Branson Part 3

This will be the last of the Branson pictures. Sorry there are so many. I like my kids, my camera and action shots. 

Here is the whole Rude group hanging out at the pool. 

Quinton in his element. Do I see the Olympics in this boys future? You can't get him out of the pool.

Rex and his favorite guy in the world. He was just glued to his daddy this trip.

Cousin Brielle and Aunt Julia.

Uncle TJ and Titan. TJ is college bound in a few days. When I met him he was 9 or 10... crazy.

Rex... he kept telling Dan not to catch him. Brave one.

Myla preferred her eyes above water but enjoyed getting her hair wet.

Quinton and Eden were good friends in the pool. Pushing each other to dive deeper and swim further.

My Rexy.

Rex loves being under the water. HUGE lungs on this boy.

Aunt Jess

Quinn and Eden.

My sweet girl.

Quinton loved looking at these pictures of himself swimming.

Got it.

Three Beautiful Rude women.

Quinn also loved these next few pictures of himself. He is quite the "Cool Jumps" man.

I could not be more thankful for such a fun week away with my family. I just love watching my children so happy and learning new things. Oh how blessed we are!

Branson Part 2

I miss Branson.

Ever since we arrived back in Des Moines, the weather has been cooler. I realize that it is bound to happen at some point but AUGUST? My pool pass is still good for a few more weeks and I am desperate to use it. I took the kids Sunday night while Dan was out of town and it was freezing. We barely stayed for an hour and I'm pretty sure only swam for maybe 20 minutes. It was a sad evening and we have not been back this whole week.  I enjoy certain aspects of fall but the pool, oh the pool. This cannot be the end of it. Everywhere I look there are back to school sales. I want July back. I want the heat back. I want to go to take my kids to the pool. Every day in Branson it was over 100 degrees. I miss Branson. 

Titan's actually birthday was celebrated in the great city. The older Rude men had breakfast together so it was the kiddos and I anxiously awaiting Daddy to return to head to the pool. We went lizard hunting, spotted a few but I am neither quick enough nor do I have the desire to hold the guys in my hands. Then it was off to feed the fish. There were some big fish at the resort.

My children enjoyed helping me pack their clothes in their backpacks for vacation. Then we put their clothes in their own drawer at the resort. They found it quite exciting to be able to access all of their clothes at any given moment. Myla especially would change her clothes multiple times a day putting whatever she liked together. This resulted in some interesting outfits. It makes me glad that most days she barely puts up a fuss what she wears and because of where her closet is she can't reach anything in it.

Here's the birthday boy. He found some fish food (a tortilla) and looks quite please with himself.

Don't mind if I do...

The turtle enjoyed the tortilla.

They are getting so big.

I love this picture of Quinton with his arm around Ty. He always has his eye out for this guy. That's what big brothers are for.

It appears that Quinn is trying the fish food as well.

One year old.

It absolutely doesn't get sweeter than this man. We have decided that Titan's theme song is, "He's a maniac." It's quite fitting in a very complementary way. We love that he is just as determined as ever to get into everything and be involved in everything.

We did celebrate his birthday at home a few nights ago. He enjoyed a brownie a present and some singing. I do however think he would be happiest if the heat came back and we could go to the pool... Oh how I miss Branson.

Branson Part 1

We had a fabulous vacation with the Rude family in Branson, MI. All this Rude family needed was a pool and some warm weather and we got it! We spent twice a day, every day at the pool. And I don't just mean for a dip. We spent several hours in the morning and several hours after naps swimming, diving, jumping, splashing. Nap time and bed time were easy, even Quinton was asking to nap every day and by 8:30pm my boys could hardly keep their eyes open, Myla's our party animal at night!

We barely left the resort, we got ice cream one night and joined the whole Rude crew for the Dixie's Stampede and that was it! I love vacations like that. Relaxing, no expectations.

Quinton was in his element at the pool. Diving down in 3 feet water to get his dive sticks and being the amazing encourager of his siblings to join in the fun. He is mastering swimming on his own, when he can't touch. He is so stinkin brave in the pool. It is fun to watch! Put goggles on this boy and he turns into a fish.

Myla enjoyed the pool as well, she loves getting her hair wet but would rather her eyes stay above the water! She is happiest pulling around the babies in their floaties or swimming in her life jacket. She's sure a sweet one.

 

Rex honestly has bigger lungs than I do. He barely comes up for breath and dives right back down again. It's amazing to watch. He followed in Quinton's footsteps and began swimming in open water. He is so fun to watch and loves when you put on goggles and wave at him and high-five him under the water. In one pair of goggles that we have his eyelashes touched the outside. Beautiful eyes.

 

 

 

We enjoyed breakfast and lunch sitting on the porch and usually ate dinner while cheering on the USA. We all got very into the Olympics. Our children loved it all, gymnastics, swimming, diving and nightly after exhausting ourselves at the pool we snuggled up, played legos, wrestled Daddy, stripped down to their underwear (to match the divers) and attempted their own dives, flips, and turns. It was so fun to have them cheer on the USA with us.

Titan thoroughly enjoyed cookies on vacation! Nothing like celebrating your birthday with an Oreo!

 

 I just love his smile. This is Titan in a nutshell. Crazy hair, messy face, huge smile.

 

 

 Rex being Rex, attempting to not look at me for a picture.

 My sweet girl.

 We had a lot, a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and bagels. Quinton covered in peanut butter!

Great vacation. More pictures to come. We were so blessed to be able to get away and enjoy each other. Loved being with my family.

