A wedding

We had the blessing of being part of a beautiful wedding yesterday. And a little added bonus...we got to spend some time with Allia's godparents, our Godson and his baby sister as well as lots of other friends. :)

Our Godson, Allia's Goddaddy and Allia


Little walruses


Little buddies taking a rest and plotting their next move


Allia's Godmommy and her cute baby Josephine


A beautiful married couple!

They're back!

Pawpaw and Manah that is. They have not been here since May 1st due to Manah breaking her hip the night they returned from their 50th anniversary trip to Rome! The children were so excited to see them. Stephen even remembered them, and here he is anxiously awaiting the opening of some really cool monster trucks they brought him. We have been doing a lot of taking turns with these!

A little fun...

amidst illness. We have been battling a nasty little tummy bug (lower end not upper thankfully!) that just won't seem to go away. Everyone was getting a little stir crazy, so we went outside yesterday for some water play. Even Daddy joined in. ;)

This guy had 3 popsicles while we were out there...trying to get him fluids, but he doesn't like Powerade!

Cucumber harvest

We started this cucumber plant from seed as part of our science lesson, and we just had our biggest harvest yet...12 cucumbers! (Allia is actually by the tomato plants here because the cucumber is on the other side of them)

Ballerinas in buns

This morning as we were getting ready to head to the grocery store, Mariana requested that her hair be fixed in a bun. This is probably the most time-consuming hairdo I can make, but she found a weakness of mine. I am a sucker for the simple elegance of a bun. In fact, if I were talented enough to do a nice one in my own hair and had the time, I might be seen in one quite frequently. Combine the buns with a request for classical music and ballet dancing in the living room, and she just had me hooked. So three buns were made, dancing commenced, and the grocery store waited another half hour.

Choo choos

We haven't had the trains out in months, and during nap time today the girls brought them downstairs. This little guy was so thrilled he played for almost a whole hour with not more than a peep! Amazing! He really likes "Lady" who has a button that makes her go by herself. He keeps coming up to me and asking, "Choo choo?" so I can find it for him.

VBS

Today was the last day! Everyone survived, um, I mean had a great time! What a week. :)

My girls and their buddy, JP

(Gloria does NOT like to wear T-shirts because they are always too big, and my petite little one cannot stand wearing clothes that are too big!)

This one is blurry but I just loved the big smiles!

Pony time!

Budding artist

and his enthusiastic instructors.

Baby at 13 weeks

profile


legs & feet


All is looking good...if only I could just get rid of this nausea. :)

Gloria swimming

Compliments of a friend's iphone. Thanks, Terri!:) I was totally not expecting this and had no camera with me!

Learning to cook

Some children learn mac n cheese, some toast. In our house it all starts with tortillas. :) This was Mariana's first time all by herself.

Little game

Watching

Not the garbage truck or the recycling truck...the mowers across the street. All boy!

Last Day of Swim Lessons

Mariana swimming


High five to her beloved Miss Sarah (she had this teacher last year and absolutely loved her!)


Monkey-Eagle-Soldier (aka elementary backstroke)


Here Gloria is supposed to do ice cream scoop hands to get one of the objects her teacher threw...she couldn't find one and ends up getting another group's diving ring! Great job though...and ignore the crying Stephen in the background. What a crank this morning!


Climbing on the Lillypads


Kicking with a friend across the pool


Jump!






Proud Daddy with his swimmers...all the girls passed their classes, so next year we have a Frog Level 2, a Minnow and a Crocodile! :)

She swims!

Gloria, that is. She now gets the award for our earliest swimmer! We met some friends at the pool today after swim lessons, and she told me to go "far away" so she could swim to me. (She has done this before and only made it about 2 seconds without me grabbing her!) This time, she moved her arms too (was only kicking legs before) and swam about 6 feet by herself, then turned around and swam back to the steps! I am SO proud of her! I will update with video if I can get it. :)

Happy 4th of July!

After trying to attend mass that was listed on the website but not actually happening, we prayed a rosary for our country together and then went out to lunch at a Mongolian grill. Much to our pleasant surprise, the kids loved it and so did we! Then we napped and headed over to our usual 4th of July festival and picnic.

Here are the girls on the big slide. They really enjoyed it.






This little cutie was a bit scared of the jumpers and slide, but loved the watermelon and the little rubber duckies he won playing games!