Wild hair

 After Sarah takes a bath, her hair looks pretty curly though it only lasts a few minutes.  Rebecca said, "Look!  She has grandma hair!" 

But what kind of hair is this?

Put up your dukes.

He's big, but I'm little

Digging the library

 The girls & I went to check out the big diggers at the library last week.  It was seriously hot in the sun but pretty cool to see them so up close!

3 weeks

Welcome Alivia Mae!

 We are so happy to welcome our newest niece Alivia Mae!  She's beautiful.

 She was born on July 1st to proud parents Christine & Derek.

And welcomed by big brother Jackson.  Especially excited to have a cousin so close to Sarah ON BOTH SIDES of our families.  Wow.  Hopefully, Cecilia & Sarah will be in the same high school eventually... and we'll just have three parties for all of those landmark events until then.  Congratulations, Christine & Derek!  

Cosette

We just watched the newest movie version of Les Mis a few weeks ago & now every other time I see our sweetly smiling daughter with her hair looking wildly disheveled, I think of Cosette.  (I don't imagine you'd ever see her wielding a NERF blast-bow, though.)

Stats

At Sarah's 2 1/2 week appointment she was

7 lbs. 13 oz. heavy - 25%

21" long - 75%

14" head - 50%

& 100% adorable

One for the graduation video

 The day before Andrew left on vacation he was feeling a little more accommodating than usual by letting the girls choose what to play...

I think this is one for the graduation video.

God bless America

 We kicked off the celebration of our nation's independence with our annual trip out to Uncle Ron's.  Green Grandpa loves to take us out on a hayrack ride through the preserve.  Sarah & I opted out this time, but the big kids had a blast with Daddy despite their newly mosquito-bit bodies.

 We did lots of snaps, poppers, & other simple fireworks, but Rebecca was most interested in catching fireflies.  These three ran around for over an hour in pursuit of them.

 Nothing says 4th of July like cooking hotdogs over a bonfire, large amounts of glow bracelets,

 & cheesy junk food WAY past your bedtime.

 After a late night, we made it just in time for the neighborhood bike parade the next morning.  It's always a simple, fun time.  We bumped into two of Rebecca's classmates... one who moved in recently down the street & another who's grandparents live nearby.  Such a nice surprise!

Sarah enjoyed her first parade (even though she didn't get a popsicle at the end). 

Happy 4th of July!

Just the girls

LOVE

Library Science

 Our library has a great summer reading program.  This year's schedule of events isn't quite as impressive as in the past & we've missed a few we were most interested in due to timing with baby Sarah.  But, we were able to go to our first event a couple of weeks ago all surrounding the Magic Tree House books.  All three of our big kids love them!  Then we attended this science show the following week.  Really nothing spectacular, but it was interesting & all the kids were able to volunteer to be helpers.

 Andrew was able to help make this floe volcano.  Rebecca helped build stalactites & stalagmites (out of Velcro tennis balls).

 And Teresa was able to fill up this balloon with helium & give it to the librarian.

The biggest hit, though, was the crazy exploding volcano finale.  When he said back up, I wish I would have backed up farther!  All that baking soda & vinegar shot into the grass to cover the stroller.  :P  Lots of fun!

Photo shoot

Teresa asked,

"Is she going to wear LEMURS with her dress?" 

That's kind of close to bloomers, right?

No!  Not lemurs!

 Climb every mountain...

 I'm done, Mama.

 "I think she's the queen of all the babies."

Spray Park Sprinkles

 We spent the morning at the spraypark with some friends.  We unfortunately forgot that it didn't start spraying until 11:00, so we had an hour to play beforehand.  But, this park has a very unique playground so it wasn't too difficult to keep everyone happy.

 "Mom, look how high I am!" shouts Andrew.

 Sarah enjoyed a breezy, sprinkle-filled snooze in the stroller.

 "Mom!  Look how I am now!"

 Not your standard horse or duck to ride on, huh?

 "Mom!!!  I'm up so high!  Look!"

 "Now I need a shower after all that climbing."

 With our new friends Isaac, Abbi, & Augie (who's hiding).

Summertime fun!