ANOTHER Milestone ...

But this time, not in our house. At the Bithell's. Brady turned one on Saturday! We had great weather for a fabulous celebration. Brady's Nanny (Scott's mom) was even able to come in town from Canada for the big day! Of course, I took WAY too many pics (if you want to see the Shutterfly link, email me and I'll send it to you!) But here are the highlights!!

A week full of milestones for us ...

If we weren't already thinking "wow - our kids are getting big" ... Kennedy woke up yesterday and wanted to have her ears pierced. So ... we packed up and went to the mall!!!

She was SOOOOOO amazingly brave (probably more than her nauseous and teary-eyed mom and dad!!!) When it "clicked" she put her hands up to her ears and said "OWie" ... but that was it!!!

She was SO excited to show them off. And she reminds me to clean them about every 2 hours and she makes sure she turns them herself. Let's see if the excitement lasts for 6 weeks!

I'm sad ...

There's no other way to describe it. My baby has his first tooth ... and as exciting as that is ... MY BABY HAS TEETH!!! It's bittersweet ... And to make matters worse, my first baby thinks he's 16 yrs old. Watching him ride his "two-wheelered bike" down the driveway with the sweetest grin on his face just melts my heart. I love them to pieces.

So - to cheer myself up, I just booked a trip for Austin and I (happy anniversary to us!) to go see Jimmy Buffett. In October, we'll be going to San Diego with Kim and Jeff from California and a bunch of their awesome friends. Sure, it'll be a whirlwind trip - leaving Thursday bright and early for a concert that is Thursday night, partying in San Diego on Friday and leaving at the crack of dawn on Saturday. But hey - I've got 3 kids to come home to by dinner time on Saturday(and yes, the thought of leaving them is already stressing me out!)

Mom and Dad aren't the only ones that are proud ...

Of course, before he even had his clothes on today - Cameron asked if we could go outside to ride his "two-wheelered bike". I bribed him into eating 1/2 of a cinnamon roll, then we were off. As he was walking his bike down the driveway, he says "I'm so proud of myself". I told him that I was glad because there were a lot of people that were VERY proud of him!

We were outside waiting for two friends from his baseball team who were coming over (with their 3 yr old sisters too - YAY for KENNEDY) - and I had emailed their moms last night to ask them to bring their "two-wheelered bikes" too! My gosh, you should've seen the kids zooming up and down the driveway. Cameron QUICKLY learned how to start himself - no more help from mom necessary. And he starts half way up our STEEP driveway, goes all the way down the drive and turns around and comes back. I don't think he would've done the driveway on his own if it weren't for his brave friends!

I have a feeling that we're going to be out on the driveway a lot this week!!

A big day in our house!!!

So ... I've known that Cohen's tooth was making it's way thru for a month now ... FINALLY, I can see it! No one else can, but I think I got it on "film" so you can see what I'm talking about.

Ok - it's hard to see in the picture. It's his right side ... you can see a little line. I tried to point it out, but it's still hard to see. Just trust me - or email me for the bigger picture. Or wait a few weeks and I'll take a pic of it once it's visible when he smiles!!!

And then - we all remember Mackenna - Cameron's girlfriend from preschool. They haven't seen one another since school and she came over today. They had a BLAST! Well Mackenna brought her bike ... WITHOUT training wheels. Cameron decided that we could try his bike without training wheels tonight.

At first he wasn't confident at all - he leaned over toward me and didn't really put much effort into doing it on his own.

Next thing you know - he got a feel for it and he says "Mom, you can let go!" By the time dad got home from work, all I needed to do was give him a little push to get him started!

Next thing you know, he figured out if he started up a little bit on the driveway, he could get momentum going on the hill and start himself. CYA mom ... I don't need you anymore!

After that, he was OFF. Up and down the driveway ... up and down ... up and down!

When it was dark, we made him come in for the night. As he was pushing his bike up the driveway he says "I can't believe I can finally ride this thing" - with the most precious grin on his face EVER. It was a good day :)

He wants to be just like his brother ...

Surprisingly enough, I'm talking about Cameron - not Cohen! The other night, I put Cohen in his camo PJs and Cameron was SO excited to put his on. He instantly wanted a picture.

Later, when daddy went to tuck him in - he said he was hot. Austin asked why he didn't take off the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing??? He said he wanted to match his brother :) Let's hope he feels the same way in 5 years!

Official diagnosis ...

... drumroll please ... it's a mosquito bite on her eyelid! And of course today, it's nearly gone. Oh well, what's another $20 co-pay? :)

That's a wrap ...

Our first t-ball season is over ... Cameron LOVED playing ball.

Well, he liked playing ball ... he loved hitting, he liked watching the planes while in the outfield and kicking the dirt while in the infield and he LOVED telling people that he plays baseball :)

He also loved sliding ... it seemed to be pretty popular among the boys on his team.


He also had a little crush on the coaches daughter ...

Things that make you go HMMMMM....

What ON EARTH would make Kennedy's eye look like this?

Would it be a mosquito bite?

She woke up with three mosquito bites and this.

I don't see the BITE though ... maybe a sty?

Boys best friend ...

Cohen was really enjoying staring at Rudy and grabbing his paw ...

Once Rudy figured out what was going on - he thought he'd sneak in a quick kiss - YUCK!

Our water baby ... and our ballerina

Ok ... maybe he's not a baby anymore - but as I tell him, he'll always be MY baby.

Our big guy is doing SO great in the pool...we signed him up for lessons this week and he really took off! He advanced 2 levels in just 5 days. He can now float on his belly for 5 seconds, "streamline" ... AND on his back. This isn't half as easy as it looks ... I looked like a beached whale trying to do it at my parents house this weekend!!!

Kennedy enjoyed her first ever camp experience this week also! She went to Powell Dance Academy for - Enchanted Week! They learned ballet in true princess style. She LOVED it!

At the end of the week, the girls showed off their skills. Kennedy really enjoyed it!

She even shared some tea with her brother!

A celebration of our own!

One of Austin's clients gave us a bunch of small fireworks for us to enjoy at home ... we had a cookout with our friends Jen and Pete and we were the hillbillies of the neighborhood that night! But the kids had fun!

Daddy made us all laugh - running away from the explosives he was lighting!!

Jen made sure that Cohen's ears didn't hurt ... and Pete was taking care of her - and their little baby inside!!

Happy Birthday America!

We had a lot of fun celebrating the 4th of July this year ... the kids really enjoyed the parade in downtown Columbus and the fireworks display - Red, White and BOOM! All of our favorite people were there to enjoy the evening with us ... I, of course, took way too many pictures.

The kids were THRILLED when Carly showed up - they were in the line for balloon hats when she showed up!

Cameron got the most hilarious "Alien Brain-Sucker" hat and Kennedy's was a gorgeous butterfly hat - of course!

We all gathered on top of a parking garage and watched the display ...

It was so cute - Cohen absolutely loved them!!!

The local radio station passed out glasses that made the fireworks look funky.

And Kennedy danced the night away ... she loved it!!