Tuesday, July 27, 2010

lots o' smiles tuesday

hello poor little neglected blog....oh my, it has been too long. i have lots of post rattling around in my head...but i think what i'll end up posting is a random hodge-podge of our past two weeks. i've got pizza dough rising in the oven for mini strombolis (to "feed" my freezer!), so while it rises, here i go!

-a sweet friday with sweet friends. my friend julie (from high school) and her two little girls came down to visit lora and me. we did lots of chatting, a mass lunch at costco (i know...i know, fine dining, right!?), and then some fun time at the splash park. elizabeth quickly become buddies with julie's oldest daughter, kayla. hannah was there too...but she spent the whole time sleeping away in her stroller! :)



-a fun (always fun!) sunday game night with friends...and the tastiest southwestern chicken salad...yum! :)

-you know it is summer-time when you have BLTs for dinner (with garden tomatoes...can you tell that i am loving our garden!) and then walk to dairy queen for dessert. even better, the girls cones were free as a summer reading prize!




jilly likes ice cream! i love that kate wanted to share with jilly...without prompting! :)

-meeting grandma and grandpa f. at the children's museum.

doing a science "lab"

what is the most fun part of the museum? the dryers in the bathroom, of course!

walking to acapulco joe's with grandpa

-jilly had her first grilled cheese sandwich (definitely a note-worthy moment, right!?). she enjoyed it! :)

you can't see well...but those cabinets behind jilly are our new cabinets...they are installed! since this picture mike has also put the white "backer" board on over the brown part. now for painting the rest of the cabinets white and installing the new countertops...but we are making progress, little by little! go hubby!

-pizza and a movie night. we made homemade tomato and basil pizza (with fresh tomatoes and basil from our garden!) and watched benji. kate especially loved benji...mostly because there was a lot of music...and lots of music means lots of crazy dancing around the room. i wish i had captured it on video...because, seriously, she is the funniest dancer ever...lots of skipping and arm fluttering. love her (and the pizza was tasty too!).


-and, really, doesn't this beauty just make you grin?


-it was county fair time...so, in spite of the HOT and humid weather, we ventured out!

we saw the animals...this miniature pony was the ONLY animal either girl would get remotely close to...maybe next year we'll be more into the animals.

we enjoyed some fair food...jilly especially loved the elephant ear the five of us split. love kate's cheesy bloomin' tater face. :) honestly, food was just about all kate enjoyed about the fair, i think....she was having a rough night!

some tractor "riding"...of course...what else would you do at the county fair in indiana?!

a few rides. check out elizabeth's expression in the first one...she was NOT impressed by the boat-ride...actually, she was quite upset that kate wouldn't ride with her...kate would get so excited about the idea of riding something...then when we tried to put her on the ride, she would kick and scream and cry...like i said, NOT a good evening for kater gator!

the onlookers as elizabeth "takes flight"!

-fresh from the farmer watermelon

-indoor swimming anyone? okay, really i just love the expression....could this peanut get any cuter? though i don't have any photographic proof, she is also get braver and more balanced every day. standing up all by herself in the middle of the room is one of her favorite hobbies...then she smiles this incredibly proud little smile, giggles, and balances before refusing to take a step, and eventually gently lowering herself back onto her cushy little behind. i'm fairly certain walking is right around the corner, and since she already has the balance thing down, i think its going to come quickly!


-we've been playing dress-up....in a "borrowed-from-ellie" dorothy dress and slippers. seriously, there was a magic transformation in the past couple of weeks. elizabeth has never been into dressing up...we'd go to friends' houses, and all the other girls would dress up, and elizabeth, well, she preferred to remain in her own clothing. but in the past few weeks that has changed...so we are looking to add to our dress-up clothing stash!


-kate and i went on a shopping spree at kohl's the other day...30% off coupon in hand, hitting just the clearance racks, looking for goodies to stash away for next summers' wardrobes for the girls. and, oh my, did we ever hit the jackpot! bermuda shorts and lots of matching t-shirts clearanced for 80% off, plus our additional 30%...wow! next summer the three girlies will have a few matchy-matchy outfits, and, well, you know that makes me smile...gotta enjoy it before they get too old for matching to be "cute"!

-long phone calls with precious (too far away) friends!

-cooler weather...cool enough that i finally tackled our jungle this morning...mowing the lawn is so satisfying (mostly because it stays "done" for a few days...as opposed to a few minutes!)

6 comments:

Crystal said...

What a fun couple of weeks! Elizabeth just gets more gorgeous as time goes by. You are so blessed with those girls! :)

On a side note, you have inspired me to start my own garden next spring. Don't want to spend another year missing out on all the home-grown yumminess! :)

Wendi@EveryDayMiracles said...

I just love reading your posts. This was so fun. :) Your girls are, as always, so cute and entertaining.

Amy's Blah, Blah, Blogging said...

Sounds like a whole lot of fun to me! You still have got to tell me where this splash park is at. Is it in Plainfield or Carmel? It looks like tons of fun! I wish we had something like that here.

We had the opposite reaction when Lilla got on the rides. Anna cried so hard because she couldn't go on with Lilla. It was so sad but if I know Anna, and I do, she would have been the child jumping out of those rides. Just to put the fear of God into me! :)

Happy to see your summer is good. Let's get together soon! I'll be gone for the next two weeks...end of August?

Leslie said...

lots of beyond words happy things... love it.. now Im smiling too...

:)

Rebecca said...

such wonderful smiles, amanda! i love the photos. your girls are so adorable and fun!

Carrie said...

Ok the boatride picture is absolutely hysterical!!! And, sadly, I've seen that look here as well from a certain six year old. Hmmm....I don't think it's going to get any better. At least not until they're like 23.