Yesterday, we spent the day with Yaya, Aunt Becky, Jaron and Kelton. We had such a fun time. The boys always have a good time together. It is fun to see the relationship form between Tanner and Jaron. It used to be that Brenton and Jaron played more, but the older that Tanner gets, the better he and Jaron get along. It will be fun to see how well Brinlee and Kelton will play. Now all they do is giggle at each other! Brenton doesn't seem to mind not having someone his age, he is too busy showing off for the little ones! We have had such a great summer spending time with everyone. We will miss not being so free to play, once school starts. We went to this fun little 50's diner in Cascade for lunch. The boys all sat up at the counter on the stools. They did so good sitting there. We got comments from other customers on how beautiful all the kids are! After that, the plan was to head downtown Grand Rapids to go to the farmer's market, but by the time we got there they were closing up. We ended up going to Brenton's elementary school, he wanted to show everyone his school and playground. The timing was perfect, because as we got there, the principal of the school was there talking to some landscapers. Brenton talked to him and got a picture with him. We were pretty excited to see that he was wearing a State shirt. Smart man! The boys ran like wild men around the playground and then took advantage of the drinking fountain. Tanner thought it was the best attraction at the whole playground! He is going to be upset when Brenton starts school and he is not able to go. Everytime we pass the school or go play at the playground, Tanner will say "there's my school". Brenton, of course, has to inform him it is NOT his school. Then we have a screaming match as they agrue about it. We have come to an agreement that Tanner can call the playground "his" and Brenton calls the school "his". So far, this seems to be working! For those of you who haven't seen Brinlee in awhile, you can see from the picture, she is walking all over now. She is such a little toughie. If she falls, she hops right back up and keeps going. She is so busy, she reminds me of Brenton at that age. She walks away from us and doesn't look back. Tanner would always stay near or at least look back to check to see if we were still around. Not Brenton, he was always off to do his exploring. Brinlee seems to be that way too. Such little miracles! We are so blessed!
I know these pictures are a bit old, but I wanted to share them. For those who don't know, they are from Brinlee's 1st birthday party. We had a luau themed party for her. I think she enjoyed it, as much as any child turning one does! You can see from the pictures, Brenton was showing her how to dig in to her cake. I don't know why we try so hard to make them do that at their 1st birthday. Obviously, it would be much more fun for them to do when they are a little older!! I wanted to include a picture of Tanner, but the poor thing wasn't feeling too good, so you get to see a picture of him resting with Yaya and Aunt Becky. Also, had to add the picture of Aunt Karen and Kaila, wearing their leis. I had to include the picture of the big kids, since I managed to get them all to stand still long enough for the shot, which wasn't an easy task! Hard to believe we celebrated the last "1st birthday" for one of our kids. It goes so fast. We picked up some "back to school" clothes for Brenton this weekend. That is something else that shocks me. I can't believe he is old enough for that! I've been told by some "seasoned" parents not to buy too much before school starts because the kids will want to see what the other kids are wearing. I'm trying to put off buying his lunch box too, as I'm sure his preference will change once schools starts! Well, I best run, Brinlee is calling!
