COUNTY FAIR con't.

What made this day even better was friends and family! We met a couple friends from church, Livia and Janice, to go through the petting zoo around 4pm, and then later we met my sister-in-law, Lori, and her family to have some food and visit the animals again. It was an amazing time to have all the cousins together, and spend time with family. Not to be too cheesy, but they are going to some of our best memories.


Cousins, Kate and Ava. Kate gets soooooo excited when she get to see her cousins.

Cousins again.
William and Ava are really starting to play a lot. Now that she's older, he has another partner in crime. They even kept holding hands to stay together at the fair.

Nathan along for the ride.

And of course, snow cones! It seems to be a Mom, William, Kate thing. We LOVE snow cones and slushies.

The COUNTY FAIR!

I LOVE the fair. Growing up, I went to the fair every year. I love looking at the animals, seeing what kids are learning in 4-H, and reminiscing about growing up in the country (though I did not do 4-H). I hope to pass that appreciation of green pastures and fields on to my family. So far, so good, although William is still not convinced that he would want to live in the country because there are bugs and poison ivy. He isn't sure he would like to raise certain animals either because they smell. :)


Two cute kids at the petting zoo.

Kate kept seeing what she thought was people feeding the animals dirt. Here, she decided the animal would like some straw. Other times, she would put her hand in the dirt and hold them up to the animals. Since they were used to people holding out their hands with food, the animals would fall for it every time, thinking that Kate had food for them. Kate just thought that was what you were supposed to do. :)

They had some really neat animals at the petting zoo - a zebra, llamas, lemurs, but this was probably the best - a kangaroo with a joey in its pouch. The first time we went to see them, all we could see was a foot and a tail hanging out. The second time we went around, William caught the joey poking its head out of the pouch. I even thought this was neat. I have never seen it before.

William found a hissing goose. For some reason, I couldn't get him to stand any closer...

Swimming Lessons, Level 2

To me, swimming is super important. It's one of the only bad dreams I have on occasion - trying to keep William and Kate from going underwater. William is learning, with lots of room for practice. :) He is a little nervous going in the deeper parts of the pool, and cannot let go of his nose for anything! The really fun thing was, we were able to sign up with a couple good friends from church, George and Carson. He has had a great time, and is a lot more comfortable in the water. We also went to McDonald' s Playland to celebrate. Next summer, lessons again! Maybe we'll get in a few more weeks since we won't have to schedule around a new baby... :)

Goofy William.

William and girl sitting on lilypad.

Bunch of friends at McD's!

Here is the new addition to our family! Nathan was born on June 23, 8 lbs. 6 oz., 19 inches long, actually our smallest baby yet. He seemed so tiny to us, especially when he was in the 7 lbs. We even had to use newborn diapers... :) Kate loves having a real baby around, and loves putting all her babies and stuffed animals in his car seat, bouncer, and swing. The buckles are always buckled (Lori!). William is a proud older brother, but isn't really impressed with him yet. He doesn't have that many tricks. I know as he gets bigger and more interesting we'll have a hard time getting him away from William as well.

Baby Nathan

Kate and Nathan

Beautiful kids

Big brother William and Nathan

Taking a breather.

Still friends, even when playing against each other. :)

A cold spring game, but cute as a bug.

Well, I have to apologize. It has been AGES since I have last posted anything on here, but I do want to give it another go. I'm hoping that as I get more and more pregnant (due Jun. 23), that I will have lots of time to sit around and either scrapbook or blog... :) We'll see.

So, I guess this is soccer mom continued. William is in his 2nd season playing Eudora soccer, and he has really turned up the heat. Last year, he was working on getting the hang of the game, and scored a total of 2 times for that season. This year, William has an average of 2-3 goals per game, with a record of 4. (I have felt bad for some of the teams he has played. He and another kid on his team just really go after it with a couple blowouts of 11-0, and 7-0.) We all have fun going to his games and practices as a family. Kevin is even helping out from time to time running practices with the coach. So, for now we continue on.