Daddy's Day

Happy Father's Day to our Daddy, Grandpa Dean, and Grandpa Ralph!

Below Maddie is showing Kent some of the things she made for him at school.

We tried to show our Daddy how special he is to us on Father's Day.  We told him he could do what ever he wanted.  So this is how we spent the day:  Kent slept in, then watched a lot of golf, and in the evening he grilled for Carrie, Lyman, Milo, and the rest of us.

The kids spent some time collecting the apples that Maddie knocked from the tree.

Maddie and Sohie shared one of the apples they picked.

Introducing Ian

Our new nephew, Ian, came into the world on June 11th.  He weighed in at 8 pounds and 10 ounces.  Congratulations Blake, Jen, and Kyla!

Betty's House

Sophie loves the slide at Betty's house now that she can climb the ladder and slide down belly first over and over and over again.

Almost the whole gang: Madeline, Sophie, Faith, and Milo.

Sleeping Sophie

Field Trip

I took a day off work this week to spend with Madeline at preschool.  We went on a field trip to Chuckie Cheese in honor of her graduation.

I drove these 4 kids and one teacher in the van.

All the girls in Madeline's class pose with Chuckie for a picture.  

My Gymnast

Madeline LOVES gymnastics.  She has had two classes now, Monday evenings 5:30 until 6:30.  Here she agreed to pose for me in her gym-wear.  Watching her brings back a lot of my own childhood memories.

Now whose legs are these?  I know they're not mine.  She must have got them from someone tall and thin, hmmmm . . .

Maddie in the zone.  She said one kid told her she was "the bomb" since she could hang from the bar longer than this other kid who was older than her.

And this little beast.  Let me tell you, it is one long hour with this little one.  She sees all this fun activity about her and doesn't know why she can't participate, too.  Mean Mommy.

Squeaky Clean

Our Family, Spring 2008

At the request of Aunt Jenn, we took a picture of all four of us together! It wasn't so hard with Grandma Mel here. Yeah! We got to spend the weekend with Grandma who drove down from Yosemite to see us and to spoil us rotten.

Sand, Sand, and More Sand

The girls spent the weekend in their sand box. They LOVE it, especially now that Grandma Mel replenished their supply of sand toys.

Movin' on Up

First it was baby food, then the stroller, now it's her baby swing. Sophie now insists on using a big girl swing just like her sister.

Sophie has started to put two words together now. She says "more cracker" which sounds more like "moh cah-cah" (pretty funny if you know a bit of school yard Spanish) and a few other short phrases.

I almost forgot, Sophie went pee-pee on the potty this week!!!! Not too shabby for a girl of not quite 20 months.

Can you guess what Daddy is building?

Can you guess what Daddy is building? . . . .


Here's another clue . . .

It's a sand box for Maddie and Sophie!



Kent built the sand box last weekend, and the girls have played in it every single day!

My Newest Niece

My newest niece arrived this morning!  Paige weighs 7 pounds and nine ounces and is 20 inches long.  Congratulations Uncle Josh, Aunt Jenn, and Cousin Dagney!

What's Grosser than Gross?

Sophie made a valiant effort to one-up her cousin Dagney this weekend.  Top that, Daggers!  

Memorial Day

In honor of the day.

Grandpa Time

We were lucky to be able to spend 2 evenings with Ralph this week.  Maddie had a bit of a bug, but it didn't slow her down too much.

More Smiling Sophie

Pool Time

Carrie, Lyman, and Milo invited us over to cool off in their pool and to enjoy some good food.  Although Sophie had to decline the invite due to an ear infection and a fever,  Maddie and I sure had fun hanging out with our good friends.  

On a slightly funny side note, Sophie's Mr. Huggy fell in the toilet while we were gone.  If you know Sophie, you know Mr. Huggy is very important to her all the time, and even more so when she's sick at bed time.  Well, not only did he fall into the toilet, he got pee-peed on too.  According to Kent, once these things start, they can't be stopped.  So, poor Mr. Huggy  had to go through the wash and dry cycle, and we all went to bed a bit late. 

Since we were disappointed with the YMCA swim lessons, Kent has decided to teach Maddie himself this summer.  She's having her first lesson Saturday.  I'll keep you posted on her progress.  

Extra Pictures

A couple of pictures of Maddie taken over the last couple of weeks: one of her roasting marshmallows and one that Kent took of us Friday night. 

Strawberry Fields Forever

For Mother's Day, I wanted to go strawberry picking. So, we drove about thirty miles west of our house to go to this great farm. There were tons of fruits and vegetables to pick and activities for the kids: wagon rides, tractor rides, things to climb on, animals to feed, etc. The best part of the day was picking strawberries. Maddie was very specific about her strawberries; she only wanted small red ones. In case you're wondering, those are small happy face stickers on her nose and cheeks, she wore them all day.


No Sophie, that ones not ripe yet!

Sweet Peas Among Sweet Peas