One more camp post

Here are a few more camp pictures. 

 We are blessed that most of our family comes and visits at some point during the summer. The kids love seeing them (and we do too, of course!).

 So glad Ezra has a boy cousin close to his age. Here are Ezra and Levi on their way to a sleepover at the cabin with Gramme.

 Gramme and all ten grandkids! These pictures are always so hard to coordinate but I always love the end result. Totally worth it!

 This isn't a camp picture, but Erin, Josh & the kids were driving back home from Lubbock right after we got back into town (I think?). Here are the grandkids from my side of the family.

Fall fun

It has been a fun fall so far! The school that I teach at had a fall festival a couple weeks ago, and the whole family went. Ezra got to play miniature golf, do a cake walk, get his face painted, and eat a caramel apple (among other things!)

 Sweet Hannah lived with us for a couple months while she was starting her new jobs and looking for a more permanent living situation. The kids loved having her around! She was the tickle monster.

 Lubbock has a Pumpkin Trail at the Garden & Arts Center where organizations and businesses from around town carve jack-o-lanterns and you just walk along the trail. Some of them are really good! Chad took the kids a couple nights ago while I was at bunco.

Maybe I can get all the halloween festivities posted about before Christmas!

This boy...

Ezra is so fun these days! We have our tough moments, mostly with not obeying as quickly as we would like for him to (getting sidetracked), but he is such a sweet boy. He's a good big brother and pretty polite. He is always saying "thank you, mama." I'd have to say age four is pretty good!

One thing that Ezra says pretty often is "What do I smell?" Usually in relation to something I'm cooking, followed by "I don't like ______."

 Another picture from camp...must have been twins day

 Still obsessed with superheroes. He bought this costume with his own money.

 Ahhh...the splinter. See how swollen his hand is! This was the first consultation, when the surgeon told us that surgery wouldn't be necessary. About a month later, when it hadn't gotten better, he went in and had a huge splinter taken out.

 Our son is very interested in drawing these days. We have lots of his artwork up on the walls around the house, so I guess he thought it would be a good idea to just draw directly on the wall. Thank goodness for mr. clean magic eraser! Pretty good cat though, huh?

 He's also a perfectionist. He was working on a poster for his pre-school, and he kept messing up (according to him). He started crying so we had to quit for a while and do something else. I wasn't going to have my kid crying about a silly poster! Poor baby!

 Cool new trick!

 Playing with his cap gun at camp

So Ezra is really loving drawing these days, being independent, saying he doesn't like food before he tries it, playing hide and go seek (but he really just likes to be the one that hides), playing with his little friends, and just having fun! Sweet boy.

This girl...

Ivy Noelle is just shy of two years old, and she is definitely showing it! She is so fun when she is happy, and she is so NOT fun when she is grumpy or not getting her way. She throws fits at the drop of a hat. She also loves to repeat every word we say, but her favorite words to say are "baby," "pass," "juice," "EAT," and "night night." While Hannah was living with us, Ivy and Ezra shared a room, and they were both troupers about it. Now Ivy is back in her own room, and we will put her in a big girl bed, get rid of the "pass," and potty train all in the next few months, most likely. Ivy started her first year of PDO this year since I started my new job, and she has transitioned nicely, with the exception of her tendency to bite her friends when they are doing something she doesn't like. She has learned how to say "STOP" while pointing her finger at whomever, or "no, no, no" in a sing-songy voice (that one is actually pretty cute). She also likes to shush her big brother when she thinks he's being too loud. Talk about pot calling the kettle black. She loves to dance, since, and play with Ezra. They play really well together for the most part, probably because Ezra is really good and patient with her 90% of the time. When Ivy wants to be held (which is often), she claps her hands twice and holds them up, because we always clap our hands twice before holding them out to pick her up. Also, I can't unload or load the dishwasher when she is in the vicinity. She is in to EVERYTHING!

Ivy is becoming a big girl. She sleeps on a nap mat at school and wants to do everything Ezra does, which gets her hurt sometimes. She is also showing a major interest in using the potty, so we are going to take advantage of that. If it doesn't work so well, we'll be back to diapers. :) 

Playing with baby

 Looking innocent

 A typical shot of these two. Ivy looking away/trying to get up, and Ezra saying "look at mama!"

 Her hair is getting so long!

 Ivy is our social girl. She will go to pretty much anyone, although she clings to me if she has the choice or if we are just at home. Here she is at the KPA fall festival with one of my sweet students.

