4th of July

We stayed at the lake house for almost all of the 4th of July week. On Friday, Aunt Lisa came to join us, along with Sarah and her friend Issi.  Almost every day was over 100 degrees--of course except for Sunday, the day we left--so when we were outside, we were in the water.
Charlotte loved when Aunt Lisa would toss her up and down in the lake. Too bad this picture turned out blurry.

Great pictures of Sarah with Charlotte on Friday evening!

Jack, Lisa, and Charlotte

This is how Charlotte spent 99% of her time in the water. We couldn't believe how long she would just lay and float around.

When Charlotte wasn't laying in the water, she and Jack both had a great time jumping off the dock over and over again. Here are both of them jumping with Issi.

Sarah and Issi both went tubing for the first time. Issi won the best of 3 rounds of battle tubes; but she did have it easier with the donut tube.

Another sweet pic of Sarah and Charlotte.

Mr. punk rocker

We were so proud of Jack--he finally worked up the courage to go for a tube ride. We went extremely slow, and while he wasn't thrilled about the whole thing, he at least lasted for a nice 5-10 minute ride.

Jack behind the wheel. Daddy actually let him do a bit of real steering this time.

Snuggling with Auntie Lisa after his big tubing adventure!

Weekend with the Jacksons

We've been at the lake house a lot over the last couple weeks! We spent most of the 4th of July week there, and prior to that, Rachel, Bobby, Chloe, and Scarlett came to visit. Cute picture above of Jack and Chloe hanging out in the tube.

Playing on our neighbors' big water carpet.

Bobby and Scarlett

The kiddos taking things out of the big toy box.

Charlotte being silly, with a messy face from chocolate ice cream. She loves to accessorize with her beads (even if that's the only article of clothing she's got on.)

Jack and Scarlett eating their ice cream cones on the dock.

Setting off some fireworks.

I'll post some pictures from the 4th of July week soon. We had a great time with Aunt Lisa and Sarah!

Hand, foot, and mouth disease

I've learned all I ever wanted to know and more about hand, foot, and mouth disease over the last couple weeks (NOT to be confused with foot and mouth disease, or hoof and mouth disease). Last Tuesday evening, Charlotte had a mild fever and passed out for about an hour. A couple days later, she developed nasty-looking bumps and blisters all over her legs, feet, and hands. They don't show up real well in this picture, but you can see a few on her hands and wrists.

I took her to the doctor, thinking somehow she was having an allergic reaction or maybe had gotten into poison ivy. Turns out she acually had hand, foot, and mouth disease (aka the Coxsackie virus). It's very common, especially in young kids, and several kids in the area have come down with it recently. Since none of the rest of us had developed any symptoms, we must have had it at some point in our lives and just never known (not everyone gets a bad case of the blisters like Charlotte). 

Can you find the baby in this picture?

We thought Jack had also been exposed in the past, since almost a week went by without him developing symptoms. But sure enough, he came down with it too; though the virus manifested itself very differently in him. He barely had any bumps or blisters. Just a couple on his feet, and if I hadn't been looking for them, I probably would have never noticed them. Unfortunately the fever hit him pretty hard. He had temperature spikes that were quite high, and it lasted for over 2 days. This was the day the fever started.

Poor baby!

Looking a little ticked off for mom taking pictures when he's not feeling well :)

The kids are doing much better now. On the bright side, at least we've gotten through it safely and shouldn't have to worry about them catching it in the future!

The kids have both been sick this weekend, so I pulled up some older pictures that I never posted. These were taken a couple weeks ago at the Forest Park Summerfest. Jack and Charlotte both loved the huge slide. Charlotte and Daddy came down the slide too fast and all I got was this picture of them at the bottom.

That's Jack on the far left.



I don't think Jack had ever had cheese popcorn before. Now it's his new favorite.

Finger-lickin good



Charlotte getting in on the popcorn action too.

Fathers Day weekend

We had a great Fathers Day weekend! On Sunday night, we had a delicious dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's. The kids loved watching videos (of themselves) on Grandpa's phone.

Sunday evening was actually the first time since Friday that the kids were together. Jack had a big weekend--he spent the night at Aunt Lisa's on Friday, and then with Grandma and Grandpa on Saturday. Jack loved the cool playground Aunt Lisa and Grandma took him to. (Thanks to Aunt Lisa for taking all these pictures!)

While Jack had a great time at the playground, he wasn't a fan of the pool. He eventually got in the shallow area, but he was a little intimidated by everything else.

On Saturday they went to Parker's birthday party. Happy 3rd birthday Parker! Lisa got some really good pictures of Alexis, Jack, and Parker. They had a blast playing in the sandbox, pool, and wiggly sprinkler.

And one last cute picture of Grandpa and the kids. This was the calm before the storm--after they finished watching videos, Jack and Charlotte went nuts running around and playing together. Apparently they missed each other over the weekend, no matter how much they usually get on each others' nerves :)

Summer fun

With the hot weather lately, the kids have been spending a lot of time in the backyard playing with their new water toys. They love this little water table; especially putting balls and water down the big spiral chute in the middle. The only problem we have is that Charlotte gets a little overenthusiastic about putting things down the chute and keeps getting it jammed with random toys, Louie's tennis balls, etc.

They also love this cool sprinkler, though Charlotte was a little hesitant at first to get too close.

Not Jack! He positioned the slide to go right into the spray. The first day we used this, he played for about 4 hours nonstop before we had to drag him away.

Charlotte eventually worked up the courage to get closer.

Now she just sticks her whole arm in.

Charlotte is very considerate of Lou when we're outside and brings him water. We just have to watch her closely because she likes to drink out of the cup after him. Eeewwww!

Lou found a shady spot. So cute with his big watermelon smile!

Last day of preschool

Jack's last day of preschool was on Friday. The teachers prepared a really nice graduation ceremony (not sure why they called it "graduation" when at least half the kids are 4 like Jack and will be in preschool again next year, but anyway...). Each kid got a nice collage of pictures taken throughout the school year (see above).

Here's Jack chatting with Emma, one of his usual playmates, before the ceremony began.

Charlotte just had to get in on the action too. She took advantage of the empty seat by her big brother while we were still waiting for people to arrive.

Holding up artwork to go along with a story that was read about cloud shapes. 

Mr. Silly Face, ruining what would have been a cute picture.

Not sure that this was really an improvement.

Charlotte kept escaping to go play in the toy room. Thank goodness both Grandma and Sarah were there to help watch her!

Jack and his best buddy Janila.

Jack and Miss Maria.

Jack and Miss Laura.

The whole crew (Jack's in the back row).