Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is always so memorable.  This year the boys painted giant flags to put up on our house.  That was fun for them.  And Dawson and Kaylee painted red white and blue pictures too to put up.  

We went down to Noblesville to Melissa and John's house for the day.  They had a bounce house with a water slide which was the biggest hit.  They had some fun games for the kids.  In one game, the teams had to thaw and put on a frozen t shirt.  That was pretty fun!  The food was excellent, and the family was so much fun to be around.  

Happy Fourth of July!

At the park

The Zoo

Fun family trip to the zoo!!

Grandma Great

Grandma great move into a retirement home right near our church building. We go visit her every Sunday after church. It has been a lot of fun spending more time with grandma great.

Kate's Kart

Kate's Kart is a non-profit organization in Fort Wayne that is based on a little girl that passed away in the hospital.  Her family began this organization in her name and in her honor.  They collect new books and take them to hospitals on karts to share with sick children.  They are a current customer of Simplx, and we have gotten to know the owner and mother pretty well.  We have donated to their cause in books (by the kids) and through monetary donations from Simplx.  The organization had a huge ice cream social event for which we sponsored.  The kids loved it.  There was so much to do for the kids.  There were kiddie rides, free ice cream for everyone, and music.  The kids especially enjoyed the rides and inflatable activities.  We were glad to have such an enjoyable time with Grandma & Grandpa at the festivities, and also to help sponsor such a neat cause.

IPFW Basketball Camp

Cooper participated in an IPFW Basketball camp on the IPFW college campus.  The facility was really neat, and the camp was superb.  The actual IPFW basketball team were the coaches and leaders for the day camp, so the kids got instruction straight from the players.  Cooper was really excited to go each day and be a part of such a neat organization.  He did drills, scrimmages, activities, and got to experience the college campus a little bit.  His friend from school, Jackson, happened to be in the camp as well. So that was fun for him to have a friend there that he already knew. 

IPFWs mascot is the mastadon.  It's actually a meaningful mascot to the Routsong family.  Bill Routsongs relative (either a cousin or an uncle) happened to find bones in his fields.  He had the IPFW geology and archeology department come out to look at the bones to see if they were of any importance.  He thought they could be dinosaur bones.  They turned out to be the skeleton of a mastadon.  The archeology department took the bones to study, and the mascot of the college became the Mastadons.  Somewhere on campus there is a dedication to Mr. Routsong from whose lands the mastadon had been discovered.  Pretty cool story!

One of the camp days, the Fort Wayne news channel came to do a story on the IPFW basketball team and share a little bit about the camp they put on for the community.  Cooper got in the background of one of the interviews and we saw him on TV!!  He was thrilled about this of course.  It was a great experience for him and he plans to be a part of the camp again next summer.

Preschool: Father's Theme

At Preschool we did a "Fathers" theme.  We talked all about fathers and what they do for us. The kids got to try on a tie, just like their daddies, and try on some of daddy's big button up shirts and long shoes.  The highlight was trying out shaving just like we see our dads do every morning.  The kids took shaving cream and rubbed it all over their chins and used a popsicle stick to try to "shave."  They wanted to do this over and over and over again.  They made gifts for Father's day to save until next month.  It was a lot of fun honoring our dads together!

Cousin Asher

Our nephew, Asher, got to come stay with us for a week.  The kids loved having him, their cousin, all week.  We had a lot of fun with him.  He joined right in with the big boys, his birthday being in between them.  They all got along pretty well.  They actually acted a lot like brothers, playing spies around the house, legos upstairs, bad guys & good guys, dress up, and running races outside.  Then they'd fight like brothers too.  They definitely bonded.  It is so much fun to watch these little boys grow up and spend time together.  I'm grateful for the fun and memories the kids created together this week.

Nathan 10 months

Nathan is 10 months old!!!!!!  Here are some fun things about Nathan at 10/11 months old:

1. New top middle tooth and right top tooth are growing in.  So he looks lopsided because only one side of top teeth are growing in.  It's adorable!

