On July 3rd we went to one of our favourite Charlotte events. The Charlotte Symphony plays a concert outside each Sunday in June and a patriotic concert on July 3rd with fireworks at the end. We left Emerson at home asleep with a babysitter and really enjoyed a few hours with just the older two.

On the 4th we took the kids to a building workshop, then enjoyed some time at my dad's pool. We went to Carowinds in the evening and had fun in the water park, then the kids section and lastly the fireworks. I forgot to take my camera to Carowinds so we didn't get any pictures there.

The kids wanted to buy one of these.

I could not get everyone to smile or look at the same time.

The past few weeks Emerson has taken quite a few naps in the pool. She just falls asleep while we're in the water holding her. Even when there are lots of kids and lots of noise. If we try to get out and lay her down she wakes up right away.

Papa came over late one night and Emerson thought she'd wake up and say hi.

It's my dad's birthday today and Parker wanted to help me make a chocolate cake for him. And by help I mean eat it!

Since we rarely let the kids eat dessert when we're home, Parker is now on a very amusing sugar high after all the batter and icing he kept taking every time I turned away.

I have an idea....

I can clean the dishes with my tongue!

Let's start with this one. It looks like it has some yummy stuff left on it.

Saturday morning we went to take the kids to build a treasure chest at Lowe's but by the time we got there they were all out of kits, even though Chad had registered them =(

So we went to Starbucks instead.

Emerson has discovered the stairs! She made it up several steps this weekend before getting distracted by a brush on the stairs and then lost her balance. If I haven't said this already, she's also eating up a storm, developing quite the temper, not sleeping much (we hope because she's maybe teething) and pulling herself up on everything.

We looked up and there she went up the steps. Time for the baby gates again!

"Ooooh, what's that?"

Where are we going?

Houston, we have a problem!

Happy Canada Day!

So sad I don't have any Canadians to celebrate with me this year. Some day I'll make it back to Canada for Canada Day.

Finally got around to doing some pictures this weekend. We got lots of good ones. Here are just a few of them.

Changed our background to reflect the heat. It has been so hot in Charlotte. We're really looking forward to cooling off at my mom's in just a few weeks.

We went to the Farmer's Market again this weekend so didn't make it back in time for the Lowe's Building workshop this week. It was a pirate ship so Chad made sure we went by a picked up one to do at home. They've been having a lot of fun with it.

Emerson can pull herself up to stand now. She'll be 7 months this weekend. I don't know why it seems like she's getting older faster than the other two. I guess because we're so busy with three kids? Several people have asked about her weight. I *think* she's gaining weight okay, just not as quickly as the other two did. She's started eating apples and pears and got really constipated so at the suggestion of our pediatrician we added prunes (which she quite enjoys) and that seems to have helped. I'm assuming she'll do even better with the weight gain now. As you can see from all her pictures, she's still a very happy girl.

We went to Discovery Place on Thursday. They had a circus exhibit and the kids favourite part was the various kinds of animal dung. Yes, they actually had them molded out of something. Glad we have a membership and didn't pay money to see that! Starting next week they have a pirate exhibit. Parker will LOVE that.

My attempt at getting a Father's Day picture of all three kids and Chad. Kennedy surprised us last weekend by jumping in the pool by herself and swimming all the way to the other end. She's almost been jumping in and staying under the water for a bit. We're so proud of her.

I wish Emerson was always so happy on my back. I could get so much more accomplished but she doesn't normally like it. She was just smiling cause she knew she looked cute with Kennedy's bow on her head.

Pops in the Park from two weeks ago. They spent most of the time dancing.

Kennedy and Parker with one of their creations at the Home Depot workshop Chad took them to while Emerson and I were in Boston.