Fun Friday: Water Slide

While I was putting the laundry away tonight, Mike and Fiona got creative in the backyard. Look at the fun they devised! It was quite a hit - although Buggy hated having grass clippings on her hands. Silly girl!

The water in her turtle was very cold, so we didn't play for long. But I think there will be several repeat performances on the hot days of summer ahead.

Wordless Wednesday: The College Friends Picnic

**Thanks to our friends Aaron and Adam who are great photographers and took lovely pictures of children that were not theirs. Some of us brought our cameras but relied on the talents of others ....

Father's Day

For Father's Day, Fiona, my sister, and I "let" my dad buy us all tickets to the Twins baseball game. So we "took" Grandpa and Daddy to seriously one of the LONGEST games ever. 15 innings. With a rain delay. I fully admit that we didn't make it anywhere near the whole game. In fact, Mike, Fiona, and I left before the Twins comeback in the 7th. Grandpa and Emmy hung in there a bit longer. But they left after the 11th when the rain delay started.

Even though it was a bit colder than expected and a few raindrops got us, we had a really fun time together. And the Twins managed to win it - which makes it all the better. We watched the end from the dry comfort of our living room.

Happy Father's Day (or as Fiona said this morning ... "Happy Mother's Day, Daddy!") to Mike and to both our dads! Also a Happy Father's Day to Grandpa Bill!

Hanging out with Daddy

She had fallen asleep on the drive to the game
and was still trying to wake up

Snuggling with Grandpa and Emmy ...
to stay warm AND we totally blew through naptime

Play Date

We had a picnic with our college gang on Sunday (almost as many kids as adults ... I think the ratio is going to move out of the adults' favor in a couple years). B&C brought brats and had a bunch leftover that needed to be used up. So ... what better reason to have a weeknight playdate with the S-town group?!?

And since we have gone from zero to LOTS in the outdoor toy department in the last few weeks (and have a fenced yard to trap rogue toddlers), we hosted. What fun! It was a treat to watch four busy toddlers hanging out with all the new toys. We've come a long way from this picture. A year [plus] later and quite the crew!

Picnic dinner with Cooper and Jack

Dual occupancy slide

Look at those beautiful big girls!

Fiona, Ellie, Cooper, Jackson

Big Steps

Fiona is growing up so fast. We've entered the clingy stage and my lack of personal space reminds me that she is still little. But she is doing lots of other stuff that makes us wonder where the time has gone!

• She took her inaugural trip to day care this morning in a FRONT-facing car seat. Mike said she grinned the whole time and narrated the happenings from the back seat.
• She and I went to the library on Saturday and the librarian thought she was 2 1/2 because of her talking. She didn't believe me when I said she was 1 1/2!
• She has big opinions in the morning about what she is going to wear to day care. 
• She goes down the slide without holding my hand!
• She told me tonight, "mommy, i go to sleep." So we went to get ready for bed.
• She squealed with delight as she played in the sprinklers at the park yesterday! Too fun!

And number 2 is due in exactly 10 weeks from today. We are doing well in that department and can't believe how fast the second pregnancy goes! 

Why take the stairs when you can climb the ropes?

Checking out the new slide