July

Mark gave me a little break on Sunday and took the girls to the SAC museum. They had a good time and their favorite part was the cockpits. 

My littlest astronaut.

We had our family pictures taken at the beginning of July and then we went to dinner at Bella Vita after. It is a small little Italian restaurant in old Elkhorn.

We spent July 3rd celebrating Independence Day with the neighbors. We had good food, good company, and great fireworks. 

Izzy and Hudson.

Shelly and Val talking in the smoke. 

Val, Liz, and Shelly.

The Hoffman Twins, Madelyn and Brayden.

All the boys hanging out in our drive watching Mark light fireworks. 

Izzy and Finn.

Maia drawing with her sparkler.

Addie and Daddy making birthday cards for Grandma D. 

Getting ready to go swimming on the Fourth of July.

We went to Champions Club with Jeff Cassler. The girls rode the ponies and petted the bunnies. 

They swam for a few hours and enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks Jeff!

The bunny Izzy wanted to take home. 

That evening we spent time at Camps.' You can see Addie is truly enjoying some ribs. 

Izzy, Maia, and Elisa. 

Addie learned to pump herself on the swing the last week or so. 

Ana and Elisa. Mommy and baby. 

Ana Victoria with the classic watermelon on the 4th of July.

The Szymanskis.

The Camps.

The Browns.

Enjoying time with my girls. Never a dull moment.

Time for some fireworks. 

Ana Victoria.

This is Izzy's flower that she brought home at the end of the Kindergarten year. This is the first flower or plant that she has brought home that we didn't kill. We must over water them all the time. This one gave us instructions to not water again until we saw green and we did it!

These were Addie's flowers she picked this year. 

Best Buds.

Addie and Cletus.

This is the start of our KC trip. We got into town and went to dinner at the Flying Saucer. Then we went back and relaxed until it was time to go see the Royals.

Nothing is better than a hot dog at a baseball game. 

Then cotton candy.

Waiting for the carousel. 

Climbing on the jungle gym.

Next stop, American Girl store. The girls were in heaven. Mark....well that's another story. 

We also spent some time in the Disney Store.

Final stop, Great Wolf Lodge. 

The girls enjoyed having their own little cave. 

Mommy and Daddy enjoying their trip too. 

Obstacle course. I hated this one because I would lose Izzy every time she went up in it. 

First slide of the day. 

We enjoyed alot of outside swimming. The weather was perfect.

At the end of the day we went and had dinner and watched story time at the big clock tower. 

This opossum hung above our dinner table. He was a little creepy.

Izzy taking pictures while we are waiting for breakfast. 

These are a bit out of order. This is the story time. 

Izzy lost her first tooth this month. The tooth fairy somehow threw it down the drain in the kitchen and Mommy found it. We put it under the pillow the next night and the tooth fairy let her keep it. 

One last swim before the summer is over. We went to Hart's in Lincoln with our friends Heather and Ella. It was great having a pool all to ourselves. 

Ella

Out to dinner. 

All the hoodlums in the hood enjoying popsicles. 

Hanging at Village Pointe after a haircut. 

Last hoorah for the summer. We celebrated Emery Snodgrass's 4th birthday at Clara's Closet dress up party. 

The birthday girl. 

I feel like I say this every time I make an entry, but where the heck does the time go. This year for the 4th of July we hung out at our house and with the neighbors. It was lots of fun. We have been truly blessed with a great neighborhood. I hope it will stay this way for a long time. We also went to Champions Club and went swimming with our friend Jeff. It was nice of him to take us there. The girls got to ride on ponies and pet little rabbits while we were there. Addie wasn't too sure about the fireworks. She said to Mark, "Daddy the big ones are not fun, they are too loud."

Addie is quite the character. I need to make a list of Addie-isms because I forget them so easily. One day I asked her if she was sleepy and she looked at me and said, "My eyes are open and I'm talking. Does it look like I'm sleeping? She got me there. Then one weekend Grandma D. came to help me with the girls while Mark was at a DMB concert and she asked Addie if she wanted something to drink for dinner. Addie, with her hand waving in the air said, "Grandma, I told you 200 times."

Izzy on the other hand is my sweet, but not sure so innocent little lady. She is the first to want to help but can be sneaky at the same time. I'm definitely will have to watch out for her. She also hit a major milestone this month. She lost her first tooth. She is making a big transition this summer with learning to ride with no training wheels in April and losing a tooth in July.

At the end of the month we took the girls to KC. The first night there we went to a Royals game. It was so hot it was almost unbearable. The next day we went to the mall and took the girls to the American Girl Store. Izzy got her first big girl doll. She had a Bitty Baby, and we graduated to the bigger doll. She was so excited. The Bitty Babies got washed up and pampered also. Addie chose to get Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen at the Disney Store instead. Then we went to Great Wolf Lodge. We had a great time. We swam  and did most of the slides. Definitely a place we will return.