Jelly Belly Factory

Waiting to see the Jelly Belly factory floor tour

Yay Jelly Bellys!

 

For the last few months, loading up in the truck has been pretty easy. All of the boys can buckle themselves now, which is amazing! Their motivation: one jelly belly for loading up quickly and independently. It works like a charm. So it was fitting that we visited the factory, since Jelly Belly's have become such a big part of our lives these days.

Gavins visits the dentist

Eying the dental hygienist with great suspicion

He was very cooperative and did great for his first cleaning.

Heidi the entertainer

My friend Heidi invited Sarah & me over to her place for a swim and then made all the boys old school popcorn and home made popsicles. Us girls got to chat while the boys watched a show. Also, she made me the most delicious grilled eggplant salad for lunch. It was a fun afternoon of hanging out.
 Between the lake, the pool and various hot tub swimming experiences, Daniel can now doggie paddle a good ways and he's putting his head underwater without covering his whole face with both hands. What progress.

Community Dinner

Jordan, Kelly and I recently implemented the idea of a weekly community dinner after I read about it in Jen Hatmaker's fabulous book 7: an experimental mutiny against excess. We are loving our little get-togethers and so are the kids. For some reason, they all dressed up in jammies on this occasion.

Scotts Flat

Sitting on the shore of beautiful Scotts Flat lake

George wake surfing while fans look on

Cell phone pictures

Once every few months I download the photos from my phone, so some of these are pretty old. It's easy to see how old judging from the length of the boys hair since they haven't cut it for awhile. They've been sporting the elvish look which will have to change before Auntie Robyn's wedding.

This sometimes happens when we're out shopping

All three boys contributed to this masterpiece which is currently displayed in our dining area

Translation: "I love Mrs. Wigand because she is a good teacher. Don't pay any attention to these words."
This was Daniel's practice for writing a note to his teacher.

VBS

Since we got home the afternoon, the boys have been singing, "You can trust God...no matter what...You can trust God." Gavin especially. VBS started today and the boys all had a blast. We'll be there all week, 3 hours a day and I'm sure by the time it's done, we'll all be exhausted. I'm the event photographer, so I get to peek in on all three of them throughout the day which is fun.
 Take a good look at Daniel's smile, it looks like that front tooth won't be there too much longer.

Bike Track

 The boys tried out the bike track for the first time last week. It was a lot of fun.

Gavin took his training whells off the same day Daniel finished kindergarten. Vincent turned five just two days earlier; it was a significant week for the boys. Gavin is SO proud of his big boy self riding on two wheels and it's so much fun going on bike rides with the boys.

Vincent was really brave, charging hills. He even rode straight up a huge jump the teenagers had just built. He didn't have enough speed fortunatly because it just dropped off on the other side. He rolled back down the steep hill before falling off.

Daniel mastered the track and kept going around faster and faster, getting higher around the burm each time. 

The teenagers at the track took the "little dudes" in and encouraged them. One of them was even named Daniel.

George showed Daniel where to start the race. He got the boys all numbers for their bikes that morning.

Robyn's Bridal Shower

 

Robyn is getting married in just a few weeks. Kia and Megan threw her a gorgeous bridal shower, with a little help from Pinterest. It was fun celebrating with my little sis.

Day at the Fair

 We spent a day at the fair. First we packed food with "Kids Against Hunger", then we rode rides for $1 each and hung out with good friends. Daniel was all about the roller coasters with his buddy Luke. The last ride was on this boat, notice Vincent covering his ears due to the very loud bell being rung. He's very sensitive to noise.

The boys were good walkers the whole time we were at the fair, but things really started to fall apart upon exiting. I was already carrying Gavin and Vincent was seriously lagging behind. I thought it might take a good hour to walk the 300 yards to our truck when there appeared before us what looked like an airport luggage hauler attached to a trailer with hay. We got a free ride right to our truck and it was an awesome ending to a fun day at the fair.