Family of Four

        

Bowling Party

One of Magnus' friend hosted a birthday party at the bowling alley.  This was the 2nd time the kids had even gone bowling... and they loved it! Breaking from traditional bowling style, each kid would find a ball and run to the closest open lane.  There was no waiting for one kid to bowl 3 times in a row.  Most of the time when a kid knocked down even one pin they jumped for joy and exclaimed 'I won."  Ever so often a kid would get lucky and bowl behind someone and actually knock down all the remaining pins.  I think it actually happened once for Maliah in the 1-hr long bowling session.  :)   I was impressed that not only Magnus, but Maliah as well, picked up and carried their own bowling ball and never once dropped it on their toes (or anyone else's)!

Looks like a strike!

(The bowling ball ramp and lane bumpers really helped improve their game!)

Picnic - Face Painting

We took the kids to the A6 Annual Family Summer Picnic.  They had a blast (despite the windy weather)!  There were bouncy castles, water slides, water balloons, a snow cone machine, and plenty to eat.  As well, there was face painting.  Magnus really got a kick out of the face painting.  But when he would go play in the water the face painting would wash away.  The gracious face painter redid Magnus' face 3 times.  Here are 2 of the 3 paintings (the other was basically a green face, like the jolly green giant, but Magnus was convinced it was a hippo, which is what he wanted, so we went with it!)

                   

Grandparent Hummel Visit

A picture of the Grandkids with Granny Jo and Papa Hummel as they depart from their week long visit.

 

 

Arlington Co. Fair 2013



Last year when we went to the Arlington Co. Fair Magnus rode a roller coaster for this first time!  This year Maliah was tall enough (..give or take depending on what angle you looked at her lined-up against the measuring chart... and the uneven ground next to the chart helped too) to give the same ride a spin for her first roller coaster experience! And she loved every minute of it... so much that she rode it 2 more times.  Magnus was proud to win a teddy bear in a fishing game... so much that he wanted to go back to win a teddy bear for his sister too.  It was a great day.. complete with soft serve ice cream cones that melted at just the right pace for maximum enjoyment!

Enjoying a cone...
after Magnus won them matching teddy bears!

Its a GIRL

For baby #3, aka TreyTrey, we decided to find out of the sex of the baby ahead of time.  Well... let me rephrase, Deborah decided to find out the sex of the baby ahead of time.  As for the previous two I had waited until the birth to find out if the baby was a girl or boy.  Dylan found out every time.  But he had to keep the secret safe, and was only allowed to tell close family... and even then he was only allowed to tell them at the end of the pregnancy around month 7 or 8, just to be safe that the sex didn't slip out and then I would find out.  Therefore this time around Dylan compromised and waited from week 20 (when the ultrasound was performed) to week 27 to find out.

We hosted a 'Sex Party' to find out the gender.  We gave a friend, who was sworn to secrecy, the ultrasound results which were sealed in an envelop by the sonographer.  Then she brought a cake to the party that was either pink or blue on the inside... but white from the outside.  When we cut into the cake we found it was... PINK, a girl!

Magnus was not happy.  He very much wanted a brother.  In fact, he wanted an older brother that would be faster than him (there was no way he was getting that... so he was dually disappointed).  So much in fact that he refused to eat the 'pink' cake.  But we appeased him by telling him we would get boy pets.  He then we so excited about getting a dog.  Though we informed him that is about 5 years down the road.  In the end he was satisfied with getting boy fish sometime before the baby arrives.  Now Magnus says he is okay with the baby girl, as we will have more boys in the house, with all the boy pets!

Oxen Hill Farm

During our trip to Oxen Hill Farm, the kids enjoyed helping with some farm chores.  They feed the chickens and collected their eggs.  Then they took those eggs and fed the hog.  They dropped (aka cracked) the eggs in the hogs trough and the sound of the cracking eggs lured the hogs from their hiding place in their barn, out to the trough which was located right at the fence when the kids stood anxiously waiting to watch the hogs eat.  They greatly delighted to hear the hogs snort as the munched down the fresh eggs.  Next the kids helped brush the dairy cows (unfortunately the main dairy cow had dried up earlier in the season, so there was no opportunity to help with milking the cow).  It was a fun trip, topped off with picnic of PB&J sandwiches and watermelon!

Oxen Hill Farm is a national historic district that includes a living farm museum operated by the National Park Service, and is located in Maryland, just outside of DC.  The park evolved from a plantation home during the War of 1812, to a hospital farm, to the current park that exists today.