Up and Crawling!

Last week, Alden started crawling with both his hands and knees under him. He has also mastered army crawling, when he gets too tired to get up on his hands and knees. He gets a little bit faster each day. He also enjoys clapping for himself when we get excited for him. He's working on standing on his own without holding on, and he's getting really close!

Trip to the Zoo with Auntie Debra

On Friday afternoon, Sam, Alden & I met Auntie Debra at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. It was VERY hot, so we just made a quick trip. We saw the Giraffes, Zebras, Monkeys, Gorrillas, and the Aquarium. Samantha had fun with Debra and Alden really enjoyed the penguins again.

What A Mess!!

The other night, Alden had some prunes and loved them so much he decided to decorate his face with some "War Paint". :) To me, it just looks like someone beat him up! But, I promise, it's just babyfood.

Chalco Hills Bike Ride

Last Sunday we went for a bike ride at Chalco Hills Recreation Area. I wanted to check it out because I might do a Women's Triathlon on August 23rd and wanted to "feel-it-out" to see if I could do it. We found a nice place to park next to a playground perfect for Samantha. We rode the loop 1-time around (about 7 miles) and then we were done for the day. The clouds started to look omnious and it had started to sprinkle on us as we got close to the end of the loop, so we decided to call it quits. The trail had a lot more hills and a lot more tight curves than we were used to riding on the West-Papio or Keystone Trails, so it was still challenging, especially for Doug who was pulling a lot of weight behind him!

Samantha had a lot fun playing at the playgound while Doug loaded up the bikes. There were 3 older boys that took a liking to her and helped to catch her at the bottom of the slides and also held her hands as she crossed the bridge.

Come Cheer Doug On!!!!

Doug will be doing his 1st Triathlon on Saturday, August 2nd in Plattsmouth. Come help the kids and I cheer him on! The race starts at 8am and consists of 500 meters of swimming, 15 mile bike ride and 3 miles of running!! He would love the support! Call me if you need directions/more info.

A Day at the Lake

Today was day full of fun! It started out at the Community Center, where I did RPM (a cycling class) and the kids went to the day care (which they love). After the class, I took the kids home to get Sam ready for swimming lessons, and I was planning to drive back to the Community Center for the Swimming Lessons and take Alden to the daycare during the class, but there was a message on the machine about the pool being closed due to a chemical imblance and that swim lessons were canceled. Sam was so looking forward to swim lessons and was heart broken! So, we decided to pack our stuff for the lake and when Doug got home, we picked up lunch for us and Grandma McKnight and headed to her house. After lunch, we got our swimsuits on and ventured out to the lake. Alden stayed inside with Grandma as he likes to eat the sand on the beach! Grandpa McKnight took us out in the boat and Doug did some kneeboarding. Sam loved to wave at daddy from the boat! After the boat ride, Sam helped Grandpa pick up sticks in the yard (she really enjoys doing that!).

After swimming/stick collecting, we headed home for naps. Soon after naps were over, Uncle Chris came for a visit. He stayed most of the evening and played with the kids and we all ate pizza for supper. He even watched the kids for about 20 mintues while I had to drive out in the country to get Doug, as his bike's handlebars had a major malfunction! (He almost flipped over the front of the bike because a bolt came lose on his handlebars!)

9 Months Old!!

Alden turned 9 months old on July 5th! It's hard to believe he's 9 months old already! The time has just flown by. He is very active right now. He is trying to crawl. He has his own version of crawling that I like to call the "swimmer's" crawl, because he stretches out one arm and then flutter kicks until he needs to switch arms and then stretches with the other arm and kicks again until he gets where he needs to go. He also rolls and rolls and rolls everywhere! He's cutting more teeth, so he's a little bit crabby now and then, but still a really good boy! He has 2 bottom teeth. He weighed 17 lbs 8 oz and was 26 1/2 inches long at his doctor's visit last week. He is about 4 lbs less and 2 1/2 inches shorter than she was at that age!

He loved throwing the basketball! The photographer definately got a work out chasing the ball!

July 6th Bike Ride

We went for another bike ride on July 6th. We went 16 miles! (I new record for Doug pulling the doodlebug.) It was fun. We started at our usual spot by Culvers in Bellevue (by TwinCreek Theatre) and rode north past I-80 and turned around at College of St. Mary. It was a long ride and the kids didn't get to get out to play because we couldn't find a park to play at.

We almost forgot to take pictures too! We took these as we were getting back in the car to go home!

