water fun

some of these date back to may! whoops.

poor ad this summer - we cannot find a swimsuit that fits her.

 

 

 

 

our sunbathing sweeties...

 

oh, the look....

 

soaking up some rays....HA!

 

and of course, singing in the sun....

 

our little ham....

 

love her!

 

love her!

 

some slip-n-slide action....

 

and using it as a water fountain....

 

 

 

sissy doesn't push as fast.....so we stop for drinks along the way....

 

almost an endo....

 

homemade water slide....

 

at the splash pad....

 

 

sun+water = exhaustion!

 

"Don't wait for your ship to come in - swim out to it." ~Author Unknown

ranger ride with daddy...

for four please. rough terrain only.

coming right up...

 

one of our favorite things is to visit daddy at work! throw in a ride on a ranger and even better!

 

i mean, really - they don't like it all.  look at those unhappy faces....

 

and i caught them holding hands, or thumbs...

 

this one cracks me up!

 

daddy even let them steer...

 

oh how fun! daddy's always so fun!


My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys." ~Harmon Killebrew

dance camp dropout

what can i say about my hip miss ad? she is alllll smiles, and alllll cuteness, and alllll big puppy dog eyed looks. she loves to cuddle and rub your ear. her smile is as crooked as it is adorable.  her bones are filled with helium i'm pretty sure, which makes you think she's part fairy. and her wittle-itty-bitty-teeny-weeny voice will make you fall down to your back and pump your leg. it's adorableness hits the feel good spot and just makes you want to cuddle her more. she definitely has that going for her! and she knows it!!!

until we went to dance camp and she was greeted by her dance teacher with a name tag and she lost her adorable swagger in a puddle of tears and screams. i had done all the prepping i could do, but my little punk still needed to be pried off of me screaming crying. :(  ::flashback to the her dentist appointment last week. oy.::

i could hear her screaming crying and it sank my momma heart. she cleverly used the bathroom card about 10 mins in. she didn't go. they then let me come back in with her to help nurse this transition for miss ad. it didn't work. she barely stopped crying or even watched what they were doing, let alone participated the entire class.

we headed back the next day for attempt #2 for more of the same. i ended up pulling her. i wasn't going to push her that hard for just a week. but oh man did it make me realize what we're in for come august/september. i just hope i have the momma feeling and wisdom that us mommas rely on, in when to know to give the gentle push or that it's just not helping, and possibly harming, her sweet soul.


"Every child has their own clock." - my very wise dad, aka Papa....which was followed by, "Her's is just really slow!" LOL. he's witty too. ;)

reading, writing, riding...

on saturday, april 28th miss elena READ her first book!

i had picked up a step 1 book at target called, "happy birthday princess."  while in the cart, elena quickly thumbed through to the first page and read it.  it read, "happy birthday princess."  elena had been "reading" familiar words and sounding out simple words for months at this point and i would think, "dang! she is reading!" but i never pushed it - she's 4. well we got home from target, unpacked our loot and the step 1 book reappeared. we sat down and i asked elena to read it to us...

she read it.  front to back.  word for word.  i recorded it, but it took her a long time and the video is close to 3 GB's so it will not fit on here or the service i use.

 

elena has since been reading regularly...books of ours and a lot of the step 1's from the library...

 

elena is a great reader!!!

 

this is her look when she wants you to confirm she read a particular word correctly... ;)

 

she's very proud of herself and we have set some goals...

 

for every 15 books elena receives a "prize." her first 15 was a new dress (e's most prized possessions!). she is going towards a new step 1 book, ice cream, etc.  after 75 will be a much bigger reward. ;)

good luck e...

 

and of course adelyn has been "reading" all of the time now too.... ;)

this is from may as well...but adelyn is really coloring in the lines...

 

adelyn has been practicing writing her letters...

 

we are very proud of her...

 

on june 4th, miss adelyn was drawing when she wrote a perfect letter E and said "it's for elena." she ended up writing 10 letters, including her entire name no problem!  i honestly had NO idea that this was in her!

another one of adelyn writing her name...

 

elena can spell quite a bit by herself...and this is what she wrote in church.... ;)

 

elena can write bubble letters.  she made this card for daddy.  i had no clue she could do this.

 

back in may, miss elena wanted to give another milestone a shot...

 

we have practiced in the grass...

 

 we have practiced on the street...

 

and while it was very fun for her...

 

(as of may), she does not seem to have the confidence to take off on her own...

 

we have since put the training wheels back on to stay for a little while longer...

 

but this one's been eyeing her big sis' big girl bike i think...

 

it shall be her's soon enough... ;)

 

"It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't." ~Barbara Kingsolver