Summer fun!

 Above is an update on our garden.... the potato plants are really rather tall now, hopefully there's some good spuds growing down beneath! We put up some fencing for the green beans and peas to climb on. We used a cinnamon roll style pattern for the fence which allowed us to get fence near all the plants without having to cut it (since it's borrowed from the neighbors). Works well for the plants to vine but it might be a little tricky to get in there once it's time to harvest some... we'll cross that bridge when we get there. So far the deer have stayed away, PTL!!

Alie and Rhea playing sandbox at Kay's house

Swimmin' Baby!!

 As promised, here's some coverage of Lynden's first swim lesson - I'm not a certified instructor or anything but I did some research on the web about infant swimming.... It encouraged letting them experience their own buoyancy... Mommy laid he back in the water and supported her back and head, she was a little tense the first couple times but then she relaxed and did all kinds of kickin' and splashin' and smilin' - Here she is cruising around with Dad. 

 I can't figure out how to embed the video here  so just click on the link and you'll be redirected :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toIcUO4HEL4

Boat Ride!!

Not only does she have sea legs for walking
but she jumps too!!

Watchin the waves...

Water slide!

Happy 4th of July!!

As promised, a couple pictures from the zoo. The girls get to travel wagon style :-) and Daddy gets his workout lugging them up and down the hills ;-) 

 Rhea was excited to go see the monkeys at the zoo. But when we got to the first ones (Orangutangs) she decided they were scary and she didn't like them. So we went to the cat house but it must have been nap time because almost all the tigers and lions were sleeping. From there we headed to the Budgee birds, that's our favorite.

 Joe used to have parakeets as he was growing up so he is the 'bird whisperer' in there to get them to come see us. After that a quick swing through the aquarium to see the penguins and turtles before it was closing time.

Car Wash -  Woah Woah Woah :-)

DATE NIGHT!!

 Wednesday night we took a date night! Mr Bill and Miss Nellie jumped at the chance to come spend time with the girls (especially since they didn't have to work the next day)! We drove the truck (yay) and went to Joe's Crab Shack in Omaha. We each ordered an entree of mahi and Joe also got a pound of crawfish on the side :-) It was a beautiful night, we had a great time.

fam-ah-wee!!

Bye Dad, See you later!
(wearing Miss Nellie's flip flops)

Happy 4th of July!!
Sisterly love

Parade bound!!

Catching candy with Daddy

* cousins *

One tired girl!!

Thanks for stoppin'! Tune in again next week for snippets of Lynden's first swim lesson (sort of).

Where is Thumbkin?

So after I made a quick list of the pics I wanted to add into this blog post..... I decided a slideshow would be the best option for this week :-) You know us, always have the camera going!

The first half of last week was pretty routine as far as our activities go. Lynden started rolling from back to front (and Mommy missed it every time the first 2 days, sneaky girl). I still let her lay on her tummy up on the table while Rhea and I eat lunch and today she almost put her head in the tub of sour cream ;-) Another note on Lynden, she officially is a fan of her thumb (or first finger). Right out of the gate Mommy encouraged a pacifier but gosh darn it if she isn't 4 months old and still set on the thumb! She mostly just chews on it rather than sucking it so maybe the appearance of some teeth will fizzle this out. She still takes the pacifier for naps and bed . I know, there could be much worse things so I'm just trying to go with it. Oh, and she found her feet this week too! Busy week for her :-)

Rhea enjoys MUCH pool time and has requested macaroni and cheese for every meal the last 3 days (yes, even breakfast). She loves to have Mommy sing songs all day and she will sing them herself if no one calls attention to it. Or she asks for me to play mucus on the computer (music). We haven't done too many fun art projects lately since we try to spend a good amount of time outside every day.

Thursday was super rainy in the morning so we went out to play in it for a little while, then we drove up to the Museum of Religious Arts in Logan, Ia. They have a display of paintings from Akiane. If you haven't heard of her story, please take a minute to Google it - amazing! She's been given an incredible gift straight from God. Her work was unbelievable. Then that night we went to a BBQ at Joe's boss' house.

Saturday was our nephew Luke's 1st Birthday party. That was a hoot - he really enjoyed his cake!!

Sunday evening Kay made a lasagna and brought it over for supper (my request, she makes the BEST lasagna), Al and Linda joined us and then we went out on the boat :-)

And today (Monday) we went to the zoo this afternoon! Those pictures will have to wait for next week's post.