Crafty Crafty

Jayna has been on a major craft kick this month. It started out with this mini whiteboard I got out and she would draw on it almost all day long.

Then when we were in Edmonton she couldn't get enough of this little paint set that Grandma Fitzner had.

So when we got home I bought her her own set from the dollar store. Best $1.50 I ever spent!

A couple weeks later I got out a bunch of random stuff from the craft cupboard and just let her go to town. This ended up taking over our table for a few days because it's all she wanted to do almost all day.

She made a fish hook and some fish for Kepler to play with. She came up with this all on her own, and Kepler loved it!

This masterpiece took her a few days to complete. She kept coming back to it and adding more and more details. It's a story for her to read to the baby when it's born.

It's been so nice having a break from Jayna begging to watch TV and movies all afternoon while Kepler is napping. Now I'm going to put it all away for another month and then bring it all out again after the baby is born and I really need a nap!

Happy Birthday to Kepler!

Kepler is 3! And he's pretty excited about it. He totally caught birthday fever from Jayna and has been waiting for his big day.

When he woke up Jayna wanted to go in and sing to him, so we did. But then he just wanted to eat his cake. I think he just associated his birthday with eating cake since that's all he really knows about birthdays. I would have just let him have a piece for breakfast, but it wasn't made yet, oops!
(Note to self, next year I will make his cake the night before instead of the day of his birthday)
Luckily I was able to keep him happy with monkey bread and smoothies for breakfast instead.
We met some friends at the park after that, but about an hour later it started to rain. Good thing we were only a couple blocks from my friend's house so we all headed over there to play instead.
When we came home for lunch Kepler just wanted his cake again. Poor guy! I promised him when he woke up from his nap it would be ready, so he was pretty excited to finally see his Thomas the Train cake!We had Kepler's best friend and family over for a BBQ that night.
Kepler's new soccer ball! Now he thinks he's a soccer player like Jayna!

Happy Birthday to Kepler!

Kepler's best friend Cohen!

We ended the night with Thomas treat bags. I don't think this little boy could have been any happier.

Birthday kisses for the birthday boy!

That night after the kids were in bed Gibb and I heard Kepler singing in his crib "Happy Birthday to Kepler!" hehe! I guess he wasn't done celebrating yet. The next morning when he woke up the first thing he said was "Mommy, am I still 3? That means I can run really, really, super fast now!!"
Oh man, I love this kid. 3 year olds are so fun, and Kepler always has us laughing, especially when we should really be disciplining.

More swimming

Jayna just finished another session of swimming lessons. Every time she starts a new session she cries that she misses her old teacher and doesn't like the new teacher for the first day. And then she realizes her new teacher is nice too and cries when she's done with that teacher. I've started bribing her with a Booster Juice if she goes the first day without crying at the edge of the pool, so far so good!

This was the last day of swimming lessons and the teacher let them ride around in the canoe for a while, they loved it! It's fun to see Jayna really making progress in her swimming, and she loves it. She's come a long way from my little girl who was terrified of the water.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to Gibb, we love you Daddy!

The kids were actually being more cooperative than Gibb for these pictures. ;) Gibb has the same squinty eyed problem as his mom when it comes to taking pictures with a bright flash.

Summer Vacation

Since we're having a baby right in the middle of the summer this year we couldn't really plan any kind of vacation at all. So a 5 day trip to Edmonton in the middle of June that coincided with my final ortho appointment will have to suffice. It was perfect timing to get to see Brett and Jenny once while they're here too.
Gibb and Jayna out in the back trying to practice their photography skills.Lots of play time with the cousins!
Luke, Jordyn and Kepler

A visit to Great Grandma Gibb's house, which always includes cookies and usually a swim in her pool

Kepler & Jayna with Grandpa & Grandma Fitzner

Another tradition at Great Grandma's is getting a ride on the way down/up from swimming

Gibb took the kids out to the lake one day while I was busy at appointments getting my braces off!! (pics of that to come soon)

We tired Kepler out this week

A trip to Galaxyland while we did some shopping

I find that on trips like this I barely take my camera out at all. We also got to see Jo and Dave's beautiful new house, go to the temple and even sneak in a date night! I also got to spend a girl's night out with some friends which is always a good time. It had been a while since our last trip to Edmonton so it was so good to see everyone. Now if the baby decides to come a little early maybe we can sneak in one little trip at the end of the summer too!

Kiddie Pool

We had to get a new kiddie pool this year, and we ended up buying one that's more like an Olympic sized kiddie pool. The kids have been out there so much! We really need to have some friends over for a pool party in this thing, it's so big.

Jayna driving around Kepler's remote control boat he got for his birthday