Last Lacrosse Practice

HIGH: It was Claire's last lacrosse practice for the season :)
LOW: I missed the kids while I was at my class today :(

Today was Claire's last lacrosse practice and it came at the right time.  With summer being half over we are going to try to cram a lot more things in and we need our Monday and Tuesdays free again :)

I asked Claire what she wanted to do to celebrate the end of her lacrosse season and all she wanted was to go to DQ.  So that is what we did.  

You had another great season Claire!  We are so proud of you!!

Fun At Lacrosse

HIGH: Claire did great at lacrosse today :)
LOW: I realized today that July is almost over :(

Claire did great at lacrosse today.  Even though she does spend a lot of time chatting with her new friends when she should be listening :)

Claire did really well with her drills today.  They do a drill where they throw a ball and then two kids have to go get the ball and then throw it in the net.  Mark and I (and Oliver too) are totally those parents.  We scream and cheer super loud the whole time.  Oliver is in on it now too.  He kept yelling "Way a go Sissy!!!  Gweat Job!!"  I told Claire tonight that I am so proud of how great she did and that I love watching her play.  And she told me that she loves hearing us cheer for her!  

Claire worked so hard to get that ball.

Notice where her stick is.  When she couldn't get the ball she started hitting the other girl with her stick so she would drop the ball so that she could get it, I have no idea where she got that idea from ;)

Then while half the group does drills the other girls got to play Duck Duck Goose.

I think Claire liked this more than the actual practice.

When it was Claire's turn to do the drill she decided that she wanted to stay with the coaches and play Duck Duck Goose.  Somehow she worked over the coaches to stay there and play with her.

Oliver is so good the whole time Claire plays.  He loves to watch her play and cheer for her!  When we were leaving Oliver was thrilled when Mark let him help start the car.

He was super pumped when the car started up!

Then he had a blast pretending to drive!!

We all had a great time at lacrosse tonight!!

Claire's "Friend" Party

HIGH: Today was Claire's "friend" birthday party :)
LOW: We have been so busy that I haven't blogged since Thursday :(

Today we had Claire's "Friend" birthday party.  Since Claire is getting older she has too many friends to invite to our family party so we now have a "family" party and a "friend" party.  This year she chose to have it at the YMCA again.  Click HERE to see pictures from last year.

Claire loved having all of her friends in one place.

Claire's buddy Kevin was there.  I think Claire has a serious crush on Kevin, and I approve because he is absolutely adorable!!!  He is going to the same school as Claire next year and I hope they are in the same class!!

The had a blast swimming together!!

Oliver loved swimming too!

A little brotherly love.

I had to put this in.  Check out how long Claire's hair is when it is wet!!

After a nice swim, it was time for some pizza.

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday!

Oliver loved singing for his sister.

Then it was time for presents!!

Kevin was so sweet when he gave Claire her present.  He couldn't wait to show her how to use it.  He also drew her a picture and when we were all looking at it he told Claire "you know what it means" it was super cute!

Claire was thrilled to have all of her friends in one place to celebrate her special day.  We all had a great time.  Happy birthday Claire (again)!!!!

Bugs!

HIGH:  I got a ton of laundry done today :)
LOW:  The kids had school and it was a yucky day so I didn't take any pictures today :(

Since I didn't get any pictures today I thought I would write about something we did the other day that I never posted about.  Bugs.  Yes, bugs.  Claire is obsessed!  And so is Oliver!  We spent last Saturday morning turning over every rock in the yard and digging around for any bugs we could find.  Then we built this little bug house to keep all of our new bugs in.  Oliver loves it too.  He was right there with us digging and discovering all kinds of different things.  Unfortunately we didn't find too many bugs so we are going to have to keep up the search!!

Street Dance

HIGH: We had a nice night at our local Street Dance :)

LOW: I forgot the SD card for my camera and had to leave the street dance to get it :(

Yesterday we went to our town's Street Dance.  Click HERE and HERE to see some of our past years.  All the local restaurants set up tents and we get all kinds of food! The kids love to eat all the food and get all the fun free stuff :)

Here is Claire, Oliver, and Giada with the Toothfairy.

Oliver loved the carriage!  

The girls loved it too.

We finally found a table to sit down and eat our delicious food.

Then Oliver wanted to see the firetruck!

Our little firefighters.

These two besties had a blast as usual.

And Oliver wasn't too far behind.

Anniversary Night

HIGH: We picked out our tile :) AND We had a great night at the casino celebrating our anniversary :)
LOW:  I missed my babies :(

Yesterday we celebrated our anniversary by having a nice little overnighter at the casino with some friends.  We had a blast!  I got to play Black Jack for the first time.  It was really fun to sit at the table and really play.  And since it wasn't very busy there I got some great pointers and I didn't feel a lot of pressure.

