Library Fun

As I've mentioned in the last few posts, this summer has been very rainy.  We've been spending a lot of those rainy days at the library.  There have been fun programs to go to, and the girls just love reading and doing the puzzles in the children's area.

Along with Kyri's love for dinosaurs, insects, and volcanoes, she also has a minor obsession with fruit bats these days.  You can often find her and Tessa pretending they are bats flying around our house.  Imagine her excitement then, when our public library had a bat expert visit with real live bats to pet!!  Kyri sat with her eyes glued to the bat expert for the whole hour-long presentation.  She is still telling people random facts that she learned about bats that day.  (Tess and I lost interest after the first half hour and decided to play some computer games...until it was time to pet the bats!)

I also had the opportunity to go to a Story Time at the library.  The girls had been going to this all school year with Laurel, but this is the first time I got to go and watch.  While I was there, the question that I kept asking myself was, "When did my baby become a big girl?"  I was amazed to see Tess participating with the class and sitting and listening for most of the stories.  She has really grown up these past few months!

As always, we continue to read a ton at home, too.  I brought home a whole basket full of books from my classroom, so the girls are loving the new titles to read through.  (And Kyle and I are enjoying a change in reading material, too.)

I love this picture.  The girls had been arguing most of the morning, but when I got out of the shower, I found them sitting together like this with Kyri reading (or retelling) a story to Tessa.  It was so precious!  It shows that they can be good friends at times.  They did go back to screaming at each other shortly after, but they're playing better together more and more these days.  

I updated about 11 new posts tonight, so be sure to scroll down to the older posts!

Father's Day Weekend

Kyle took off work the Thursday before Father's Day, and we snuck in two days at the lake.  It was beautiful boating weather...not too hot and not too cold.  The air was still a little chilly for swimming (although Kyri got right in the water with no problem.), but the beach was still fun and relaxing.

Tessa seems to only want to sit on my lap while we're on the boat, which can get a little uncomfortable at times, so I was really excited when she fell asleep and I could get a break for a little while.  I will love it if we can get another summer of boat napping.  Both of my girls get rocked to sleep on the boat!

Although, these days, K.J. is too busy being the captain of the ship up front!

And this picture shows what these two did most of the time we were up there.

On Saturday, we celebrated Father's Day with my side of the family at Arlington Race Track.  It was another day that started out rainy but turned out to be just right in the end.  Thanks to Sandy and Steve for organizing this fun day!

Kyri and Aubry won multiple times!  Here's K.J. holding up her winning tickets.

Race Day Divas

 On Sunday, we started out Father's Day by having breakfast with Grandpa Larry and Grandma B.  Then, Kyle requested to have a few hours to himself to hit golf balls.  When he returned, we went on a family bike ride and then grilled out for dinner.  It was a beautiful day!

These girls are lucky to have a dad who loves and cares for them so much.

Recital Time X 2

Kyri and Aubry had their recitals the same weekend.  We started out with Kyri on Saturday, when she wore an itsy, bits, teeny, weeny, yellow, polkadot bikini.

 (Aubry, Kay, and Uncle Scott were also there but had to leave before pictures.)

She had so many fans come to watch, and then we went out to a delicious dinner afterwards.  We really appreciate everyone coming and spending the long day with us, even though Kyri's dance was only about a minute long!!

She loved all of her flowers and admired them for hours afterwards.

Then, on Sunday, we got to go to Aubry's recital.  She did an amazing job and knew her dance the best of everyone in the class!  Look at all of her fans, too!  Afterwards, we all went to Culvers for an afternoon snack.

These two little ballerinas are sure loved and supported by so many!

I'm a Soccer Mom!

Kyri started showing an interest in soccer last summer when Donna played with her at the lake.  Then, Donna, Owen, and the girls gave Kyri a soccer ball and shin guards (or kicking socks as KJ used to call them) for her birthday.  So, it was time to try them out this summer.  She has had three practices now, and she's really enjoying it.  I don't know anything about soccer, so I have no idea if she has any talent at this point, but she looks like all the others out there.  There are about 15 three and four-year-olds at her practices, so it's a little chaotic.  It's hard to keep them all focused at the same time, but Kyri remembers what she learns and practices at home, too.  Rather than being an aggressive player, she's more of a graceful soccer player.  : )

Some Summer Fun

This summer has started off very wet.  It's one of the rainiest summers I can remember in a long time!  We've been doing a lot of art on our down time.  One day, I left the girls alone for a few minutes with watercolors.  When I came back, I got a glimpse of Tessa's future.  I won't be surprised if she gets a sleeve of tattoos like this one she designed on her arm!

The only way Kyle could get all of us girls excited about a baseball game is by taking us to "Princess Night" at the Cougar's game.  Unfortunately, it rained A LOT and delayed the game a few hours.  Because of that, the girls didn't get to participate in the princess parade or see a firework show at the end.  It was still a fun game, though.  Kyri caught a foam ball, so she was happy!  And the girls got Dippin' Dots, so that's always a big hit!

My mom and I took the girls to Brookfield Zoo on a beautiful breezy day.  Kyri's favorite part was the dinosaur exhibit.  Tessa wasn't so sure at first.  She put her leopard blankie over her face for a while to hide from the scary dinos.  Eventually, she was able to look at them.  : )

Our little paleontologist hard at work.

A few days later, we went to pretty farm with a giant fairy garden.  Sue and Kailey told us about this great place, and we all met there on a rainy Thursday morning.  At first it was cold and sloppy, but luckily, the rain cleared after our picnic lunch, and the girls (plus Grady) had a lot of fun in this little tent full of fairy activities.