Family Fun Day

Our town had a "Family Fun Day" a few days before the 4th of July. The morning started off with a parade. The girls decorated their jeep and set off for a ride....

Look at these patriotic beauties...

 Our wonderful spectators endured the sweltering heat.

 We cooled off with a nice lunch.

Then Andy took the girls  to really cool off with a Fire Dept Spray Down. All the kids go to the baseball field   and a couple of firemen spray everyone down with their hoses. I think Andy was tempted to join in. 

Emily was really into it

and finally Sarah decided to join in.

 Then we headed over to the Turners for a cook out and then fireworks.

Sarah LOVES Landen and asked to see him again for at least a month after this night.

Mamas and babies

 Nana and Abby.... I think they were both worn out from all the festivities!

The girls.... and a photo bomber!

 I love days filled with hanging out family and friends!

Butterflies

Emily has gotten really good at catching butterflies. She has a butterfly net and butterfly house and she runs around the yard all day trying to catch butterflies. 

Here are some pictures of 2 she caught recently. 

I found this neat page so we can identify what she catches and learn more about them.

http://www.gardenswithwings.com/identify-butterflies.html

I think this one was a moth...

But this one was an American Lady. 

We tried to let her go the next morning, but she was enjoying the strawberries too much to leave!

Emily was even able to pick her up and hold her awhile before she flew away. 

Happy Father's Day

These girls are so lucky to have such a wonderful daddy. He thinks each one is special in her own way and he lets them know that. They all scream and run to the door when he comes home from work each day.  He chases them around the house and throws them up in the air.

I asked the girls what they love best about their daddy.

Emily said, "I love that he tickles me a lot."

Sarah said, "He plays with me all the time."

And I think it is pretty obvious Abby loves him too

Funny story, for Father's Day I didn't really have time to get Andy a special gift since Emily was sick all week and I had one extra kid in the house. So I just picked up Andy's favorite things while grocery shopping... bag of pistachios, IBC Black Cherry soda and Kit Kat candy bars. Emily, Sarah and Layni each gave him one of those treats with a poem on it. However as soon as he opened them, the girls stole the treats and took off running. They hid in the bathroom and tore into the Kit Kat bars. Good thing Andy is such a good sport about it and just chased them around the house.

We love you daddy!

Summer Concerts

Our town has  concerts in the summer once a month. We always enjoy going to them. 

The girls learned how to do the twist!

 

 

Abby just hung out and held onto her french fries. She went through a phase were she had to have these plastic french fries in her hand ALL THE TIME.... in the car, during her nap, in the bath and even while eating. Thankfully she has given them up.

Abby Girl

My sweet Abby is not a baby anymore.

 She is growing up and developing quite a playful personality.

She loves to wrestle.

 If someone is laying on the ground, she quickly crawls over to them and climbs on top ready to play.

She can make a big mess really quick!

One day, Emily came running to me and said, "Mom, look what we can do." She then starts dragging Abby around the room by her feet! I would have stopped her but Abby was enjoying it too much!

She is ALMOST walking. It has been MONTHS now that I think she will start walking any day, but she is still not walking. She cruises all over the house. She stands up by herself. She climbs up the stairs with no problem. She climbs onto her riding toy and into chairs by herself. She walks fine with just holding my finger... but still no walking by herself. Any day now...

She thinks she is a big kid. She wants to be everywhere her sisters and friends are.

However she will always be the 'little sister' and sometimes they just don't want her around.

Can you tell what Emily's sign says... "No Abby. Only at night."

For some reason, Abby is only welcome in their room at night.

She is not really talking much yet, but she really knows how to scream, cry, grunt or wave
her hands like crazy to get what she wants. And usually what she wants is food, preferably ice cream sandwiches.

Love our Abby Girl!

My little sis!

Layni came to stay with us for a week and she brought her big, big.... I mean VERY big, big teddy bear. I jokingly told my dad that Emily wanted Layni to bring the bear. He actually drove that big thing up here and then told me he didn't want to drive it home. Emily was ecstatic, however I was less than thrilled with this thing. But it turns out he is actually pretty comfy and has found a home in Abby's reading corner. 

 I even let him eat dinner with us one night. Not sure what Sarah is doing in this picture, but maybe you can tell that Emily was not feeling so well. She had a virus that included viral pinkeye, headache and a fever. 

She was knocked out for a few days during Layni's visit.. One day Layni and Sarah were playing outside and I ran inside to check on Emily. I couldn't find her anywhere in the house and started to panic. Turns out she was sound asleep on the back porch. She must have wanted to play outside, but couldn't make it. 

 Abby was very concerned about Emily when she was sick. So cute!

 In the meantime, Sarah and Layni had fun painting and riding in the "green pickle."

After a few days, Emily was feeling better and ready to go. 

Obviously, Abby was ready to go too. She loves riding in the jeep. She lets out a squeal everytime and she waves to me when they pass by me.

We love Layni!