Misty's Birthday

So, the kids and Larry always spoil me and treat me like a princess for my birthday. We all went to BD's for dinner and had a great time, and I had plenty of help to open my presents. I got a fancy new pair of red shoes, and as you can see Rhyan liked the shoes!!

Psi O Camping Trip

Every year the Psi O fraternity has a camping trip for everyone to go to. It's always a lot of fun and we have a lot of friends to hang out with when we go. We take Ziggy with us, and what can be more fun for the kids than spending a couple days playing in the dirt? They love the lake that is next to the campsite. It is beautiful there!! They have a big playground for the kids, and lots of thing to keep you busy.Though this was a really cute picture of Mayson. She was having fun climbing around on the side of the hill that led down to the lake.
Rhyan is such a daddy's girl. Here she is looking cute as can be hanging with her dad!
The kids love climbing around on all the trees and rocks. We thought they all looked pretty cute sitting on the log here.

Okay, so speaking of climbing on the logs, lets explain this picture. So, Rhyan found this tree that had broken off at the bottom and the trunk was at an angle. She was standing on it walking up it like she was walking up the hill. I told her to get down so that she didn't fall and get hurt. So, being the good girl that she is, she sat on her bum and went to jump down. Well, when she jumped off her back hit the log and it bounced her forward. So, she fell face first onto the log that was lying on the ground in front of her. I felt so bad for her, and I'm sure it hurt. She cried and was sad, but the best part of the story is when we got in the car. Larry put her in and asked her why she was so cute. She looked at him and said, "I'm not cute, look at my nose." So Larry tells me this and I turn around and tell her how beautiful she is, that she is always beautiful. No joke, she looks at me and says "look at my nose. My nose is not beautiful." As much as I was trying not to laugh, it was also sad. It's sad that at three a little girl would even think about the fact that her nose is red and think that it means that she doesn't look beautiful. She got lots of love and assurance that no matter what her nose looks like she will always be beautiful!

A minor fix up....

So, the kids were outside playing on the slip and slide and of course, running across the grass barefoot. Well, Kaleb was running across the neighbors front grass and cried that his foot hurt, and as I looked at it and realized it had a slice on the bottom that was hanging open I called dad to see how close to home he was. Luckily, he was about five minutes away, so instead of taking him to the ER we got it fixed up in the bathroom. Kaleb was kind of a whiner about the shots (knee in the back holding him on the floor while dad held his foot so he could get the shots) but after he was numb he was very brave. A few stitches later it was all better... this is the only picture I have & it already had a blob of neosporin on top so you can't really see it very well, but you get the idea.

Pittsburgh Science Center

Over Labor Day we decided to take a trip to Pittsburgh. While we were there we went to the Science Center, the Children's Museum and of course, you can't go to Pittsburgh without going to IKEA.These pictures show the high flying excitement we had while doing the bungee trampoline. It was a lot of fun and the kids though getting to do flips and stuff without being able to fall on their head was great!
Here's Asher checking out one of the many robots they had on the robot level of the museum. They had robots that did all sorts of different things for the kids to watch. It was pretty amazing what some of them can do.

These pictures are of the amazing model train room they had set up. It was a huge display that as you walked around the scenery changed and to you through all four seasons. it was very cool and the kids loved it!
This is a picture at the hotel. For the kids, the fact that they get to stay in a hotel room is normally the highlight of the trip.

Pittsburgh Children's Museum

Asher loved the big water table at the children's museum. Him and the rest of the kids were all soaked by the time we got done with it but they were so fun to watch!
This is what the kids decided to do in the building center. They had all sorts of building stuff and each of them built a boat... but apparently dad was being a little too bossy and there was some mutiny!
This was a big board with all the little pins in it like the metal ones you do your hand print in. It kept the kids and Larry entertained for quite a while!
Asher loved this train in "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood." It was the same as the one that they had on the show that went to the castle. He kept watching it go back and forth through the tunnel and loved it.

First Day of School

The kids started school this year on September 1st. They were excited to get back I was ready for them to be back. They both have the teachers we were hoping for this year, and I'm sure it will be a great year. Kaleb get pulled out every day to go to his math and reading class with the gifted teacher, and with be starting violin lessons through the school. he is excited to start learning. Mayson is already getting me signed up for my day helping in the classroom, and can't wait until it is her turn to bring Timmy the turtle home!

Misc. Photos

Here are the guys playing corn hole at the Psi O opening social this year. All I can say is like father like son! Here is Mayson with her corn tooth at dinner one night. She lost another tooth and apparently decided it needed to be replaced.
This is what you look like when you've really enjoyed your ice cream!!

Swimming

We spent a good portion of the rest of the summer after we got home at the swimming pool. Mayson took a session of swim lessons and we all just hung out and relaxed. How about this great diva picture of Mayson on her towel. She saw the camera and pulled this pose out for me. Great, isn't it. I'm so not looking forward to her as a teenager! I also really like the one of Asher lounging on the chair! He has also discovered swim goggles, and thinks he is really cool running around all over the place with them on. Rhyan is always just cutie and is always doing things to make me laugh, and Kaleb is quite a fan of the diving board. He spends a good portion of his pool time jumping off the board!

Rhyan's 3rd Birthday

We got home just in time for Rhyan's 3rd birthday. She got a princess scooted with a helmet and elbow pads and thought she was just the coolest kid ever! She calls it her 'kooter' and wants to ride it all the time. We had a carnival birthday party for her with face painting, a fishing pond, a duck pond, a cup cake walk, and instead of bobbing for apples we used these giant marshmallows we found. We even had the authentic popcorn machine going (as you can see Kaleb was the official popcorn helper). The kids all had a great time and won lots of prizes to take home. In true Cleveland style, it started to rain right as we were getting to cake and ice cream, so we moved it into the garage to finish up. The pictures of the girls staring at the cupcakes makes me laugh... you would never realize that cupcakes are that mesmerizing, but the kids were just standing there staring at them! Rhyan had fun and it was a really cute party!

Home at Last

We got home July 17th, and we were all excited to see Larry. I think he was probably even more excited to see us... he was lonely all by himself. He was busy while we were gone though. He chopped down the tree in the front yard, and for anyone who has been to our house, you know it was a huge tree. He said it wasn't the chopping it down that was so bad, it was getting the stump out. He did a great job though and If you didn't know it was there, you wouldn't have any idea there was a tree there. The grass is almost totally filled in where the big hole was. I'll have to take a picture and get the before and after pictures up. And thankfully, Asher didn't decide to full out walk til after we got home. Within the week he was suddenly walking everywhere... crawling isn't any good anymore. Can I just say he is into everything!!

Mount Rushmore

We went to see Mount Rushmore on our trip home, and I am glad to say that I have now seen it. I'm not sure I would make the trip to South Dakota just for that, but I definitely think everyone should see it at some point. The kids thought it was cool, we all enjoyed a really expensive lunch in the restaurant there compliments of Urs, and we now have a new Christmas ornament for our tree. We drove out to see Crazy hHorse while we were there too, but not much of it was done and it was really not that exciting. Urs said the whole visitor center experience was pretty good though, so maybe next time we'll have to stay and listen to everything.