#5

Wee #5 now has their own page at the top and a poll on the side, Boy or Girl? We will find out the end of September. Blessed and Busy Rude Family.

Happy Birthday Titan!

Happy 1st Birthday to our baby boy!

I'm not sure that we have ever had such a determined little one. He is a man on a mission, determined to make his way into any and every activity, mess up his siblings toys, climb onto any chair and then table, climb out of his high chair while buckled, open every drawer and just be in the middle of all the chaos. He absolutely delights in joining all the wrestling and seems to handle being knocked down and bumped and shoved as well as any big kid I know. He is quite successful at making his way into everything and we love that he just loves being involved in it all.

He is definitely just one of our little gang. One of my favorite things is watching one of my big kids play individually with him, playing catch or cars or pushing strollers around with him. Titan Timothy is not one to be ignored and quite frequently makes his siblings erupt into belly rolling laughter to which he feeds off of and joyfully does whatever he did again. It is wonderful to watch, he sees them laughing at him and immediately does it again. He's going to be a little joker.

He has dominated all our other children in the physical aspects of his first year. Rolling over months before the others, crawling, and walking. Titan was walking before some of the others were even crawling. Determined. Even as he was just getting a used to his feet underneath himself he would fall and get right back up only to fall again. For the past few weeks he has basically solely been walking. It's been fun seeing my little man on the move.

It wouldn't be fair to talk about Titan without talking about his extreme love for me, Dan as well, but mom trumps everything! As rough and tough and determined as he is, he's still his momma's boy. I'm sure he will learn soon that life is incredibly fun out reach of his momma.

I cannot even believe what a blessing Titan is. He is the easiest kid in the world to get to smile. He is just my sweet, rarely cuddly (but I'll take what I can get), youngest stud. He really is a stud. So thankful for him and all the joy he brings to our whole family.

I have a whole slew of pictures from our vacation so far... the only problem is the internet here is quite possibly the slowest thing ever so I all I've got for you is the one picture today, Titan in all his glory, crazy hair, mess all over, huge smile. That's my boy!

Happy 1st Birthday to my Tenacious Titan Timothy!

Are You Still There?

It has been over a month since I have sat down at my computer. Just busy brewing a baby, chasing 4 other ones and attempting to stay awake without feeling horrible. Doing all those things at once is an incredibly exhausting task.

We have stayed quite busy making the most of our summer which basically means water, water and more water. We LOVE the water. I'm not the first mother to say this but when in doubt, when we are not sure what to do, when kids are crabby, when we need time to fill, pull out the hose, head to the pool, or let them stand at the sink. Water makes my kids happy.... and wet. 

We have thoroughly embraced our pool pass. I cannot even express how much we enjoy the big pool. It was the best money we spent all summer. Totally and completely planning on it again next summer, even with #5. My children have taken off swimming like little maniacs. I'm fairly certain that Quinton and Rex spend more time underneath the water than above it, not joking. They come up for air, then straight back down again. It's incredible. 

It's been so fun to see the confidence that swimming on their own and under the water has given each of my children. It is fun as a parent to see your child really enjoying themselves and learning new things and conquering fears. 

We are on the Rude family vacation right now. There were two things I wanted to do on vacation, first enjoy my family, second update the blog.  It is something I really enjoy getting the chance to do. 

These next few pictures are quite old but I haven't had my camera out much this summer. Trying to capture any pictures of my children, even when Dan is with us at the big pool is impossible. I am almost always holding Titan and my eyes are glued to my other three children. I have taken all four of them weekly to the pool by myself and we still have a fabulous time. I find it less nerve racking than the splash park because there is more space for all the kids to play and my kids do such a great job of sticking together and doing things they all enjoy that it makes my job easy, splash with Titan, throw a dive stick, catch a little one on the slide and constantly count my kiddos. 

Titan enjoying some mud pie made and served to him by his siblings.

I love messy kids. It must mean they're enjoying themselves, right?

Quinton perfecting his pies.

My three amigos.

My almost three year olds.... ahhhhh

Yes, Titan did sample the mud.

That's what happens when I turn my back. It looks quite similar to the oreo pictures that I took today. I will have to post them for you. Maybe I should have told you it was oreo, then I wouldn't be the mother who lets her kids eat mud ;)

Despite loving the big pool, our little pool at home still is loved and enjoyed by all.

Titan enjoys the water table as well at the pool. He manages the chaos of our little pool and being splashed in the face, tipped over and kicked like a champ. The water table allows me a little break though, I don't have to be standing guard every second making sure he doesn't go under the water.

Our front yard usually looks a little crazy. I guess that just means that we're busy enjoying life, the weather and each other.

Wee #5 seems to be doing well. At my appointment last week the baby's heart was just beating right along. It's a beautiful sound, especially so early in the pregnancy when you don't feel the baby moving, that little heart beat is all the assurance that you get. I find, as I have found in my previous two pregnancies, that I have little time to think about the baby. It's usually the end of the day when Myla wants to talk about all the things she wants to do with her sister (her wishful thinking) and when I start dreading going to sleep (I'm not sleeping well) that I think of #5 and I thank the Lord for yet another little blessing.

I'm hoping to be on the up and up. Into week 13 with this little babe and although I have not felt magically better I have no doubt that the energy is coming back and hopefully the nausea is subsiding. So thankful for summer, the water, my amazing husband and my 5 little wee ones!

Is anyone still there after a month of no posts??