Our own Pablo Picasso!

Today Alaina drew her first self portrait. She went from scribbling and drawing circles to drawing faces. She brought the magna-doodle to me and said, "It's Alaina!" Seeing as she has never drawn anything distinguishable I thought it was a fluke and set her up with crayons and construction paper. While I was text-messaging pictures, she brought this peice of paper up to me and said "Look! Daddy!" We are so proud of her! We have an artist!!

Weekend Visitors

This weekend Mark and Bonnie came to visit. Leo and Alaina really enjoyed having their Grandparents here. They are really getting to know them which is great after being in Texas for 2 years and not seeing most of our family that often. We had a blast.

Alaina played with left over popper fireworks. She stepped on the ones that didn't pop when she threw them down.Leo riding on Daddy's shoulders for the first time ever.
Bonnie took my camera from me and took a picture of me holding Leo.
Leo riding the scooter. He may or may not be getting help from Grammy.....

Grammy teaching Leo how to walk.
Alaina shared her ice cream with Grammy.



We planned on going to Big Falls on Sunday, but unfortunately it only got to 75 degrees outside. Even that didn't happen until like 3:00. We were planning on going at 11 or so, but it wasn't even 70 out. We were all really disappointed but we made do and went out for lunch and then played Uno Attack.

On Sunday Dave and Alaina went with Mark and Bonnie to Kristen's (Dave's cousin's) going away party. She is off to Siberia for a year with the foreign exchange program. I can't say it would be my first choice of places to go as I am dreading the Wisconsin winter, but she sounds excited. We hope you have a really fun time Kristin! I wish that Leo and I would have been able to come on Saturday! By the way, if anyone has the address she is going to be at and could send that to me, I would greatly appreciate that. Thank You!

Who wouldn't love this face??

Leo has started to make this face lately. He crunches up his face and breathes like Darth Vader. He does it when he gets angry if I don't feed him fast enough. (you know like taking a bite of my food instead of just shoveling food into his mouth...)




Alaina just liked to play with food at this age, but Leo takes eating VERY seriously!

New Toys!!

So, here are pictures of our new toys. Mark brought us up 2 bikes and the pull behind stroller. The pull behind stroller also has another wheel you can add to change it into a double jogging stroller. Thank you Mark and Bonnie!!! And last night we bought a scooter. With gas the way it is and a lot of in-town driving, it is definitely worth it! Now we have a second vehicle.....kinda....

Some older pictures....

Late last night Jodi, a friend from Texas, sent us some old pictures that she had from when we lived in Texas. I can't believe how much Alaina has changed!

Here is Alaina petting Lola. She was probably around Leo's age.


This is from shortly before we left. The other boy is DJ, who I babysat for for quite a while.

Jodi always gave Alaina the messiest snacks when we were over there.
DJ taking Alaina on a 4-wheeler ride.
Alaina was only 4 months old and Laura and Josh came to visit. This was taken over the 4th of July weekend.

It was so much fun to get the pictures and to take a walk down memory lane. I'm sure I will be putting up more pictures soon because Dave and I got a new toy.....I just have to get pictures of it....

Check out the new outfit I found for Leo on clearance at Kohls!


A few days ago I came down from bed and found Alaina and Dave ironing together.

The next day she ironed with me in her pj's and high heals.
Last night Dave, Alaina, Leo and I went on a walk. I pushed Leo and Alaina pushed her doll in this really cool stroller from Auntie LaLa (Laura) and Uncle Josh. You can't see it from this picutre, but this stroller is like a deluxe doll stroller complete with drink holder, underseat storage, and a toy on the front (that needs batteries) for the doll to play with. Thank you Laura and Josh. Alaina is loving her stroller!
Last night Leo cuddled with Dave.
This morning before babysitting Leo, Alaina, and I went on a walk. Alaina picked these flowers on the way. All of the flowers were growing wild so she didn't pick from anyone's flowerbed, even though she did try to get to the flowerbed flowers from time to time. Next time we go on a walk, I'm going to try to remember my camera. It is gorgeous!
After the walk, Alaina was out cold. This is how she fell asleep....
This weekend should be another busy one. Mark, Dave's Dad is coming tonight and Bonnie is coming tomorrow. Then they are staying until Sunday. It is so great to have family close again, although we miss Laura and Josh terribly!

