Konnor at Seven Months

So Konnor is already seven months and I'm not the only one who can't believe how fast it has gone.  He is doing not so babyish things and plus there are new and tiny and cuddly little babies around which makes him practically a toddler.  But not quite. He's our baby and we are sure enjoying this stage where he seems to be learning something new just about every day. 

Goofballs!

At seven months, Konnor:

• is crawling. He was moving around just a bit at six months and worked on perfecting the crawl all month, and he sure has it down pat now.  
• is climbing. I didn't think that they should do crawl and climb in the same week, but now that he is moving, he just climbs up on things and gets into trouble. I have found out that my house is not as babyproof as I thought!
• has moved to the bottom of the pack n' play.  He has slept on the upper layer you can add to the pack n' play until this week b/c I walked in and found him up on his knees looking over the edge. 
• almost has his third tooth. It is peeking through just a tiny bit!
• spent about 4-5 days being sick -- feverish and GRUMPY! (understandably). We did lots of snuggling and very little work during a few of those days.
• loves Karter. Karter is VERY in Konnor's face. It actually drives me a little crazy sometimes b/c as good as he is at making Konnor laugh, he can also make him cry quite well too.  But Konnor does seem to enjoy him.
• is a major mommy's boy . . . to the point of me getting called out of church b/c he is inconsolable. And yet he is still a friendly little gaffer. It doesn't really make sense!
• is sitting well and going from the crawl to the sit  and back.
• grabs everything.  He is very studious and I am going to have to make sure my floors stay somewhat free of small objects.
• plays with toys fairly well. He still does the exersaucer a fair bit and I am glad for that. He is still enjoying the jolly jumper too.  I put him in the bumbo occasionally and he just crawls right out:)
• sleeps pretty bad . . .especially at night. He generally has two naps a day and then in bed around 8 or 9 which seems like a ridiculously low amount of sleep to me . .  especially b/c often those naps are very short!
•  has a fabulous laugh! and smile:)
• is getting harder and harder to take pictures of b/c he heads straight for the camera
• is eating more and more solids. He has had quite a few varieties of baby cereal (rice, brown rice, mixed, oatmeal, barley . . .) and he has had bananas, avocado, cheerios, and lots of yogurt.  Veggies are next on the menu. I am doing this a little backwards from the way I did my other kids . . .mostly due to lack of planning. Hopefully I don't regret it! He eats fairly well, but I wouldn't say he is super pumped about food. Generally he eats cereal for breakfast and after supper and yogurt or banana for lunch.
• is an expert at finding his soother and getting it where it needs to be. He loves it and so do I!
• is really getting more hair now! We call him Fuzz.  It's especially great after a bath.
• loves it in the bath. We have him in his seat thing now and he likes to just chill and splash.
• seems to be good at getting stuck in awkward spots like the lower level of the exersaucer, or under the desk, or chairs, or between stools.  
• loves nursing.
• is displaying a temper already! I always laugh when kids do it at this age b/c it just seems funny to me.
• has the softest cheeks.
• is super loved.

Back to School 2015

Not a one of us was looking forward to this "Back to School" thing. I suppose a part of it might be that we were just coming off of vacation and school seems pretty structured and rigid compared to the carefree life of holidays. Nevertheless, the calendar said we had to start school, so we did.

Of course the big change this year is that we have a high schooler. Ya. We have a HIGH SCHOOLER!  Crazy stuff.  In some ways it doesn't seem too different b/c he takes the same bus, but it feels kind of strange to not have all your school kids in the same place.

Kevin, though not excited about school in particular,  was somewhat excited to be going to PRC.  His least favorite part was the uniform .. . though 6 school days later, I think we made it through a morning without a comment on it.  It is not the uniform in particular that he has issues with - it is how it fits - too big, too baggy, too long -- basically too different from what he is used to. But it is growing on him . . .and he'll be growing into it too!

Next funny story, that has to be recorded b/c other wise I'll never believe it to be true.  When Kevin came home from school the first day, his first words were, "I am so sick, I think I'm gonna throw up.""  After he laid down and cooled down (it was a super hot day), I peppered him with questions. How was it? Did you like it? What did you do at lunch? etc.  Do you care to know what he did at lunch?  Well he tells me, "I walked around for a while, and then we went to the library and read books."  I nearly fell off my chair.  WAY TOO not Kevin.  So he was a little lost for the first week, but I think he is slowly but surely finding his way. This has been a good experience for him for sure!  The minor niner takes on real meaning all of the sudden.

Kade had a good first day of school - same classroom, same teacher, same friends. No big deal.

Kylie came home announcing that she hates school. This girl does like her play time and this school thing sure cuts into it!

 So the first day was not met with such great enthusiasm. Since then we are all settling into routine slowly but surely. It is starting to feel like the new normal . . though I personally could go for a four day week or perhaps 4 months of summer vacation.  

B/c it was such a hot first day of school, and b/c we were still kind of in vacation/beach mode, we cleaned up quickly after supper and headed for Port Burwell for one last hurrah.

It was a beautiful night and a good end to the first day of school.

Sandhills!!

On Labour Day we had a year end summer hockey picnic held at Sandhills. We are quite familiar with Sandhills having gone many times when we were kids, but also a couple times with our own kids. But it had been a while and we were excited to go back!

