Bows by Me!

Sunday night, Charie and I broke out the glue guns and made bows! It was a 4 glue stick night :) Actually, I made these 21 and she made 3--one for her and each of her best friends to match their swimming suits--super cute! I went up and got the girls' favorite outfits out of their closet and made bows to match. Fun stuff!

Sunday Pictures

We got ready for church early today, so we took some pictures while we were waiting. I used picnik's free online editing and love it!

One and a Half

Michael turned one and a half today! He’s a really fun little guy and we love him TONS! I told the girls it was his half birthday and Ashley immediately went and got one of her birthday presents, re-wrapped it, and gave it to him! He brings out the best in us!

Six!

Our little girl turned six today! We had a fun day! Ashley had a birthday party at the park, played with her cousins, and went to Outback (her choice) for dinner!

Ashley got this sweet doll bed from James' parents and this beautiful dress from my parents. Thanks--she loves them!
The weather for her party at the park was not quite what we had planned for the middle of June--high 50's occasional drizzle, and lots of wind. Her friends (and their parents) were great troopers and I think the kids had fun. Notice her winter coat on top of her beautiful party dress...

Pinata!

Next, we went home and she opened her presents from everyone.

No, that IS NOT A DOLL in the bed. That's baby Elisabeth!!

The bristle builders I got at Lakeshore were a big hit! Even the Daddies got in on the action and built rockets and cars.

We finished the night at Outback. Yum!

Happy birthday, sweet girl! We love you!

Ashley's Birthdays

Today was Ashley's 6th birthday! Here are some pictures of her first 5 birthdays:
One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

Five!

Camping Trip

Our kind of camping breakfast: doughnuts with sprinkles! :)

Helping Daddy set up the tent:

We went camping last night. Overall, everyone had fun--we had a campfire, roasted s'mores, ate corn on the cob and yummy tin-foil dinners (in that order-the marshmallows came out way before dinner was cooked!), went exploring in the woods and climbed on rocks. The girls slept great. Paige was the snuggliest in her 3 blankets and blow-up sleeping bag. Michael was a different story, though. We brought the pack and play along for him and he went to sleep ok in it, but it was really cold, so I put an extra (twin-sized) blanket on top of him. He noticed that and started squirming. The blanket ended up underneath him and I was worried about him suffocating, so after worrying and not sleeping for an hour, I scooted it out from under him and tried to go to sleep. Well, he ended up in my sleeping bag and thought it was playtime. He finally snuggled up with James and then I could hear Ashley shivering on the other side of the tent. So she gets in my sleeping bag and Michael wants to get back in, too (at like 3 or 4 am). It was miserable! If I hadn't thought that driving down the unpaved mountain (with 27 hairpin turns--the girls counted) in the rain would probably end up in us sliding off the mountain, I would have gone home. We finally did get some sleep, though, and had a fun morning...and we made it home alive!

Sisters

We've had a good week but this is the only picture I took! We went to the Y, the library, the splash park, and went up to Jeremy and Lauren's house. James graduated from the Leadership Development program at work and we went out to dinner with the other graduates while Jeremy and Lauren watched the kids. I couldn't take pictures of the graduation since it was in a secure facility, but it was a nice ceremony--the girls thought the best part was that there were three big cakes afterwards! (This pic is outside the building.) We stayed up at J & L's house Friday night and Saturday morning, we went garage sale-ing and then James' Uncle Loren came down and met us for brunch. The girls got to play with their cousins all day long and had a great time!