Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 12:37:08 PM

Catching Up!

And that’s it for our May this year!  Next up...some great photos and blogs from the month of June as I continue to play catch up!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 12:33:37 PM

Friends!

We just LOVE our friends, the Jacobsens!  They have spent lots of fun summer days playing outside with us, and we couldn’t be more happy to hang out with them!  Check out two fun photos from a playday at their friends’ house!  Can’t wait for more good times together!

The girls playing in a big "ball sprinkler" together!

Sophie and Lily hanging out together!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 12:32:29 PM

The Indianapolis 500

We went to the Indy 500 again this year with my parents, as is tradition.  We had great seats, right across from the Pavilion and able to see the finish line clearly.  It was a HOT day, but very fun!  We saw all kinds of celebs, too.  The race was pretty exciting with changes in leaders and people moving up throughout the 200 laps.  Overall, another awesome Indy experience!

Tim and I before the race...you can see the flag stand behind us (left).  Mark Walhberg rode in two seater car with an Andretti for the first time ever before the first laps (right).

Jack Nicholson was the honorary starter.  Here he is up on the flag stand and then practicing waving the green flag! 

Jewel song the National Anthem (left).  And more cool photos of Jack (middle and right).  Can’t believe how close we were to him!  Funny to watch movies now with him in them since we have seen him in person!

And here’s to you, Jack (left)!  Ashley Judd running through pit row (bare foot) after her husband won (middle)! And Dario Franchitti after his big win (right).

Ashley Judd and Dario Franchitti kissing the yard of bricks, as is tradition for the winner.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 12:09:20 PM

Bathing Beauties!

The summer months mean lots of sunshine, hot days, and of course, water fun!  Check out our bathing beauties below as they enjoy some outside time.  Now that we have a deck and sunroom, we LOVE using it in this warmer weather!  We are having lots of fun times at our water table, with the sprinkler, and in our blow up pool!  Loving the summer!

Sophie at the water table (left and right).  And Emma with a water squiter (middle).

Abigail playing in the pool (left).  Sophie getting a bottle with MawMaw (right).

Abigail and Emma playing in a sprinkler!

Sophie enjoying the pool water!  She has a plastic egg in with her...

...and enjoys showing it off! So cute!

Silly girls moving the sprinkler, but getting wet as they do it!

Hugs for summer fun!

And watch out PaPa!  Here comes a water squiter!

Friday, July 16, 2010 at 1:37:26 PM

And the surprise was...

...VAIL!  Tim took me on a surprise trip for my 30th birthday in which he planned it all and kept it a secret!  He even arranged for his parents to come to our house for a week to watch the kiddos!  It was super fun to be surprised and not have to worry about packing for five!  Tim had told me a temperature range for packing myself, but other than that, I didn’t have a clue as to where I was venturing off to with him.  He didn’t even let me look at the boarding pass until we got to the gate at the airport where I saw that we were heading to Denver, Co.  Once there, we picked up a rental car and drove to Vail. Neither of us had ever been there, and it was the perfect time to explore it as it was the week before summer season started so things were still calm and not crowded, plus relatively cheap.  But even though it was the "off season," we still got to do fun things like rent bikes for a day and go horseback riding in the mountains for two hours.  We had a beautiful room, and the views everywhere you looked were just spectacular!  We got much needed sleep, ate out a lot (especially next to this awesome river that ran through town), and just enjoyed being together without kids.  Don’t get me wrong, we absolutely LOVE our children, but it was nice to get away, just the two of us, for a bit.  Plus, I am pretty sure the girls all had a wonderful time with Gramma and Grandpa for the week!  And overall, my birthday was super special with a wonderful surprise, a gorgeous landscape, and time with my husband. 

Warning: Lots of fun photos of just Tim and me coming up!

Arriving in Vail, we found the weather to be spectacular, a warm 60’s-70’s. 

And it was just GORGEOUS!  This is a river we ate lunch right beside several times (left).  And Tim tried to make friends with Einstein (right).

As we walked to the bike shop, we saw snow still on the mountains (left).  Another view into Vail (right).

Me on a bike through town, which definitely had a European feel to it (left).  We biked way out of town and saw beautiful sights of nature.  Afterwards, we ate by the river again (right)!

Tim on his bike up a huge hill (left).  And Tim by a HUGE boulder we saw as we were riding (right).  We also saw wildlife and a waterfall!

Me on my actual birthday before we headed out to dinner (left).  They actually made me dinner to my request since it was the "off season" so I had filet mignon with potatoes, just like I wanted!  And here we are riding horses the next day (right).  It was beautiful weather for it!

We saw A LOT of elk (left).  Here I am just trying to take in all of the wildlife and scenery (right).

Tim and I on our horses up in the mountains!

Herds of elk we saw as we rode.

We went up and down some pretty steep hills!  Here I am leaning back as I follow our guide down a steep one (left).  Tim with his horse (right).  Since it was the "off season," we got a private two hour tour with just the two of us!  It was incredible!

On the day we drove to Aspen, it was super chilly as it had actually snowed the night before!  But by later that afternoon, it was back in the 70’s!  Here I am by a rushing river in a gorge we drove through.

