Just life...

One final post for July. Grandma and Aunt Mary have gone home and we are back to regular schedules. No more company for awhile and we set are sights on the upcomoing school year. It will begin in less than a month and Matthew is for sure ready for Kindergarten. He had a jump start program this week and had lots of fun with it. I think Ella Jane was wanting to join him. She'll get her chance as she heads off to her own program this year 2x a week leaving me with just Sara. Mmm....I sense some good running time in our future!

Make a wish...

We had birthdays this week. Matthew is now 5yrs. old and Ella Jane is our big 3yr. old girl. WOW! It was a little bittersweet for me since last year at this time we were in Maryland and were able to have a WONDERFUL party with all of our friends. The memories are still fresh, in fact last night I was just telling Matthew about the day he was born. That day involved our good friend Liz; we had to borrow her car to go to the hospital and I asked if he still rememberd her. "Of course!, I remember everybody from Maryland!" came his enthusiastic reply.

Grandma and Aunt Mary are visiting this week so along with two of our new little friends, they were our special guests this year. We put swim suits on the kids, set up the pools and the slip and slide and let them play.

Among Matthew's gifts...a spiderman lunch box, a spiderman t-shirt, a remote control helicopter, and a scooter. Among Ella Jane's gifts...a Dora magnet playset, purple nail polish, her very own "towel" to hold all of her toys, and a scooter. What fun they are having with these new treasures!!

Changes...

Sara is not the only one changing around here! We've painted two rooms; the office and dining room. Don't they look great?

"That's not cool..."

We had a fly in the house just now and Matthew hates it when a fly gets in. The kids were at the table having a snack and of course the fly was buzzing around. Ella Jane says to Matthew, "you can just take your hand and shoo him away, how cool is that?" Matthew's reply? "That's not cool." They are so funny.

Romona Quimby Age 2

The kids got haircuts yesterday and the first thing I thought of when Ella Jane's hair was finished was Romona Quimby. If you grew up on the Beverly Cleary books then you know what I'm talking about. She's pretty cute. No more baby hair whispies. Matthew looks really sharp too. The professionals can do so much better than I can!

While Jim was gone we had a fun visit with Maria, Nick and Isabel. They were such a huge help and Nick even tackled some of Jim's projects in the garage which helped us out tremendously.

We've pulled out the slip and slide this week as the weather has become warmer. Below are pictures...you can see how much fun Matthew has with this. I will say slip and slides have come a long way since I was kid. No longer are they just a piece of yellow plastic that you have to keep straightening out!


Maria, Isabel, and Nick on the Mississippi River

Ella Jane with her new haircut

Go Matthew!

More fun on the slip and slide