Watch Esther Grow

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6 Years!

I have now been a parent for six years! Oh wait, this post is supposed to be about the birthday girl.

ESTHER IS SIX! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG GIRL!

Esther's birthday was a bit more reasonable than last year - which sort of reminded us of "The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday."

To celebrate this special day Esther picked out her favorite cereal from the hoard in the basement - Fruity Pebbles. She opened presents and watched movies. We took a trip to the library for a little fun, and each child was able to pick 2 videos rather than the regular allotted 1. FedEx brought a package while we were gone, and everyone was excited to see what was inside. Thanks Grammy and Grandpa!

After some mac and cheese, the afternoon brought some more R&R and a little bit of prep before the party. The best part was that Cameron got off EARLY! And even though he was on call that night, he only received one page during Esther's party.

And speaking of party - here is what Esther came up with - which the rest of us thought was a great idea!

Esther's Birthday Carnival

First a maze.

Next the dart and balloon game.

Knocking over the "milk"peanut butter bottles with a "base"tennisball.

Dress the Clown.

And Balloon animals.

Okay, so these are pictures of the party guests hitting balloons around before we started. I forgot to take pics of the actual balloon animals.

And it all wrapped up nicely with presents, pizza, and cake.

Afterward Esther was super excited to stay up all the way to 8:00pm, a full half hour past her previous bedtime.

Esther says "THANKS" for all the presents, cards, phone calls, and well wishes!

PS - Esther designed her new birthday skirt all by herself using scraps and this easy pattern. She even helped a little with putting it together.

Vacation Week

One perk of employment is vacation time. Cameron's first randomly scheduled vacation happened just one month after he started work. Here is a little of what we did.

We started off Friday night (August 6th) with a Lincoln Saltdogs game, courtesy of a physical therapy clinic that wanted to get to know the residents. Going to a baseball game was LOTS of fun, but it made for a very late night, and we ended up going home before the game was over due to very tired children.

On the way out Esther and William spotted the Saltdog and had to go say "hi."

We had some pretty neat seats, right under the scoreboard back there. It was especially exciting when the outfielders were catching the long hits right in front of us. There were free soda and hotdogs, and we were right next to a playground for when the kids were a little too restless to watch the game.

Wednesday the 11th we visited the County Fair. Here are the highlights.

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We wanted to go camping for the weekend (Esther had swimming lessons M-Th mornings), and we were planning to go about 20 miles away so we could have more fun and less driving. But when the heat index got up to 120 degrees earlier that week, we decided to head north. We ended up in De Smet, SD, and the Ingalls Homestead. Through our many long car rides this past year we've listened to all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books - which we highly recommend. We were all very excited to see and camp on one of the real places in those books.

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Though some trees Charles Ingalls planted were still there, none of the Ingalls' buildings were still standing. The house and barn were built and placed according Laura Ingalls Wilder's descriptions. Other period buildings were recreated on the property, and some historic buildings (such as the old school house of a neighboring town) were relocated to the Ingalls Homestead.

We had a wonderful time camping, and thoroughly enjoyed our vacation.

Pioneer Week

We had so many ideas for Pioneer Day this year, that we made it into a Pioneer Week.

Here is the rundown of last week.

Monday: Made paper covered wagons.

Cameron supplied origami oxen.

Tuesday: Traced the route of the pioneers on our markable map (I love that map!)

Wednesday: Learned the song, "Little Pioneer Children" and drew pictures to go along with the words. (I can't find those right now, which stinks because Esther and William drew some great pictures).

Thursday: Before Cameron had to go to work we drove to Omaha and visited the Mormon Trail Visitors Center at Winter Quarters.

This is a typical bunk for the seafaring pioneers. Each family would get two beds total - that's some pretty tight sleeping.

Friday we planned to read pioneer stories from the current Friend Magazine, but we forgot

Saturday we attended our stake's "This is the Place" party. There were crafts, games and food. Good times were had by all.

Sunday (today) we watched Legacy to wrap up our Pioneer Week. We've had a lot of fun, and we all have a better understanding of what our predecessors went through for what they believed.

And So It Begins

About a year and a half ago Esther decided she wanted piano lessons. We tried a couple of times until it became apparent that what she really wanted was to push random keys and sing "beautiful songs." I gave up trying to really teach her and just let her do what she wanted until she was a little older. Today she again requested piano lessons, and this time the results were quite different.

Gypsy

Here is our seven week old Gypsy, the newest member of our family.

Happy Fathers Day

We've really loved having Cameron home with us this past month or so since he finished school. He starts his residency in one week, and we'll sure miss him. So for our Fathers Day Tribute here some things that only happen when Daddy is home.

10. Science experiments all the time.

9. Housework takes half as long.

8. Kids get to play with real tools.

7. Light bulbs are replaced quickly after they burn out.

6. Coat hangers and blankets become hang-gliders for animal rescuers.

5. The trash is at the curb every Tuesday morning.

4. Every time is story time.

3. Mommy gets to sleep in.

2. Scrap wood and spare rope become tree swings.

and the best thing about when Daddy his home:

1. The rest of us get to be with him!

Happy Fathers Day!