The love of a kiddie pool

This summer, I do not know how we would have survived without the beloved kiddie pool. Or I guess I should say, how would Mitch have survived? The boy just loves the thing, rain or shine, hot or cool, his favorite activity was to go crazy with the pool and the water hose. And his favorite water is the icy cold stuff straight from the faucet. So today, as summer is starting to feel a little more fallish, I realized we did not have any video of my favorite stunt of his in the kiddie pool, so I decided not only to record, but to share. These kids change so fast and we all know that by next spring Mitch will be on to different antics and the move will be lost forever. Now, I wonder what we are going to replace the kiddie pool with this winter????

Preschool already?

So Amelia started preschool last week.

She was so cute and all ready to go to school. It is so scary how fast these little ones grow up!

Montanta, oh how we love you!

Okay, really we just really love the PARTAINS!

What a fun time we had spending the Labor Day weekend with Tammy, Seth, Isaac and Silas!

Amelia teaching Isaac a few desirable stunts!

Uncle Seth teaching Isaac and Amelia the benefits of electronic gadgets (ipods no less).

Can Drew's legs really be that much longer? I know this isn't the greatest picture, but the point is to show the difference in these two little boys. I mean Drew is 4 weeks YOUNGER than Silas and yet I think his legs are 4 inches longer!

BEST OF ALL MY BIRTHDAY!

And one of the best parts of my weekend....my birthday! And even better was getting to celebrate with the gang! It was 9 years ago that I think I last got to spend my birthday with Tammy & Seth!

The kids are really lovin' all 34 candles on that delicious cake! Talk about a fire hazard!

Sleep Over!

We had a 2 night sleep over with Bryn and Aleksia while their mom and dad took a well deserved 10th anniversary trip! 5 kiddos all ages 4 and under was busy but a lot of fun! Of course...this was the best picture I could get of 4 of 5 at once, and it still isn't great thanks to Amelia's sadness about something. Over all, the kids all did great, they played hard, slept soundly and all just enjoyed the weekend.

And at one point, we even had a princess ball going on. Notice how the girls rotate the dresses around.

Mitch also tried to get in on some of the action....but over all wasn't terriably interested. He just wanted to tackle the girls.

Paint!

Yes, we finally painted the house! Well, okay, we didn't actually do the painting, but we picked the colors, does that count for anything???

I know, you are all so sad to see the beautiful teal paint gone. I mean after 7+ years, who wouldn't miss it.....

Oh...where has the summer gone?

Yes, it has been just over 2 months since we last posted a Haechrel update! WOW! Where does the summer go?
SO....instead of backtracking, I am going to try and leave my perfectionist behaviors behind and just start with what pictures I can round up. It is really, really hard!



We have had lots of fun playing in the backyard.....





And we even had a rainy day where we did some running in the rain and had lunch on the porch while the thunder crashed all around us.

Amelia has learned how to feed Drew baby food, she is quite the helper for sure! And Drew loves all the attention he gets from her.

And really, Drew just likes to eat and eat and eat.

Fun pictures

Mitch + Underware + Marker covered body parts + Sunglasses + Princess shoes

=

great picture for mom to share with future girlfriend (and everyone in-between)

Cutie little Drew, smiling as always!

Amelia dressed up as a princess.

Mitch as a bumble-bee.

And he insisted that the shorts be hiked up under the costume,

showing the entire length of his leg.