Ben's 6th Birthday, the Great Water Balloon Launch!

Ben stood out in the field to mark the target, and his buddies tried to hit him!

Nolan -----------------------------Sahith------------------------------Jacob

Gavin-------------------------------Carson----------------------------------L.J.

Ben with the birthday cake he chose (topped with flowers and a sunshine!).

Of course, it's also topped with the same frog-prince I put on his cake every year.

My 6 year old prince!

Twins' Actual Birthday

Since the girls didn't do much demolishing of their raspberry-topped birthday cakes, I picked up a couple of cupcakes for them at Holy Cow Cupcakes today to celebrate their real birthday. Grandma Karen and Grandpa Mike met us at Culver's for dinner out.

Betsy with the chocolate cupcake, Bree with the vanilla

Then, we cut each cupcake in half and let them "have at it." This time, they were covered in frosting by the time the cake was gone. Mommy was pleased!
(I can't believe an entire year has passed since their birth. Sob, sob!)

Twins' 1st Birthday Party

Happy 1st Birthday, Little Gerbins!

Ben requested that the twins' cakes be made with raspberries on top.
They loved the berries so much that they didn't want to eat the cake!

Betsy in her new pink feather boa. Bree in her birthday crown.

True to Pictor form, we had to include some kind of competition with the birthday celebration. Ben was totally excited to try out our new water balloon sling shots before his birthday party the following weekend. The competition was fierce!

I think the Grandpa Hank/Jim/Dan Team finally won with the longest launch.

Glamour Girls?

trying on Maggie's sunglasses. SO Glam!

Look at what Sarah did to our hair!

Water Table

We borrowed a water table from our neighbors today. Big hit with the twins!
We're asking for one for their first birthday.

Vacation Bible School

Seton Summer Series is the first highlight of summer break.
Maggie is finally old enough to participate this year.
The theme: Pandamania. In the above photo, Maggie is posing ("ROAR") with her friends, Gavin and Grace.

Maggie: always eager to pose for a photo.
Ben: always near tears when I ask to take his picture!

Keeping Occupied

This summer, I'm making a valiant effort to keep the television and video games turned off. Ben is making it fairly easy on me thus far. Give the kid some kind of construction toy, and he can stay occupied for hours!

Here is his with his friend, Gavin, playing with the Trios.
(Why does every toy have to be dragged upstairs from the basement
to a location where the babies can find the tiny pieces?)

And, here he is with his Q-Ba-Maze blocks. (These things are incredible!)

He has built an island with a palm tree, some sort of double-helix, and a parrot, among many other things.

Today, however, this sign appeared on the wall outside of Ben's bedroom. I'm not so sure how the rest of the summer is going to go... "Maggies not aloud in this room." Does that mean that she can't go into his room (allowed?), or that she isn't allowed to speak "aloud" in his room? I fear the t.v. is going to be turned back on soon.

Annual Neighborhood Campout

Our annual last-day-of-school campout this year turned into MUDFEST '11! The field was so soggy that every step you took stirred up more mud. We had to contain the twins inside our tent to keep them free of it. Ben and Maggie ran around getting covered. Maggie probably changed her clothes three or four times before I left for the evening. Brian, being the champion dad that he is, still camped out with Ben and Maggie for the entire night.

Maggie, in her jammie-pants eating some popcorn.
Ben with his friend, Jacob, the following morning. Jacob's face is covered with ink from some of the stampers he won playing kids-games. So funny!

Maggie's Goddard Graduation

Today, Maggie graduated from Goddard, where she has been in daycare/pre-school since birth. I have really mixed emotions about this milestone. I'm SO relieved to be free of the bills to a daycare center for one more kid. However, primarily, I'm sad to see this era end. Goddard has been so good for Maggie. And, she loves her most recent teachers, Miss Adea and Miss Tricia. We'll miss them in the Mondays and Wednesdays to come!

Ben's Trike Race

After Maggie's bike parade yesterday, Ben had the opportunity to show off his stuff today at Woodbrook Elementary's annual Kindy 500! This event might actually top the cuteness factor of the Seton bike parade. It was so well-organized! (They do this event year after year...) The entire school comes out to the playground followed by the kindergarteners who are wearing shirts of various colors to represent their teams. Each team competes against the other teams in a trike race around the circle. It's done relay-style. The entire school cheers them on. I loved it! It went so fast that I almost missed a photo of Ben as he zoomed past me! I think his team won!

Annual Bike Parade

Today was Seton Preschool's annual end-of-year bike parade and family picnic. It's just about one of the cutest events I have ever attended. The kids are allowed to bring anything with wheels (even including pushing a doll stoller if they so desire) for the parade. They are supposed to decorate their vehicles. They come outside and parade around the parking lot a few times while all the parents snap photos. Maggie wanted to ride her pink Barbie scooter. She had it fairly-well decked-out with pink ribbons and her name. We put bug antennae on her bug helmut. Pre-school is over for the summer. One more year at Seton for Maggie before she becomes our big kindergartener!