McDonald's

This morning the kids, my neighbors, and I went to McDonald's for lunch. I took quite a few pictures this morning of the kids playing there, but I also took this picture yesterday and wanted to post it. The neighbors got a sandbox that is in front of their house. It is by far the favorite toy. All of the kids used to dig in the grass and dirt by the driveway and get absolutely filthy, so I'm so glad we now have this alternative.

And now we are to the McDonald's pictures. So, without further ado....



How great is this face??

This soda is as big as his head!

I don't know how she managed to pout while at McDonald's eating nuggets and running around. And now that I'm posting, I can't even remember what she was pouting about.
Leo liked watching the cars going through the drive through.

Alaina and Zach (the neighbor).

All in all, they had a blast! It was a great day!

Blocks and Cookies

Over the past few weeks, Dave has been working on making blocks for the kids. He isn't finished, but brought out the ones that are finished for the kids to play with. Daddy and Alaina built this tower.

Leo watched from a safe distance. For a while at least...
Then he did the brotherly thing and knocked down their tower.

Alaina took most of the block pictures, including this one of Dave and I.

Yesterday, Alaina and Leo baked cookies and drew pictures with the neighbor kids, Zach and Kendal. They each picked out someone to bring the cookies and pictures to. Alaina picked out firemen, Zach picked out the doctors, and Kendal picked out the police. After the kids gave the cookies and pictures to the firemen, the firemen showed them their truck and ambulance. Here is Alaina in the firetruck.

And here is Alaina getting into the back of the ambulance.

Then the fireman talked to them about what they do.

The kids are still wearing the hats everywhere. It is so cute!

Fireworks

Looks like we had some big ones in our backyard (but if you look closely, you can tell they are only sparklers...)
Here are some pictures of the kids over the fourth playing with fireworks. They both had a blast and neither one was afraid of them this year.


The smoke bombs were Alaina's favorite.



Sparklers came in a close second.

They got more and more fun as it got darker and darker.


Do your remember waiting for a grown up to start the sparklers? I do.

Alaina got hers first. Leo didn't care. He would rather watch other people do them anyway.



Happy boy! This is the face he made when I said, "Leo smile!"

Vacation, A Wedding, and Pottery!!!

Last weekend we made it back home after being gone for almost a month. Here are the end of the pictures from at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Leo was pointing to Great-Grandpa Gary.

Just like old times, he crashed in the dog bed...(he did that last year around the time of Laura and Josh's wedding when we visited Grandpa Gary and Grandma Shirley's house)

The firetruck. I played with this as a kid and so did Grandpa Keith.

Aunt Kathi and I (Alaina took this picture)

A week ago Saturday we went to Kelli and Bryan's wedding. Kelli looked fantastic and Bryan is one lucky guy to have her!!

Alaina dancing with Kelli.

Busting a move....Dancing with the Stars future contender?....
Slowing it down a bit with Grandpa.

And Grandma...(that's a timeout by the way Grandma....)
I absolutely love this picture!!

Alaina, Leo, Grandpa, and Grandma right before they left to head back home.

Leo loved chasing the lights on the floor.

Both kids had a blast.

Great-Aunt Pam sent us a big jewelry box stuffed full of costume jewelry. The kids love it by the way!
Alaina wasn't too fond of sharing it though...

Leo was a ham for the camera. He loves wearing the jewelry. After a week it is still a favorite toy and I think Leo has spent more time with it than Alaina.






On Thursday (I think...) our old neighbor Bianca came back into town and brought her new baby Gretchen! Gretchen is only 2 weeks old.

Alaina and Leo rough-housing.


Playing peek-a-boo with Daddy.

Me and my babies all cuddled up after a bath and getting ready for bed.

I was only going to post one of the next two pictures, but I couldn't decide which one I liked better.


And finally, I'm getting started with the pottery again! Here is Alaina helping me center my clay.

I was showing her how to poke a hole in the middle to open up the clay. You can see Leo watching (impatiently) in the background for his turn.

Alaina did a great job with the pot. Together we made a great bowl (because that is what she told me she wanted to make...). Hope you all had a great Independence Day!!