red, white, and blue

I get the kids' pictures taken each summer in their red, white and blue attire. These are the photos our favorite local photographer was able to capture. She is leaving the area and this is the last time we will have her. With that being said she did individuals and a quick family for us. I think these definitely caught some personalities!!

 We made the flag ourselves out of the kids hand, alternating each child. It was a "fun" little Sunday evening project!

Hope you enjoy this photos as much as we do. Happy to be an American and we all enjoy our freedom!

minor league baseball

 A very generous neighbor offered us tickets to the local minor league baseball game. We had never been to the baseball park, our kids were quite spoiled with this great experience. The park is just beautiful and very family friendly!

The flag was brought in by a para-jumper, former military who is also an amputee. A very beautiful and wonderful way to pay tribute to the red, white and blue! There were 3 jumpers total but this one by far was the best in my opinion. 

 We had awesome seats, 10th row!! and right on the isle.  These kids have no idea of how spoiled they are!

 This was the view from our seats, very good! The fan crew did a very good job of entertaining the crowd. Makayla said when she needs to get a job she is going to be one of the fan crew because they get to have lots of fun!

 A couple cute close ups! Had a good shot going of Pete and PJ and Makayla photo-bombed! she was quite proud of herself!
I love my littles, we had a good time. While we did not make it until the end of the game they are excited to go again.

 the sisters do like each other sometimes!! People often say how much they look a like. They are becoming more similar, however I still see 2 very different looking girls.

 A quick pose with the mascot! and a close up of the cute Brie cheese!

 Sergent Slaughter was the guest of the evening. He was a big WWF guy in the 80's according to Pete. Did nothing for me, however PJ thought he was pretty cool.

rainbows and more rainbows

 I am not sure what has been going on this past week but we have had large rains while the sun is shining bright! One evening we had no joke at least 5 rainbows. They are still so pretty no matter how many I see. We had a first though, while this picture does not show it very well this rainbow is actually starting on the back deck of this neighbors house! It was amazing and lasted for at least 3 or 4 minutes. Just beautiful. Rainbows always remind me of my dad and on this night we just thanked God for sharing a bit of beauty with us.

this one almost seemed to be a triple rainbow, I kept waiting for the third to be more visible but it remained just an "almost".

red mulch

A little landscape redo. Removal of some fence and replacing it with a stone edge makes a big difference. The with a little encouraging I said yes to red mulch and by golly it looks pretty darn sharp! By mid summer hoping the Hostas are grown in a bit more.

6 years in the making

 Pete and I got this church pew 6 years ago as we were building this house. We had visions of how nice it would look after refinishing. Well it took 6 years and my mom coming into town for 6 days but it is done! I did not get a good picture of it before, but here it is.

 After a couple coats of striping and sanding and cleaning this is the in between stage. Lots of encouraging words from cars as they drove by. I think lots of jealousy as well.

The finished project! It turned out beautifully! I think it will become a strong part of many memories to come from this house. So grateful to my mom for all her help and guidance. She continues to amaze me each time we have the privilege of an extended stay with us.

PJ's graduation

 PJ and Brie had their last preschool program this year. As always it was a touching ceremony. This year it was extra special as they put the "graduates" in caps and gowns! It was a touching sight to see.

 The kids with each of their fantastic teachers. The patience shown by the kids preschool is amazing! They always have a very kind and gentle heart! We love them so much and while we are proud of PJ for "graduating" it is with a heavy heart as another of our own is moving on.  Brie on the other hand will be around for one more year and I am sure she will keep them on their toes once again.

 This is Gabriella's very best friend at preschool. They will be thrilled to be together for one more year.

One insisted on taking a quick family picture of us at the program. It was not a plan to have such coordinating outfits.  I do enjoy the red white and blue!

A

A very onery but most sincere THANK YOU to all the staff at St. Paul's for a wonderful year. May God Bless each of you this summer with much time of relaxation, peace, and joy!

So it was a very big day for the littles! Preschool program in the morning,  out to lunch, back to preschool and no nap, the running at soccer in the evening, it was just more than this little lady could handle! Poor Brie was passed out and did not wake for anything! If I recall she did not wake until 940 the next morning!

Maggie's "friend" party

I said earlier that Maggie choose puppies as her these for this year. Well we went

all out and the day went to the dogs!Pete again in his artistic way made a bunch of lumps of cake turn into a dog! A golden retriever I might add per the request of one 8 year old! The things he can do! our kids are very lucky to have such a great daddy!

Maggie had a great time with her friends! They did a lot of running from the second floor to the basement and up again. I am sure they slept well that night! These little ladies also knew how to scream, yell, and giggle! It was a very silly fun party!

They did some crafts before cake and ice cream.

 We also served fruit kabobs per a Maggie request as well.

After crafts, gifts, and cake then the big fun happened! We put garbage bags on each of the kids(fun right..?) the we got out the cans of silly string and sent them to the "meadow".  Oh my goodness the cans lasted only a short time but the memories and squeals will last a lifetime.  The kids had so much fun spraying each other and running away from each other. This just may become a friend birthday party tradition!

After the party was done these two besties were alone at last. This is one of Maggie's very dear friends who moved in April. They happened to be back in town for the weekend and we were able to coordinate a surprise for Maggie. She nearly had tears in her eyes when Brooklyn arrived first before the rest of the group. It made Maggie's birthday party complete to have Brooklyn with her again!