4th of July and LaFond family campout

We had a great time at the campout at Hauser this year.  As you can see the kids enjoyed themselves. 

 And we found out that an inflatable tube makes a great playpen.

 4th of July fun

 I rarely get a picture with all 3 kids in it so I'll take it when I can get it...

 Reese showing off our star cheesecake and her patriotism

One year in the house!

July 1st marked one year in our new house.  It's looking great (see evidence below) and we might just have the outside done this summer.  CK is doing a fantastic job as always and working hard despite the above 90 degree temperatures this week.  Maybe we'll reward him with a trip to the lake this weekend to try out his new jetski ;)



A pretty adorable picture of Asher saying to Emily "Emily, how big are you?  Soooooo Big!"  She loves her big brother.  Emily has finally blurted out her first word(s).  Like the other kids, it's "Dada" although we think she's managed to say "Hi Dada" as well which would make sense because CK's been saying "Hi Emily, Hi Dad" to her since she was born.  No Mama yet, but you know I'm working on it.  She's also started sitting up by herself a lot better in the last week or so.  She still manages to face plant from time to time but is definitely getting better balance and core strength so we don't have to put quite as many pillows around her.

Reese and I went out to breakfast on Saturday just the two of us, which was really nice.  Reese grabbed my iPhone and decided to take some pictures, including some pretty hilarious self portraits while we were waiting to be seated.

 this is my favorite:

 Our "little" girl is growing up really fast.

Updated house pictures

CK has been busy working on the outside of the house.  He has built the timber frame entrance, roofed the upper deck and put in the fence in the backyard.

 The metal that will hold the timber frames together

 Asher enjoying some sunshine

The new front of the house!

 Picking wildflowers with Grandma

 An updated view of the front of our house...a little bit more siding, some metal and some rock and it will be done!

Congratulations Andy & Alona!

 My cousin Andy and his beautiful bride Alona were married this weekend in a beautiful ceremony in Connecticut.

 The weather was perfect all weekend and we had such a great time seeing the Joynt clan.  Thank you Grandma Jan for watching the kids so we could enjoy such a fun and relaxing weekend.

 The girls: me, Venus, Michelle and Sarah

 The boys (despite not being planned, lined up in the same order as the girls...): CK, Dan, Jeff and Fred

 My lovely cousin (and Andy's sister) Alison and her dapper husband Nick showing off the rainbow wedding colors

 It was summer camp so, of course, there were competitive color wars.  The water balloon toss below...CK's pair came in 2nd.

June happenings

We had a busy week.  I was in Indiana for work on Monday and Tuesday.  CK picked me up from the airport Tuesday night and we drove to Malta so he could repaint the welcome sign in town (he painted it the first time 20 years ago or so and they asked him to refresh it).  It turned out great:

 We got back Thursday night in time to close on some new land we bought in Helena (~14 acres).  We are planning for Craig and Jan to use part of it to build themselves a new home closer to the grandkids :)  The rest might be the start of a college fund for the kids.

The kids enjoyed the (short) trip to Grandma's house and the beautiful weather we had in Malta.  We also went early enough to avoid mosquito season (although, of course, with my sweet blood, I got bitten a few times).

Reese had her last soccer game last weekend and here she is with her medal and post-game snack (this was the only time she smiled the whole game; most of the time we spent coaxing her to even get on the field).  Overall I think she had a good experience and will hopefully get more and more comfortable with team sports in the future.

Emily has been bouncing like a champ in the jumperoo.  I think she likes it most of the 3 kids.  Lately, she's been jumping so much she jumps herself right to sleep...

Memorial Day Weekend 2013

Memorial Day weekend was mostly rainy but we had a good time relaxing at home and CK was able to get some work done on the house during the pockets of sunshine.

 CK has begun work on the front of the house.  He's putting up the beams for the porches that will hold the extended roof and railings.  It's certainly changing the look of the house (yay!).  We're still picking out the stone and metal that will complete the front look so hopefully sometime this summer we'll have a "finished" looking house on the outside to match our beautiful inside!

Easter and Carolyn's visit

A bit out of order but I finally downloaded my camera pictures- hey, at least I took some!  A few from our trip to Malta in late March for Easter:

 And some more recent ones when Nana (Carolyn) came to visit last weekend, stopping by on her cross-country journey to see the kids and buy a new car!

April updates

 Life has been too busy too blog :) Some much overdo updates below:
Remember hiding under the covers with a good book and flashlight after we were supposed to be asleep in bed?  Apparently this generation gets in bed with their LeapPads instead.

 Reese had her first soccer game yesterday.  They've had a total of 2 practices so far, and Reese spent most of the first one pouting because she couldn't be first in line for the drills.  So we were happy that even got out on the field.  She still resisted playing most of the time but her coach did a great job of getting her out there and even let her take a throw in (which she did surprisingly well).

 This is how she spent most of the time...holding her coach's hand running around the field.  However, another little girl spent the game in tears in her mother's arms (brought back memories of our first swim lessons a few months ago) so I guess we're making some progress?

 Sisters sharing a cuddle on the couch

Emily smiling for the camera at 5 months

The county finally put up our street sign (you know, about 3 years later) so it's official:

 and CK finally got a relatively nice day to pour the front porch.  Finishing it man-lift style below...