It didn't disappoint! This is such a fun place to visit for the day.  The big sand hill is of course the highlight! It is quite the workout getting up there!

But oh so fun coming down!!

Here is Kade at the top with Lake Erie behind him.  This is the first time we (they) ever ventured down the other side. It is quite steep  . . . but it is sand . . .so I guess as long as you fall carefully you should be okay!! (that's what I was telling myself as I took the long way around with Konnor in the stroller)

The view from the top.

This is the beach side  . . . .looking up.  This is the "cliff" they climbed down.

There is not much of a beach here b/c the water comes pretty much up to the cliffs, but it is not super busy and so there is enough room to kind of put your stuff.

The waves were huge this day which was SO MUCH FUN!  A little nerve wracking at times but with the beautiful temperatures and the waves we could have stayed in for hours.

Carrie held on to Kylie's hand pretty much the entire time b/c the waves were so strong they'd knock you right over if they hit you right. 

Jeremy didn't make it down without a little sand in the face . . . faceplant perhaps??!!

I took this picture from near the top . . . that is the kids  in the water and Darwin and Carrie by the shore. Gives you an idea how high up you are when you are at the top.

The sand is really beautiful here too. And there is clay.  We didn't get to do that this time, but that was another highlight I remember from when we were kids.

This was a great way to end our summer. Our only regret was that we didn't come a bit earlier and that we couldn't stay later:)  Good times.

Rock Lake Lodge 2015

Ahhh yes. I think enough time has passed that I now deem it an appropriate time to venture down memory lane to Rock Lake Lodge 2015.  Secretly I think most of us would like to live at the cottage year round and forget about school and jobs.  But I'm guessing that at some point we might get a little sick of each other and I'm also guessing that the fast and fleeting week we spend at the cottage is so treasured b/c it is such a short time of our lives.

As seems to be the case almost every single year, the last week of summer holidays is one of the nicest summer has to offer, and we get to enjoy it at the cottage.  The only precipitation we had was the day we got there, and it was more light rain/mist than anything. It certainly didn't send the kids running inside anyway (which is a good thing:))!

Enough chitter chatter, I'll let most of the pictures just speak for themselves.

Mom and Dad

(they receive all the blame  credit for this great bunch of people we call family).

Steve and Jo and family

Us:)

Matt and Elizabeth

Rich and Mary Beth and fam.

Josh and Steph and fam.

David and Gretchen

Jeff and Christy and fam.

Steve and Jenna and fam.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, here is our vacation in pictures:

Karter, Savannah and Mason

Kylie - Ky really enjoyed the water this year. It seems to me that this is the first year she wasn't at all nervous about the canoes, raft, or kayaks. She had a blast with all of them this year!

Isaiah and Brooke

Jonathan and Kate

Reese

Holly taking Keziah, Karter, Mason and Matthew for a little paddleboat ride.

Karter gives the week a good thumbs up!

Mason is three:) (or maybe he got three candies in his candy bag -- though it looks like much more!)

Karter showing that he is "way bigger" than Mason . . .

James and Kevin off to do some fishing . . .

Karter and Savannah reading together.

Nora and Blaire

Karter and Mason

Jonny

Looking for treasure?!

This group of boys played so well together. They were on a mission to find Blue Beard's treasure this day and it was so cute to see how serious they were about it!

Karter - one of the cleanest kids around:)

The Loon on the Lake! We had never seen one in all our years, but this one hung around the whole time we were here and even came close by or let people get fairly close to him!

Kade

Blaire and Keziah

Bethany and two of her girls - Reese and Eleanor

Nate and Titus

Blaire

Marshall

Kade, Jeremy, and Chris

Add MaryBeth to the mix and this is a foursome who was always busy having one kind of fun or another!

Most nights, there was still lots of swimming going on after supper  . . .

Karter and Savannah

Karter swimming around the raft with Jonathan

Kate playing with Reese, Savannah, and Keziah

Konnor

Reese

Titus

Konnor stayed cool on the really hot days by hanging out in the water in the exersaucer. He loves water and this was a great way for him to enjoy it and help him stay cool.

Eleanor

Summer, Isaiah, Kylie, and Brooke after their friend/cousin Josiah left. They were SO SAD!!

See the teardrops streaming down her face, her red nose from hours of crying, and the words "very sad" etched on her head?! All they needed was a bit of sackcloth and ashes!

Blaire

 A seriuos game of badminton

Opa taking Karter for a kayak ride.

Ezra

The fearful five who were on the brink of entering high school!!! Can you believe it?!!

Ya. Neither can I.

And we can't forget to mention spikeball. We had three sets and at any given time (unless it was too hot and were all swimming, or too dark and we were all sleeping) there was at least one game going on - kids, ladies, men, spouses - everyone tried it and there were some pretty serious matches had.

Other good memories:

• dads/uncles/ and highschool boys playing volleyball
• fishing
• after supper soccer
• the 40 lb vest
• games at night
• coffee times
• catching mice
• snorkelling
• treasure hunt and pinata for Jeremy's birthday
• just relaxing and being together.

We are very thankful for this week together and this time of relaxation and vacation. We always go home wishing for more. Thanks again and Uncle Klaas and Auntie Ann for allowing us to come to such a great place where we can be together as family.  And of course thanks be to God for the gift of family.