt very strange to be there with a 4 yr old girl and a 2 yr old boy AGAIN, because I'd just done that ohhhh...4 years ago with Violet and Calvin.  Sometimes my younger two feel like repeats of the older two. 

Vanessa got to stand on the big scale to be weighed (a whopping 34.4 pounds, haha) and measured 40 1/2" tall.  The nurse had me undress Eli down to his diaper and bring him to the "baby scale" and noted that this would be his last "weigh in" on the baby scale before graduating to the step-on one.  Eli weighed 30 lbs, 9 oz.  35 1/2" tall, 19 3/4" head.    While we were in that area, she did a quick vision screening on Vanessa asking her if she could see certain objects from far away, covering her right and left eyes.

Back in the room after the eye check and weigh-in, the nurse had Vanessa change into an exam robe and they took her blood pressure. 

 The nurse left, and while we waited for the doctor to come in, Vanessa wanted to play doctor so she climbed up on the exam table and pretended to sit and lay down.

 Eli found the little slide-out step stool and climbed up and jumped off continuously.

 Dr. VanSickle's exam. 

Both kids were declared extremely healthy (which makes one happy mama!).  The doctor left, and I knew the nurses were going to come in and give Vanessa her two vaccinations.  I told her then that she'd have to get two shots.  She got a worried face, but I told her that she would get her two pokes and then we'd be able to get stickers and I had a surprise for her (a sucker).  The nurses came in, and I laid her on the table.  They made quick work out of giving her the shots and must have done a pretty good job.  I held Vanessa's hands, watched her face, and she only winced.  When they were done they put cute little bandaids on her pokes and I stood her up.  She said, "That hurt!" and I gave her a hug.  She didn't cry or lose it at all.  She just had a sad face for a few minutes.  She cheered up after getting her stickers and suckers, and walking out, and then cheered up.  She knew she got to push all the buttons to call the elevator and open the doors as we walked out.  Overall a great doctor visit!