 We usually spend our anniversary with our friends the Porters.  We both got married on the same day but we didn't know each other.  Jason worked with my brother and we ended up on the same flight for our honeymoons!  So because of my brother we got to talking and the four of us became instant friends.  After an amazing honeymoon we stayed close.  We even bought our dogs together (and we still miss them like crazy).  So last night the four of us headed to the casino and we had a blast celebrating an amazing nine years!! 

Another Zoo Day

HIGH: A fun Zoo day with Grandma :)
LOW: We missed Auntie Erin and Owen :(

Today Grandma joined us  for another fun day at the Zoo.  Claire loved filling Grandma in on the stuff to do there.

Claire and Oliver love their trip to the carousel.  They waited in line very patiently for it to be their turn.

Daddy does the carousel and I do the train.  The carousel make me sick to my stomach :(

I didn't think there would be a lot of animals out today because it was so hot but I was wrong!  All the animals were out, even the lions!  They are NEVER out!!  While we were watching him he walked over to the viewing window.  So of course Mark grabbed the kids and ran over there.  The lion stood right up and looked right at Mark and the kids.  It was crazy!!  

He was very calm and just looked around.  It was amazing!  Oliver loved it!  That is until nap time when he woke up screaming "NO YION!! NO!!  I NO YIKE IT!!" I think he had a nightmare and he kept looking his backpack on the floor and pointing at it saying "NO YION!!"  So I explained that the lion is at the zoo with his friends.  Then he was alright until bedtime.  He was fine while I gave him his bath, got his jammies on, read our books, and sang our songs.  Then I turned the light off and he FREAKED OUT!!  "NO YION! HE AT ZOO WIT HIS FWENDS!!"  He finally relaxed and went to sleep but I think the lion was a little much for him today.

And we ended our Zoo trip with our usual train ride.  Oliver goes nuts over this and it is so fun to ride with him.  The woman today told me that I couldn't ride with the kids and I just told her "Oh no it's okay I go on with them all the time.  Thanks."  No one was keeping me off that train!

Oliver thought it was so cool that Grandma sat in the back seat with him.  He kept saying "Hop in Gwamma!  Hop in!"

Claire brought her journal to the zoo with us today and drew everything we saw.  It was really cute.  Here is the train.

On the left is the elephant.  I am not really sure what is on the right though. I don't remember seeing an octopus but apparently Claire saw one.

This was the lion at the window.

This one is by far my favorite.  This is a picture of her Daddy.  Check out the hair.  I love this!

After dinner Claire couldn't wait to bust out her jewelry maker from Aunt Sue and Uncle Greg.  

She worked so hard making her jewelry.  

The jewelry maker is actually pretty cool.  The jewelry came out super cute! I even made some beads.  Claire was thrilled with her final products (don't mind her dirty nails, the clay got a little messy).

Here are some of the beads we made.  Claire was so sweet, she had a list of people that she wanted to make jewelry for.  I love this about her.  She is so thoughtful and she never forgets the nice things people have done for her.  She even wanted to make something for my friend at work (who makes real jewelry and she always spoils Claire).  She told me "Oh Mom, we can't forget Miss Cindy!!  She always makes me such beautiful jewelry!  I need to make something for her too!" 

It was yet another perfect summer day!  Tomorrow we are off to pick out tile for our new kitchen and then we are off for a night night at the casino to celebrate our anniversary!!

A Wedding And A Sleepover

HIGH:  The kids had a sleepover and swim day at Nana's and Papa's :)
LOW: I missed a day of blogging so I have to combine two posts :(

Yesterday one of Mark's friends got married so the kids slept at Nana and Papa's and we headed to the wedding.  It was a beach wedding and we had a great time!

Mark and Dave with the groom Tom.

This morning we got up and headed over to Nana and Papa's to spend the day swimming.  The kids loved having lunch at their little picnic table that I used when I was a kid.

While the kids took a well needed nap (with Papa) Sue and I relaxed in the pool.

Claire was thrilled when she woke up from her nap and Uncle Greg and Aunt Sue were there (with Alice).  Claire couldn't wait to hop in the pool and play with Uncle Greg.

Claire loved having Uncle Greg throw her in the air.  And Mark loves jumping into any picture that he can :)

Alice is a little nervous with people but she was great with the kids.  Claire and Alice bonded and hung out a lot.

Claire keeps asking me to french braid her hair and I am TERRIBLE at it so Aunt Susie came to the rescue and did a beautiful braid in Claire's hair.

I took this later on after Claire's hair got a little crazy but she wanted me to take a picture of it because she loved it so much!

After Claire and Oliver were finally done swimming they had a blast playing on the driveway.  Oliver loved pushing Sissy around in the play stroller!