Little Golfer

Today my Grandma Jan babysat Alaina for me. It was wonderful to have a break!! Here are pictures of Grandpa with Leo and of Leo golfing. 5 days until I see my new apartment, 3 days until Dave gets here with the U-Haul!

The promised pictures

Here are the pictures that I promised yesterday of our morning with Grandma and Grandpa Hathway and Grandma and Grandpa Johnston:

Here is Alaina walking Brutus.
Leo with Grandpa:

Grandma helping Alaina walk the dog:
Grandpa walking Leo:
Grandma holding a sleeping baby!

I have no pictures from today, so these will have to suffice. I'll have more tomorrow!

Memorial Day

First of all, thank you to everyone who has or is serving this country. We were thinking about you today.

Today was another busy day. We started out the morning by going to Leo and Alaina's Great Grandma and Grandpa Hathway's house. They were there as well as their Grandma and Grandpa Johnston. While we were there, Alaina got to see Brutus, Uncle Ric and Aunt Jean's dog that Grandma and Grandpa were dog-sitting. Then we all went to McDonald's to play and eat. Then, Grandma and Grandpa Hathway went home and Grandma and Grandpa Johnston went to Circuit City with us. My camera battery died and I needed to pick up a new one. I don't have any pictures to post of the morning until after Circuit City because my camera wasn't working. Hopefully Grandma Hathway will send me pictures of this morning to post.

On the way home from Circuit City, Alaina and Leo fell asleep and I was able to call Dave. I was driving by a field close to his old house and it was flooded. This field usually floods during the spring, but this year with all of the snow melting, it was more flooded than usual. Someone put 2 huge yellow rubber duckies and 2 pink flamingos in the water. I got a kick out of it and told Dave. He wanted to see a picture and since I now had a battery for my camera I got pictures. Bonnie told me that a few weeks ago someone also put a row boat by the side of the water. They had already removed the boat when I saw it.

After we got home we had fun with bubbles.

Then we picked flowers off of the snowball tree. I did this every spring when I was little with my sisters. By next week she should be able to shake the tree and the petals will fall off.

This is my favorite picture from the day.

I didn't notice until I was editing these pictures that Bandit is eating flowers in the background...

And what was Leo doing during all of this....scroll down to find out...

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He was sitting on the grass by himself. And at this point, not too happy about it.

He was much happier when we got him inside laying by his dog.

This evening after dinner, we took a walk to Walgreens to pick up more bubbles and sidewalk chalk. Leo slept for the whole ride and Alaina said hi to everyone we walked by.

Tomorrow should be a more relaxing day. Our only plans are to eat French Dip and Sweet Potatoes at Grandpa Gary and Grandma Shirley's house for dinner. I can't wait! Those are two of my favorite foods!

Sunday

Daddy, we miss you! But....while you are gone, we are having fun. Today we went to Rockford to church with Grandma and Grandpa Christianson. Then we went to Great-Uncle Don and Great-Aunt Mary's house to play. The kids had fun playing with their second cousins, Carrie, Dan, and Emily. Alaina played with them for quite a while and was a little distressed when Dan left to go to a study group. After we left Don and Mary's house we went to the park with Grandma Jan. Alaina played there for quite a while and ran off some energy. Grandma was awesome and played with Alaina while I got to talk with Daddy on the phone for a while.

Tomorrow we go into Madison to see Grandma and Grandpa Johnston and Great-Grandma and
Grandpa Hathway. I'm sure I will have those pictures for you tomorrow.

Without further ado, here are today's pictures:

Here is Alaina and Leo's second cousin Dan holding Leo.


Emily helped calm down Leo by making bicycle motions with his legs. (We wish you lived closer and could babysit for us!!!)

Alaina loved "playing" their piano. At one point she was banging away singing "Happy Birthday". She sings that song pretty well now after the 5 or so birthday parties she had this year alone.

Alaina was running around from person to person saying "Arrrr" and pretending to be a monster.

It was my turn to be scared by the monster.

