Here's her first!

So, Kemiah finally had a loose tooth. She kept asking me to pull it but it wasn't loose enough. Finally when it was loose enough, I told her to pull it herself. What a great mom I am! She told me she didn't know how, so I told her to get a tissue, grab onto the tooth with the tissue, and pull. She only had to try it twice and the very loose tooth came out. She was so proud of herself, and very excited that she had lost her first tooth! Way to go!

 

Before she pulled her tooth, she wanted me to take a picture of her doll, Charlie. I told her I wanted her in the picture as well, so here she is with her little baby!

Only camping trip this year

We decided we needed to make a trip (not that we haven't been doing a lot of traveling as it is) but this would be a camping trip. Fortunately, we have friends in our ward who have some land with a little lake. And, fortunately, they let anyone use it. So we packed up, and drove out to enjoy us some camping! We were able to have the company of Steve and Tamara, and of course their dog! (They just moved back to town and we are so excited!) We had some dinner, played in the lake, had some smores, and used the tent that was already set up. Kevin, Domonique, Harmonie and I slept in the cabin. (Steve and Tamara went home - she's getting close to her due date with their first baby!) It was such a fun little evening!

I didn't take any pictures of Saturday. The kids out in the tent woke up before those of us in the cabin. They played on the beach and had a good time. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast or sausages and biscuits. Then we all got into our swimsuits and enjoyed the lake all morning long! We had a really great time. We ate lunch and packed up and went home. What a wonderful little trip! We should do that more often!

Domonique's 3rd Birthday

(This is only a month late but posted on the actual date.)
There are some things that have become traditions for our family. July 4th, is one of them. We have celebrated Domonique's birthday in very similar ways each year.

• Kevin and the Fabulous Five do some work gathering wood in the morning.
• We go swimming at a friend's pool.
• We enjoy a family party with Grandma and Grandpa Nichols.
• We stay up late to watch the fireworks down by the river.

This year was no different.

• The wood didn't take very long.
• We went to the pool after lunch, and it was really cold water! We all had a great time.
• The party was fun - she was so excited that it was her birthday.
• We found a great spot for our little family to watch the fireworks. Domonique didn't like the noise.

Harmonie loved the water and really enjoyed it.

Kemiah worked on swimming without floaties.

Domonique preferred to stay on the deck.

She kept trying to get back into the water on her own.

 

Ben found the best way to warm up without getting your towel soaking wet.

He kept going back in for more.

We ate dinner there, sandwiches with fruit, chips, and cheese sticks. We headed home and passed Grandma and Grandpa Nichols because we were late. They turned around and we celebrated. Domonique seriously asked for a purple triangle cake, so that's what she got.

She looks so excited in this one.

Maybe because she knew it was special.

This is a "little one" (a small blanket) that

Emily crocheted for Domonique. She loves it.

(So does Harmonie.)

LeapPad letters. She knew what to do.

She loves just listening to it sing the alphabet song.

Kevin bought all the kids light-up bracelets. So fun!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Domonique's birthday! She is such a sweet little thing. Still a Momma's girl but so spunky and happy. She loves her guys (siblings) and is becoming so independent. She loves to help and is really learning so much!

Happy Independence Day, too!

The End

Wednesday (6/26) my oldest sister and her family packed up their car and headed home. I helped Grammy pack up all our stuff at the Yellow House and we took it back to her house. I tried not to unpack any of my stuff because I knew we'd be leaving the next day. The kids were great helpers (they didn't have anything else to do). I spent the day doing laundry and packing the car and setting up the movie stuff, so we'd be ready to leave the next day.

Thursday we made the drive home. I left later than I had wanted but it all worked out just fine. We made it home safely, and Kevin was ready with ice cream. The kids sat down for "dinner" and when they saw the bowls of ice cream they were NOT excited. Ben said, "Can I have pizza instead?" After a day of eating snacks, crackers, etc, they were ready for real food. We thought it was funny and will have to remind them often about how they really don't want ice cream for dinner every night.

We had such a nice visit with my parents and family. I'm so glad that we are able to get together and I hope it continues so that we can strengthen our family relationships. I'm sad that one family missed out but hopefully they'll be able to come to the next one. Love you guys!

Terrific Tuesday

Tuesday was filled with lots of activities. I was a little worried about having Domonique get her hair cut because I'm so afraid of loosing the curls. I ended up having her hair trimmed but not very much. Fortunately, the curl is still there.

 

My oldest sister had lots of activities for the kids Tuesday afternoon. The first one was egg shell painting. She had been very diligent at cleaning out a dozen egg shells, letting them dry, and then putting paint inside them. 

 

 

 

 

 

The second activity was a snowball fight. Well, sort of. We mixed shaving cream with corn starch and split the cousins into three groups. They each got a bowl of the stuff that they could make into balls and throw at each other in their group. Why groups? We've got quite the age range so we wanted the littler kids together, then the middle kids, then the older kids. I think it worked out nicely.

 

We decided we may have over mixed the stuff because it wasn't packing together like it should have. Maybe the kids and I will have to try this again at home and see what happens.

Of course, after you make a mess like this you have to use the hose to rinse off. And bowls, buckets or whatever you can find that holds water. And I'm sure no one is surprised at how willing everyone was to rinse someone else off.

The third activity was a little tricky. The kids were supposed to tie balloons to their ankles and then try to pop each others balloons by stepping on them. Unfortunately, the balloons popped when the kids went into the grass. So we moved to the cement patio on the other side of the house, but we were a little afraid of kids getting hurt. Fortunately, no one did. None of the younger kids wanted their balloons popped but they were very ready to pop someone else's balloon. Strange.

You might say that was a full afternoon! And it certainly was but that was not the end of our activities. Before dinner we found a nodder. She just couldn't stay awake any longer, but wouldn't go to sleep in her bed.

After dinner, my younger sister and her kids headed home (she needed to get home for appointments and packing and moving stuff) so we all gave hugs and kisses and saw them off. Then my oldest sister had another activity for my kids - making wands. They took a trip to my parents house to find better sticks and then came home to decorate them.

And that was not all, oh that was not all. My sister and her family wanted to see Vocal Point so my kids, and Grammy, joined them. I stayed home with a sleeping Domonique and Harmonie. I must say it was kind of scary to be in that big house, in an unfamiliar city, all alone. I tried to keep busy (working on my wand, cleaning up and so forth) but it was still very hard not to get a little paranoid. They kids all had a nice time and everyone was happy when they returned home.

It was truly a full day of fun, family and activity! Thanks for such a great time!

Here's a picture of our finished wands. Well, they are not quite all finished, since the kids left for the concert and came home late but this is what we have. I am missing Xiomara's because it got broken and may have gotten thrown out, even though I wanted to keep it. Anyway...

From left to right: Ben, Kemiah, Emily, Marissa, and mine.
Marissa's is the least completed because she ended up burning her finger on the hot glue gun and went to the concert. My is complete, because I didn't go to the concert. We don't really play with them or anything. Mine stays in my car just to remind me... well, of whatever I want to be reminded of. It was fun.