Are we ready for this?

Maybe I should ask if I am really ready for this?

What is this you ask?!?!?

Potty Training!!!!

I honestly can not remember a thing about potty training Brady or Maddie. Blake already had the skill mastered by the time he came home so I feel like such a novice. Boston used the potty chair for the first time on Sunday (July 10th). He seems to enjoy the party that takes place each time he uses it so that is a great thing. But....

He NEVER took off his diaper on his own before Sunday. Now he takes off his clothes and diaper by himself. What is the problem with this?!?!? He did this at bed time and put the diaper in the closet and peed on the floor yesterday!We definitely have out work cut out for us!

More Fun in the Sun

Just for the record our puppy Sabaka is gaining a half a pound a day!  in less than one month he gained 10.2 pounds.  The vet says he is going to be a big dog!

Over the 4th of July weekend we went to swimming....

Fun in the Sun

Today was Boston's first day in a pool and of course he had a blast.  Grandma Cindy and Aunt G joined us for the fun filled day!

 Blake and Trevor were buddies all day long!

 Group shot! (Brady was at soccer camp.)

 Alexis and Madison having a good time posing for pictures!

British Soccer Camp

Brady has had a great time this week at the soccer camp the YMCA brought to the area.  There are three British soccer players that are running the camp and they are so great with the kids (and have a killer accent!)

Brady with one of his best buddies - Tanner

Tanner, Brady, Ezra, and Zach were all on the same soccer team this past spring.

Scavenger hunt through the cameras

I am soooo far behind on updating our family blog with what has been going on.  Here are a few updates based on pictures I found in our cameras!

June 17th was my last day reporting to the office.  Justin hosted a happy hour with some of our friends that evening.  It was our first date night since March and it was a blast.  He also surprised me with gorgeous flowers and a cute cake that read "To new beginnings...Love, Your family!"

I found a couple of pictures from Brady's fine arts night at school.  This was the night before we left for Russia.

On June 17th Blake lost his very first tooth. He was happy to show anyone and everyone (multiple times!).

On Father's Day, we had a fun day at Spring Lake.  Boston had fun in Mr. T's stroller (yes the stroller belongs to my aunt's dog!) lol

On June 24th, Madison attended Lamoine Christian Camp for the first time. She stayed for one night and had a great time.  She met some new friends and hopes to keep in touch with them.

Boston LOVES putting on other people's shoes still!

And the remaining pictures are from the Underwood Family Reunion weekend June 18th and 19th.

 Blake chose pickles over cake!

 Minute to Win It games are so much fun!

 Even Sabaka got to come along for the fun!

 Counsins are so much fun!

ANOTHER addition to the family

Yesterday was Justin and my 13th year wedding anniversary (19 years together). Both of us worked all day but we did line up a surprise for the family that evening. We had been promising Madison that we would get a puppy after we returned from Russia – then it was after dad got done with planting – and then it was after school got out. She finally had enough of our stalling tactics. She was set on getting a German Sheppard. She wanted either a purebred or a mix it didn’t matter. We all agreed that we were not going to spend a whole lot of money on a purebred puppy as the most loyal dogs Justin and I have ever had have been mutts. The kids have never had a puppy. Annie came to us at the age of about 2 years. On Sunday evening, Madison was hounding us again about the dog so Justin thought he was going to send her on a wild goose chase and had her look at the pet listings on Macomb.com. Wouldn’t you know it?!?! There was an ad for purebred German Sheppard puppies in a neighboring town that turned 6 weeks old on the 5th and were able to be released on the 6th (yesterday – our anniversary!). We called the number listed and left a message. I warned Madison that because they are purebred that either there may not be any puppies left OR they may cost a lot of money and we wouldn’t get one so she shouldn’t get her hopes up.

Well as you can see they DID have puppies left. They are purebred German Sheppards but they are not registered and didn’t have papers (which was perfect because we didn’t care about that and they weren’t outrageously expensive). The entire litter was males. Two were all black and the remaining 4 were black and tan.

Presenting: Sabaka ‘Curious’ Overstreet

(Sabaka is the Russian word for dog and Curious was Madison’s first choice for a name)

Born: April 24th, 2011

Adopted: June 6th, 2011

Annie has really taken to Sabaka pretty well so far.  She let him eat from her food bowl and played with her for a bit before losing interest!

Easter 2011

Boston's First Easter; Blake's Second Easter; of course Madison's 8th and Brady's 10th :o)