We've had more waterslide fun this month. My supercool friend Melissa (who is responsible for my awesome hair over the last few months) came over with her boys in late June. She has twins, Zach and Austin. They really don't look like much alike but when someone says twins to me, I immediately develop a mental block. I'm not great with names anyway and throw in the pressure of twins and I'm just checking out. They are both hilarious, GREAT with my kids, and they crack me up - in short, I adore them. They have a whole scenario planned out for America's Funniest Videos that they want me to tape the next time they come over. First I need to make sure our liability insurance is current :-).
The Fergusons also came over and played, too. Well, the boys played. Brynlee mostly posed beautifully in her water hat :) We had a party crasher at the beginning...
Can you see him in the spray? This frog is a big fan of the waterslide, especially if there's already water in it. We tried to get the kids to get him down but they were squeamish. So I decided I was going to get him out and (thank goodness there was no camera rolling) I went to net him but he faked left and was going to jump in my face so I had a very mild freak attack, fell backwards over the base of the slide ladder and flat onto my back on the grass. Bobbie and Barie laughed so hard I thought they were going to fall over, too. Talk about America's Funniest Videos! We could be rich!Anyway, once the slide was de-frogged, the kids were ready to play. This is Kamden...
Kade and Kamden together...
Kinsey and the boys...
and there's Kale standing up in the pool with Tag...
And finally here's beautiful Brynlee...
Oh, as always Tag spent most of the waterslide playtime enjoying the view from his private swing...
Kinsey has come along way in her relationship with water since we got the slide. She has this thing in the bathtub about water touching her face. It used to be a monumental meltdown that has now declined into adamant orders during every hair washing: "Mommy NOT in my face". We've been trying to break her of it for quite a while now. Not much progress. But the evening after the Fergusons were here, I started hearing shrieking from the backyard where Douglas and Kinsey were watering the plants. I grabbed the camera and came out to find this......she had a blast. It was crazy. She kept yelling "What the heck is he doing?" and then begging him to spray her some more. Clearly she is getting more and more selective about her phobias. For a video of it, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDD6C3lW9Vs
Grammy and Poppi came for a visit and got to take in some of the waterslide fun as well.
Grammy brought Kinsey a new beach towel that was literally a "beach" towel. Based on her love of the sea, it was a huge hit! 
Ganny, the kids' great-grandmother, sent a xylophone (incidentally, why do the loudest gifts always come from those who live the farthest away???) and it was, and continues to be, a huge hit! 
Kinsey was able to re-introduce Poppi to the greatness that is "Finding Nemo" and I'm not sure which of them enjoyed it more.
A great visit was had by all.Our good friends the Monks came by for a visit. Riley is Kinsey's age within a couple of months, and Cody and Tag share a birthday. Cody was showing off - standing and taking a few steps. I thought maybe it would spur Tag along but he didn't seem phased ;-) Anyway, the kids had a blast getting to hang out together again.
This is Cody -he is so cute! It was so fun to share pregnancy with Krista and to have our boys born on the same day was just too cool.
Tag decided that the waterhose would be a fun toy and was like a magnet to the faucet. And yes, his hair is crazy - that's what a few sprays of sunscreen to the scalp will do. 
Shortly after, Tag decided to try his hand at climbing the slide. Of course big sister was happy to help.
Also during the month of June, I was presented with the biggest zucchini I've ever seen by my friend Dionne, who among her many talents apparently also has an extremely green thumb. 
I steamed it and pureed it and Taggart has been eating on it for the past month :). Awesome!So then it was time for 4th of July festivities. We celebrated with our friends the Kedroskis. Chris and Susan told us about a tradition they used to have called "Deep Fried Fourth" and we were all for it! After days of planning and shopping for various things to fry, we loaded up the ice cream maker, a big ol' bag of onions and jalapenos, corndog fixin's, and the waterslide and headed over to Casa Kedroski.
The men fired up the fryers and we hung out upstairs for a while enjoying the toys and indoor trampoline.
Owen taught Tag the basics of toolbench-ing. 
Then it was time to head out to the heat for some water fun. 
This is my favorite pic, even though it came out a bit blurry. Kinsey and Owen are getting to be good friends and they had fun sliding down together. 
Tag spent most of the time crawling up and down off of the porch and laughing.
Lucy preferred the shade. Look at those cheeks - impossible not to squeeze & smooch! 
And Susan snapped probably my favorite picture ever of me and Tag. Hot and sweaty? Check! Me with my arms around my second favorite blue-eyed guy? Check! 
