"Larry's Lake"

Brenda's brother Larry has a lake that he is nice enough to let us visit.  It is a beautiful retreat, complete with rustic cabin and port-a-potty:-)  The kids love the lake.  This year, they figured out the rope swing, with a little help from their older cousins.  The Wendling's were in full force: Aunt Kim, Lauren and Dayna, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Jeff, Shelby, and Sasha were able to also come up this year.  I really only took pics of the kids on the rope swing (oops!) but that was THE entertainment!

Fine Arts Camp

Brendan was selected to attend a special Fine Arts Camp sponsored by Columbia Public Schools this summer. Only 5 students from each elementary were selected and Brendan was one of them!  He LOVES art and was thrilled to be chosen.  He went from 8::45am-3:45pm every day for a week and learned more about art and music.  Every day he couldn't wait to tell us about his day.  On the last day, they had a program to show off all they learned.  Brendan got to play the bongo drums in a neat drum program, in which part of it he played blind-folded!  He also got to show of his art work and answer questions about it.  Here are some pictures....

Brendan and his Spanish-inspired "nateraleza" or "nature" box

Playing the Drums...even blind-folded!

A joint project that all the students participated in....the stain glass window will be hung in the district office.

Loving every minute of it!

Glasses

Well, you may or may not have noticed, but two of our children have recently gotten glasses!  Brendan got them a couple of weeks before school got out and Emma the last day of school!  We were starting to suspect Brendan and our theory was confirmed one Sunday morning when I realized he wasn't singing the hymns.  At our church, we have HUGE screens that show the words to the songs and such during the family friendly service.  Come to find out, he wasn't singing because he couldn't see the words.  ON. THAT. HUGE. SCREEN!  Sure enough, in less than a year since his last eye exam, he had progressed to needing glasses.  Here is a pic of Darran's mini-me:-)

Well, that isn't the end of the story.  See, while I suspected Brendan was having trouble, I had NO idea that Emma was having trouble!  At Brendan's exam, while we were waiting for our friend Dr. Jones to come into the room, the other three were messing around trying to read the letter chart.  Emma seemed to be struggling.  At first, I couldn't tell if she was just trying to get a little attention (What you say? A child with three other siblings, two of which were born at the same time, for some strange reason, seems to find ways such as this to attract my attention??  Poor things!  Donations for future therapy accepted!!)  Any-who, I decided we best make an appt. for her too just to be sure.  Sure enough!  Her eyes need as much correction as Brendan!  Well, I can't say I am too surprised...I got glasses in kindergarten.  Technically, she was a first grader, since school had been out for about 2 hours:-)  Guess she really is MY mini-mi!

Kids Track

The kids recently participated in a track club event.  It was so much fun!  We didn't know what to expect but were surprised at how much it was very much like a real track meet.  There was a 200 meter run, 400 meter run, 800 meter run, and 2 mile run.  They divided them up into age groups, as well as girls/boys.  They also had long jump for the girls and shot put for the boys (this rotates each meet).

We started with the warm-up....

How cute is that?

Then on to the events!!!

Claire doing the long jump

Actually long jump was not her favorite thing.  She jumped once and decided the sand felt "gross" and didn't want to do it again.  She isn't one to enjoy getting dirty:-)  Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pics of her running, which she enjoys much more.  She ran the 800 meters and got third place!

Owen learning the shot put

Owen got second place in the shot put!  It was a little tricky trying to figure out how to push the shot put instead of throwing it like a baseball.  Still he was able to throw it 8 ft 3 in.  The boys learned the shot put was an "eight pound ball" and couldn't stop giggling about that:-)  Owen also ran the 800 meters and got fourth place.

Emma prepping for a big jump!

Emma got first place in the long jump.  She figured out how to make that big leap and went a whopping 5 feet 9 inches!  She also ran the 400 meter run and got third place.  She had so much fun running that, that she wanted to do the 800 meters too.  Unfortunately she just tuckered out too much before she could finish...not hard to do in 90+ degree heat:-)

Brendan getting ready

Brendan did the shot put, the 200 meter run and the 800 meter run.  Running has always been a favorite thing of his.  He got fourth place in the 800 meter run and second place in the 200 meter sprint.  He also got fourth place in the shot put with a 12 ft 2 in final throw.  Competition is fierce in his age group, which has 10 year olds in it too!

We've been wanting to go back and compete again!  Unfortunately, they moved the meets from Wednesday to Friday nights because of a conflict on the field and it just hasn't worked out yet for us.  Hopefully it will soon!  I love that the kids want to be so active.  It is so good for them! 

Swimming FUN!

Well, school is out and that means lots of time at the pool!  After taking lessons since January, I finally feel less stressed hanging out at the pool alone with the kids.  The kids are ALL swimming independently, even Claire!  Darran and I actually sat at the side of the pool and watched the kids swim the other day.  We couldn't believe how far we have come...thinking back to those days when it definitely wasn't relaxing to take a trip to the pool.  Ahhh, not missing those days!

