Fenwick Island

Our annual vacation to Fenwick Island was as always - a joy. We had another year of beautiful weather. The cousins enjoyed each other, and we made more summer memories.

Charlotte enjoyed her great grandfather. I think he enjoyed her too!
Joshua is still a mad man when it comes to cereal. It is his favorite food group - at least he thinks it should be a food group. His favorite? Honey Bunches of Oats...just like his daddy!

Our nephew Aaron. He learned a lot of new silly-ness from his cousins, and shared a few silly tricks with them too!

The littles

If you click on this photo you can see it much better, but I love this one. Craig and Joshua went for a walk one morning on the beach. This is the way back in.

The whole Fenwick Clan

Where have we been?

I realize it has been two months since I have updated any photos on our family blog...we have been busy! Here is a snapshot into what we have been doing...

A lot of bike riding

A little bit of fishing

A lot of learning

which has been so much fun!

Dress-up

Karis thinks Charlotte likes it too. I'm not convinced!

A lot of playtime

Again?

Sweet thing.

Cooper Kids

Charlotte

Karis

Joshua

Happy 4th!

This July 4th we kept Madie and Philip for the evening while Stuart and Jenny had a little get-away. The kids had a blast (no firework pun intended!). We went to the Ridner's to swim and watch their neighbors shoot off firecrackers. Here is the patriotic bunch!

The cousins loved their sleepover, and they did really well given how young they are. Karis and Madie talked late into the night - but finally drifted off to sleep. Actually, when Karis got up to go to the bathroom at 10:30 pm, Madie fell asleep. Then, having no one to talk to, Karis quickly fell asleep. We stood outside their door and listened to them talking. It was so sweet to hear them. They were looking at books and listening to Karis' CD. I hope there will be many more times in the future where they will sleep over together as they grow up together!

The boys we didn't trust to fall asleep together! My husband wisely decided to lay them down separately. We moved them into the same room after they were alseep. Smart decision!

I wish I had taken their photos sleeping together, but I was too tired to go downstairs and get the camera once I had gotten upstairs to go to bed...next time I guess!

La La Plewza

In typical Plewniak style, Elizabeth threw a very creative 30th Bithday Party for Mike! HE was totally suprised to find a whole slew of people partying in his backyard - set up to be like La La Palooza - only this party was La La Plew-Za! Tents for camping out (which we did not stay to do!), live music, standup comedy by Elizabeth, a movie, fireworks - all completed this outdoor fun! Happy 30th Mike!

Mike coming in to the suprise

Craig and Joshua

Us with the little bit

The party wouldn't have been complete with Mr. Crazy Man - Jonathan

And his little girl London

Karis loves babies - especially ones that she can help.

Here Karis is walking with Pearl Clayman

Double Trouble!

Joshua

Live Entertainment by Kevin, Marco and Josh - the balancing mandolin player! It is always so fun to see people you know and love singing silly songs!

Plew - we love you and hope you have a great 30th!

Baby Bungie

This is our third child to LOVE the Baby Bungie Bouncer! My mom always laughs at the children as it looks like they are marionette puppets. Charlotte loves being able to be upright and watching the other two children mad at play! I am saving the exer-saucer for when Karis starts school.

Boo Boo Face

I was taking photos of Charlotte the other day and Joshua was trying to get her to smile at him. He thought it would be funny (being a little boy) to growl like a lion at her. She didn't agree with his humor. But...I was able to capture the moment on camera! Charlotte works up to a cry. She doesn't just let it out like her siblings did. She pouts and makes what we call the Boo Boo face...then she lets it out! It really is cute, as much as a baby crying can be.

Here is the progression:

Charlotte looking at Joshua

"I don't like what you're doing!"
Uh-Oh!

Waaahhh!

Oh, there is my Mommy!

Cast Away

Joshua is cast free! He got it taken off on Monday, and he is a happy boy! I feel like summer just began for us as we are doing outdoors activities again! This is Joshua just before having his cast cut off.
And just after!

That night we had a celebration complete with a cast away pirate cake that turned out to look like a box more thana boat, but he didn't mind!

First of the Summer

We picked our first tomato of the season. Karis has waited for over a month for this tomato to grow and ripen...and it was yummy!

More of Pop's Visit

One of the day's that Pop was here, we went to the Museum of Appalachia. The children LOVED it. I was supprised that they did. They loved the animals on the property.


This peacock was a particular favorite. There were several peacocks on the property, and their call is so distinct. The children were mesmorized by the pattern of the feathers.

This sundial was very interesting to Karis

Joshua loved watching the chickens and baby chicks in their chicken coop

He was so tired from all the fun that he fell asleep as soon as we got home. He didn't even make it to his bed!

Before Joshua broke his leg, we had several visits from various family members. My grandfather came and spent two days with our family and that was a lot of fun! I love seeing my children play with their great grandfather - it reminds me of when I was a child and how much I loved being with him...still do of course! Being with my grandfather also reminds me of the faithfulness of God. My 90 year old grandfather has tried his whole live to live in an honorable way and his life commends him. I love my Pop, and I love seeing my children do the same.

I don't know why the photos are posting side by side, but...oh well.

Karis is still trying to make everything out of paper. This is her attempt to make a robot costume out of paper. I actually thought this one was pretty creative. She used paper plates for the shoes, paper sleeves and then she got the kitchen strainer for her hat. This girl is going to love school!

Doing Alright

I am going to try to get caught up on posting photos on our family blog. Needless to say, updating the blog has been low on the priority list! Joshua is doing well. We are thankful that he is supposed to get his cast off tomorrow (June 23rd!) He has adapted remarkably well. I have been so thankful that he has still been sleeping through the night. I have heard of children who don't while haveing a cast on due to the insatiable itching. Joshua has only one time mentioned his leg itching inside of his cast. That is probably because he has two pennies, and a toy disc in his cast that I know of. Tomorrow we will find out what else he has shoved in there!

I have heard of an online company that you can send the link to your blog and they will print and bind an annual edition of your blog... does anyone know about this? I would love to have a printed scrapbook/journal ...

Poor Guy

Well, we have one sad little guy in our home. Sunday night Joshua broke his leg! He was jumping on our trampoline with several other people, and it got the best of him. I guess he just landed wrong...and broke his tibula and fibula - both the bones in his lower leg.

This sad little boy is doing fairly well though. He is sleeping rather well in light of the circumstances, and we are thankful for that. Karis is driving him crazy trying to take care of him!

Joshua chose to have a purple cast! We thought that was funny. I would have guessed that he would have chosen red - like his favorite race car - Lighting McQueen. But, he chose purple. For two weeks he will have this cast which goes above the knee. And then the plan is for him to have another one that will not go above the knee. The second cast might be water-proof, which would be good so that we could give him a bath, and he could even swim!

For two days, Joshua has been watching movies, but today he ventured onto the floor to play with his cars and airplanes. That was encouraging.

We are thankful that little bones are reported to heal quickly. The doctor said that he should be running around in a month or so. We are praying for that to be the case.

Our family has been so blessed by so many phone calls and e-mails. Joshua's babysitter even dropped off a coloring book to help him pass the time! Thanks Tera!

Cousins

My sister and her husband came and visited us for a few days this week. We had a great time. I will post more photos of the visit soon.