4th of July

I love the 4th of July. I love the BBQ's, the fireworks, the parade and most of all Henry's annual glow-stick party. :)

I was super bummed to see the weather forecast was filled with rain for the weekend of the 4th but that didn't stop our fun.  

We kicked off the celebrating on Sunday the 3rd with a BBQ at my parents house.

That night we had Henry's annual glow-stick party. Always a fun time. :)

All 4 babies ready to get the party started!

The glow-stick party consists of one person playing DJ (me this year) and all the babies dancing like crazy with all the lights out. 

  

We didn't stay to watch the fireworks from my parents house but Elle had a great view of them on our ride home. 

When we got home Eric took Ollie inside and Elle and I sat on the driveway and watched more fireworks.  I love hearing them go off all around us. 

The next morning we were up bright and early for the parade.

Notice Elle's shoes.  She insists on putting them on herself.

I think it's adorable!

Ready to catch some parade candy!

I think Oliver was wishing he had stayed in bed with daddy. :)

Oliver spent a majprity of the parade in his stroller watching Hotel Transylvania on my fun. #paradepartypooper

When he did get out he tried his best to run in the middle of the street in front of the floats.

How cute does Beary look waving in this picture!!

After the parade Mary and I took the kids to Bread Co. for lunch then back to MawMaw and PawPaw's the night of the 4th. 

The humidity fogged up my camera! The kids had a Popsicle eating contest outside.  You'll never guess who won...Henry! :)

Shooting off fireworks.

Headed to the festival.  We didn't have bug spray so Paige suggested we use dryer sheets so Ollie had them stuffed in his shirt. :)

Who doesn't fall asleep in front of an extremely loud live band?!

Just two little best friends dancing to some live music.

Riding with Aunt Paige!

After Doodles passed out Mom and Eric walked him home where he kept sleeping on his MawMaw.

After the festival we went back to Mom and Dad's to shoot off more fireworks.  As we were were we saw 3 lanterns released, they were just like the ones from Tangled.  Elle still talks about them and has asked if she can release one on her birthday which I think is a great idea!

Back home and exhausted!!! Seriously, we were all so worn out from celebrating! 

Life Lately

A look at our summer life lately.

Oliver's first ice cream cone. :)

We met the Stille boys for a morning of bounce houses one day. Elle conquered the large slide that she was so scared of at Ryker's birthday party. She probably went down it no less than 30 times this day. 

The sweetest girl I know.

One of her favorite things to do is talk about "bad ladies" - she means villains in Disney movies.  We always have to start with Ursela, her most feared movie villain.  We talk about what she does to Ariel, why she's mean, etc. Elle probably asks me daily, "do you want to talk about bad ladies?".

One of my all time favorite things in the world are these babes fresh out of the bathtub and in their pj's.

I looooove baby jammies and don't even get me started on holiday pj's. 

I will sometimes find Ollie in this tent with a book.  The boy still loves to have books read to him and he is extremely demanding when he wants one read.  I love the way he crawls in my lap and loves to turn the page. 

This girl and Henry had a super fun Friday with MawMaw and PawPaw.  They started by seeing Finding Dory, then went to lunch then to the Dinosaur Quest exhibit. 

She had such a fun day!!

Saturday morning breakfast. :)

Tow things about this picture - 

1. If I put my hand on my forehead like "Ollie what are you doing?" He puts his little hand on his face too.

2. Look how tame his hair is when I brush it after a bath. It's as the day goes on that those curls start coming alive. :)

My girl.

Selfies with sissy, we were laughing so hard!

Summertime desserts = popscicles.

A morning at the splash pad. Mary and the boys ended up meeting up with us too. Elle saw a family of ducks and became obsessed with them.

This girl loves birds. She always asks me why birds don't like her.  She wants nothing more than to have them come up to her. 

I was out with Mary, Mom, Paige and Will picking up my bridesmaids dress then out for Mexican when Eric sent me this picture. 

My babies.

This boy loves to be held and is learning more words.  The ones we hear most often are "mama" "look look look", "more" and "go"

And this girl will talk your ear off about just about anything. 

Mary brought this back for Elle from DisneyWorld and the bubble wand is very popular at our house.  Oliver loves to stick his little finger in the top and stop up all the bubbles.

I'm beginning to understand his deep love for Toy Story.  This Jessie doll get lots of kisses from Oliver Russell.

Elle has her gymnastics class every Saturday through the end of the summer.  Girlfriend is not doing so great in the listening department. When we get in the car after class it's usually a huge lecture from me on listening and following directions. 

I'm out of town this weekend so Eric will be taking her, hopefully he can talk some sense into her. ;)

And this boy loves to test his boundaries while she is in class. I come prepared with the iPad and lots of snacks but these bleachers normally grab his attention more than anything else.

4th of July weekend and I had the windows open in our house. Crazy! 

