Can it be true?

 

Happy 11th Anniversary, honey! 

So blest to be with you!

Dance Party

Looking back at old pictures, hanging out with forever friends, & agonizing over which class to take this fall all have me reminiscing about college.  MOST of the memories are good.  ;)  Some of my favorites involve Newman Center dances.  SO much fun to be surrounded by people that actually know how to dance for real or are willing to learn.  (Crazy dancing with friends who I never had to be self-conscious around was awesome, too.)  Nights out at Play-mor, twirling around the "red" floor, all those Padre trips dancing for hours & hours with such great friends... makes me smile! (and recognize why I was in such better shape then!)

I was feeling "in the mood" for a little Glenn Miller Orchestra this week, so we've been listening to it in the kitchen & dancing all over the place.  Andrew's almost getting tall enough to pretzel for real!  Rebecca could dance on her own forever.  Teresa LOVES big band music & keeps requesting it.  Right now her favorites are "Chatanooga Choo Choo", which she calls

"noogie choo choo",

 & "Kalamazoo".  She's a special fan of that one because she's an alphabet lover.  ABCDEFGH I got a girl...

Changing

Rebecca is really changing.  She is finally actually growing...woohoo!  It's a little agonizing for her as I pass her clothes straight from her drawer to Teresa's (who has never STOPPED growing) but we have a few hand-me-downs like this pretty dress that she gets to enjoy instead. 

Her affection for others continues to grow as well.  She'll hug just about anyone!  Twice!  She's more interested in playing with others than she used to be, though she can still engross herself in solitary play for a long time. 

My favorite change is the development of her sense of humor.  She loves to laugh & has understood quite a bit of comedy for a while, but she's finally making her own.  She says funny things all day long.  Most involve changing the words of songs or poems intentionally.  I especially love it when she "gets" Andrew & he loses it simultaneously.  Her giggles make us all laugh regardless of how honestly funny her joke is.  Just the other day as we were driving along, we saw a large herd of cattle out in the field. 

"Look!  It's a cow party! 

They're going to eat grass, drink milk, & play hide-and-MOO." 

Giggle, giggle, giggle, snort, giggle.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, my brother, my brothers-in-law, friends, & so many wonderful dads out there!  We celebrated with the house favorite on Sunday.  =]

I awoke to the sound of Teresa tearing the wrapping paper on Darren's present that was sitting on the kitchen table.  As I went to repair her handiwork, I reminded her that the present was for Daddy for Father's Day.

Teresa:  But I want it to be MY Father's Day!

Good luck with that one, Tootsie!  He opened his new fishing reel & enjoyed his cards from us.  Then we had a nice leisurely morning & headed off for Mass together.

Rebecca:  Dad, do you know you're SO awesome?

We enjoyed lunch at Runza & then let Daddy (& Teresa) took a nice big nap per his request.  :) 

Then we made a visit to the cemetery.  

 Had to round off the outing with a stop at Yogurtini.  Dads ate free on Father's Day!  Hope they do that again next year... we are SO there.

 Finally, I made a fancy steak dinner at home with the kids' help

 & his favorite, carrot cake, for dessert.

Happy Father's Day, honey!

I love being by your side as we continually learn how to care for these sweet little souls God has given us.  Thank you for all you do for us.  We all are so glad to have you as Daddy!

Adventures

 After a quick stop at home to unload our bikes, we headed out to the children's museum to meet up with more cousins for the day.

Lots of fun!  Follow that with a pizza lunch & we were ALL ready for a nap. 

Adios, cousins! 

So glad we could be with you!

Our Father Bike Ride

For the last three years our KCs have sponsored the Our Father Bike Ride on the Saturday before Father's Day.  It's a simple trek down one of our city bike trails with various options for how far to ride.  The first year Andrew just made it 3 miles to the cookie station & we packed up his bike in the van to go home!  Last year he made it half the way back, too, but the ground was so soft he was really worn out, so we threw the bikes in the back again. 

This year Darren, Andrew, & cousin Max did a full loop of 6 miles with energy to burn at the end!  My sister Melissa & niece Liz joined us in the cheering section.

