Nana's house

I must say, the best thing about summer is spending time with my sisters and their kids. We all met up one weekend at my mom's. There happened to be a festival thing in my mom's neighborhood that day... face painting, games, bounce house, cotton candy, ice cream, sno cones... all free! The kids came home with a ton of prizes and a sugar high!

A guy in my mom's ward took everyone out on a boat ride. However Sarah did NOT want to get in that boat, so I stayed back with her and Abby. Of course, as soon as the boat sped off, she said, "I want to do that. I want to go on boat."  Argh!

And dinner with 6 adults and 12 kids and burnt pizza was kind of crazy!

Lucy Luba and Layni Bug

My niece Lucy came to stay with us one week while her mom was packing up their house. The girls loved having her here and I enjoyed making sure I was her favorite aunt! 

We picked up Layni and had her for one night too. I got up the courage and hit the Harris Teeter Super Doubles with 5 girls. We were quite the sight with our 2 grocery carts. Layni pushed the cart with Sarah and the food and then I had a cart with Lucy, Emily and Abby. Whew!

That night we went to a Carolina Mudcats game. Thankfully, we had free tickets, so we didn't care that the girls lost interest quickly.

The girls going on "an adventure"

Happy Father's Day

I must say, Andy had a pretty good Father's Day.

He woke to lovely presents (wrapped by the girls, hence the Hello Kitty bag).

He got 3 ties (and 3 shirts and 3 suits, but I didn't wrap those.)

 I made him a photo book with pics of him and the girls.

Emily wanted to make him a picture with their handprints. She came up with the idea all by herself and was SO excited when we finally did it.

Of course, he got lots of hugs and kisses from his girls and a nap with the baby!

And we topped it off with a steak dinner and a yummy dessert. Like I said, he had a pretty good day!

He is a great daddy to our girls. They love when he gets home. They are literally standing at the door waiting for the nightly game of chase and tickles! Sarah loves to follow him around the yard and help him with whatever project he is working on. Emily loves riding in the boat on the pond with him (well, until I ripped the boat but that is another story.)

We love you, Daddy!

3 Months Old

3 months old

She wasn't in the mood to smile, but we still love her!

June Happenings

Bounce House with College Roomies

Recently my college roommate was moving from Florida to Michigan and spent some time in NC visiting family and friends. We were able to arrange a little get together with some of our other UNC girls at a bounce house. It was fun catching up and letting the kids run around.

Sarah doesn't really care for bounce houses, but thankfully they had this neat ball and bat thing. There was air shooting up from this cone holding the ball up in the air. Sarah was there all day swinging that bat.... and letting the air blow up in her face.

All the kids!

Feeding the Ducks

One hot and muggy day we went to Shelley Lake to feed the ducks with Joyschool.

At one point, a goose walked up from the pond to the bridge we were on. Sarah started backing up into my legs saying she was scared. Honestly, I was a little scared myself. That think could have pecked us! However Sarah was quick to react and chucked a whole slice of bread at its head! Good thinking! Luckily, some dogs came and chased it away and not of us got pecked. :)

Abby is such a trooper and just hangs out and takes it all in.

 But watch out, when she starts crying, she doesn't stop!

Primary Activity at the Temple

On a another hot and muggy day, we joined the primary at the Temple. The kids sangs a few songs and then we took a little tour around the temple. We ended it with a picnic lunch. Did I mention it was a hot and muggy day??!

Pretty much, every day in June was hot and muggy!

Nana Retired!

My mom just retired!!! Woo Hoo! She has been working hard as a teacher for 30 years... technically 29 years, but close enough. My mom is and will always be a teacher at heart. She truly loves to teach and cares about all her kids. She enjoys teaching her grandchild too. We always make fun of the car load of things she bring when she comes to visit. She always has games, books (oh so many books) and learning activities for the kids. They love Nana's bag of books. She loves figuring out what each child needs to be working on and then telling us how we can help. Isn't she the best??!

The girls and I went down to the end of the year luncheon at her school. 

They serenaded the retirees with "You've Lost the Teaching Feeling." Hilarious!

The girls could have played in Nana's classroom all day...

but I was ready to get to the pool!
 Nana has the best pool in her neighborhood. It is perfect for the girls and is never crowded.

So I forgot to bring a sun hat for Abby and asked mom if she had anything Abby could wear. She pulled out a pink bonnet. Emily immediately decided she wanted to wear it... backwards. (see picture below). As we leave for the pool, she refuses to take it off. I told her she had to take it off before we could leave for the pool . However my mom disagreed and thought I should just let her wear it. She said it was expressing personality (or something like that) and isn't a big deal and I shouldn't care too much about appearances. So, I gave in and let her wear it. Thankfully she took it off before she got in the pool. However she immediately asked for it  again when it was time to head home. 

So would you have let your child wear this out? 

Is it worth the struggle to make them change?

No kissing!

Sarah and Emily both love our neighbor Luke and play with him every night. He is 5 and is Emily's "husband." They love to play "Husband and Wife" and Sarah just tags along behind them as their child. The things they say to each other are hysterical.

One day when he was over, Emily asked if I would marry them. "You know, you say the you may now kiss the bride thing." I had to establish a "no kissing" rule. So they hugged and then asked me to take a family picture.

So here it is...

 I am not sure what is going on here, but I had to also set a "No boys in the bed" rule

(right after I took the picture).

We are so lucky to have such great neighbors and a playmate for the girls!