Swimming & Soccer

Blake has been a busy boy swimming and playing soccer this week. He started out timid with both, but came out of his shell and had a lot of fun!

He kept going under water on purpose and asked that I take a picture to show Daddy. Bryce was having just as much fun watching as he was swimming.

There goes Blake off the diving board

Here he is warming up with Bryce before soccer started

He did much better this week and actually participated in some of the games. YAY!! That is him on the left, all the kids are #1 so I can't point him out by number.

Baxter Baby Shower

Tonight we attended a fun couples baby shower for Baby Baxter.

Here is Momma-to-be, Sarah... 4 weeks to go!

Happy Family

Just kidding, this is really Tim NOT Sean
Here is the right guy: Sean & Erica
Baby Quinn snoozed through the party
LoLo cuddle time As one of my God daughters it is expected that she glam it up every now and then. It is a good look for you Lauren!
Jeff & Rich, hangin out
Somehow Kara escaped the view of my camera on all these shots. Speaking of Kara, we do have something to celebrate . . . the Grove family is expecting their 2nd baby in January!!!! Congratulations Jeff, Kara, and Lauren. Another baby to love and spoil :)

Toe Trouble

Having a foot soak

Working the sympathy
He didn't like sitting there, so he asked brother to join him

Poor Brycie has a little cut under his toe nail that happened while we were camping and last night he was complaining that it hurt. I pulled his sock off and found his toe to be red, warm, and swollen to 3 times the size it should be. I gave him some motrin, scrubbed it with some antiseptic, put on some antibiotic ointment and bandaged it up. Well, this morning it looked worse: more swelling and the redness is spreading up his foot in a line. NOT GOOD!!

The doctor met us at his office and said in his heavy accent, "Yes, BAD infection, need antibiotic". We started the medicine today along with some foot soaks two times a day and we see the Dr. again on Monday. Meanwhile Bryce is in a lot of pain, but trying to be tough so he can play outside with Blake!

Lansing

The boys and I headed to Lansing yesterday and spent the afternoon with Great Grandpa Al. Grandpa even ran around with Blake playing soccer! Blake and Bryce love their Great Grandpa and after their games of musical chairs they both ended up on Grandpa's lap!

Great Aunt Shelly even stopped by to play a little soccer with Blake
Then we went to see Chad, Leah, and the twin baby girls in Leah's belly.
She's due in August, we can't wait til the Dunny girls get here!

Soccer

Ok, so Blake loves soccer and he plays all the time at home with his ball and net and he even teaches Bryce some of his soccer moves. So, I thought it would be a great idea to sign him up for a 4 year old soccer program. His first night was Wednesday night and it did not go as well as I had anticipated.

He started out great, warming up on the field with a few kicks into the net.

It was all down hill from there. He cried a little, then sat in the middle of the field while all the other kids ran around playing games with the coach. I was really surprised, he loves running around with other kids.
He said he was upset because the kids were too small and he was bigger than them.

I am pretty sure it was just an excuse for his shyness. What a disaster!!

O'Mara Boys

Here are my favorite blond hair, blue eyed O'Mara boys. It is not easy getting all of them to cooperate for a picture. Blake, Bryce, and Quinn did great we just had the worst time getting Tim and Sean to keep their eyes open!

This is the best attempt

Blake, Bryce & Quinn did so good I had to crop the other two out of this picture!
Brycie & Aunt Erica
Bryce continues to be extremely jealous of baby Quinn and is doing anything possible to get Aunt Erica's attention. He is always saying, "Watch this Aunt Erica, See me do this Aunt Erica, Me so fast Aunt Erica". Last night, however, the jealousy reached a new height . . . he said he wanted Erica to be his Mom (just a second while I wipe the tears from my eyes). He then called her Erica-Mom the rest of the night. When I asked him "What about me?" He told me that he could have 2 Moms. At least I am not totally out of the picture :)

Grove Family Fun Fest

This weekend was part 1 of 2 for Grove Family Fun Fest! We arrived Friday afternoon and set up "Camp O'Mara". This is the new sign I got last year and I am so pleased with how it turned out!

