Kids Fair

One of the churches in our town put on a kids fair this past week. It was the best family activity! Different people had boothes or brought their animals for the kids to see. The great thing about it all was that it was completely free! The kids would go to the boothes and get tickets for coming, then they collected all their tickets and turned them in for my prizes at the end.

Sarah and Emma had the time of their lives, and Andrew was a great sport through it all. The girls got to see a ton of different farm animals, ride a horse, and hold the furriest little bunnies! We went to the horse booth over and over so that Sarah could ride "Rojo." They got to jump on a blow up toy, and go down the giant slide at least 20 times.

Too bad the kids fair doesn't last all summer!

Born to Ride

A couple weeks ago, Sarah and I discovered that Andrew likes to play a little game. This video shows it well:

Now, Sarah always asks me to do this... in the morning, during the day, and especially before bedtime. She loves to see Drew smiling and happy, and so do I. There is just something about seeing complete joy in your baby's face and knowing that you're the one making them happy. It doesn't hurt either that Drew is such a happy little guy anyway.

Finger Paint

Last week, I let the girls finger paint a little bit. Sarah has done it before and completely enjoys herself every time. We usually do this activity while Emma naps, but this time I had Emma join in. I was so surprised that the second I laid everything out, she knew exactly what to do! Dip the hands in, paint a little, dip the hands in again... it was so fun to watch her that even when things got messy I just kept snapping pictures!

Okay... get a little more paint

I'll just try it on my legs this time

A little bit more...

What Mom? Don't I look pretty?

VERY Different!

After taking Andrew's three-month pictures, I got thinking about Sarah and Emma's pictures and I wanted to compare them. Boy oh boy, do they all have their own unique look!

Three Months and Growing

Our Mr. Drew is three months old today. It's hard to believe that our little guy is growing up and becoming more of a baby than a newborn. Everyone in the house absolutely adores him - he is such a welcome addition.

Some fun facts about Drew:

• He loves his diaper or clothes changed! He will smile and sometimes even giggle with a little sparkle in his eye. It is such a delight.
• He started rolling over from his back to his tummy, but then gets really upset once he finds himself eating carpet!
• He sleeps 8-10 hours at night - yeah for mommy!
• He likes to suck his thumb just like Emma, but only uses the left thumb.
• He prefers a sitting up position to discover his world, but still enjoys laying under ceiling fans too.

Here are a few more pictures from our 3-month photo shoot

Summer Lovin'

We're all trying to enjoy the hot hot summer around here by doing some fun things. Of course with having sick kids on and off for the past two weeks, we're trying hard to get out all that we can. We like summer storytime at our library, home-made activities and crafts, family trips to the park, and backyard swimming.

Sarah was really sad to have Dennis go to work one morning, so he promised her a park outing after dinner. She talked about it ALL day... "After we eat lunch, we take a nap, after we eat dinner, we go the the PARK!"

Emma in the Peek-A-Boo tunnel

Sarah - "I see you too!"

Sitting poolside with our friend Addicus (he and Emma are only a few weeks apart in age)

Our little fishies

Green Thumbs?

It seems like we have yard work to do all the time here! Whoever lived in our house before us must have really enjoyed gardening, because there are flower beds everywhere with different plants and bushes in each one. We spend a lot of time (unsuccessfully) weeding and just trying to make it all look decent. A couple weeks ago, the girls were in the mood to help out a little...

I love how Sarah completely models what she sees

Seriously... could this be cuter?

Watching and learning

Reflections Tag

I've seen this on a few different blogs, so I thought I'd join the fun!

20 years ago...
I was 5 years old and just about ready for kindergarten. I was so excited to go to school like all the rest of my siblings. I'm the youngest, so I always wanted to be doing what the older kids were doing. I remember playing a lot with my cousin, Krystle. My mom and her mom are sisters, and we are less than a year apart in age. We'd either all go out for the day and go to Chick-fil-A at the mall, or we would play at each other's houses a lot. I specifically remember those afternoons when I played over at Krystle's house. Her mom would have us each take a nap in a different room... Krystle would always wake up before me, even though I'm older. She'd sleep for probably an hour, and I was out for three hours! I always felt like I was missing out on the fun while I slept.

10 years ago...
I was 15 years old and had just finished 9th grade at SJH. Go Sundevils!!! I was so excited for high school, and driving, and dating. I was obsessed with volleyball, and I was going to conditioning for the high school team and getting ready to try out to make the team (which I did). I didn't really have any close friends because my two best friends were starting to make some pretty dumb decisions... I ended up meeting such amazing friends in high school, though!

5 years ago...
I had just moved to Iowa after getting married. Dennis and I had our second wedding reception (this one in Iowa), and my whole family minus my sister had driven out for it. We went to Nauvoo and Carthage that week, and then they all headed back to Utah. I cried so hard when they left. I'm pretty sure I scared Dennis that I was going to run away after them! Dennis and I had a week of fun at the beginning of June before he started working at the university hospital and I started summer classes. It was fun to have no responsibility for a week or two after we got married.

3 years ago...
Sarah was our little newborn. She was only about 5 or 6 weeks old at this point. We lived in Utah. I remember wondering if I was ever going to be skinny again, so my sister and I would wake up at 5:45 each morning and go walking together. That summer was so fun for Dennis and I because we were in a new house and had our new little baby. We spent a lot of time hanging out with my parents or with Dennis's sister and her family.

1 year ago...
I was just starting to experience my first Oklahoma summer - hot and humid! Sarah wanted to go swimming in our kiddie pool outside every day. Emma was really fun and smiley all the time. We were beginning the long process of remodeling parts of our house. The kitchen was all torn up and some of it was open to the attic!

So far this year...
We've almost completed the remodeling on our house (as soon as we get new kitchen cabinets - hopefully in the next few weeks)! We welcomed little Andrew to our family in March, and he is getting to be super fun. He smiles soooo much and just loves his parents and sisters. We've had a lot of family come visit, which has been really fun for all of us.

Yesterday...
The girls and I just stayed home and did some things around the house. Sarah and Emma have been sick, especially Sarah. She doesn't even have much of a voice. After she coughs, she always says "I feel so sick," in her sad little way. Dennis and I also talked about our kitchen cabinets and counter tops, and we watched CSI:Miami together so that we could make fun of it the whole time.

Today...
We're going to run a couple errands and play. We might even make a homemade volcano with some old playdough (thanks for the idea, Melissa).

Tomorrow...
The kids and I will go to storytime at the library, and probably go to WalMart for groceries and diapers (the necessities). Dennis will go play basketball with some friends tomorrow night, and I'll have my weekly at-home pedicure!