Summer Fun: Independence Day with Family

We didn't take any pictures of camping with Justin's parents...we let them do that. So we'll get those sometime in the future. But after 3 days camping, we drove another hour to arrive at the Hart Family Reunion. There's no way to write everything that happened or was laughed about or enjoyed; it was a great visit! My sister planned and organized it all and it was a huge success! We were able to see everybody from my side, though maybe not all on the same day. In these pictures, Grandma had a fabulously kid-friendly craft for the kiddos to create on the 4th of July. 

Kenzie warmed up to Grandpa...and her cousins. Especially the girl cousins. 

Caleb loved playing with his cousins and couldn't run around with them enough. So sweet to see these relationships form and strengthen as the kids get older!

This is my mom BTW. Pretty lady!

Why PA, you may ask? Nobody in my family lives in PA. We like to pick random places around the country to visit and see who has to drive the longest to get there. We didn't win that competition this year!

Summer Fun: Lake Eerie and Traffic Jam

Our drive to PA for camping with Justin's parents and a family reunion with my side was begun the day Justin was out of class. He only had 2 weeks off this summer and we really wanted to take advantage of it! Our car was loaded, complete with suitcases strapped on top, thankfully covered with a tarp! We were rained on a ton while driving, and once we arrived in pa. 

We started by driving to Ohio and spending the night with family friends. We decided to stop at Lake Eerie, since I had never seen a Great Lake before. It was incredible! If YOU have never seen one, you definitely are missing an experience! It was incredible to see this mass of water stretching out past the horizon. I couldn't see the other side of it!! It had waves and moved like the ocean! But it was a lake! So crazy.

We enjoyed some rock-skipping. 

Caleb has always become very calm and contemplative in nature. It's one reason I love camping as a family. It's good for his little spirit. And mine. 

And Mackenzie just loves being where we are. She liked the geese. 

We continued our comfortably slow driving (we only had 6 hours to go that day) not wanting to arrive in PA before Justin's parents, because they had the tent trailer. How much fun would it be to get to a campground and have to sit in the car? Might as well be on the road and not feel bad about it, right? 

Well, we got more than we bargained for in that regard. Somewhere in PA on I-80 there began a terrible traffic jam. There was either a semi on fire or some other unexplained event, but we moved 10 minutes on our GPS travel time in 5 hours. Literally. We luckily were able to find a gas station and get off in the middle of that. At some point I-80 was evacuated and all of the traffic was forced to travel county roads as we bypassed the mysterious accident. There weren't any signs making sure we went the right way, so we just picked out some friendly truckers and made sure we went the way they went. Of course, we had our GPS, so we weren't worried about getting lost; we just wanted to get back to I-80 ASAP!

Instead of arriving at our campsite at 8:00p.m. we arrived at 1:00a.m. But Justin's parents had only been there for about an hour...so maybe it was good that we were stuck in the car driving. 

Kenzie Birthday pictures

I posted some of these on FB, but for your viewing pleasure (*Elisa*), here they are again with some additional bonuses. 

This is the turtle cake I made for Kenzie. It was my first time using marshmallow fondant, and though I was pleased with the result, the process of making the sticky, gooey stuff was rough. I'm not sure if I'll do it again. But it was really nice to be able to manipulate it and mold it to make a simple turtle cake. 

See, we learned while in St. Louis that Kenzie loves turtles. So I decided to make one. I used a small Pyrex bowl for the shell and then cupcakes for the head and feet. Okay, so it was a lot of fun using fondant, but MAN, first time is always bumpy, right?

When it came time to sing and cut the cake, I asked Kenzie which part she wanted. She didn't respond so I asked Caleb, and he of course said he wanted the head. And I obliged, not even considering what the repercussions from Kenzie might be. And boy where there! She bawled, we reapplied the head; she ate the eyes off. It was hilarious!  

Hopefully that video works. It was funny! 

And for the kitchen. This was something I wanted to do a year ago, so finally in November we found this gem to transform. We figured we had 6 months, we should be fine...

We didn't plan on me being sick for 2 months...or for just crazy school (why did we not plan on THAT?)...so it was crunch time before her birthday. And Justin really did all of the work. I made those little pot holders and the apron, but that was just a fraction of the time and effort Justin put into making it (especially with limited tools, which he hates). 

I personally love how it turned out. The kiddos play with it together and make very creative soups and Kenzie serves me water repeatedly. It's lovely. 

Again, happy birthday to my 2 year old little girl!

Celebration!

What a month!

Mackenzie turned 2 (almost a month ago...wow). Between the kitchen Justin created for her and the turtle cake I decorated for her, it was a fabulously dramatic and memorable birthday celebration.

My little 2 year old loves her animals and gets very sad if they are taken from her. She loves her big brother and tries to copy him in everything he does, even if we've already said not to do it. She MUST do it. She is an independent, lovey, always hungry conversationalist. When we put her to bed, she has as many animals with her as possible. Last night I counted 8, including the bear that is bigger than her and the caterpillar she can ride. And she always insists on a blanket even if it's hot.

She is girl through and through, loving shoes and always wanting to wear Sunday shoes if they are within reach (plus she can do them herself...independent!), and she LOVES bows and dresses and bracelets and babies. Her active loves are for slides and balls and she consistently tries to step up to the bat. She loves water, and was more daring on the slip and slide than Caleb was.

She is such a sweetie and I love that she gets excited by Daddy and baby and life in general. Happy 2 years my little Squirlie Girlie!

I had my birthday...which was fun! Justin and I were able to go see Star Trek and enjoy some cheese cake. It was pretty low key but quite enjoyable!

We had a successful ultrasound where we were able to see our little baby moving around, see all the body parts, hands feet, nose; we saw baby drinking, saw the heart pumping. It was a beautiful, special, emotional experience! And we learned the gender. *drum roll* (and Daddy, if you happen to check my blog, stop reading, NOW). I'll say it in Russian just in case Grandpa does get on her and doesn't stop reading, he'll have to work to find out. The rest of you..sorry, you have to work too. Anyway, the baby is a мальчиk! We are super excited, especially our children. :) We went out to IHOP that night for dinner, told the kiddos what baby was, and then they helped us continue our tradition of selecting and buying a special take-home outfit. It makes it so real! I'm having a baby in October!! I don't think I'll ever be ready...

Our lives are getting crazier (between fitting 3 car seats in our little car, fitting 3 kiddos in the same room, Justin preparing for Super Block, weddings, and crazy primary calling...), but we feel blessed and excited!

Quiet Book

Alright. I just spent an hour updating all my pictures on my computer from my camera...which means I'm really behind in blogging, but I'm not back tracking. We'll just have to get updates form here on out.

Here's a little recap as to why I've been so busy.

Reason #1. This is a quiet book I started when Caleb was 11 months old. I decided to finish it for Christmas. Didn't make that deadline. Worked on it until Valentine's Day, St. Paddy's Day, and then even Easter. But by that point...I decided to just give it to them. It was no longer a surprise. And I still have to put handles on it. But it's MOSTLY finished. It took way too long. I don't recommend making them. At least not one this big. But I'm happy with how it turned out!



It has a missionary theme. I tried to give you an idea of what the pages' interactive potential is.

And reason #2 for being so woefully MIA. We're expecting baby #3 at the end of October! So, I've been in that sick/survival stage. Which is also why this book still doesn't have handles on it.

That's about it! Just had to get this out there. For all to see. And to share our happy news. Stay tuned for when we might share the gender. :)