Our sprinkler broke so I had (yeah, HAD) to go and get a new one. Couldn't find a sprinkler anywhere, but they had pool things on clearance at Target and I couldn't resist. Money well spent to see what fun the Eli and the girls are having in the pools. :)
First we had the "baby sprinkler" out, which a baby would HATE since it sprays so much water. But the kids loved it!
I've finally gotten around to going through my pictures, so I thought I should actually post them as well. :) We headed up for a camping (cottaging, really) long-weekend at Cran-Hill Ranch a few weeks ago, and we had an awesome time!
Mom, Eli, Matea, and I headed out Thursday morning so we could get there, unpack, and get some afternoon beach time in. Matea and Eli loved the water, and they both also loved playing in the sand. The were digging all around in it - which meant they had sand in places I don't want to talk about. :)
Thursday late afternoon/evening Jeff and Lori came out, then Grandpa and Jon, and my Uncle Bob and Aunt Linda, and cousin Toni and Paul and their four kids as well. Friday started off with a hike to a spring where we could fill our water jugs up (clear, cool water, yummy) and then pony rides - Eli had no hesitation this year and was a pro. Then more swimming in the afternoon, and Jon I took Eli on a paddleboat ride where Eli did all the steering (he was proud as a peacock).
Friday night was tie-dyeing night, and Eli wanted a green, blue, and orange shirt. But the dye chart showed that orange with either blue or green made brown. Not what we were going for. Eli chose yellow instead of orange and wanted a spiral burst pattern this year. When we got the dye out though some of it splattered when Eli put the bottle down and the green dye went straight up and landed on Eli's hair. Oops! After our best clean up efforts we still had a kid with green hair on the side. Oh well! Eli's shirt turned out great again and he loves it (he wants to wear it every day, I'm serious).
Saturday Eli slept in until after 11 am and it was kind of windy, so we spent the rest of the day playing games, making pizzas in the fire, and then going on a hayride with our whole extended family. After the hayride Grandma, Uncle Jeff, Noah, Tori, Eli, and I went for a kayak trip around the lake, and Eli loved it. He got a chance to help paddle as well and did great. Eli headed back to the cottage after the kayak ride but, after seeing him safely back, the rest of us went for a swim and did jumps off of the dock. Tori and I started jumping together yelling, "Girl power!" and that quickly led to daddy/daughter, daddy/son, brother/sister, mommy/son/daughter, aunt/nephew, Koorndyk power and all the relationship permutations we could find. We ended with Tori's idea though - yelling "Jesus power" as we did our final jump. :) We had such a fun time in our after dinner swim. That was one of the highlights of camping for me!
Matea just kind of took it all in while we were camping. She liked playing with the kids the best, and the swimming and playing in the sand. She took really good naps while we were there which was nice, and for the most part she slept well at night (except the first night where she kept standing up and reaching over the pack-n-play to whack me on the head and then laugh). I can't wait until next year when she can go on a pony ride and tie-dye her own shirt!
Matea loves to pretend to put clothes on. She gets them on top of her head and wearing them like a cape mostly, but she is just pleased as punch when she's doing it. Well, when I got an order from Children's Place earlier this week she was just in her glory with all the clothes surrounding her. She played for almost 45 minutes just taking the clothes on and off. I had to capture it! Also, in her small vocabulary she has included the word "shuss" which means shoes. Matea will sit and play with shoes for a long time, and loves taking my shoes on and off. She's my little girl, there's no denying that! She loves shoes and clothes already!
Does it go on like this, Mom?
Matea turned 14 months old yesterday, and decided to celebrate that milestone with another milestone - walking on her own! She has been able to walk with assistance since about 10 months old, and *could* walk on her own since about 11 and a half months. Across the living room, between people, etc. But she never chose to walk on her own, it was always at our prompting. Since being in the new house she's been getting braver with cruising around the furniture on her own, but then figured out how to crawl properly and WOULD NOT walk on her own at all.
Yesterday morning though Matea started walking between the couches . . . then to the kitchen table . . . then to the fridge . . . then to the other room and down the hall! She kept practicing all day and last night she was doing laps around the house and doing circles around her toys in the living room. She's walking on her own!
With all the moving and unpacking around here, there have been plenty of boxes to make some great forts. Our original fort was made out of the box that our range came in. I cut out windows and doors to Eli, Lexi, and Tori's specifications, and then they decorated it and dubbed it "The Friendship Fort." They had me write that on the top and also the slogan "fun is friendship." Budding ad execs in the making.
The second fort Eli had was made out of a smaller box and pillows by Grandma Amanda when she came for a visit. It was just the right size for Eli to climb inside and "sleep."
Now that we are all moved in I put the kids to work on Monday and had them move the lighter boxes that they could lift to the basement. Then we constructed forts for each of them from the boxes and blankets we used for moving. Noah opted not to have a roof on his fort (which was good since we were running out of boxes), and Eli's fort was built off of the Friendship Fort with the addition of another room. Then Lexi and Tori each had their own and we built a tunnel and smaller fort for everyone to share. The boxes we used I won't need to unpack or put away for a while, and since we have no other use for the basement right now it will stay fort central!
Where'd everyone go? 
Found Lexi! 
And Eli too!
It's a fort-a-palooza in here! 
