Goodbye Summer Days

We only have a few days left and our days of laying by the pool all afternoon are done. Both kids will be back to school next week and our daily routines will be back to rigid schedules. But, to be honest, I think we are all ready for it!

We had a great summer: pools, play dates, family time, hikes in the wilderness and lots of time in the boat. Last week we took our yearly trip to the cabin! We had a couple good days of weather as well as a couple rainy days, but yet enjoyed our time like we always do! Benton mentioned yesterday that he really misses "the sun rising down on the 'platoon'" aka the sunset on our friends pontoon! If you ask Kynzley what her favorite part of the week was she'll quickly answer with "the stand up jet ski"! The girl will try anything!!! She did awesome and had a blast!

Lakewood Resort

2018

After a great week at the cabin we headed home to have the weekend to recuperate and get ready for ..... deep breath ..... Benton to start school! Ahhh!! Yes! Benton started school this past Monday. They don't stay little long and Benton has kindly reminded me of that. He headed off to 4K on Monday and I'm pretty sure next week we'll be moving him into college. He was so excited to start and when the day came he ran right into his classroom and was ready to learn. When I picked him up he said he had a great day, made new friends and even played cops and robbers on the playground. We are excited to see how much he grows this year!

4K

Christ St. Johns West Salem, WI

Aug. 27, 2018

The last of summer randoms:

Girls Night!

My beautiful niece graced the stage at the Miss Onalaska pageant

2018 

More cousins came to visit for the weekend

Becca, Benton, Owen, Kynzley, Nora and Inga

August 2018

Summer Drama Camp

Clowns

Summer Time and The Livin' is Easy

We've been having a great summer! Between activities, pool days, play dates and company, August showed up fast! It's hard to believe that in just a couple weeks Benton will be starting school followed by Kynzley. I have a feeling that August is going to sadly fly by!

Kynzley is still a fish in the pool and this summer has perfected her flips off the diving board! She also LOVES diving to the bottom of the deepest part of the pool. Her gymnastics has continued through the summer, it's been fun watching her make so many gains! This past weekend Kynzley experienced a first!!!! She headed to bible camp for a couple days & nights. When we picked her up she was not ready to leave and had so much fun! It's been such a joy to watch her grown in faith over the last year!

Benton also had a first this summer! He also got to attend bible camp, but closer to home and only for a couple hours in the mornings :) He enjoyed it so much - he was bummed at the end of the week when it wrapped up. Benton has also been a fish this summer! His swimming this year has gotten so strong! Some of our local pools allow floaties, but most of them don't. Benton loves to jump in the pool - over and over again! When we are at the pools that do not allow floaties we have always made him practice swimming back the wall on his own. In the beginning he wasn't a fan, but as the summer has gone on and he realizes how much more independent he can be he has worked super hard on getting his swimming down! It was tested a couple weeks ago and the boy proved he has it. We spent the day swimming at my parents house - which we have done a thousand times before! Benton cannot touch the bottom of the pool and wears his floaties so he can keep up with his sister and cousin, Kenna. After a little snack break everyone ran back into the pool area and jumped in a fast as they could....including Benton....without floaties! All of us adults were sitting there and watched him jump (it happened so fast non of us could even get "stop" out of our mouths). He jumped in, went under further than usual and realized that he didn't have his floaties on. He didn't panic and swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out. He looked at us knowing "oops" but then had a big smile like that was the coolest thing ever! This past weekend he showed us he knows how to tred water!

We've also enjoyed our local fair, the yearly summer trip to Wisconsin Dells and the company from the cousins from up north. We have a full August planned and then boom - school starts!

Typcial Kynzley - always reading

Hanging out on the river with us!

Wisconsin Dells 2018

Livin' the life

A night at the La Crosse Loggers Game

Lucy vs Brutus

Halle, Kynzley, Eva, Benton, Harmon and Lucy

Summer 2018

Movie night with the cousins

While sis was away Benton ate up the alone! He is all ready for school to start!

Sugar Creek 2018 

There's nothing better than growing your faith with two of your best friends!

After three days it was pick up time!!

Camp counselor Hannah 

They survived!

"I'm 4 now!" & Father's Day

"Today is the oldest you've ever been and the youngest you'll every be!"

Benton is officially four! I believe we have been counting down this day since Kynzley's birthday. The closer we got to the actual date the more people around us became aware of how old he was and how old he would be turning and how many days until the big birthday! Since his birthday he's always excited to hear "and how old are you?", he loves answering back right away with "I'm four now! I had my birthday!"

This past weekend we had his big party! Boy oh boy did we have the hardest time finalizing a party theme..... this kid had lots of ideas! FINALLY he decided he wanted an emoji theme party, in the garage, with all his friends (just like Kynzley) and there had to be a pinata. I think we nailed his dream! We had his favorite food - subway sandwiches, lots of sweet treats, a pinata, so many friends running around and a gift table overflowing. At the end of the night he thanked me numerous times and let me know that he had a great party! Melt my heart!!

This past year Benton has made so many positive changes and has shown growth in so many ways!
Fun Benton Facts:
- Nicknamed 'Mr. Handsome' at church
- Known at a few places for his hair - not his name, but his hair
- Has become comfortable (FINALLY) being away from mom!
- Sport of choice: Soccer,  close second: Gymnastics
- Loves clothes, shoes and lookin' good!
- If he doesn't like your outfit or think it looks "right" he will tell you and help you change. If he thinks you look good he tells you "that suits you"!
- Benton has a hair stylist that he routinely loves to go see. He always makes sure to look his best "Mom, do you think she'll like my outfit today?"
- Has started wanting to have "adult" conversations. "Tell me about your day", "what did you have for lunch?", "what are your plans for this week?"
- Surprises us daily with what he knows academically. Example: While out birthday party shopping he picked out some squishy toys that he wanted to add to his loot bags (yes he uses the word loot instead of gift bag lol). I said "no problem, but there are only four in that package we are going to need more." Without skipping a beat he grabbed another bag and said "okay, this makes 8 and (while grabbing another one) this makes 12. That's all we need." I guess he has counting by fours down no problem!
- Pushes Kynzley's buttons all day everyday, but yet she's nice enough to give in to him
- Loves swimming, has the doggy paddle down strong where he can swim at the public pools in the "big kid side" without a flotation device.
- Favorite color is red - RED EVERYTHING
- Ladies man (eats up every time we have a sitter and the gets to be with her alone!)
- He needs to be "pushed" the first time while trying something new and from there he's golden and will more and likely master it within seconds
- Loves to snuggle and give random hugs and kisses throughout the day

This fall Benton will be starting school and he could not be more excited! He's got a personality that occasionally makes you practice your breathing while counting to 10 and other times you cannot stop laughing and smiling! We love you Benton J, welcome to being FOUR!

 June 20, 2018

He requested brownies instead of a cake

Sissy picked out his favorite sport in his favorite color

Cool Dads Make Cool Kids

Happy Father's Day to this cool dad! To explain our weekend as simple as possible we can say SUN, a whole lot of SUN and water! We spent Friday on the boat, Saturday on the boat and Sunday in the  pool. Our family welcomed the gloomy, rainy Monday with open arms!

Father's Day 2018