Surprise Trip to Maine

We received an invitation to a surprise party for Memere's (Jim's mom, Pat) retirement from working in Human Services for 42 years (THAT deserves a huge round of applause!). We decided to do some surprising of our own, and surprise Memere at her surprise party! I think we did a good job, she had no idea we were coming...nor did she have any idea we planned on staying for a week!!! Haha! Surprise! Jim had to head back home the day after the party, so I stayed up in Maine with the girls, and man oh man did we have a great time! Memere called in "sick" to work the whole week we were there (funny thing is, she really DID get sick while we were there), and we hit the beach, Palace Playland, Jokers and just had an all around great time hanging out with Memere and Pepere! Our girls are so blessed to have two sets of amazing grandparents, who are both in love with our kids, as well as with each other, which serves as a great model for our children. Thank you Memere and Pepere for rolling with our surprise, and showing us girls a fabulous week, we were sad to leave! Enjoy the pics! There are some super cute ones in there!

This scrapbooking design generated with Smilebox

Independence Day Weekend

We went up to Wintergreen for July Fourth again this year, since last year we had a blast. Nanne and Grampa came up with us, and we had a great couple days listening to the bands, browsing the craft show, swimming at the lake and watching the amazing fireworks. It is by far the best place we have been to celebrate July Fourth! We really enjoy it up there at that time of year! Enjoy the pics!

A scrapbooking design by Smilebox

Emmy Gets Glasses

Emmy started to have a lazy eye around 15 months in her left eye. We were referred to the Eye Doctor, and she said that Emmy is about twice as farsighted as what is normal in kids. Her left eye, which is the one we noticed would turn in, is weaker as far as her sight, but there are not muscle or nerve issues. So, the Dr. said that Emmy would probably end up in glasses at some point in the near future, but she had seemed to be straightening her left eye out ok when we were at the Dr. But, after a couple weeks, she was still not able to keep it straightened out, especially when she was tired, so we went ahead and got glasses for her. She does ok with them, but she takes them off in the car all the time and when she eats, but we do find her without them fairly often and have to send her searching for them. Enjoy the pics!

Garden Fresh Tomatoes

Our garden this year has lagged a bit, I didn't fertilize it enough in the beginning, so we got a slow start, but we are catching up! Bryden picked out first cherry tomatoes the other day...and she promptly ate them...what better way to enjoy your own garden then to eat as you pick!

Busch Gardens Outing

I took the girls to Busch last Thursday, and it was AWESOME! There were no lines, we got to get on the rides immediately, which never happens! Jim surprised us and came down later, but in the beginning, it was just me and the girls, so I couldn't go on Grover's roller coaster with Bryden since I had to watch Emmy, but, Bryden being the big girl that she is, rode it all by herself...like 15 times! She LOVED it, and it was cool to see her confidence and not letting anything stand in the way of her wanting to have fun! And to my surprise, Emmy was allowed to ride a couple rides as well! She wasn't quite as into them as Bryden is, but, she had fun as well, which is kind of funny, because Emmy tend to be our fearless thrill seeker, and Bryden is our cautious one...but they switch roles when it comes to adventure parks! Bryden loves her thrill rides, and Emmy lays in our laps...of course she is only 16 months!!!! Enjoy!

A Flash of Emmy's Day

I was going to title this post "A Day in the Life of Emmy", but I realized that these few pics I have don't do justice to Emmy's day, they only spanned about 15 minutes. A day in the life of that busy little girl would take many, many more pics...I may do it one day soon though, I think it would great for scrapping to follow our little busy body around with a camera for an entire day! And, she is getting to know the camera, and is totally busting out her cheese grin when I start shooting pics of her! So fuuny, because rarely do I say "Cheese Emmy" or "Smile for the camera!"...she is nearly always smiling without me telling her, but she figured out on her own that she was supposed to do an extra big smile for the camera! It makes me laugh every time I see it! Anyway, Emmy is really into feeding herself, and loving "trying" to use utensils! I just want to know, they emphasize how good it is developmentally for kids to learn to feed themselves, how about they emphasize how good it is for Mom's sanity NOT to have to clean up the mess 5 times a day! Hmmmm :o) I am not sure how much Emmy gets IN her belly, but I know dang well just how much she gets ON her belly, and everywhere else for that matter!!! Then there are some pics of Emmy climbing on the table, that is her new joy, if a chair is left pulled out, she is up and on the table in no time...today she was coloring and smelling (as well as spilling) the flowers! Enjoy a "flash" of Emmy's day!

Bryden's Last Day of School

Bryden's last day of school was today, and they had a water play day! The kids had a great time, but it didn't last too long because they all got cold! I LOVE the first pic of Bryden and her two buddies Rachael and Anja! Yay for the start of summer! Enjoy!

Rachael, Bryden and Anja