More of our July

Yes, I am still trying to play catch-up with this very, very busy month!

We spent a ton of our summer reading. Our local library had a program that for every 10 books you read, you were able to pick a free kids' meal to various local restaurants. Did someone say FREE?! You can bet my kids were reading at least 1o books a week to earn those buggers! We have tons of free kids' meals now and Kaitlin has read tons of Magic Tree House and Boxcar Children books! The boys have finally begun to recognize words and are loving their new-found confidence in books!

Good ol' Uncle Ladd. If ever you need someone to come and rile your kids up and then leave them, he's your guy! The kids love to wrestle and attack Ladd and I think he has just as much fun running from them. Whenever Ladd's around - you can guarantee that it is going to get LOUD!

We did a lot of haircutting in July. Kaitlin has been wanting to cut her hair for a while and Cole finally gave the OK! She cut off 9 1/2 inches and was able to donate to Locks of Love! We weren't expecting that and it made the whole experience way more fun! She loves her short hair and so do we! It is so cute to hear the boys tell her how beautiful her short hair looks after she styles it in the morning!

This isn't the cutest picture of her short hair, but I forgot to take a real "after" picture!

I forgot a "before" picture of Brandon, but here is his "after" picture! What a handsome kid!

Here is cute Brock's "after" picture. I love his hair "spiky." He does too!

What a scary picture! I'm not even talking about the messy face, either! I cut their hair at home and it always amazes me how quickly it is time for another haircut! I'm pretty sure I let this one go a little too long!

Cole's Birthday is on the 20th; he turned 31. We celebrated with homemade pizzas and friends and just had fun hanging out. Kaitlin putting all those candles on the "cake!"

Yes, there are actually 31 candles on the cake - Kaitlin insisted!

I love this picture! You can barely see through all the smoke from the candles!

He even blew them out with one breath!

Allison had fun watching the whole event from her walker and even surprised Daddy with her own present...

SHE'S CRAWLING!!! She crawled for the first time just before Cole came home from work on his birthday. Kaitlin was so excited because, apparently, she had prayed that that was what Alli would give Cole for his birthday! It worked, I guess!