Blue Thunder!

While in Ohio, Mia decided it was time to lose the training wheels! One day, after seeing some other kids riding bikes, she announced she was done with training wheels. It was the most amazing thing. She literally hopped on her bike and rode off!! There was no teaching involved... She's now been riding for several weeks, and still hasn't had a serious fall. Uncle Chris lent her a bike while in Ohio that she fell in love with, and nicknamed Blue Thunder! He was kind enough to ship it to us, and you'd have thought it was the first day of Chanuka when it arrived this week. She's awfully proud, and so are we!

The Train!!

It's quite a scene to see Momma pushing three children in a stroller! It's so hot in AZ right now that she takes them out before Daddy is even up for work... I guess that narrows it down to anytime before noon! :) Mia loves being the conductor of the train!

Music with Uncle Ryan!

On Sunday Daddy had to go to the office and Mommy had errands to run, so Aunt Cathy & Uncle Ryan came over to hang out with the twins for a few hours! Uncle Ryan brought along his electric keyboard and Aubrey was thrilled to sit on his lap and learn to play... Look at that beautiful little smile! What a cutie sitting on Big Bird's lap...

Sleeping Beauty!

Mia is having quite the busy summer! As usual, no matter how much Momma has going on, she always finds time to keep Mia busy... So far Mia has attended a summer camp at her school, a summer camp at a gymnastics school, and this week is attending a camp called 'Voices', where she's learning how to sing, and even got to sing into a microphone! Friday she's going to cap the week of camp with a performance of 'The Good Ship Lollipop' for the parents... She hadn't been napping much the past year, but between the high energy camps and summer heat, she's taking nice long afternoon naps. Must be nice to be a child!

Big Lovers!

We are so lucky that our children get along so well... Mia shows nothing but love & affection toward her brother & sister. It's so fun for her now that the twins are getting old enough to play with her. Especially Brandon, who loves the way she rough houses with him. She'll knock him down and he grins ear to ear, begging for more! He's a bit of a meathead. He's unbelievably sweet, and is constantly smiling and waving at everyone he sees. He also happens to be a very large child, and he waddles around like Barney Rubble. He's quite the little man! I would imagine he'll be talking soon, as he's very into communicating exactly what he wants, and it frustrates him when he is not understood. Generally that means more food!

Big Girl...

The twins are growing so quickly now! Aubrey is still not walking, but it's purely out of laziness... She has the strength to do it, now just needs the desire. If we hold her hand, she'll walk beside us. Her favorite hobby is crawling up the step stool in front of the bathroom sink and pulling everything out of the drawers to be piled in the sink! As you can tell by this picture, she's very proud of herself when she gets away with it... I would imagine she'll choose to walk soon, as it really frustrates her when Daddy, Mia & Brandon run from room to room and she has a hard time keeping up by crawling. She really is a sweet, happy child! Other than her biting... The marks she leaves on her brother are frightening... Let's hope Jaws grows out of that one soon, as Mommy & Daddy aren't excited about following the advice we've received, which is to bite her back and teach her a lesson!!

Momma's Helper!

The night we got back from Ohio, while Mommy was getting the twins ready for bed, Mia unpacked her entire suitcase! She sorted her and the twins' clothes into piles and emptied the entire thing... That's one helpful little girl!

Cleveland Trip!

Against our better senses, we decided to travel all the way across the country with all three kids! We were Ohio bound. Back when it was just us & Mia, we traveled all the time. She was so easy and sweet, and always made friends on the plane. The twins on the other hand... Well, let's just say they are half psychotic most of the time! So you can understand why we almost cancelled this trip on several occasions. Surprisingly, they all did very well on the plane! Momma had to do the occasional aisle walk, but nobody was arrested or committed... We had an absolute blast seeing so many friends and spending quality time with the family. We celebrated the 4th of July with a BBQ at Grandpa's, and Mia got to play with her cousins, and Zoe & Lilly. Besides getting to see so many great people, and Daddy & Mia getting to play in the woods, Mia also reached a milestone. She rode a bike with no training wheels for the first time!! She is very, very proud of herself, and couldn't wait to get home so she could show her friend, Easton, how cool she is... We're happy to be home and certainly won't miss the humidity & bugs, but the kids can't wait for another visit with their Ohio family & friends!

Mr. Mobile!

Over the past month Brandon has become extremely mobile and playful. He's constantly wanting to wrestle with his sisters, chase after Mia, and even decided to take up basketball while we were in Ohio! We were visiting Russ & Jen, and their family, and he thought he'd dunk a few shots. Little man is funny!

Uncle Chris!

Brandon got to spend some quality time with all of his cousins for the first time, although he especially took to Uncle Chris, whom he got his middle name from. Uncle Chris took Brandon riding all over the neighborhood on his mini bike, and Brandon couldn't get enough! He loved it... Daddy's hoping this means he'll be racing pro motocross within a few years!

Biker Chick!

Not to be outdone, Aubrey insisted on having her own time doing a little riding! After being cooped up during the hot AZ summer, the kids really enjoyed spending time playing in the grass and riding bikes...

Sleeping Beauty!

All of the adventures on the Ohio trip made the kids awfully tired... Mia, who rarely naps, joined the twins for quite a few naps! We had an absolute blast hanging out with old friends and family. All in all it was amazing how well the kids did with the plane travel and significant time change.

The 'Cars' Movie Buff...

Mia is pretty well obsessed with the movie 'Cars' right now! She spends the better part of her day finding various Cars items to adorn herself with. Note the shirt, hat & glasses... She's not too into having her photo taken these days, so we have to get her to pose in various get ups in order to capture her beauty!

The Warrior!

Here's another of her favorite poses! I told her to smile for the photo and she informed me that warrior's don't smile... She's very serious!

Spaghetti Dinner Chaos!

Our little angels are having a ball feeding themselves these days! Their absolute favorite, in terms of maximum devastation, has got to be spaghetti... They grind food into their scalp, arm pits, belly button, etc. You name it, and Momma's gotta scrub it! It's clear they didn't inherit Daddy's OCD. These are some crazy little gremlins!

More Carnage...

Not to be outdone, Brandon had his share of spaghetti scalp! In fact, he even tried to smuggle a little spaghetti away from the dinner table by tucking it into the front of his diaper... Very classy! Then again, I guess the little man might get hungry in his crib...