The latest and the greatest...(in phone pictures)

Here are some of the latest happenings as captured by our camera phones.

Monty trying to be cute like the baby. Poor jealous little doggy.

Saturday morning pancake breakfast at Applebees to support our neighbor's soccer team.

I decided to forego showering and putting on make-up so I'd have more time to gorge myself on pancakes. Totally worked.

My friend Laura made this lunch for my girls.  It was so cute I had to take a picture.

She also gave me a much needed hair cut. 

I'm growing it out again but at least she gave it some shape and style while it's in the awkward phase.

Someday it will be long and luscious again like little miss pantene hair. Seriously, the girl has amazing hair for a 5 year old.

Brinsie all dressed up for her friends princess birthday party. 

 She gets to have her first friend birthday party in less than 2 weeks and I'm in my party planning zone right now. It's going to be good...

Cam has been hanging out with some of his baby buddies but he always seems to make them cry when I try and take a picture.  

Maybe they're just overwhelmed by his animal magnetism and oozing charisma ; )

Last weekend the girls got invited to a bounce house birthday party.

A Justin Bieber bounce house birthday party.

I was The girls were pretty excited about it. I mean really, who doesn't get a little Bieber fever now and then?

And I threw this in because you can really never have too many cute baby pictures. Cam is the stud of the universe and my favorite 5 month old in the world. 

And that is the latest and greatest from our phones. : )

Bedfellows

A mother's bed is never her own. (Well, at least this mother's bed)

Lately I've been sharing it quite a bit with these two hooligans.

Cam has stopped sleeping through the night thanks to those darling teeth that have been coming through. So he ends up in there to comfort nurse.

And ever since Brinley potty trained she wakes up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and then crawls into bed with us. I'm usually too tired to protest so she'll sleep in there till Cam gets up and then it's just one big bed party.

Oh and the fuzz ball in the top left corner has also staked out his own plot of territory. 

Makes for a pretty full bed sometimes. 

I'm sure when they're all grown up I won't look back and wish I had kicked them out though. 

Being pushed to the edge is worth it when I get to have such adorable little bedfellows : )

Father's Day Weekend

For Father's day we wanted Taber to be the king of the weekend, so we did the things "King Taber" loves best. Mainly BBQ, Grilling, playing with his kiddos, running and food.

We kicked it off with a trip to the the Rockin' Rib Fest on Friday night where we sampled the finest BBQ'd ribs in all of New Hampshire. If you know my husband and his obsession for BBQ sauce you would understand that Rib Fest to Taber is like Disneyland for kids. He was truly in his happiest place on earth : )

I didn't mind the ribs either, Taber has really started to wear off on me : )

Cam's 2 little chompers aren't quite ready for ribs but I'm sure he'll be drenching his meat in BBQ sauce like his Dad as soon as he's able.

The girls loved the Ribfest and wore themselves out on all the bounce houses.

Then we indulged in some homemade birthday cake ice cream with buttercream frosting swirls. Best ice cream ever.

Happy Daddy and his 3 little Rigglets.

We couldn't go home without a bag of kettle corn the size of a child.  Definitely another successful year at the Rockin' Rib Fest.

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Saturday started with a 10 mile long run for the Tabster and a 6 miler for me. 

Then he spent the morning swimming with the kiddos and jumping on the tramp.

The kids thought it was quite the treat to play outside with Daddy

Cam was out there too (Don't want him to look back at these books when he's older and wonder where he was during all the fun ; )

Unfortunately mommy was not out there enjoying the fun. I guess I caught Teya's raging fever from last week and it kept me sidelined for the rest of the weekend.

I had big plans to pamper king Taber on Father's day but he was the one pampering me in my sickened pathetic state. 

And that is why he has totally earned cool Dad (and husband) status.

I did drag myself out of bed to make him German pancakes but then I crawled back in while he took the kids to church and I took a 3 hour nap.

After my nap I was feeling much better and I helped him get some good man food together to grill up for dinner.

Steak tips, corn on the cob, red potatoes and asparagus all fired up on the grill.

