Florida Beach Week July 2011 Part 1

We did our big family trip to Florida this year--Daytona. We had a fabulous time! Maggie and Caroline love the ocean. This was Caroline's first beach experience although she does a lot of pretend beach play at home. I wonder if her little mind has a different image when she plays "beach" at home knowing what it really is. I have more pictures on my phone so I'll download those (sometime in the foreseeable future I hope) and do a Beach Week Part 2.

The Last of the Birthday Posts

Maggie had a "friends" birthday party. Gymnastics themed at Airborne Gym. She of course had a lovely time!

Maggie in the foam pit with Erin:

Luckily my friend Suzanne came armed with her camera. She took some fantastic shots!

Maggie with Lily:

Most of the group all lined up (Maggie, Lily, Erin, Addy):

Caroline in the foam pit:

The cupcake tower:

Yum!

Immediately upon returning home she ripped right into the Legos her friend Owen gave her. She and her dad put the thing together and were so pleased with themselves:

Fathers Day 2011

Back in June...

I finally got a Father's Day present he really liked! I'm not the best gift giver (in my defense he is a guy who either has everything he wants or buys what he wants himself!)

but I hit the nail on the head with the Whirly Pop stove top popper. We have had popcorn virtually every night since. He loves it. Honestly we ALL love it!

Randoms

Maggie playing with a very (very) large roly-poly bug. She made me take a picture and text that picture to her friend's mom.

Caroline and Maggie at the park:

Caroline has a thing about finding markers (the one second she's alone) and sucking them dry. And it's never a light color like pink or yellow. It's always black, brown, etc. I'm banking on the Crayola promise that these markers really ARE non-toxic!

We cut Caroline's hair for the first time. So sad for me! Here's a before shot:

During:

And after (she's saying bye-bye to her hair):

Sedona Arizona 2011

The day after Maggie's birthday we jumped in the car and pulled off a grueling 13 hour drive to Sedona, Arizona. The trip was a bit rough with Caroline deciding the condo we were staying at was just not acceptable and also deciding steady night-time sleep was for the birds. We did what we could with a cranky two year old and ended up having a very good time! Maggie, of course, loved all of it and basically had the time of her life as always.
We spent a lot of time in the pool. Or should I say my family spent a lot of time in the pool. I did my best to stay out of my swimsuit.

Caroline decided that water is the greatest and really wore Patrick out with her constant need to be in the water, wriggling around (making it very hard to hold onto), and squealing like crazy.

We did some very short family hikes:

We had a birthday celebration for both Maggie and Caroline. My in-laws really were kind, fun, and generous and the kids were in heaven!

Maggie and Caroline wearing dresses their cousins bought for them in Hawaii:

I wasn't there for the snake holding (I would have freaked) but apparently Maggie is braver than I ever imagined:

Maggie Turns Five!

Maggie had a birthday "season" this year. We did a little family day on her actual birthday. We celebrated the next week in Sedona, Arizona with Patrick's family. She also had a little friend party the week after that. I'm so glad the birthday season is over! This post is just for the family day.
Caroline waking Maggie up:

We took the girls to Build-a-Bear for Maggie's gift. It was really very sweet. Here she is putting the heart in her bear (she actually opted for the bunny) and stuffing her:

Caroline waiting patiently to stuff her bear:

After Maggie was done stuffing I was helping Caroline stuff her bear and Patrick snapped this insanely sweet shot of Maggie loving her new bestest friend:

The girls giving their animals a bath (little air jets to clean up any random stuffing bits):

Later we Skyped with Aunt Julie and the girls showed off their new pals:
We baked a cake. Maggie was a great help:

Here's to the sweetest little five year old ever!

Summer--So Far, So Good

Summer. We've been busy!
We finally replaced the tree that died in our front yard. Patrick dug it up and put it in the backyard while he planted the new one. Maggie felt so bad for the little dead tree she covered it in her old baby blankets.

Caroline enjoying an ice cream from Dairy Queen.


The girls playing together (rather than fighting). Maggie put her dress on Caroline and put a blanket cape on herself. They ran around screaming. That's my girl's idea of a good time.

Caroline got sick. A few days in she seemed to be worse so I took her to Urgent Care. Miss Limp-and-Listless came home and was FINE! I would have been mad were it not for how relieved I was.

Maggie's last day of preschool--bug hunting and picnic at Roger's Grove. Here she is posing with her friend Erin (Erin's sister behind them--for some reason I cannot remember her name).

Day at the park.

We've been playing in the sprinklers a lot:

I bought the girls Happy Meals. They both ate ONE bite of a chicken nugget and a few fries. That's it. Why did I bother? Maggie quickly abandoned her food for an art project.

I got sick of Maggie forgetting her scriptures every week for church so I used an Anthropologie napkin and sewed it up into a little bag that can hang on the hook by the door (oh, don't worry--she still forgets the bag regularly). Caroline loved it though: