More cousins

My sister, Stephanie, just moved from North Carolina this week. Since Steph lived so far away before I hadn't seen her or her kids in about 2 years. Now they will only be about 3 hours away from us and I am so excited to have a someone from my family live within driving distance. My mom, Steph, and her 3 kids came to visit for a few a days to help pass some of the time while they waited for all of their stuff to arrive at their new house. (McKay is driving the moving truck across the country with his Dad).

Isaac and Ian were pretty excited to see Max and Renee and they got along really well. Ian and Renee are about the same age and it was fun to see them play together. (Logan and Izzie didn't make it in the picture.)

One of the days they were here, we went to a fun park. My kids call it the 'castle park' because the playground is so big and resembles a castle. If it wasn't so HOT we might have stayed a little longer. Afterwards we went to McDonald's to get some cool drinks and snacks.

It was so fun having everyone come visit, even if it was just for a few days. At least we know that we can come visit each other more often now.

Rolling over

Isabelle officially rolled over for the first time today. She has been really close for quite a while, she just couldn't quite get her legs all the way over. She finally did it this morning and, of course, it was while I wasn't watching. I was sitting right by her and got up to put some things away in the kitchen. When I came back she was on her tummy. At least I had the camera handy to get a picture of this momentous occasion.

Cousins

A few of Rian's siblings and their families came to town for a family reunion this next week. Isaac and Ian were really looking forward to seeing their cousins, Sara and Garrett. Sara LOVES babies and wanted to hold Isabelle every chance she got. Ian and Garrett were having fun on the swings.It's always fun to see family and get together. We were only missing Russ, Erica and Alice, and Kayleen.

4 Months Old

I feel like this last month has gone by faster than the others. Isabelle is 4 months old now and I can't emphasize enough that she is such a HAPPY baby. You just look into her eyes and she will smile and get so excited and it's hard not to smile or get excited right back. This last month Izzie has really started playing with and sucking on her hands. It is so cute when she gets her fingers or even her thumb in her mouth. She is also starting to grab on to things better and, of course, whatever she can grab she puts in her mouth. Usually the most convenient and easiest thing for Izzie to grab and suck on is the dress or shirt she is wearing at the time. Izzie is also starting to laugh and be more 'vocal'. I think she has the cutest little voice.

Swim Lessons

Isaac has been doing swim lessons for the past two weeks and he has really enjoyed it. We signed him up for the private lessons so there was only two kids with the instructor. It was just what Isaac needed for his first official swim lesson. (Yeah, I know I am a slacker mom for not signing him up sooner) If I would have know that Isaac would enjoy it so much I would have signed him up for more lessons before they were all full. Isaac's swimming instructor was Heather. She was so patient and good with Isaac. By the end of these 2 weeks Isaac was making some real progress and really trying things on his own. Now, if we can sign up for some more lessons at the high school during this fall and winter, he'll be all set for swimming next year. The class for Ian's age group was full, but he wasn't going to be left out. There was no stopping him from getting in the water, too. We just made him stay close by where Rian and I were sitting watching Isaac's lesson. Ian considered this his own swim lesson. We put Izzie's feet in the water and at first she didn't know what to think. She pulled her feet up right away a couple of times, but then she liked it and was really interested.

4th of July

Here are a few highlights from our 4th of July... First, we went to visit Rian's dad at the hospital, since he was going to be there all night. Isaac and Ian enjoyed seeing grandpa at work. We took a family picture in front of the hospital before we left. (That is a fountain behind Rian's head.)We took some more pictures of the kids with grandma and grangpa. For some reason the kids weren't very cooperative and nobody was looking in the right direction. Then we went back to Rian's parents' house for a barbecue with his mom. Boy, did Isaac and Ian enjoy their hamburgers. Even though the hamburgers were pretty big, they both ate the whole thing. We were all able to squeeze together on the kid's picnic table pretty well. Overall, it was a nice and relaxing day. We finished off the evening with our own private mini-fireworks show in the backyard. (I forgot to get pictures of the fireworks.) The kids and I watched Rian put on the fireworks from inside the tent set up for the boys to camp out in. Isabelle and I slept inside of course.

Isabelle

I finally moved Isabelle into her own room yesterday. I've actually had the boys moved into their new room and the crib set up in Izzie's room for a few weeks now. I just wasn't in a big hurry to move Isabelle out of my room for some reason. Since the sheets in her bed in my room were dirty last night I decided to go ahead and put her to sleep in her "new" room. She's always been a good sleeper and she seemed to really like her new bed. Isabelle woke up so happy this morning. She even got so excited when she saw us come to get her out of bed. Rian brought her back to our room this morning and he had so much fun playing with his little girl. I think Izzie enjoyed having some fun time with daddy, too.