Despite my inconvenient illness it was a great weekend and I feel very lucky and grateful that my kids have such an awesome Daddy and for my wonderful Father and Father-in-law too! 

Baby's first solids

Our little guy had his first taste of rice cereal this week. 

From his initial reaction, I think it's going to be an acquired taste.

Here's how it went down.

 Alright! They're finally going to give me big people food! Now we're talking!

 Whoa, what? This stuff is gross.

 Like seriously gross!

 Like I think I'm going to hurl gross.

Haha! Well that was fun, but let's not do it again any time soon okay?

Last Day of Preschool

Teya had her last day of preschool on Friday.  It's been a lot of fun but I sure won't miss the crazy mornings of getting everyone fed, dressed, packed and out the door by 8:25am to take her to school. Since she's been out I've enjoyed the more low key feel in the mornings, making me very grateful that she is signed up for afternoon kindergarten!

Here she is on her first day of preschool.

And here she is 9 months later on her last day with her beloved teacher Mrs. Henderson. 

And outside with her other dear teacher, Mrs. Roma.

They didn't really have much of a graduation but the parents were invited to come in on the last day and watch them sing some songs and have ice cream.

While I was there I took a picture of Teya and her "prince." I think they were a little embarrassed ; )

Also got a pic of her bff Mia who will be in her same kindergarten class in the fall.

Nothing like a little ice cream to close out the year. Hard to believe I'll have an elementary school student this fall! yikes!

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Brinley also had her last day of preschool on Wednesday.

My amazingly talented, crafty and just plain awesome friend Darby held preschool once a week in her home for 4 little students.

Darby had the best lessons and Brinley came home every week with the cutest little projects, handouts, crafts and special treasures.

Not only was Darby an amazing teacher but she also went the extra mile and would drive 20 minutes from her house in Hollis to Nashua to pick up all 3 kids from their doorsteps, drive them all back to her house for school, and then drive them back to Nashua and drop them off individually again when they were done! Like I said, she is amazing!

Brinley is too young to have a prince, but she really loved Darby's son William and I think they were good little buddies.

Maybe when they're 16 we can set them up on a date ; )

I tried to get a picture of Brinley with her schoolmates and Mrs. Darby but Teya decided to streak across my picture right when I snapped it, so this is what I got. Oh well. : )

And just for the sake of reminiscing, here is Brinley on her first day of preschool. She's grown up a lot in the last 9 months.

Proudly displaying her diploma

And heres a cute 25 second clip of her Brinley singing the month song on her last day of school. My favorite part is when they get to December, very cute : )

Fitness University

Last night we took the kids to Fitness University, an 8 week summer series for kids organized by our local running club. Basically they offer free clinics once a week for the kids to come exercise, run, stretch, play and learn about healthy living and eating. At the end of the series they have a big field day where the kids get T-shirts, run races and have fun putting all their new fitness skills to the test.

 Teya was SO excited to put on her "running clothes" and go to the track like Daddy. The kids are grouped by age so as soon as we got there she made a beeline for the 5 years olds and got ready for a lap around the track.

 She ran the whole way, keeping a nice steady pace. We've taught her well ; )

 All smiles coming into the finish

 And of course she had to stop and stretch when she was done.

 Then the 3 year olds were up

 Brinley was cuter than a bug running on the track. Taber caught a 15 second clip of her running that gives you an idea of the adorableness.

 It took the 3 year olds a bit longer to get around the track since they had a few more walking breaks : ) But they made it around and were rewarded with a cool drink after their tough workout.

 Then they stretched

 And Brinley was pretty proud of herself.

 After a vigorous game of follow the leader, the 3 year olds sat down for some lessons on healthy eating. Their homework for the week is to eat a new fruit or vegetable they've never tried before.

 Back at the 5 year old camp Teya was playing duck duck Goose.

 And Cam was just soaking it all in with his toothy little grin.

The 5 year olds finished with the long jump and I must say, Teya looked pretty awesome!

The whole thing was so fun for the kids who can't wait to go back next week for more fitness fun : )