This is what happens...

...when you swim in your clothes and your mom didn't pack you extras!

Why bathe in the house?

Since our neighbors have a huge pool ours gets filled up nearly every day but is rarely used because it is way more fun to swim in their's. When this happens our pool doubles as a bath tub. Who wants to clean the bathroom if you don't have to?

Since Brynn won't let Cara wash her hair any more she gets so excited when other kids bathe with her. It truly is her personal mission to to make sure everyone's hair is clean.

May I get you...

...a cup or some pants, Cara Bean?

MN Zoo with our Cousins!

Aunt Carmen had a great idea to get all the kids together and hit up the zoo. The plan was for all of us to go, but with Kate going into pre-term labor and Emry too young to be out in the heat all day five of the six cousins made it. Lucky Kate got to stay home with teeny tiny Emry.

Cara loves holding babies...for about 6 seconds.

I LOVE this picture!

Thing 1 and Thing 2...

Nolan on a special date with his Mom.

Good thing Emry didn't come...I don't know where we would have put her!

Before leaving we, of course, had to hit up the fountains. Henry loved it, Cara and Aubrey not so much.

Nolan had an early morning so he was ready to go before the rest of us were.

It sure would have been a cute picture!

Big Girl Bed

Shortly after her birthday we moved Cara into a big girl bed. It has gone way better than expected. We chose not to have the girls share a room since Cara still had rough nights (she would wake up one or two times a night and cry for 15-20 minutes before falling back to sleep). Apparently, all we had to do was move her to a bed. Other than getting up to pee, which is much less often than it used to be, she doesn't make a peep all night long. Had I known this I would have put her right in a big bed straight from the hospital!

Here she is all tucked in on her first night. Looks like she's excited to have a big bed!
We started out with rails on her bed but realized that she doesn't move at all from the time she goes to sleep until she is up in the morning so we took them off. SO much easier to make the bed without them.

Independence Day 2011

As always we spent the 4th of July with some of our best friends, the Eckhoffs. They throw the best 4th of July parties! We appreciate all the work that went into it. Thanks, Melissa and Jeremy, we all had so much fun!!! Happy Birthday, USA. They had the best activities for both kids and adults. By far, the favorite activity of the kids was the water slide backed up by a slip and slide straight down their big hill. The kids had SO much fun! The girls with their annual contribution to the party. Lynn, our daycare provider, always gives the kids light up bracelets on the 4th. They were a big hit! The kids are getting so big. This is the first year that the fireworks were not too scary or loud for any of the kids. We were all able to sit outside and watch them go off. And what a show it was! Jeremy sure knows his fireworks!! Cara would ooh and ahh with the crowd. So cute!

The following morning we had a delicious breakfast out on the deck.

From Rochester we headed to Austin to watch the parade. My parents set up chairs to assure we had a good spot. It was hot, but the girls both loved it.

A big shout out to my cousin Zach who is on the Austin Fire Department. Brynn loves to watch the trucks go by, but she sure doesn't like to listen to them!

Summer 2011

Instead of posting each event of the summer here is a recap of what we've been up to...

We've roasted more s'mores than anyone's tummy really needs, spent LOTS of time at area parks,

enjoyed Henry's over-zealous hugs while attempting to get a good picture,took some walks through the woods,

looked adorable at Justen's (Lynn's hottie of a son) graduation party,

watered the flowers...and each other,

played some hop skotch on hot summer days,

went to Grandma Debbie's and played beauty shop with Aubrey Mae,

attended a 4th of July parade,

took many trips to the MN Zoo...this one happened to be with almost all our cousins,

had the Berlings over for our first annual Pan-O-Prog days,

went to Cara's first movie~Winnie the Pooh (yes, even Winnie the Pooh is a little too scary for Brynn and Cara was just starting to run a fever, as we found out when we got home, so needless to say it wasn't our best first),

spent plenty of time in our neighbors pool...even Henry Dennis got to take a dip or two,

had MANY picnics (so many that a picnic lunch no longer is appealing to me),

spent lots of time at the local beaches,

played T-ball with Daddy,

went through buckets of chalk tracing our bodies,

and finally, had lots of picnics out on our deck.

I am so fortunate that I chose a profession that allows me to spend three of the best months in Minnesota with the two best girls in the whole wide world. Thanks for the BEST summer 2011 Brynn and Cara!