The food was amazing all weekend long. Tim and I were responsible for Saturday dinner along with the Groves and we made deep fried turkey, boiled potatoes, carrots, and corn on the cob with about 3 different salads. YUM, right Bryce?
The weather was great all day Saturday and I attempted water skiing for the first time in 10 years!! Blake, Bryce, and Tim all went tubing and I will have to post the pictures later when I get them off Kara's camera.
Blake and Bryce spent much of their time digging in the sand,
jumping on the trampoline,
and fishing with their fake "bait". Shh, nobody tell!
Ahhh, another successful camping trip at the Groves. Thanks Mo, Judy, Jeff & Kara!!

QT with Quinn

Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary to Sean & Erica on Monday! The best part of their celebration was that we got to spend quality time with Quinn.

Our handsome nephew

Just hangin out, listening to his crazy cousins

Erica & Quinn

He looks so excited . . . as he should be when he is with Uncle Tim, Aunt Rachel, Blake & Bryce

Party Time

On Sunday we came back from camping and got all cleaned up to attend a graduation party (Congratulations, Lexi). Blake and Bryce were dancing around excited because I told them there would be cake there :)

Handsome boys

Strike a Pose
While we were at the party a terrible storm blew in and the tent came crashing down. Luckily we were inside and escaped the damage. While we all watched the news watching the storm path my usually shy Bryce walked around telling EVERYBODY "Bad Weather, it scare me". Every time I turned around he was striking up another conversation with a new adult. Blake meanwhile was hanging around the high school girls . . . what a boy!

Happy Campers

We went camping in Pinckney Recreation Area over the weekend and the boys loved every minute of it! We were right on Bruin Lake and there were plenty of trails for bike riding.

This was our view

Blake rode his bike around the circle road and thought he was sooo COOL! He even made friends while on his bike ride as there was a group of cub scouts tent camping across from us.
Brycie was slow but steady on his tricycle. He also made it around the big circle several times and stopped quite often to take in the scenery at other people's camp sites. We even had to pull him out of one camp site because he rode up and sat on his trike about a foot away from some one's picnic table. He didn't say anything, just sat and watched. They didn't even know he was there until we walked over to get him!
Both boys are old enough to sleep on the bunk beds this year and they loved it.
Too Cool for School

Role Reversal

Bryce is catching on to the fact that Blake is not a big fan of new foods, so this morning he was trying to encourage his big brother to venture out and try oatmeal. Bryce said to Blake, "Do you want to try my oatmeal?" Blake quickly refused the offer by saying a firm "NO Thank you". Bryce then lifted his spoon and said, "If you try a bite I will be so proud of you." Thanks for trying to help out Bryce, but big brother is as stubborn as they come!

In case you can't tell, they think they are really Cool in their plaid shorts!

Tim set up their Thomas train set last night in the basement and they are enjoying some quality sibling time watching the automated train go round and round the track.
It is about the only thing they don't fight over because it goes all by itself . . . YEAH!!

Being an Adult

I had a very serious conversation with Blake this morning and it is too humorous not to share. He got really quiet, sat down next to me and said, "Mom do you think I will really marry Tay?" I said "I don't know, Blake, you and Tay might find other people to marry. You have to wait until you are an adult to make that decision, so you have a lot of time to figure it out." He said, "But I will be so sad if Tay finds another boyfriend, what will I do?" I told him that maybe he would find another girlfriend. He then asked, "But how do people do that? How do they find boyfriends and girlfriends?" I said "Maybe you will meet someone at school or church or soccer, you never know when you meet a new friend." He said, "Well I hope I just get to keep Tay as my girlfriend when I'm an adult" :)
Than he finished the conversation by saying, "I really can't wait until I am an adult so I can drink beer." OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!! This is not good, he is only 4 years old and he can't wait until he can drink beer. Good thing he doesn't like to try anything new, I hope he stays on PB sandwiches and milk the rest of his life! I did sternly tell him that beer is for adults, it is not very good and not something that you should look forward to drinking. The rest of the explanation will be up to his beer drinking Daddy.