Balloon Festival

We went to a balloon festival in Readington NJ this last Saturday.  We had to get up at 4 am because the balloons took off at 6:30 am and it was about an hour away.  The kids slept the whole way which is always nice.  It was a very hot humid day...even at 6:30 in the morning.  I don't think the kids really knew what to expect until the balloons started rising from the ground.  It was an amazing site to see so many of them.  They also had some sky divers which was cool to see.  I think our favorite balloon was the barn one and Annie's favorite was the pink one....if there is anything pink it's always her favorite.  Unfortunately, not long after they started going off the wind picked up a little bit and they said that if the wind is even 10 mph then the balloons can't take off.  So a lot of the large special shaped balloons didn't make it up.  We kept rooting for the flag balloon which was almost all the way done when the wind kind of blew it around and it had to go down.  It was kind of sad.  I'm sure it's a lot of work for them to put those balloons up and then not be able to take off would be difficult.  But we had a great time and when we got home we all took a nice long nap since we had woken up so early.  It was a fun morning.

Play Kitchen Phase 2- Rebuild

Okay, so I have a problem.  I start too many projects at one time and so it takes me forever to finish something.  I've been poking along on this kitchen for months now.  I actually cut the hole for the sink, faucet and oven door a while ago and also reinforced the shelves.  Then I finally put on the back panel and started painting.  I just need to get moving and finish it up.  I don't think anyone would ever want to hire me to build anything, unless they wanted to wait a year for it.  ;)  I've also discovered I'm not a very good painter.  I don't think I have the patience for the time it takes to make it look just perfect, so if you come over don't look too closely at my paint job.  ;)

The first shelf is going to be the oven so I'm going to paint it a dark gray color like the inside of an oven.  The oven door isn't on yet...it will look much better once it is. :)

15 minute project

I like projects that come up quickly since with 4 kids I rarely have more than 15 minutes before someone needs something (ie. food, diaper change, reading, playing, etc.)  Annie was asking for a crown today so I made this one up with felt and jewels since I have a ton of them.  I love it when she wants girly things especially since lately the boys have been on a real Rescue Heroes kick and Annie usually joins in the fun.  I frequently hear, " It's GO time!  Think like a Rescue Hero. Think Safe."  It  sounds extra cute coming from Annie. :)

9 months old

Jacob is 9 months old and really starting to come alive.  It seems that when they start crawling they really start to get more of their personality and opinions.  Jacob is still generally a happy, content baby.  He does have a funny growl that comes out when he's mad or hungry.  It's actually kind of cute though.  At his 9 month appointment he was at the 50% mark for height and weight and 95% for head....so he's definitely one of our kids.  We think their large heads just make them look very smart and authoritative. :)  He still has no hair, but that's also par for the course with our kids.  The funniest thing is that he has 8 teeth already...yes, 8!!!  All my kids get their teeth on the early side, but Jacob has 4 large top teeth that give him the cutest grin in the world.  We just love our little bug and I can't believe he's going to be a year old pretty soon. 

You can see his teeth in this video.

He is crawling all over the place.  I forgot how hard it is to keep crawlers out of everything.

Hill Cumorah Pageant

Last weekend we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra New York.  We've been up to Palmyra several times to see the church sites but never during pageant time so this was a first for us.  Our friends, the Crabtree's were there as well so we sat together and had a good time.  We got there 3 hours early and got pretty good seats.  The kids were troopers even though we were there for so long.  They all enjoyed the show, except Christopher got a little scared during all the fire and Abinadi getting burned at the stake.  Through a child's eye's you realize that the Book of Mormon is a little scary sometimes. :)  My favorite was Annie saying, "Mom, they said commandments.  We have commandments!"  They all enjoyed the scene where Jesus comes down to the Nephites.    We went to church the next day, then walked through the Sacred Grove and then drove home.  All in all, it was a fun trip.

This Nephite was named Jacob too!

Cheesy Annie

4th of July in Secaucus

Apparently Secaucus always does their 4th of July celebration a couple of day before the 4th, which we were grateful for this year since it falls on a Sunday and we would be at church.  They opened the town pool for free and had live entertainment, tons of free food and fireworks at the end.  It was lots of fun.  It just wouldn't be the 4th of July without some fireworks.  I was surprised at what a big show they put on for a small town.  Unfortunately Jeff had to work and missed it, but we drove to a spot in Secaucus on the 4th and watched the Macy's fireworks as a family.

Their first experience with cotton candy...they liked it!

Don't worry, I didn't really let him eat the this whole piece of chicken by himself, even though he could have.

Dancing to the music