 While we waited, Matthias was fine to walk around & pick flowers with the girls... but refused to take a picture with the flowers afterwards!  Ha!  Love that stage.

 We had a good crowd this year despite some rain clouds lingering above.

 And, they're off!

 Waving the pompoms, shaking the maracas, & cheering I think helped them zoom into the cookie stop at lightning speed.  After 3 (or 4?) cookies they were off again!

Some took a longer trek to make it a 9 mile ride, but Max & Andrew led the pack on the short route back.  Max was already talking about when he joins us again next year!

All cousins, all the time

 We were so happy to have two of our cousins stay with us last week!  Max & Matthias fill in some of our stair step of ages... Max 8, Andrew 7, Matthias 6, Rebecca 5.  They played so well together!  We played at the park, had a picnic, hung out at Green Grandma's (ironically) & tackled with cousin Logan (from Darren's side), & then had a blast at the pool.  I LOVE these beachfront entry pools.  The girls had a blast, the boys could actually swim in my view, & I only sunburnt one half of my body where the sunscreen ran out before I finished.  :P  Not used to spraying 6!

 They spent most of our time at home entranced by LEGO creations in the basement.  They made some really cool stuff! 

 One afternoon I lost track of all 5 for a bit & found them all lying on our bed staring at the fan & suppressing intense giggles.  Goofy guys.  =]

It's so nice to have some non-event time with my nephews!  We really enjoyed having them.

Artsy afternoon

 I took advantage of Teresa (& Daddy) napping last Sunday afternoon to take the big kids over to a festival at a local art studio.  I had never been there before & I was really impressed!  The kids made these neat marble papers, tie-dyed t-shirts, buttons, pictures of Nebraska, & origami bugs.  FOR FREE.  We ran out of time or we would have also made clay figures, had their faces painted, & painted an outdoor mural!  (We intentionally skipped the henna tattoos.)

There was live outdoor music... rather eclectic but fun.  They were the most intrigued by watching a woman work with a pottery wheel.  I was so eager to jump right in there, too!  I forgot how fun that is to see a big lump of clay transform in your hands.  Maybe I should see if they have a pottery class.  Anyone care to join me?

Thank you, Jody, for telling us about this great festival!  I'm so glad we went.

Almost...

Recent quotables from Tootsie:

"No, bee!  Don't STINK my elbow!"

***

"Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top,

when the bell rings the cradle will rock
& down will come baby
princess in a tree top."

One BIG day

When cousins come to town, we can hardly resist zooming immediately to their location.  So, when my sister Melissa & her family were here last weekend to go to the zoo, we also joined them for pre-zoo & post-zoo fun at my sister Cara's house.

"Let's play pretty princesses in the castle with white dresses & orange shoes, Veronica."

Then we ventured to the zoo.  The mole rats were both intriguing & hilarious to the girls!

We clued our cousins in on our cheap trick to feeding the goats... scavenge for all the feed that other kids dropped before us.  Andrew found a whole cup full!  Veronica was very frustrated, however. 

"Why won't he eat this food from me?"

Well, she hadn't quite mastered the techique of discerning the pellet food from the other kind of pellets.  I don't blame him for not eating it!

And that's as close as we could get to a posed picture with this motley crew!

My little monkey inspired by

the real monkeys.

The boys were all rather hesitant, but the girls dove right in to hold this huge grasshopper in the bug house.

Ah!

"It tickles, Mom!"

Yuck.  There were no mommies holding this huge millipede, either.  Andrew finally caved to peer pressure... GIRL peer pressure that is... & decided to hold this one.  He required a photo as well. 

Cute chicks

Since we hadn't tired out of fun yet, afterwards we walked down through the rose garden, past the fountains, & over to this gorgeous garden.  The boys were enjoying the fish in this pond... & grandpa's spitting trick.  Still lovely.

Back to auntie's afterwards to play, play, play & grill out, too.  Thanks for hosting us, Cara & Taylor.

What a BIG, fun, happy day! 

Love you, cousins!