Time with Mam-maw...

We have been fortunate enough to spend several days with Barry's grandmother the past few months. The girls love going there, especially Leslie who gets to refill bird feeders, or go down to the farm and pick food and then help shell it for dinner!


Mam-maw reading the girls a book...

The girls think this little cove down to the basement is their secret club house. Who knew two steps and landing could be so fun?

Leslie and Mam-maw sitting on the swing enjoying the cool morning...

Summer Sillies...

We were invited to a birthday party for one of our close friends, Ethan. When the parents realized how hot is was going to be they sent out a swimming amendment to the invite that somehow got lost on its way to us. Luckily, no one (including Leslie) seems to mind my children swimming in their skivvies...

We went another party celebrating my great aunt Dene's birthday. It was in the nursing home, so there wasn't alot for the kiddos to do. Leslie and a cousin were playing hide and go seek to pass the time. When Calla decided to join in, I had to take a picture. It's hard to tell, but she's got her nose on the wall counting, "one two- ready or not here I come!"

Cute silly smile on a cute silly baby...

Cute funny face on a cute funny baby...

Here's the train cake I made for the party we attended. I tried to do something easy since it was a crazy weekend, but I think I don't think the time saved was worth the loss. Oh well. It tasted good and everyone still really liked it!

Random August Pictures...

One of the girls favorite games is "flying." It was fun and cute when it was just baby Leslie. Not so fun now with almost 70lbs of cargo in flight...


Leslie has never been big on laying down in the tub until Calla started. She would sprawl out and yell, "Mermaid Calla!" Super cute. I have better pics of them both mermaiding out, but this is the only one web appropriate...

After documenting mermaids, I left the camera on the vanity. Leslie was trying to take silly face pictures to surprise me. Turns out her "silly face" is pretty beautiful...

County Fair...

We always try to attend all the local things offered, so when we heard the Midland County Fair had started back up, we loaded up and headed to the Horseshoe. Overall, we were pretty disappointed with the activities and prices, but the petting zoo was top notch! Leslie loved getting to feed all the animals...


I'm constantly surprised how hardy baby chicks are. Leslie and Calla both got to hold and pet several...

Leslie feeding the alpaca...

I wish this picture was a little further out because then you could see that I have Calla completely upside down dangling down into the trough, so she could pet this guinea pig...
Even Calla got to feed the big animals...

We took Maddie with us, too. She is super nice well behaved little girl, but kinda a chicken around animals. As we were leaving I finally got her to feed this old blind toothless goat. What you can't tell from the picture is that my left hand has a vice grip on her elbow forcing it into the pin. Luckily, she is well enough behaved and trusted me enough that she was smiling when it was all though!

Of course, as all our outings, we ended at the jumpers. Calla was a little small to fight off the big kids, but Leslie and Maddie had all sorts of fun running from jumper to jumper... Or in this case, inflated human wrecker...

Friendly Blessing...

Over the summer, we learned we were getting a new preacher at church. I didn't really care about the change until I learned they had a 4yr old little girl! Little girls are few and far between in this town, and I know Leslie is getting to the age where she needed a girl friend, so I went a little into desperate mode and became determined they were going to be our new best friends. Luckily, God heard my prayers, and when both the preacher and his wife got super sick, I answered the call to help watch Maddie. The girls became instant "BFF's!"

We spend the day doing all sorts of girly things from play-doh, to water colors, to tea party. It was a pretty hot day, so when Barry came home, we pulled out the water toys and let them splash around for a bit...


The big girls started playing some sort of around-the-world racing game. You can see Leslie is already turned half-way around by the time her feet touch down...

Then Leslie read her some of her favorite books...

The girls were thrilled to get to have a big girl sleepover. It was too cute watching them play House, School, and Princesses and listening to all the giggles and squeals that go along with little girls. They really enjoyed getting to take a bath in the big tub, too...

Barry read them books and then we both tucked them in. I had to go in Leslie's room a few times to settle them down, but it wasn't too bad. I figure staying up giggling is part of the fun of a sleepover!

In the morning they both cuddled up in the big chair together to watch TV...

We ended up watching Maddie most of the next day too, so after dinner, we went to "The Airplane Park." They ran around doing all sorts of things, but them helping each other across the balance beam was so sweet...

Even Calla got a turn...

Before we took her home, we stopped by the local yogurt ice cream stop to cool off...

Calla loves going to this place because it has a kiddie play area. She spends most of her time playing, but every couple minutes she runs back over to me asking for another bite. Her face reminds me of a little baby bird! tweet tweet...

Crazy Haired Calla...

Time with Grandmommy and Papa...

My mom and step-dad help us out by watch the girls for us some, but rarely do we all have time to get together and play. The girls love riding their scooters around their back porch. Here's Papa helping Calla...


Calla dunking the ball. "UH!"

Grandmommy reading to here princesses...

Calla got sweaty, so I made all of her curls stick out everywhere...