Pictures

Got the kids pictures taken a month ago. Wasn't real happy with Kohlton's. She kept putting him on his stomach which made him made and his head is so big it's just too heavy to hold up for very long. My friend Jessica took some more family of us and they are great. Will post some soon!

One last beach day

It may have been our last day at the Kingston slough this year. It was a beautiful day out and my dad asked if we would all want to go play! So we did! My dad picked up this knee board or whatever it is at Goodwill and made an paddle (it is a very pretty paddle, made from scratch) for the kids. Marissa loved it.

Grandpa and his grandkids

Papa turns 85!

We went over to Papa's last weekend to celebrate his 85th Birthday! He was a little emotional - it was so cute. He just adores his great-grandchildren and gets so weepy when he talks about them growing up. Taylor, Ruby, Marissa, Papa, Kohlton, Kyle

This is a video of the kids singing Happy Birthday. Papa is so cute - very emotional for him. We are not a family of singers :)

Blackberry Festival

We stopped by the Blackberry Festival last weekend. My uncle Bob was there with his "Salute to the Armed Forces" enterprise. It is a tribute to honor and bring positive recognition to the men and women who support and give their lives for out freedom.

His funny car - my other uncle Harlan Thompson was a professional funny car racer.

Marissa and Kyle on his ATV

Uncle Bob - doing great after just having open-heart surgery!

After the Blackberry festival we took the kids roller skating. Marissa has been wanting to go for a long time. She loves it and is getting better every time. Kyle tried but couldn't even get across the carpet :) So Paul pushed him in a stroller and he loved that.

Cute picture - by Marissa

Marissa LOVES to draw. She spends sometimes up to a 2-3 hours a day drawing, coloring, writing, etc... She writes rather well for a lefty ;) She is pretty creative and hangs stuff up all over the house (we have gone through a lot of tape). Currently she likes to make masks. It's so funny... the lingo kids have these days. After I took this picture Marissa says "Oh good idea mom - you can post that to your blog". She must think she has some pretty large lips.

This is a self portrait.

I think what looks so cute is that her real hair matches up so well with the drawing.

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Pickles

A man Paul works with had an abundance of cucumbers so Paul's mom and dad, Sue and Paul, picked up a bunch from him. She let them soak in the brine overnight and then we went over there to help can them. Actually, I shouldn't say "we" because I just supervised and held the baby :) I think they ended up with somewhere around 50 jars. That's a lot of pickles!

They were even color-coordinated :)

Sue got fresh dill from her friend too.

Paul and his dad stuffing the jars

The finished product

Kohlton - 3 months

Kohlton is 3 1/2 months old now. He smiles all the time. He giggled for the first time a couple days ago - of course at Marissa. He loves her! He is drooling and chewing on his fingers. He started reaching and grabbing things a couple weeks ago. He just rolled over from front to back for the first time today! He is a great sleeper at night, happy during the day, but does not like the car. He is wearing 6 month clothes now - growing like a weed! He like to try to talk to us in his sweet little voice.

Making Play-Doh

We made our own play-doh the other day. Turned out good! So easy and inexpensive. Because it has a Kool-Aid packet mixed in it smells great and colors it.

Here is the recipe:

In saucepan..

2 C water

1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid - stir in

Add:

2 C Flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 C salt

2-4 tsp vegetable oil

Cook of med heat for 5-10 min until play-doh color deepens and it comes together in a ball. Turn onto plate and let cool. Cover tightly to store/ziploc bag works well.

Swimming Lessons

Marissa has been taking semi-private swimming lessons for a couple of weeks now with her friend Hannah. Their teacher Rachael is great! They just love her. Marissa has not been comfortable in the water at all really. Just this summer she started to swim and go underwater.

Jumping in!

Swimming on her back

She loves her goggles and swim cap :)

Kyle and Hunter have fun sitting in the bleachers playing - swimming lessons for them next!

County Fair

We took the kids to the county fair two weeks ago. They loved it - actually we all did. Marissa really wants to start 4-H this year - I would prefer to wait one year though - we'll see. She would like to show one of her chickens or Isabella -our dog :)


Marissa really worked hard before the fair doing chores and helping me out. She wanted to earn money for games/pony ride/face painting. We told her we could only pay for rides so she earned money for the rest. She was so proud that she worked hard all week and had enough of her own money to pay for the things she wanted to do. She even paid for Kyle to do extra stuff. She is such a thoughtful, caring sister.

Marissa also had a dance show there where she did a lyrical dance with a scarf. She did great. She has so much more confidence now and way less stage fright - it's so exciting to see your children overcome things that used to scare them.

I went on a lot of the rides with Kyle until he got comfortable enough to go with just Marissa.

Me, Kyle, Hannah and Marissa - spinning!

Marissa's favorite thing to do was the Super Slide - she went several times by herself

Marissa got her face painted - heart on one cheek & a rainbow on the other.

Kyle got a shark painted on his arm. He was pretending to be a shark and kept acting like he was going to bite the clowns hand! So silly!

Marissa's Fair Project

Marissa has turned a craft project into the Kitsap County fair for three years now. This year she wanted to sew a book bag. She picked out the fabric and matching ribbon herself. Ironed and sewed it herself. I only helped by telling her what to do and with measurements. She has wanted a blue "first place" ribbon but has only gotten second and third. But this year....she got BEST IN CLASS!!!

Ironing

Pinning

Her jumping for joy when she first saw her ribbon!

The butterfly book bag and ribbon

Runs in the family....

Here is my mom's cross-stitch she turned in this year. As usual, Superintendent's Award and first place.

The Christmas stocking my mom made for Ruby Ann also got Best in Class!

The bowl my Dad made with his lathe. Probably would have won Best in Class but they mistakenly placed his bowl with the youth and did give him Best in Class and every other award for the youth :). Luckily my dad saw the mistake early on the first day and told them it was placed wrong so they could give out a best in class to a youth instead. Then they could only give him a 1st class ribbon in the adults since the Best in Class had already been rewarded to someone else.