 Sneak peek at the halloween costume...vintage ladybug

 The sun was too bright. Thanks for blocking it, bunny.

 Adorable in pigtails, overalls, and pink Chucks

 Super cool

 A few from the summer

Gotta go! She's awake.

Ezra is four...and three months!

Ezra turned four back in late July, but of course, we were at camp, and then we came home, and the next day I started a new job, and now I'm getting a chance to blog about it. Ezra and a friend had a combined birthday party this year at Dion's, a pizza place in town. We lucked out with our tour guide. He was from the home office in NM and was training the Lubbock employees on how to do a tour. He kept the kids laughing and even taught them a little French. They all got to wear superhero costumes and had a great time.

 Here are a couple of pictures from Ezra's actual birthday at the dining hall at camp. His fourth birthday to spend at CBH. Sounds like a pretty good birthday present to me!

Summer number four

The week after we came home from Boston, Chad and I were off to Blue Haven for the summer. The kids stayed back in Lubbock with some friends while we got things settled at camp. It was great to have the time to get lots of work done, but we were very ready to get the kids back...it had been almost two weeks that we had been away, with a couple days in between our trip to Boston and when we left for Blue Haven. The following pictures are some that we have taken during the past month. I'm glad it's part of our job at camp to take pictures, because otherwise I'm afraid we wouldn't have any at the end of the summer. 

Ivy on Bling Day

 Ivy found the wipes while she was supposed to be napping

 Uncle Joey cut Ezra's hair

 Chad and Ezra on Twins Day

 On a particularly hot half day hike day, while the campers were gone, we thought it'd be fun to turn the sprinklers on in Michael and Jan's yard. Ivy didn't think it was so fun.

 Ezra did, but the water was COLD!

 Reckless abandon

 Pretty nieces--we are so glad we get to spend summers with Chad's sister and her family. Most of our immediate family comes up at some point during the summer too, and for two weeks, all three of Chad's siblings and our families are together. It's great!

 Ezra and Norah LOVE each other. We decided last year that June and Ezra butt heads because they are a lot alike. These two are TROUBLE. Usually when I can't find Ezra, I know he's with Norah, and vice versa. Norah has the sweetest, tiniest little voice and says his name "Ess-wuh" and it is so cute.

 Ivy with her Bling on Bling Day

 Getting creative with olives

 Seriously creepy. I am married to one of these people. Hard to tell which here. That is Chad's older sister Emily on the left. They really do look a lot alike in real life, but this is just crazy.

 Pretty sure Ezra has had a beard for all three twins days

 Riley and Ivy as twins

 Ezra before pre-camper talent show skit--they said Psalm 23

 Nerd day!

 I am so glad we found each other.

 How BLUE are you? day

 Chad has the nickname "Taco Chad" that the campers shout during the talent show. I think it's cause he wore a taco costume at some point last year. Anyway, it stuck, and here's the costume again. First session calls him Turtle Chad because he wore a black turtleneck when he emceed the talent show. Funny how things become "tradition."

 Crazy hat and hair day. Funny enough, I got lots of compliments on this 'do. I think I will wear my hair like this when I start my new job. The English teacher is supposed to be weird.

 We love the cooks! And they love Ezra. They made him a special cookie and he felt very loved.

 See? Trouble.

 We are having a great time this summer. It finally started raining which means much cooler weather, and we hope, campfires and opening up the National Forest for hiking at some point. We are enjoying time with family and friends and just being a part of this ministry. Ezra is really having a blast this year and gets a bit more independence than he has had in the past. He loves playing with his cousins and friends who come to visit. Ivy is growing up. She toddles everywhere now, and in true toddler fashion, shrieks "NO!" when you are not doing her bidding. She is mostly very sweet, adorable, and laid back, but she has her moments. She still doesn't talk much, but can understand pretty much everything we say, and responds with a subtle shake or nod of the head. She has learned "If you're happy and you know it" and can point to her cheeks and smile big, as in, she's happy and she knows it and her face surely shows it. She has started combining this with the sign for "please" when she wants something, so she signs "please" and then puts her pointer fingers to her cheeks and smiles really big. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Ezra is so fun these days, except when he doesn't want to listen or do what we say, but MOST of the time he is sweet and pretty obedient and polite too. Like I mentioned in the earlier blog post, he enjoys Star Wars, especially "Return 'to' the Jedi," and still has fun wearing capes and dressing up.

That's about it for now. Thanks for reading.