Back in Vail, we enjoyed walking around the last few days.  We are sitting by a river here on the rocks and roots.  It was so neat.

Me with rushing water all around me...I could listen to that sound all day long!

When I got home, the girls had helped Gramma to make, ice, and decorate this cake for my birthday!  It was too funny to see the animals they chose to put on it!  And I am so lucky to have had FOUR birthday celebrations for my big 30th! 

Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:48:37 PM

Happy Birthday to Mommy, a little early!

Since my actual birthday was to be spent on a surprise trip that Tim had been planning for us, we celebrated my birthday with the girls a little early.  And after going out to eat, Tim had this super yummy Dairy Queen ice cream cake ready for me at home!  Check out the super cute cake we had to eat!  We ate the cake after tub time and before bed, so the kiddos are in jammies (or naked!), but it was so nice to have some time with just my family before heading out of town.  Plus, did I mention how yummy the cake was?!?

My awesome birthday cake (left), and Sophie with me and my cake (right).

Emma, Me, Sophie, and Abigail singing to me.

Our family...Emma, Sophie, Me, Tim, and Abigail...celebrating my birthday a little early!

Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:33:05 PM

Baby QUINN!

My sister had a precious little girl, Quinn Katherine, on May 14th.  I was lucky enough to go to the hospital with her before her c-section, and then get the happy news that they had a girl when it was over.  I even got to see my sister and baby Quinn in the recovery room, watch Quinn get a bottle, and hold her for just a brief time before she was taken to the special care unit due to a hole in her lung.  She is perfectly fine now, but we were a bit worried at first, and it was hard having her in the special care nursery for a few days.  But, I did get to spend lots of time with my sister at the hospital and spoiling the newest member of the family with goodies and clothes.  She is so adorable, and I just love my new niece!  Can’t wait to see her again!

Quinn getting a bottle from her Daddy, Ryan, in the recovery room.

Me holding Quinn (left)!  And MawMaw with Quinn (right).

Big brothers Ethan and Austin with new sister Quinn (left)!  Baby Quinn (right)!

Austin (left) and Ethan (right) holding their new baby sister.

Uncle Tim with baby Quinn (left) and a close-up of the cutie pie (right)!

Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:04:21 PM

Fishing Fun!

The weekend we went home for my sister’s C-section, the kids all went fishing over at Gramma and Grandpa’s house.  MawMaw and PaPa joined us, as well as Ethan and Austin, their cousins.  The kids had a lot of fun, and they did catch a lot of fish!  Abigail, our nature girl, loved holding the worms and calling them her "friends."  When a fish was caught, they put it in a big tub of water so the kids could see it, and the girls LOVED this and even touched a few of the fish.  In the end, both Abigail and Emma caught fish on their own!  They may have had a bit of help reeling them in, but they caught a fish, nonetheless! 

MawMaw, Sophie, and Austin ready to fish (left)!  Grandpa helping Ethan while PaPa helps Austin (right).

Ethan with a fish he caught (left).  Ethan and PaPa fishing together (right).

Emma "fishing" with a plastic fish in the worm bowl (left).  Abigail catching a fish as we all watch (middle and right).

Abigail with her fish (left)!  Ethan helping Emma to catch her fish as Grandpa pedals the boat (right).

Emma and her fish (left)!  Later that night, we celebrated my birthday a bit early with family, so here I am with a cake (right).

Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 6:53:47 AM

Time for Some Paint!

For my dad’s birthday (Pa Pa), Abigail and Emma picked out a keepsake box at Michael’s that was made of wood so they could paint it.  So after Sophie went to bed, we stripped them down to their undies and poured out a bunch of paint onto some plates.  At first they kept each color separate on their plates.  Then, they tried mixing ones together to see what would happen.  In the end, they did a great job making the box all different colors and really making Pa Pa’s gift special.  After they painted the box, I put down some brown paper on the floor, and Abigail and Emma had a GREAT time painting and creating on the paper.  The mixed colors to see what they made, tried different "strokes" and ways of painting, and basically, in my opinion, made a masterpiece!  Of course, they also enjoyed painting on themselves!  It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of cleaning up afterwards!

Emma painting with all of her mixed colors (left).  Abigail painting herself! (right)

Working together on a masterpiece!  You can see the box they painted in the background propped up on a box...

Abigail, our green monster mess (left)!  Emma staying focused on painting the paper and not herself (right)!

The end masterpiece!  (I wrote the letters for them.)

Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 6:47:14 AM

Food!

Sophie started eating Puffs and smashed up bananas this month, and she even tried using a cup.  Even though the cup didn’t really work out much for her (yet), she LOVED the regular food!  It was so nice to give her some Puffs to chew on while she was teething and to help keep her "full" in between bottles and feedings.  And she loved just making a mess with the bananas, even if most didn’t make it into her mouth!  Usually, to get the food in her mouth, she would put it on her thumb and suck her thumb!  I guess that is an ingenious way to do it!  Check out our growing big girl!

Sophie with a smashed up banana (left) and sucking on some banana that she put on thumb (right).

Playing with the bananas!

Meanwhile, Abigail and Emma are playing and having a good time!

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