Great-Aunt Mary got to hold Leo today. Last time we saw her, Leo was not liking being held by anyone other than Mommy, but he more than made up for that today and tolerated the "pass the baby" game pretty well.

Leo was grinning with Aunt Mary.

Carrie got home from work just in time to get to spend some time with the kids.

Here are the pictures from the park. Alaina tried climbing the rock wall for the first time while we were up here in Wisconsin. This is her 4th time up and she does fantastic! She doesn't need any help going up at all.

This is a piece of playground equipment that I remember playing on. I was so happy to find that it was still up. They had just put in all new equipment, but they kept quite a bit of the old.

Alaina asked to swing with the baby.

I can just imagine the dialog (In my mind, Leo has the voice of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh sometimes and the voice of Stewie from Family Guy other times. In this dialog, he has the voice of Eeyore.):

Alaina: I want to hold the baby!
Leo: Oh, gee, here we go again.....

Alaina: Weeee!

Leo: This isn't too bad. I can handle this.

Leo: Do you see what this kid is doing to me!?!

Leo: This is pretty fun after all. Good idea kid.

Alaina: All done!

Leo: Go figure, I start to enjoy it and she is finished.

I hope that you all have a great Memorial day!

Slowing down...

Things are finally starting to slow down here. The next couple of days are going to be busy again, but we should be able to keep nap/bedtime schedules with no problem. Tomorrow we are going into Rockford for church and to see my Aunt and Uncle's family. Then on Monday we are going into Madison with Grandma and Grandpa Johnston. I'm really looking forward to both days!

Here is a picture that I found on my memory stick from right before we left Texas. Alaina is wearing Leo's hat and shoes.

Grandma Shirley read to Alaina this afternoon.



Leo and Bandit were nearby listening.

Alaina gave Leo a kiss before going up for her nap.

Grandpa Gary played with Leo while Alaina was sleeping.

Leo fell asleep shortly after.

Time for bed. I just wanted to update pictures before I head out. Oh, also, Dave got back to Killeen just fine and packing up the apartment is going well. (Thank you honey!) These pictures are for you--Your kids and I are missing you!

Laura and Josh's wedding

On Saturday Laura and Josh got married. It was a beautiful wedding! I couldn't be happier for either of them. My Dad stayed home with Alaina for most of the wedding while Alaina finished her nap. They made it back right as the wedding was getting over. My Mom came with us to the wedding and stayed outside with Leo during the wedding. Leo did really well and I was able to feed him in between important parts of the wedding and reception. I am so glad that my parents were able to help out so much with the kids during the wedding. It really made it easier to relax and have fun knowing that they were taking care of my babies.

The morning of the wedding, Alaina gave Leo her doll and Leo sucked the doll's thumb/fist.
Grandma rocked the baby to sleep!
Grandpa Keith and Grandma Jane at the wedding with the kids.
The new family picture!!!
Alaina and Josh after the wedding. They were so cute together!!

My favorite picture of Josh and Alaina:

Alaina following Josh after he walked away.
Laura and Alaina comparing flowers:
My favorite Laura and Alaina picture. Laura looked stunning in her dress!
Aunt Carolynn and Uncle Chris.
Grandma and Grandpa Johnston.

Aunt Pam holding Leo.
Alaina and this little boy played so well together after the wedding! Grandpa Keith and Alaina chillin' together.
Uncle Rick and Aunt Jean told us to go and have fun at for the last couple hours of the reception after Alaina had left with my parents to go home to sleep and Leo had fallen asleep. They watched Leo for us for hours. It was as close to a date as we had had for a long time and probably will have for a long time. They are wonderful!
Laura and Josh just left for the airport. It was so sad to see them go because the kids and I won't see them again before they leave for Hawaii. They are going to our house in Killeen next weekend to help out Dave and to see him one more time before they go. Unfortunately, the kids and I will still be in Wisconsin. We are really going to miss them! We love you "Auntie Lala" and Uncle Josh!