the Swashbuckling Soet kids-

Charlie - the happiest pirate on Big Star Lake-
Captain Cody...does that make me the pirate wench???

Cody making Lindsey walk the plank in the toy room for the millionth time-

The kids pillaging Steve after work yesterday-

Perhaps the cutest pirate of the bunch - Lindsey

Pirate mania has hit our house! Last week Gigi & I took the kids to Grand Haven in search of pirate hats. We came home with two great ones & we should probably be going back for Charlie's next week. We have played pirates ever since. Cody has made planks out of anything and everything & Lindsey has been forced off them all. It's fun to see Cody get so into pretending! And it's sweet that Lindsey has gone along so well with all of it--- so far!

Big Girl Lindsey!

We finally put Lindsey's BIG GIRL BED together! We bought it in April & I finally got brave enough to see if she would stay in it all night. My fear was that she would be a wild child all night long, but so far she has been great with it!

As soon as it was up the jumping started!

She seems to have settled in - She loves bringing a bunch of books with her, the usuals - BunBun & Baby, and her new favorite companions, her Little Mermaids! She looks so little & sweet sitting in that big bed!

Since the bed transition went so well, I tried on Monday to see if Linds was ready to tackle another big girl feat - the potty! She was so uninterested & I was so stressed trying to keep her near the potty while playing with the boys, etc. We'll see when we get back around to that. For now I am still overly thrilled that COdy is fully potty trained & Lindsey sleeps in a big girl bed (& stays there all night long)- - - I need to just take a break, pretend to relax & enjoy those milestones for a week or two!

Splash!

We have spent lots of time this summer at Centennial - swimming, swinging, sliding, & seeing Big Daddy! On Wednesdays, Big Daddy goes to swimming lessons with me, Cody, & Lindsey. Here are a few cute pictures of our lessons & Cody discovering goggles when we went swimming with Kaden & Emmy a few days back!

Our 4th of July at the lake

Cody got to stay up for the fireworks for the first time! He loved calling out "Go Hoosiers" for the red ones & "go State" for all of the green ones. It didn't take long for the day to catch up with him - he fell alseep on my lap & we cuddled while the fireworks lit up the lake!



Everybody loves going on boat rides this summer! Charlie is a real water baby. He even took a nap out on the boat while the rest of us swam. Cody thinks Charlie is going to be a pirate!


SOme of Mimi & PopPop's friends stopped by with their granddaughter - Cody loved having friends up at the lake. Lindsey prefered just hanging with Uncle Mike!

the parade that NEVER ends!

The parade that never ends - the Cascade 4th of July parade!

We all were excited for the parade to start - the kids came pedaling by up the long, steep hill with their bikes all flagged up, the fighter jets passed over us a few times and the sirens were all making noise. So how did this 4th of July staple go so wrong??? Well after 2 hours it still kept coming around the corner. It was truly the never ending parade! Every person in West Michigan with an old car or running for office was in this parade. Car after car plastered in Vote for... It was sad to see how lenient the parade planners were. What kids (or parents) really want to spend over two hours at the parade? Not the Soets


Charlie needed to get home & so did Steve! Steve loaded us all into the car and joined the parade in progress! I was pretty embarassed but the kids loved waiving at everyone - so did Steve! Once I heard some lady shout at her kids to "waive at those cute kids" I was having enough fun with it to jump out and take a picture of the first Soet entry in the parade!

We LOVE Booty Camp!

So I have been behind in reporting about Booty Camp. What a success! Cody went to Booty Camp at Miss Wendy's house on Sunday in West Chicago. We were there 9am-2pm & we came home with a new boy! A big boy that poops & pees on the potty, throws his own trash away, helps clean up, dresses & undresses himself, & loves taking care of his new responsibilities! Miss Wendy taught us how to talk to Cody in a more direct way, taught us how much more Cody was ready to take care of, and how to repsond to "accidents" if they happen once we got home. The follow up and support she gives after class is remarkable! Cody is supposed to call her every time he pees or poops in the potty so she can cheer him on and then she sends him treats in the mail for every call she gets from him. Each night between 6-8pm we are supposed to call in and she can then tweak the program or helps us with any struggles that may have come up. She is helping me get Lindsey started with potty training too! I am planning on getting through the holiday weekend and then tackling that. After having learned so much from Wendy at Booty Camp I feel so much more confident that it well go well with little Lindsey too!

-We are thrilled to have conquered potty training with Cody & he is so proud of himself too!

Charlie John @ 5 months!

It's that time of the month again (that doesn't sound too good...) & the onesie is quite tight! It's his 5 month onesie & a size 3-6 months. Charlie has been wearing 6-12mo. clothes for at least 2 months now, so it just isn't a good fit! I thought this month I would try to capture what he likes and does at this stage.

the poor kid doesn't get much personal space - but at least he has a brother who really loves to play with him!


No body likes a tight onesie! He looks so much happier in the highchair munching on a biter biscuit with the snaps undone-


Tonight Charlie tried applesauce & LOVED it! He just got the hang of eating babyfood - Apples were his first fruit & a big hit - so are the biter biscuits!