Aaron is SEVEN

Hard to believe my baby is seven, but it's true! 

He has always had a charming personality. He is a great mix of silly, sweet, and serious. As the "baby" of the family, he has learned how to work the system. He seems to have an on/off button to get his tears to flow. His Daddy has a hard time keeping a straight face when he has to discipline him because he is just so stinkin' cute! :) 

A couple weeks ago, we had a fun time celebrating this little red head.  

After swim practice that morning, we came home to open gifts and eat pancakes. 

 Then we were off to go ice skating with the swim team. A perfect outing on a 99 degree day!

 Aaron warmed up enough to shed his jacket and zipped around without holding

on to the wall. Truth be told, he was trying to stay near his cute 20 year old swim coach. ;)

 After skating, we had some friends over for a simple joint birthday party for Aaron and Ethan.

He requested chocolate and vanilla swirled cupcakes and helped me make them the day before. 

From as early as I can remember, he has loved sports. He is competitive and naturally athletic, with a good sense of his limits. (Thankfully, not as much of a stunt man as his older brother. Phew! I don't think I could handle two risk takers.) This birthday, we finally acquiesced and got a basketball hoop for the driveway. If you want to find Aaron, you will find him there no matter the temperature. 

Can you say sweaty??

Whenever he concentrates his tongue sticks out. 

Some things never change!

We love you, Aaron!

Busy 4th

Darin had to travel over the 4th of July weekend. Boo hiss! He had a trip to a Smithfield plant to supervise the installations of four new units. Apparently they only shut down the plant quarterly and this was the weekend. SO... while he was supervising this...

...we made the best of our 4th with lots of activity!

We started off our morning with a long bike ride together 

with the promise of "Mommy Eggs" when we got home. 

Darin usually makes the kids breakfast on Saturday mornings

while I'm running, so I tried to fill in and make it fun!

Then we were off to the pool to swim laps. I don't always get in the water with them, so when I do they are thrilled. They hung with me swimming laps for about 15 minutes and then they were off to the diving board. I later followed to take some photos.

 Aaron dove off the diving board for the first time! So proud of him. 

Then we zipped home, scarfed down a quick lunch, and were off to an 

Old Fashioned Fourth of July celebration nearby. 

 A reading of the Declaration of Independence

Jonathan the juggler was a hit as usual. 

From there we went to Grammy and Poppy's for a delicious dinner. 

I realized on the way there I completely forgot to make or 

bring the side dish I said I would bring. Whoops!

And then home to watch fireworks out the window that our backyard neighbors set off in the culdesac. Talk about a convenient location. By this time, I was totally exhausted and so eager to get them in bed but the loud fireworks were hard to ignore. They finally finished by 10pm. phew!

We made the best of Daddy being gone and had a great BUSY day. 

Beach Bums

Following Darin's birthday, we joined my extended family for our annual trip to the beach. We pushed the week of our trip to late June to accommodate everyone's end of year school schedules. That meant warmer temperatures and warmer water. Hooray! All the kids loved riding the waves.

 I'm afraid to put it in writing, but the kids are actually getting to the age that a trip to the beach is starting to really feel like vacation. Well, that is if you don't count all the packing, sunscreen application, and unpacking/laundry when we return. ;) I love love love the beach. The sun, the sand, the waves. ahhh! If these smiles are any indication, I think the kids agree!

A highlight for me was time one-on-one with each of my siblings. A long walk with my younger brother, a run with my older brother, a walk with my sister-in-law, and a run with Darin. I cherish those times without the distraction of kids to talk and share our hearts. 

 The annual family beach photos. Those are some CUTE grandkids!

Ages: 12, 11, 9, 7, 7.5, 7.75, almost 6, and almost 4

We missed having my sister-in-law from Canada with us. She had to stay behind to attend to farm and extended family responsibilities. I was delighted to fill in for her as the hair braiding lady for my nieces. ;)

 My mom made these two matching dresses and the skirt for Irina. Way to go Grammy!

Another week at the beach with family complete. Can't wait until next year!

Thanks for hosting us Grammy and Poppy.

30 minutes after we got home from the beach, I couldn't find these two. 

Would have never guessed they would disappear to the sandbox after a week at the beach. ;)

Another Member of the Club

Back in June we threw a simple 40th birthday party for Darin. 

Here is what I know to be true about Darin. He does NOT like to be the center of attention. He does not personally care for lots of hullabaloo surrounding his birthday. Nonetheless, he has a Momma who is very proud of him and was eager to be with him on/near his birthday. I can totally relate to that, so we invited Darin's family to travel and join us to celebrate. His sister and her family came over too. Darin handled all the attention just fine. :) 

Hostessing does not come naturally to me, so in the midst of all the commotion of prepping food for 15 people, I completely forgot to take pictures. Darin's mom (seen above) was gracious to bring along Darin's favorite dessert. Thanks Mom! 

cherry pie with sour packed cherries and a sweet crumb topping. yum!

The kids and I worked on an iMovie of Darin's last decade of life. So glad to share the job with them.  Luke did all the transitions in the movie and the kids collectively selected the accompanying music. It was a labor of love and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

What do you do when you are getting ready to repaint a room and haven't gotten around to wall art yet? You put a really huge plastic sign on the wall! Can you say tacky? It amused the kids. 

Darin's sister put together a very well thought out gift that was probably the highlight of the day. She wrote a poem to Darin and he had to find items in the basket (seen above) that matched the highlighted words in the poem. Really clever and sweet!

 The rest of the afternoon was spent playing outside. The kids played 

baseball, ran around, some adults joined and we had a game of catch 

(with Darin's new baseball from his basket). It was hot and sticky, 

but it was a nice reunion. We hadn't been together since Christmas. 

the happy cousins!

Welcome to the 40 club Darin! I'm glad you've finally joined us. :)