Pure cuteness!!

Yes, I put bows in her hair.

No, she doesn't have enough hair to fasten a bow but the crocheted headbands work great!

This morning.. it just melts my heart.

Jake called her his little cupcake today. :-)

Puddles, Hot Dogs, & more S'mores!

I don't know exactly how much rain we got Thursday evening (I think thats when we got it at least!) but there was enough for some fun puddle stompin action! The boys and I had to run an errand Friday morning but took a walk when we got back before it got even hotter out. Zach rode his bike and Jacob decided to walk with me. We passed by some pretty good lookin' puddles as we strolled and I decided the boys would enjoy taking a second walk if they could get wet. After parking Zach's bike I asked them if they wanted to go jump in some puddles and boy were they excited! Off we went.... (I was wearing Emily in my moby wrap.. don't worry! we didn't leave her at home with the pups!).
(I apologize in advance for the number of pictures. I have a gazillion more than I'm posting.)

 I just LOVE the next 6...

 And the next 2 just make me giggle.

(Jake said he was smiling. Looks more like a scowl to me.)

I can't wait for Emily to be able to enjoy the little things like stomping in puddles. It's one of our favorite things to do!

Then comes the hot dogs & s'mores!

Some friends of ours invited us to roast hot dogs and toast marshmallows with them Friday evening while they were camping. Even though it was super warm and humid out we decided to take them up on the offer. The kids were thrilled to go. Any opportunity to roast a hot dog and eat marshmallows to them is a two thumbs up!

That would be Josh inside the tent...sweating.

The perfect s'more--just for me...made by my hubby.

Andrew with his tasty treat!

Yes, it was as hot as it looks.

Zach stole a chocolate bar.

Ms. Jen and Josh.

Josh having probably his 15th and 16th marshmallow of the evening. He would wave them over the fire and say they were toasted...then gobble them up.



The babies, Noah & Emily. I know it's a fuzzy picture but they're still cute.

I took individual pictures of them too but can't seem to get them to upload! (or maybe they'll just magically appear on here!)

Then to today....

my sweet kiddos.

say cheeeeese!

Yes, I have a problem; I take too many pictures!! I can't help it.

I just figure that my children's lives are well documented! (i'll have to get the tripod out if I want to be in any though!)

Daniel, Emily, and of course, the guard dog, Copper.

Jake squeezed his way into the picture.

Emily sticking her tongue out! Aren't these the cutest little pj's?

My Grandma Gibson got them for her. I just love them!

She was soooo over the photoshoot!

My happy family! At least we're all normally always happy!

(at least 3 of the 4 people in the picture are smiling!!)

Notice Copper is still in the picture? Well, I took that picture 2.5 hours ago and he's still in front of her. She's snoozing on the couch waiting for me to take her upstairs to go to bed and Copper's laying on the floor in front of her. Pretty much what he does all day--guards the baby!

now...to think about folding the laundry.

we're back!

yes, I'm a terrible blogger!! My evenings when I would normally write a blog have been spent sleeping!

We just got back from Virginia last night. Daniel's grandmother passed away peacefully last Thursday evening and the funeral was on Monday. It was a beautiful service and I know she was smiling down from above on all of us. I got some really nice old pictures from Daniel's dad that I need to scan in; they're of his mom and dad when they got married as well as from his childhood. I am extremely thankful that I got to know Grandma Durrbeck as well as I did; I have a lot of wonderful memories of her that I'll be able to tell our children. I want them to hear so many stories about her that they feel like they knew her. (yes, Jacob and Zach did know her but I don't think they'll remember her well on their own.)

I'm going to try to get us back on track at home! Hopefully tomorrow I'll get stuff put up and get things cleaned up. I've been needing to scrub my bathtub for a month now...maybe that'll get done! I sent Zach's birthday invitations to get printed...maybe I'll get them in the mail tomorrow. Maybe I'll write the thank you notes to everyone I owe them to. Maybe I'll get to sleep in... hahaha! My guess is none of it will happen! I will need to go to the grocery store though..or else we'll be having pb&j sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner....well, I probably only have a few slices of bread left so we might just be eating them with a spoon!!! YUM!

Both boys had soccer tonight. We were at the field for 2 hours! That'll be our norm 2 nights a week for the next month and a half. Emily was in a good mood most of the game.. she just screamed when we got there!

just hanging out with Zach's soccer ball!

When is this going to be over??

Look close and you'll see Jacob!

Then we have our last week...

The boys graduated from Safetyville.

Jacob getting his certificate and bag of goodies!

Zach getting ready to high-5 the Police Chief of Elkton.

The Chief showing Zach his certificate.

the boys with one of the police officers.

Saturday (July 21st) we went to an Ironbirds baseball game before heading to VA (at like 11pm!). 

The five of us!

Emily loves riding in my homemade moby wrap. Loves it! And yes, I did eventually tuck her little head into one of the sides and she slept like a baby!

With one of the mascots..  

The other mascot. He signed both of their hats!

The kiddos big enough to stand on their own! Maybe Emily and Noah will be in next year's picture!

another shot of the group!



And then we were in VA!

Zach needed to test out our travel swing. I had been keeping it in Emily's room since I have full size swing downstairs (that plugs in so it doesn't suck up batteries like this travel one or most others!) and we decided to take the travel swing to my parents' house to use there since the one we had there stopped working. Zach knew he was allowed to sit in it but not turn it on! (Though he is only 7 lbs above the weight limit!!)

Emily smiling with Pa.

sleeping momentarily in the swing. Zach thought she needed kitty cat and woof woof with her.

taking a daddy nap.

notice Copper on guard dog duty.

On our way back home...

Zach had his goggles on!

And we're home!!

I needed to get a picture of Zach for his birthday invitation. This was not the selected picture!

Neither was this one but I just love his cuteness!

Jacob had his Kindergarten assessment today. The boys rode their bikes to the school!

Building a lego helicopter together. Jacob is really quite good at following the directions in the lego booklets and totally building them on his own! (Zach did help too though.)

relaxing!!