I took a look back at June pictures and realized I've left out 2 posts worth of pictures!  It's been so busy I've been posting about our outings but I left out a fun night "in" we had a couple weeks ago.  It was pouring rain and the boys were having fun running and playing in it.  

There are a couple videos of Erik and I racing Kade in the rain too.  I've purposely left them out because:

1.  It wasn't my best run (read: Kade beats me, handily) and I'm just not ready to accept that yet (read:  I want a rematch)

2.  Kade made Erik take his shirt off for their race and no one wants to see a shirtless old man running in the rain!

3.  It turns out, the older I get the more I run like my mom.  That needs to be remedied STAT because that was one of the main sources of entertainment in my youth--watching my mom "run".  Karma--making fun of my mom has come back to haunt me!

Kade loves to pull his shorts up to get a laugh out of people.  It works too….cracks me up every time I look at the following pictures!

A rare moment of snuggling with my boys on the hammock while we watched the storm blow through.

My dad has been working on teaching Mason how to wink.

This is the best he's got so far...

Personally, I think that is the best wink I've ever seen!  But, I may be a bit biased.

Black eyes...

…and missing teeth.

Must've been one heck of a wrestling match!  

Just kidding, Mason is crazy sensitive to bug bites.  He swells up and gets giant welts wherever the mosquitoes get him.  And mosquitoes LOVE Mason!  He can have 20 bites while the rest of us don't get any.  Poor kid.  The only thing I can think of is that he's super delicious, I mean I can't resist him either so I can't blame the darn skeeters!  But, one little bite by his eye caused a swollen, black eye for 2 days.  

It just so happens that Kade lost his first tooth on the same day as Mason's eye.  So, they both looked a bit rough!!

Camping, Camping and More Camping

We've gone camping 3 out of the last 4 weekends...I'd say our summer is off to a great start!!  Here's a WHOLE BUNCH of pictures documenting our fun.

 Harper and Mason

Seriously…could these 2 be any cuter?!?!

Charlie and Kade

Could these 2 be any cuter?!?!  ha ha ha

The first night and these 2 were out cold.

Friday's are always so exciting exploring the campground and planning out all of the activities for the weekend!  Not to mention the build up of excitement from all week.  The kids are usually extra crazy, and extra tired, on Friday nights.

 Swim all day...

Party all night…

Makes for extra tired kids on the second night as well!!

Last weekend's camping trip unintentionally fell on Father's Day weekend.  Erik and I were reading the list of activities at the campground and noticed they all had something to do with Dad's and Kids.  We looked at each other and said, "Is it Father's Day on Sunday?!?"  Needless to say, Erik did not get a card or any gifts because I didn't exactly plan ahead :-)

The lucky guy did get to spend the weekend with all of these crazy kids though!

Owen and Mason

Little Miss Ellie Belle and me

Owen, Jack, Kade and Ellie

Owen, Ellie, Mason, Rylee and Kade

I love this picture of all the kids (minus Jack, he was already home and in bed--a day of camping is rough on an almost 1 year old!)

I can't believe I got 5 kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time!  Miracles do happen!

I couldn't pick a favorite "silly face" picture so I posted them both :-)

A clown car

With Owen in charge.  This isn't going to end well.

The best we could do for a family picture…

at least the kids are cute :-)

On Sunday, Father's Day, we (by we, I mean, Kade) did a little fishing before packing up our weekend of fun and heading back to reality.  Can't wait to go again!!!

The fish slayer and his little side kick

Mason on the dock...

…requires extra vigilance...

…and an extra strong hold courtesy of Mom :-)

He was not happy taking this picture.

We didn't have any bait so we used leftover breakfast sausage.

Apparently fish like sausage (I hope it didn't kill them…oooops) because Kade caught this big guy after only 5 minutes of fishing!!

Erik doing his fatherly duty, taking the fish off the hook...

and letting the kids touch it before throwing it back.

Kade was way too busy sausage fishing to be bothered by pictures but look at how cute that little guy on the right is!!  Seriously…those cheeks.

My new favorite picture of all time of Mason…man, I love that smile!!!

Kade started playing 8 and Under baseball this summer.  We were very hesitant about signing him up to play baseball with kids that are potentially 3 years older than him, especially since he skipped T-ball, but it's turned out great!  His skill level is even with the rest of the team and with his size you can't even tell he's 1 of the 3 five year olds on the team.  Plus, his good friend Charlie is on the team so that helped with his initial shyness nerves.

They use a pitching machine for the 8U league and he does great!  Kade's always been able to hit off of a pitch (ask to him to hit off of a T and that's when it gets ugly!).  It took him a few practices to get used to the machine but he's got it down now.  He's gotten a hit every time, except once in the first game, at bat!  

I was more worried about him catching a ball with his face instead of his glove because, at the beginning of the season, he couldn't catch a ball to save his life but he's caught on quickly!  He even caught a pop fly in one of the games!  

And, he looks SO.DARN.CUTE in the uniform!

Erik is one of the volunteer coach-dads on the team, that's him behind Kade (who is playing 2nd base).

Lucky #7 made it to first base!!

Rounding 2nd and running hard!

Video of Kade at bat.  

Mason has fun at the games too!  I don't have many pictures of him because I don't have a lot of time to whip out my camera before he's crawling up to the top of the playground equipment (that isn't exactly 2 year old friendly), or jumping into huge puddles of water, or stealing other kid's toys (as seen below), or begging strangers for a snack and/or helping himself into other kid's snack bags.  

One of us is EXTREMELY tired after 1.5 hours of baseball and it isn't the coach, or the player, or the toddler….

Mason and one of his favorite little buddies, Harper!