Fun Saturday

This Saturday our friends, Luke and Rockie invited us to go to the Science Museum with them downtown. Not only was the museum free, but there was lots of parking available - all of which was free - we could not believe this!
It was so fun! The boys were SO excited about everything - I was kindof surprised. They especially loved the dinosaur bones. From the outside of the building you could look up high and see a skeleton through the windows. They thought that was great. I'm sure I came here as a kid on field trips - but I think they have redone it all. We didn't get a chance to see everything so I'm sure we'll go back.
Then we went outside (into the 100+ degrees!) to eat our picnic lunch. and THEN we got to eat ice cream at McDonalds in the air conditioning :)
Such a fun day!

Getting Over Our Fears

My boys are not typically afraid of things (not more than a typical kid anyway) since moving here they developed a few fears. Bugs and water. Now these are not surprising since in WA there are not very many bugs and swimming is not as common an activity. At this point they don't love bugs but they are not terrified and it's easy to walk them through a bug situation without them panicking. As for the water I'm fine with them having a healthy fear of water but they need to not be terrified. We got a large pool that is around a foot deep for the back yard and they LOVE it. I think it is a helpful transition to a real pool. We still need to have life jackets or something which are kind of scary on their own. I'll hopefully be able to do swimming lessons for them next summer.
Kylie is a different story. She's got some crazy fears (all relating to movement) and I have no idea where they came from. She's doing MUCH better though. Some have gone away completely. For instance, the sweeper - she even helps me now. Some things now we can just talk her through and she's willing to calm down. The swing is still a little iffy but she's willing to "let" others swing if we talk her through it. I'm fine with her not wanting to swing. The black chair at our house was the first thing and it looks like it will be the last. We've gotten her fine with us sitting in it but no rocking! Just tonight when she got upset I asked her to help me rock so she came and pushed me and thought that was great. I think we are on our way out of that one. She's so silly.
I will not ignore my kids fears or brush them off. Kids are aloud to be afraid. However.... We really need to work through most of them so they aren't afraid of them forever! Thankfully, we are making progress!

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Kylies first pony tail

She is not a fan

this is a test

At the Beth Moore Conference

Good friends

Watching veggie tales

Jackson and I are working on our computers

Dancing

I dont' know what came over Jaden, but here he is. Terrible quality as it was taken on Jared's phone. Pardon Kylie, she got sauce on her shirt.....

Swimming

The next one was taken on Jared's phone :)

A morning at Shelley Lake

Cute Kylie

Cars 2

Boys first movie theater experience... Cars 2! Yay!

Happy Fourth of July!

And.... The power is out

July 4th

And we used to complain about the rain in Washington on July 4th
(where it is currently beautiful) we've got buckets of rain and look
at that wind!

High school pals

Love these 2! They were in their sisters wedding that night which is
why they were so matchy and I was the odd one out. Not to mention ....
Look how WHiTE I am! This was not too long after we moved here.

Friends

Friends from back in the day. Fun to catch up at their sisters wedding
(which is why they match outfits). Notice how white I was. I hadn't
been here that long....

Charlotte

Last week we went to visit my brother's family in Charlotte. We had a great time. Jared had never been to their current home and we haven't gotten to see them much over the years (looking forward to more of that!)

Wednesday we took our time driving down and "shopping" then spent the evening with them.

Thursday the moms and kids went to the park in the morning while Ben worked and Jared had a phone interview. Then we hung out at home and in the evening had dinner at Chris and Melody's house! Melody is one of my dearest friends from years ago and it's so great to see her again!

Friday we went to a spray park. There were a billion people there (which Emily had never seen before) and kids kept coming by the busload. Ellie had fun. Kylie had fun but didn't get too wet and I was constantly terrified of her being trampled (lots of kids running top speeds not paying any attention). Jackson had fun but didn't get super wet. Jaden did not. He FINALLY got the courage to go in there and got totally knocked down by some kid immediately. So he pouted a bit. Finally he said " I wanted to go to the other one and its like, time for lunch" Shortly after we went right around the corner to a really cool playground. The kids had a great time then we all relaxed at home while the kids napped and Ben fixed yummy ribs for dinner. Saturday we were able to get free tickets to the Raptor Center (a rescue place for birds essentially) . The kids thought that was great and got up close to many birds. There was a small ant problem, but thankfully, Emily and I were the only ones that got bitten. :) And we had to play it cool really well because Jackson was analyzing us. One false move and our morning would have been over. They loved it though.

That night it was off to church and seeing where Ben works. I had been there before but I don't think Jared had. It was fun. Reminds me a little of CTK.

Left after breakfast on Sunday and took our time. We spent a long time at IKEA (where the kids got free kids meals!) and wished we could buy alot ;) Made some stops on the way home and didn't get there till dinner time. We are all tired.

We had a great time and Ben, Emily, and Eliie were great hosts! Emily is a wonderful cook and I think we ate them out of house and home!

The kids were all so cute together. Our kids loved everyone which was good and even the two girls were starting to grin at each other and interact a bit towards the end. Kylie even gave Uncle Ben a hug before we left which was very good progress!

Here are some pictures...

BBQ

We had a BBQ at Umstead Park with my parents and had a great time. Despite the fact it was thunderstorming. Didn't really hardly rain though. But it was pretty dark. Here are some pictures....

Free kids meals at ikea today!