Here are some pics of my favorite little fishes:-)

Brendan has become quite the proficient swimmer.  He is looking forward to completely the kids triathlon again in July and has been practicing his lap swimming.  He routinely swims about 200 meters each time we go to the pool so he'll be ready to go!

Emma has become a strong swimmer.  She loves to dive down to do headstands and tricks under the water.  She also loves to jump off the diving board and go down the big slide.  She isn't afraid to swim underwater and tries hard to keep up with the boys!

Owen has such a natural athletic ability.  He makes swimming look so easy!  His upper body strength means he can swim pretty fast too!  He loves to dive down to retrieve toys, do flips from the diving board, and is hoping to complete his first triathlon in July with his bigger brother.

Claire has come so far this year!  A year ago, she was in the shallow end, hardly wanting to put her face in the water....now she is jumping from the diving board and swimming all the way to the edge with her face under.  And look at that smile...she has really come to enjoy the water and it is just evidence at the confident little girl she has become this year!

Take me out to the ballgame!

Baseball season has begun!  Break out the camping chairs, grab a hot dog and come join us for a game!

Brendan is playing kid-pitch baseball now.  He is on the team Detroit Tigers with a great group of friends.  It is really fun watching how far they have come.  The trick at this age is to try and get a hit when you are a bit frightened you might get hit with the ball. Nine and ten year old pitchers don't exactly have the best aim, especially not consistently!  Brendan is hanging in there though and improving lots!  He likes to play third base and has a great arm.

Emma, Owen and Claire are all on the same t-ball team, the Milwaukee Brewers.  Emma caught her first line drive last night!  She was just as surprised as everyone else!  It was so cute to see her amazement and even a little embarrassment at the attention:-)  She is a timid hitter but runs hard to first base.  She looks awful cute with her ponytail sticking out of her hat too!

Owen is a real baseball lover.  He is always focused on the play and knows where to throw the ball.  He has a great arm, like his big brother!  Last night he made a great stretch at first base to catch the ball and throw the runner out.  It was so fun to watch!  He also has become a great hitter.  He went to the batting cages with Darran and Brendan and soaks up all the information Brendan gets from his coaches too.  He often hits hard balls out past second base and is determined to hit it further each time!

Claire loves being part of the team.  She loves being social and this just adds to her social calendar.  She throws the ball with her whole body and can often be seen with her tongue hanging out while making a throw.  She is a good little hitter and runs fast to the base.  She is a great cheerleader for her teammates!

I couldn't pick just a few pictures to showcase because I had so many good ones!  My new camera takes amazing pictures....So, I've decided to try and add a slideshow...bear with me, I hope it works!

Jay Dix 5k

Claire and Owen decided they wanted to join Darran and Brendan on an official 5k run...so they signed up for the Jay Dix 5k on May 1st.  (In case you are thinking I left out Emma, fret not!  Emma was NOT interested in running and I can't say I blame her!!)  Now, Brendan and Darran have obviously run before.  Since Claire and Owen had not, we decided we needed to have 2 "teams" of runners.  I was working at the drug store.   SO, we talked cousin Dayna into running on team 2 with Claire and Owen.

Team 1: Darran and Brendan were competing to beat their most recent time in January of 33:58.  Guess what?  They did it!  Brendan just keeps improving.  Their official time was 31:13, which is an average 10 minute mile.  What an accomplishment!  Congrats Team 1!

Team 2: Dayna, Claire, and Owen were competing to finish:-).  Claire had done a 3 miler with Brendan and Darran earlier in the week in which she actually ran almost the entire distance.  Owen plays soccer and is used to running quite a bit.  So,we were confident they could finish!  There was a small obstacle in the way...someone (Claire) had to go to the bathroom about 5 minutes into the run and, as it was a Sunday morning, not a bathroom was open in sight! They decided to walk because she certainly didn't want to give up!  Owen was a bit frustrated at this unforeseen development, but as Team 1 had already sped off, there wasn't much of an option:-)  After Team 1 finished, they raced back to find Team 2.  There was a little rearranging of teams and Teams 3 and 4 were now formed!

Team 3: Dayna and Owen went off to run the rest of the race.  Owen was determined to make up some time that last mile!  They came in at 53:36.  WAY TO GO OWEN!  First 5k at 6 years old.  WOW!

Team 4: Claire, Darran and Brendan teamed up to finish the race.  Now, being a triplet tends to make you a bit competitive, just in order to merely survive.  So, once Claire saw Owen take off, guess what??  Well, of course she had to run too!  So, Claire's official time was 55:39.  GREAT JOB CLAIRE!  First 5k at 6 years old.  WOW!

On a mission:-)

ALL SMILES!!