Made me sooo ready for fall. Halloween costumes are already being discussed.

Look at those chubby toes!!

Flying around the house with daddy.

#ducksflytogether

We took a walk after dinner and Elle rode her scooter.

Girlfriend has no need for speed.  She is a tad slow on that thing! And try as I might I cannot teach her how to steer her powerwheel, scooter or bike.  I have asked Eric to step in because what I'm saying she is not understanding.

Oliver is constantly at the fireplace. Pulling at the baby- proofing foam that covers the edges and getting as close to that vase as he possibly can.

This boy and his cuteness gets him out of so much trouble. ;)

The kids are back at MawMaw's this week!!!! Yesterday was their first day back.  Elle has asked every week since her surgery if MawMaw was feeling better and if it was time to go back to her house.  She was SO excited!

And obviously Ollie was too. :)

I leave tomorrow for Paige's bachelorette party at the lake! I'm excited...but also nervous.  This will be the longest I have every been away from the kids (I'm leaving Friday, coming home Monday).  Elle requested a fun dinner tonight before I leave tomorrow, done and done. I also picked up some surprises for them at Target on my lunch-break. I'm going to miss my babies so much but so excited for a weekend celebrating Paige!

Pool Day

We spent the day at the pool with the Voss crew a couple weeks ago.  We went to the pool by Mary's house and Elle hadn't been there since last summer so she didn't remember much about it.

The car ride to the pool may have been the highlight of the day for both of my children.  The pool is super close to Mary's house (like one street over from her subdivision) and we learned our lesson last year when we walked (caught in the rain with 4 babies, no thank you) so we drove and just all got in Mary's car.  The 3 big kids sat in the back - and kept commenting that it was like a school bus...Elle's never been in a bus so this just must be what she imagines one to be like. :) And Oliver loved being in a forward facing car seat.  Mary and I could hear him squealing and giggling from the front. 

At this pool on Tuesday's they open an hour early for kids 6 and under which was so nice! 

The kiddos played and rode down the slides and splashed until their little bodies were wore out.

One amusing part was all 6 of us on rafts in the lazy river.  Mary and I each had a 2 person raft, so Elle had a seat in my raft and Oliver sat in my lap.  Getting in the raft and on the lazy river was laughable and then getting our 2 rafts connected (and keeping them that way) was hilarious. :) Oliver somehow managed to fall asleep during the chaos, probably one of the oddest places my children have fallen asleep. We were constantly being splashed in the face and I know I tied my hardest to shield him but he even slept through that. 

Exhausted and ready to head back to Mimi's for a late lunch.

I could just eat this girl up. I see so much baby in her in this picture. 

Henry was not exhausted. :) He was already asking Mary if they could come back after lunch. 

We ordered Imo's, headed back to Mary's to eat and then we rolled out for nap time. 

Perfect pool day. :)

Father's Day - 2016

We started our Father's Day bright and early this year but meeting Eric at Cappucino's for breakfast.  He worked the night before so he drove straight to breakfast from the hospital and we met him there (that way he could go home and go right to bed so he could celebrate at my parents house later too). 

We finished up our shopping the night before, when we were in Wal-Mart we came across this shirt and Elle thought her daddy needed it. :) And I agree. My kids hit the jackpot with this guy. He is the fun one, willing to play Zurg, loves to play music and dance around with the kids and runs around the house with Ollie with their arms outstretched.  I'm never sure if they are pretending to be ducks or celebrating an imaginary goal...but they are always having fun. :) 

Here we are at breakfast as Eric opened his presents.

Headed to my mom and dad's to celebrate...Elle and Ollie weren't in the mood for pictures.

This year (along with the gift from Mary, Will and I) each grand-kid picked out their own gift for PawPaw.

You can't go wrong with ice cream -  this was from Oliver.

Elle was so excited when she spotted what she wanted to buy PawPaw.  We were walking down an aisle and she shouted for me to stop and said "Mom, PawPaw is going to looooooooooove these!"

Her gift was the red and blue tongs in the picture below.

Bear picked out Bean Boozled...which we played later and I think all the adults immediately regretted.  At least I know I did. :)

And when we were shopping Henry shouted, "I know what to get PawPaw, whiskeys!"

So that is what Henry bought. :)

After we ate the kids swam and then we played Bean Boozled.  Bear had a horrible track record of handing me terrible flavors (think vomit, rotten eggs, dog food). 

Elle decided to tuck her dress into some shorts. #fashionstatement

And doodles just hid in this cabinet during all the Bean Boozled excitement. :)

Such a fun day celebrating all the dad's, especially my own.  I have the best of the best in my corner and for that I am forever grateful. Not only are Mary, Will and I so lucky to have him but he extends that love to Eric, Nick and Paige. 

And Henry, Elle, Charlie and Oliver - that's a whole different category of luckiness. 

#worldsbestPawPaw