together again

Back together again! The babes certainly missed their sisters! The big girls spent this past week with granny and pop. It was an adventure everyday filled with lots of memories! The question has come up already, when do we get to do this again? The other comment has been granny's house is much more fun than ours! They really did have a lovely time and came home tired out. Today is catch up day, laying around in comfy clothes, watching movies, and relaxing. Thank you so much to granny and pop for taking the girls, we all enjoyed ourselves. PJ started the week with a fever but nothing really wrong, just a quick 48 hour something. I stayed home Monday and we snuggled a lot. Now Brie was 102.4 last night but in general has pretty good spirits today. Another reason to stay home and rest. Pete is off at work all day so we are on our own. Tonight school shopping for supplies, tomorrow weather pending staining the deck, and then it is Monday already. I think we have a "normal" week ahead, the first in weeks. Makayla heads to school in 17 days! hard to believe! crossing our fingers we get a great teacher. Maggie too will be starting a new preschool August 23rd so that we add a new element to our morning routine! Off to make lunch! where does the time go??

Tree??

On our walk we pass this odd tree. It captures our interests so we look more closely.

We have absolutely no idea what kind it is, help us please.

It appears to be in the willow family.

A bit of a dwarf tree, I think. It is very green, almost appearing as if it belongs in the tropical rain forest.

It is very whimsical, lots of whirly branches that twist and turn.

In person it just looks like a fun happy tree. It is growing well for this person but wonder how it would do for us.

Let us know please if you know the name. Thanks!

posing PJ

Found a very bright patch of bachelor button flowers on our walk and could not resist a photo opportunity!

Once again these digital cameras are great! 12 photos taken, 3 worthy of saving! :~)

Definately not sure if he is liking the latest photo session!

2 babies

The big girls are off at granny and pop's getting spoiled I am sure! That leaves the babies home with mom and dad. Immediately upon leaving the girls in the parking lot PJ started with a very say Bye Bye Kayla, Maggie too.? He is not sure what is going on, each day he walks around saying their names, or simply yells GIRLS. Poor little man, he obviously loves them! At any rate it is a bit of a guilty treat to just have the little ones around. Dinner time is much more quiet, Pete and I are able to have conversations before 10pm which has been nice. I believe Brie misses them too, she has been missing the entertainment for sure. Hard to believe these little ones reach 6 and 22 months old next week! Where has the time gone?

Zoo

My sister requested a trip to the zoo for her birthday. Minus the niece who is taking the picture here is the group that took in the sights. We choose the hottest day of the summer to go! We were all feeling the effects of the heat by mid afternoon so it was an early day for me and the little ones.

Brie remained happy all day! What a good girl!

A Happy 56th Birthday to my eldest sister Jacie! A yummy ice cream pie for dessert after a long, hot day with the animals!

weddings

My brother Wayne and his daughter Ashley on Saturday at her beautiful wedding. Unfortunately I did not have a charged battery in my camera so I had someone else take a couple photos for me so I will add those in when I get them. It was such a special day!

My sweet baby, looking all innocent! Do not be fooled by the picture because not just 2 seconds earlier she was squealing loudly at the folks right behind us! She has become a social flirt! The key is to act like you are ignoring her and then there is no stopping the tricks she will try to get you to smile.

Hopefully more wedding photos soon!

boots

Everyone has been here right! Rubber boots from the sister, wrong feet and obviously 10 sizes to big! I am convinced that is why he ALWAYS wears them on the wrong feet, with them being so big they stay on better when it is the wrong foot. PJ continues to make us laugh each day with new shenanigans! We love him! My little man is having a growth spurt, we were commenting recently that he has gotten a lot taller, at work Friday he weighed 30 pounds so apparently he is still gaining weight too!

Summer cuts

So we went in for haircuts and Makayla finally agreed to have her hair cut shorter like Maggies! This is very big news at our house as she has insisted she keep her long beautiful princess hair. I also had Maggie's cut the shortest she has had it but this girl can pull off any look I swear. Maggie had 3 to 4 inches taken and Makayla had 4 to 5 cut off! It looked like a lot of hair on the floor, holy smokes! Though I do not have the after pictures here they will be up soon. I think shampooing hair time has be cut in half at least as well as the brushing. Why did I wait so long to do this?

Rainbows

There is just something about rainbows that just captures ones curiousity. So simple and so beautiful. We had a fairly bad storm come through the other evening (70 mile an hour winds) but after it was all said and done we were left with this double vibrant rainbow. Everyone in our house was impressed, even the nightly news discussed the spectacular rainbow left by mother nature.

Fun Park and Swim land

Headed out to a local smaller kiddo ride and swim area a few days ago with some co-workers and their kiddos. Here is everyone at the beginning of the very fun day. I did not however get an end of day shot.

There is a very adorable, slow moving train that was a hit!

Airplanes that the kids control as to whether they go up and down. I think my 3 could have stayed on this ride all day.

A variety ride of cars, motorcycles, and others that go around and around and around, you get the idea. The rides were great for the younger ones.

There is also a swim part of the park as well, however no photos were taken with this camera so you will have to believe me that it was fun as well. All in all a very fun day and one worth repeating. Our weather was excellent as well which was helpful.

Raspberries

This is definately worth the listen. Quality and picture are not the greatest but the sound effects cannot be beat! My daughter takes blowing raspberries very seriously this days as you can tell by the effort on her face. I apologize about the shakey camera, by the end she had me rolling in laughter. As I post this you should all know that the raspberries continue. Oh the fun of a 5 monther. So turn off the sound and enjoy, it should make you smile!

Parade

Pete, PJ, and Brie enjoying the parade from afar.

Small town parades are great for raking in lots of candy! PJ even had it figured out after 20 minutes of watching the girls!

The parade even had geese dressed up, walked by a farmer. I was quite impressed.

Fourth of July

They are patiently waiting for daddy to get all the fireworks ready. They also sat this nicely for all the specific instructions regarding fireworks from daddy as well.

Is everyone ready??????

Oh my goodness that is loud and I did not expect all that!!! Hear no evil, speak no evil.

PJ was getting into it as the evening went on.

Daddy loves being a pyro, and PJ is watching very carefully!

1 st cereal

So big brother thought he had to test Brie's cereal first!

Obviously he was not a fan! All he could say was no, no.

He did not want us to give the cereal to Brie and tried very hard to convience us to not feed her it!

Apparently she also was not a fan, the poor little thing just kept shuttering from the awful taste. Was it the cereal or the formula we mixed it with.? Trial number 2 a couple nights later was a similiar reaction! However last nights carrots were far more palatable, though I truly think she is not ready for solids.

Needless to say they both survived the cereal exposure and we had happy campers after. Of course PJ topped his off with a popsicle. I will have you know he did try to share his popsicle with Brie.

Pool time

Who says you cannot swim in your clothes. We purchased a larger pool and I blew it up today, thinking it would warm up overnight. My children thought they needed to try it out right away. I said yes thinking they would just wade around, get cold and get out. I was definately wrong!! It should prove to be a "wet weekend" for these kiddos. Have a great fourth!