4th of July

The 4th of July was a fun day. We went out to Doug's parent's house at Copper Dollar Cover near Plattsmouth. The day was full of boating, swimming and sand castle building, lawn golf, food and fireworks. "Uncle" Joel came down for the festivities and Doug & Joel won the lawn golf tournament. Doug's mom made tons of good food!

Doug & Samantha built a sand castle and Alden decided he liked the taste of dirt!! (He picked up a big handful and put it straight in his mouth and then did it again and again....)

When it got dark we enjoyed watching Eric and Scott's firework displays. Alden slept through most of it and Samantha jumped from lap to lap as she decided that in the end, she did like fireworks!

US Olympic Swim Trials

Samantha and I pose for a picture looking down at the pool. We had great seats. They were in the upper balcony, but they were in the middle, so we could see the whole pool.
Auntie Debra smiles with Samantha in between races.
Katie Hoff racing the 200m Free Prelims

-She's the one in the lead. (She won this event later that night.)
Michael Phelps getting ready to swim the 200m Fly Prelims (he's in lane 4)
200m Fly-Michael Phelps (4 lanes up from the bottom) catches the leader and wins this prelims heat. (He won this event later in the night.)

Samantha standing next to a "true to size" picture of Michael Phelps.
Samantha and I pose by a picture of Katie Hoff that was "true to size".
Samantha's hand with Michael Phelps' hand size.

Last Tuesday, Samantha and I went with Auntie Debra to the morning session of the US Olympic Swim Trials. Someone gave her church a bunch of tickets and she wanted us to go with her. It was a lot of fun and really neat to watch. Samantha even knew who to cheer for: Katie Hoff and Michael Phelps. Michael Phelps is amazing and I absolutely love to watch him swim!! People sitting around us were amazed at her saying "go Katie" when Katie Hoff swam. We got to watch both Katie Hoff and Michael Phelps swim in prelims, so that added to the experience! Afterward, we went to the Aquazone to walk around and look at the sponsor's booths.

God's Big Backyard

Game Time: Water Balloon Toss-Samantha & Betsy.
Game Time: Action Shot of the Balloon Toss.
Craft Time: Mommy shows the pre-schools how to make their family tree.
Opening: Singing songs and lesson time

Game Time: Playing Duck-Duck-Goose. Poor Samantha-she just didn't get it! She had to run around the circle with Steve Barr (the leader for the games) in order to play because she didn't understand! But, she had fun and squealed the whole time!
Snack Time: Samantha & Drew
Craft Time: Making a picture frame with mommy.



Story Time: With Pastor Michael
Craft Time: Tie Dying T-Shirts (What a MESS!!)
Craft Time: Using a little too much color!Showing off their new Tie Died T-Shirts: Shayle & Samantha (Shayle went to Bible School for 2 nights with Sam because Michelle was painting Grandma McKnight's kitchen, and she had fun too!)

Bible School Program: She played with this dog for 1 whole song, but she sang every other song. She was so cute!Bible School Program: She did the actions and sang most of the words!

Samantha participated in Vacation Bible School at the Methodist Church this year. Doug & I were in charge of crafts! The theme for this year was "God's Big Backyard." Samantha had a blast! She was in the preschool group and did great! We sent her the 1st night just to "test the water" and see if she would be okay in that group, because she the group was supposed to be for people that had completed preschool or would be going to preschool in the fall. She was about 9 months younger than the next youngest kid.

We made Family Trees, Picture Frames, Tie Died T-Shirts, Zachecus Money Bags, and painted Sun Catchers. Craft time was a lot of fun for us. We ran around tying knots for the kids and helping thread the beads and also wadding up t-shirts to tie die.

Alden had lots of fun in the nursery! (Not really.) He was teething last week really bad and he was super crabby! Grandma McKnight kept him on Tuesday night and it didn't help either!

On Sunday, there was a Bible School program during late service and Samantha participated in it! We went with the thought that she would probably come sit down by us after a few minutes, but she stayed up by the other kids and actually sang the words to the songs and did some actions too! She also spent 1 whole song playing with a cardboard dog that went along with the theme for the bible school. Grandma & Grandpa McKnight and Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa McKnight came to watch her too! She was so cute! And we were all impressed that a 2 1/2 year old could know so many words/actions for songs she only sang for a week! After church, we all went to Ruby Tuesdays in Bellevue for lunch to celebrate Samantha's fun day.