Cousin Ellie!

Our newest cousin Eleanor Grace ("Ellie") was born on July 5th! She was scheduled to be born on the 6th, but we were painting our bathroom Thursday afternoon and all of a sudden there was a picture of a baby on my phone! We went to see her at the hospital and she is precious. Avery kept saying "She's so cute!" and asked if she could pet her, haha! Cousin Sage is a great big sister, and I bet Cousin Logan will come around too ;)

Happy 4th of July!!

We celebrated America's birthday by having Uncle Cody, Aunt Amy, Sage, Logan, Aunt Lindsay, and Uncle Jason over for a good old-fashioned cookout! I made Pinterest-inspired fruit kabobs, and Jason and Lindsay brought sparklers for the kids. We didn't see any fireworks that night, but we did have a great view from our driveway of the Sachse fireworks the night before!

Then today the four of us went to Hawaiian Falls for a day of fun! We were there for almost three hours, and might have stayed a little longer but Avery stepped on a bee and wasn't really in the mood to play after that. But we had a GREAT time and Aidan even saw his friend Brady from school!

Miscellaneous

Daniel has now officially painted every single room (except for a couple of closets) in our house! When we moved in four years ago, he painted everything except for our bathroom. We got bored with the drab beige and today finally decided to paint it chocolate brown. We love it!!

Before:

After:

The kids passed swimming lessons!

I taught Aidan how to play Yahtzee:

Here's Aidan with Tate and Chase at another church Fun Day Friday! They were the Three Musketeers in preschool and are still good friends even though they all go to different schools now:

Here's some random hanging-out-around-the-house pictures. I got the idea for alphabet items from Pinterest, where else?

Party Time!

We had a birthday party triple-header last weekend. Happy Birthday to Becca,

Bianca,

and Cousin Sage!

Swim Lessons

The kids started their two weeks of swim lessons! They are taking them at a nearby water park that several friends recommended. Aidan is pretty proficient and I think he may be ready to be part of a swim team next year (probably could have done it this year but I didn't think about it in time!). One new thing he's learning this summer is the backstroke. I enrolled Avery in the "tadpole" class for ages 3-5 but it was mainly kids afraid of the water. That's not Avery! So she moved up to the next level. She LOVES swimming and wants to doggy paddle to us constantly. She can go about 5 feet on her own but won't put her face in. I remember Aidan being like that, so I'm hoping she gets the hang of it soon!

Happy Father's Day!

Our Father's Day was pretty low-key, but that's just the way Daniel likes it :) Given the choice to go anywhere for lunch, he picked Arby's (*gag*). But we love him and that's where he wanted to eat! We are so blessed to have him as our husband and father. He works so hard for us and when he gets home we are still his priority. Thank you for all that you do for us, Daddy!!

One of my favorites:

Summer Days

The kids just finished a week of VBS at a friend's church! I love the VBS there because they take kids as young as 3...so this was Aidan's fourth year to participate, and Avery's second year. They both have lots of friends who go there too!

My mom was in town for a quick visit. While she was here we had lunch with my Aunt Marsha, and my cousins Sara and Meredith.

Daniel and I took the kids fishing at a pond near our house. We didn't catch anything but Aidan learned to cast. It was relaxing and the kids had fun. I love these sunset pictures!

Aidan is old enough for Fun Day Fridays at our church! Our children's minister has a fun activity planned each Friday for school-age kids. Aidan and his friend Tate have been having a blast!

While Aidan was at one of his Fun Day Fridays, Avery and I joined some Moms Club friends at the park for a make-your-own-sundae party!

I mixed some shaving cream and food coloring for bathtime fun. Gotta love Pinterest!

I bought both the kids activities to help with their writing. Avery has a dry-erase book to help with her capital letters, and Aidan has a composition book to write/draw about themes I give him. He can write and read fine, but isn't overly motivated to do either one. Gotta practice and stay sharp for first grade!

Aidan and Avery both love playing on the iPhone. I recently downloaded the Easy Bake Oven app and it's their favorite. I had a feeling that with Aidan's sweet tooth, he'd love it as much as Avery :) The two of them bicker and tattle on each other plenty, but mostly they're like peas in a pod. I love it!