Hammerman Beach

One of Kenna's requests during her visit was a trip to the beach. Possibly we should have tried for the Atlantic, but that's a LONG drive for a day trip with two little ones. And so Hammerman it was!

Grandma's glasses are SO COOL

Grandma and the littlest grandbabies

Guess who's taking pictures...yep!

Enjoying the shade

Beach Adleigh

Catherine had a brief moment of enjoyment before she began whining to go home.

This girl is SO MUCH FUN at the beach.

Aaron was happy as long as we let him make huge messes with all his snacks.

Luckily he doesn't seem to notice that they're all coated in sand.

Mommy & baby enjoying the sand

Seth is a lovely mer-man thanks to Kenna

Aaron loves the beach almost as much as Catherine.

At least some of us enjoyed the sand and water!

Seth loves Aunt Kenna!

Grandma finally convinced Catherine to go on a walk instead of whining. 

Dancing at the end of the pier

Super Catherine

Sunbathing Beauty

As close as these three got to the water

Seth, on the other hand, goes all the way in

Seth's giant hole

Aaron hates his car seat...

...but not as much as Adleigh does!

Last beach day of the year!

Glad at least Seth had fun...

HOORAY!

Thanks to some sweet, sweet deals on flights, we were SO lucky to get to have my mom, Kenna & Adleigh come to visit for a week. We haven't really had a chance to get to know Adleigh since she was born, so I was really excited for September to finally roll around. And Miss Adleigh was worth the wait! The first thing she did was steal Catherine's Cinderella shoes:

For the record, she managed to keep her balance marvelously in those heels!

After a slight mishap on the playground involving Seth and a swing, we headed in for a bath: 

Two beautiful girls in a tub.

And I used to think Catherine was tan...

Good cousins only pick the best!

Seth is a fabulous makeup artist.

I call this look "gentle linebacker".

For our first day together we did some very exciting activities. Okay, I dragged them to co-op with us.  The rest of the co-op was relieved to have my mom there to entertain the normally-screaming Aaron. And Catherine was ecstatic to have an excuse to not be in Pre-K. 

Enjoying the beautiful weather

Aaron is unsure about Adleigh's boots.

Those second-generation Mikesell girls are just plain gorgeous!

Making Breakfast

Catherine is always right there to help.

Aaron is also right there.

But not so much help.

Seth is just happy to play Minecraft and wait for the finished product.

Homeschool Gymnastics

We loved our classes at KYA so much last year that I worked hard to put together a class for homeschoolers this year. Hopefully we can generate enough interest to continue it for the rest of the year!

Catherine loves the dancing

Aaron practices his standing

Waiting patiently during instructions

Our little group of homeschoolers

Balancing act

Aaron working on his skills...

...obviously those skills need a bit more work.

This one LOVES gymnastics! 

We're glad to be back at KYA. 

Co-op!

After much (much, much, MUCH) discussion, debate, compromise, and last-minute adaptations, we finally managed to get our co-op put together! We have a much larger group this year, which is so fun for everyone. We also have three divisions: the older group (5th-3rd), the younger group (2nd-K), and the Pre-K group (which also includes the four babies, all about one year old). 

I've gotten to teach science for the first few weeks (minus the week I had to bow out due to a total-loss-of-voice). I really love teaching and these kids are a blast to work with. Seth loves co-op--it's the only part of school he'll confess to enjoying. Catherine is not so impressed. She spends more time than she should screaming in Pre-K because she wants to be with me. And Aaron...well, he just hates the whole thing. We have GOT to get down to one nap a day or none of us will survive. 

The entire group (and almost 100% looking at the camera--a miracle!)

And with their true natures revealed:

Here's to an excellent year of co-op!

I Think...

...that possibly my kids are getting tired of being photographed. 

Well, not Aaron. 

He's just happy to watch the Catherine show.

"Another picture?"

"Seriously, Mom?"

Seth went straight for retaliation. 

Point taken.

Sprinklers

Due to an unusually mild summer, we didn't end up in the sprinklers or at the pool as often as I had expected (no complaints here, though!). This ended up being our last sprinkler day of the summer:

We love summer, but are definitely looking forward to fall.

Tub Time

One time, I bought a new (painfully expensive) lens for my fancy camera.

And since kids in the tub are always adorable, I did some experimenting:

Aaron's dinosaur face

Aaron LOVES to share whatever Seth is playing with

Stop taking pictures and get me out of the tub!

I love my new lens!

Paper Airplanes

Paper airplanes are a great Sunday afternoon activity

Seth's plane

Jon's plane

Catherine's plane

Seth's face after he intentionally stomped on Jon's plane and Jon made him swap planes.

Aaron has no planes.

But he does have a really, really big head.

Rubber bands are almost as cool as paper airplanes.