2. He stood up on his own on June 24.  

3. Focuses with tunnel vision.  He doesn't stop until his goal is reached.  Usually it is a goal like getting to mom's phone.  He keeps his eyes ahead and doesn't move his eyes till he gets there.  Its cute to see that nothing will distract him from his goal.  

Dawson's snowman

Dawson is obsessed with snowmen!  He loves them!  He always gets excited when he sees them and he always wants to make them.  He has made all different sorts of snowmen with paper, cotton, chalk, using different sized balls, using grapes, and anything else he can think up.  If I am sketching one for him, he will remind me of all the parts so that I don't forget anything.  It must have stick arms, hands, buttons, a carrot, a hat, and sometimes he will request mittens.  He is very particular about his snowmen.  So on this day he actually attempted a snowman all by himself.  This is his first snowman sketch.  He was so proud of this, it had to be preserved.  Love you Dawson!

Kaylee's Gymnastics

Kaylee has been doing gymnastics and she is loving it so much.  From the time she began 6 months ago till now, she has learned so much!  Her strength has improved and she finds she is able to do more and more skills each week as she puts forth effort.  She's really good at her spiderman handstands, her "make a pizza" back rolls, and swinging on the giant rope.  She loves going and asks every other day if it is Thursday yet.  She hasn't shown this much excitement for any other activity yet, dance, ballet, soccer, etc.  I'm excited to see her enjoy and learn in gymnastics.

Messy Games

The last day of school at Oak Farm is an annual "Messy Games" Day.  The kids come up with the messiest games they can think of and then parent volunteers help run lots of messy stations.  The kids come in swimsuits and are prepared to get more messy than ever!!  They had pies in their faces, bubble gum lost in whip cream they had to dig into with their mouths, jello hair-dos, water games, spaghetti games, and all kinds of unique games.  By the end of the games, kids were covered in ketchup, spaghetti, colorful rice krispies, jello, whip cream, donut crumbs, and soaking wet.  They were indeed a mess!!  The fire department came and opened up 3 different fire hydrants around the lower elementary and the kids could run through the huge spray and wash off some of the goo!  It was a memorable day and fun for the kids.  Its been a marvelous first year at Oak Farm.

Preschool Graduation

Kaylee had Preschool Graduation this week.  She did a Joy School type of preschool with several other friends.  Throughout the year, the group changed quite a bit.  Kids moved away, others joined.  And at the end of the school year she was left with a small group of 3 friends.  She loved preschool, though, and loved going to her friends houses to play.  Carter Coudron and Gregory Averill were her good little buddies.  They are proud little preschoolers!

Our Soccer Girl

Kaylee wanted to try out soccer too.  The Rex league has a clinic for 4 year olds that teaches drills and small scrimmages.  She asked every other day when she got to start soccer.  She surprised me with her confidence and fearlessness going out there with her little team.  She loved having shin guards and tall socks and a new ball.  She's so adorable out there.  She's really coming out of her she'll and wanting to experience things.  I'm so proud of her. It will be fun watching her learn throughout the season.

Tribute

Jaxton has been writing poetry at school.  He was home sick one day and when he started getting bored, I encouraged him to write a poem for his collection.  We were sitting on the carpet with Baby Nathan, who Jaxton adores, and he decided to write about his baby brother.  We talked about Nathans attributes and the things he does, and Jaxton put those thoughts together with some rhyme.  He came up with this final poem all by himself!  It is a sweet tribute to his littlest brother.  

Easter

This Easter happened to fall on General Conference.  It made it unique.  We went to conference Sunday morning after the kids found a giant Easter Basket on the front porch filled with spiritual goodies.  There were journals, new books about gospel topics and scripture characters.  There were stickers and religious games. A lot of things to keep the kids busy during sacrament meeting.  The big boys got new big kid ties and are learning how to tie them!   

The following Saturday we had the annual Easter egg hunt in Kendallville with all the cousins.  Of course the kids had a blast and it was all new for Little Dawson.  So much fun!