Now down to the seriousness of the frying. We had a bit of a miscalculation with the oil for the first corn dog. 
But that was easily enough fixed. 
Here's Chris making his surprise hit of the night - Scotch Eggs/Scottish Eggs - I never can remember. Something about a boiled egg wrapped in sausage and then fried: 
Here are the kids toasting with corn dogs...
Then it was time for my contribution... 
...which the kids enjoyed as well.
That night after eating our fill of fried foods, we came home and got to hang out with Obi & CC. Kinsey read them her current favorite book "Clifford Goes to the Hospital" and then it was bedtime. (For a video of her "reading" this book another time, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLpTkVsh2LA)
The next day, after church, we got to watch a good ol' fashioned wrestling match...
And somehow after the wrestling, Obi taught Tag the fine art of what I call the man-sprawl. I think he's working on perfecting it. 
What a cutie!
The next day Tag learned to climb up onto the couch by himself. He was beyond thrilled with himself. Unfortunately, the corner of the couch is where we usually stow the remotes and phones out of his reach. Alas...they are safe no more. 
He loves the phone - I mean LOVES the phone. 
He'll pick it up all the time and say "eh-whoa". Here are a couple of cute videos of him with his favorite toy:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdcW1f9Afyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evVQEmKMq38
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxxhQ5NIYm0
In family fun news, Douglas has taught Kinsey a charming new song called "Little Bunny FuFu" I'm sure you've heard it but in case you haven't, it involves a bunny, a fairy godmother, and the bopping on the heads of field mice. Adorable! Here is the great musician instructing his highly interested pupil :-)
More fun with Daddy - they were playing on Kinsey's dry erase board and check out Kinsey's first official drawing of herself - by herself (obviously her's is the one on the left)! Not bad for a 3 year old! 
Anytime you see Kinsey with colored lips and tongue, it means Daddy suggested snow cones :)
She loves talking on the phone almost as much as her brother does :). Here she is during an afternoon chat with Grammy. 
Here's one of her better big sister moments captured on film - she was enjoying some yummy banana yogurt and decided that Tag needed some. So she used her feet, hooked his high chair and yanked him over to the table, spooned up some yogurt, and shared the yumminess with Tag. 
Everyday is something new with Kinsey's imagination. This was just too cute - she was watching Bearenstein Bears and mimic'ing Sister digging in her suitcase for a swimsuit. So she grabbed Douglas' computer bag and recited the lines with Sister. 
It isn't only Obi who's taught Tag the art of lounging. Here's Pops and the little man during one of their weekly visits. 
Nana is at least trying to teach him to color :-) 
Speaking of Nana, she has joined an elite group as of today - the few, the proud, the ones that Tag calls by name :). So far it's Da-Da, Mama, Tis-eee, Mmmma (Emma), and Nana.Here's Kinsey, Nana, and Pops playing hide-and-seek. Note her hiding place. She isn't on her way under, she has stopped right there. Playing hide-and-seek with Kinsey is a hoot. Her newest idea is to play it in the car. Yea, in her carseat :)
Here's some more Pops and Nana fun...
When it comes to hiding, Kinsey does a pretty good job of hiding in this collapsible toy bin. Taggart cracks up everytime. I love watching these two together.
Taggart cuteness:- Kinsey loved a big yellow crab stuffed animal from IKEA when she was a baby. Tag has taken to sleeping with it and cuddling it now as well. It's sort of the pillow under his head in this pic of him through the monitor.
-He has fallen in love with balloons. Unfortunately they don't usually last long since he's still in the phase of testing everything with his mouth. Here's one that managed to escape the fangs. 
-He's been really working on standing up on his own the last few weeks. Here he is trying to stand and hold the garbage truck. 
There's something so very "boy" about watching him play with a truck. Yea, Kinsey played with it, too, but somehow it just wasn't the same!
-Did I mention he's a climber?
-Here he is trying to play the "hide" part of hide-and-seek with Kinsey.
-He learned to walk this week - here he is taking a few steps. 
For very short but cool videos of his first day of what we would call "real steps", please check out:Trying to get him to take steps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Mi1mdim2A
First steps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0rwVdX23rQ
More first steps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV7nis2VMRk
And here are some precious pics of bathtime this week.
Yea, this is him trying to climb out...
Here they are looking at the water that he's just dumped all over the floor...
And this one I'm not really sure but it makes me laugh...
Ok, I'm going to bed. One last video to share. Here's Tag and Kinsey dancing to "Annie-Oooh" on the Fridge-DJ. I have lots more videos to share soon - promise!
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