I was just about ready to post this, and I looked down to find the dog like this:

I'm guessing he got into my knitting stuff.

On that note, it's time for me to pick up. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Wish you were here?...

Warm water, waterfall in the background...
With this attached beach..
This downstream....
and this the other way....
Well, if you were up by us today, you could have gone swimming here with us. These are some pictures that I took on the way to Big Falls which is a public beach about 10 minutes from our house. How cool is that! I have pictures of us swimming there but I'll show you the pictures from earlier this week first.

A few nights ago Alaina was eating dinner. We had to bribe her to eat her chicken, mashed potatoes and butter bread by promising more asparagus. Seriously. All she wanted to eat was asparagus.
Leo sleeping in his swing. This is still his favorite place to be. It makes me sad that he won't be able to fit in it for much longer. He is already nearing the upper weight limit. I guess all good things have to come to an end.
Alaina cuddling with Daddy after her nap.
Leo fell asleep on the floor and Alaina laid down next to him.
Getting ready to go to Big Falls this morning!
How beautiful is this!!!
You can actually go in the water and get closer to or even under the falls, but the rocks are slippery so we didn't get that close this time. When we were here before we had kids we went up by the falls. There are areas that you can dive off of. Most of the water by the falls is only knee deep, but there are some deep spots for diving and swimming.
This area is off past the falls and is just the river. The parking area is across the river from the beach area but there is a spot that you can walk across that is only about 2 1/2 feet deep.
We didn't play with the ball for long because it kept wanting to float and blow away.

Leo did great in the water and put his hand under one of the small waterfalls.
Back there by Dave and Alaina is a 1-2 foot waterfall. The water is only a foot and a half deep at it's deepest in that small pool and the kids loved playing in it.
It was so beautiful out there! We were only out there about an hour and a half because Leo looked like he was getting red and Alaina was afraid to go in water where she couldn't see the bottom. Overall though, it was a blast! If you come and visit, we can take you there!! I hope you are all having as great of a weekend as we are!

Mom & Dad, remember this shirt? It fits Leo now! (for the rest of you, this shirt used to be mine)

Leo went swimming for the first time on Monday! He LOVED it!!! He wants to cuddle when you are in the pool with him. It is so cute!!!
Alaina and Leo playing. Alaina is a water baby. She does so well and isn't afraid to get her face wet. We aren't diving under water yet, but she isn't afraid to dunk herself.
I love this suit! Thank you Grammy!!!
Alaina and Leo showing off their suits before they get in the water.
Both of my kids going after their blow up toys with their mouths....
We set up this pool in front of the house on the side of the driveway. It is only 2 1/2 feet deep, but that is perfect for us now. Alaina loves it and is asking to go swimming every day. We will probably go again tonight as it is pushing 90 and humid again today. The pool is great because it really wears them out. Not to mention, I love going swimming with them! I'm really going to miss it when it gets cold. Tomorrow it will be August! It will be snowing before you know it! I don't know if I'm ready for mid-west winters yet! The summers in Texas were tough, but I think this winter may be worse....

We had such a great weekend with Grammy and Grandpa here!!! Alaina and Leo had so much fun playing! On Saturday we went to the County 4H fair. Grammy and Alaina stood in line to play the games.

Alaina walked around holding Grammy and Grandpa's hands.



And yes, Alaina wore her heals the whole time. She wouldn't put on other shoes for anything, so we let her walk in the heals that were 5 sizes too big.
Alaina and Leo had their faces painted. Leo left his alone but Alaina rubbed hers off within minutes of getting it.

Grammy played dress-up with Alaina.
How cute is this!
Again in the heals....
Leo showing off how good he is at walking.
Alaina choking Grammy!
The boys hanging out.
Leo cuddling with Grandpa.
The dog made himself at home....
Leo helped get Alaina up on Sunday morning.
Grandpa, Grammy, and Alaina.

We had such a great time! We hope you come back up again soon!