swimming and VBS pics

This afternoon it was sunny and 88 degrees. A perfect pool day. So the girls and I headed over to our neighborhood pool for a few hours. It's always empty so it kinda feels like our own backyard pool.

Mallory is actually swimming in this picture! Very impressive for a 3 year old whose typically afraid of EVERYTHING!! Oh, and I promise Maddy did not land on Mal's head in the other picture. :)



Tonight was our last night of VBS. So I took a couple pictures of some of the kids.

prayer time and funny questions

Madison is super pumped about asking Jesus into her heart! She keeps asking me to call family members to tell them about it. While I was showering I overheard the girls talking in our bedroom. She had gotten out her God Loves You booklet and was reading it to Mallory. Then she asked Mal to bow her head and they prayed together!!!!! (Our little evangelist)

A few minutes later Dan came walking by and Maddy asked him why his do-dees, her word for chest, have muscle and girls do-dees have milk? GOOD GRIEF! Where did that come from??

Vacation Bible School

I knew blogging would be difficult this week. VBS is from 6-8:30 and by the time I get home and the put girls to bed it's almost 10 and I'm exhausted! Vacation Bible School is definitely our church's biggest outreach. We typically (b/c of our location) bring in many, many children who have never stepped foot in a church. Over the years we've had some of our neighborhood children come to VBS and then attend regularly for years...often the parents will begin attending and entire families come to Christ!!! It's very exciting!!!!
Each night this week I'm in charge of a small group/memory verse station. We play games and have tons of fun. This evening during our prayer time I had a total of 10 boys and girls ask Jesus into their hearts, our precious Maddy being one of them!!! :) I really feel blessed beyond words being just a small part of this incredible outreach.

The Kracinski family, VBS, french fries and gas prices

I told my cousin Lisa about our blog and she's started one for her family. They live in Chicago. Her husband, Eric, is a fireman and she's a nurse. They have 2 kids, Jacob and Jordan. Our family is always cracking up about the things her kids say and do so it should be fun to read about. However, I know Lisa is hesitant to blog...she thinks no one will read it. So when you get a chance, check out the Kracinski family link and tell her hi. :)

In other news, VBS starts tomorrow and so life is going to get really crazy until it's over!!! Today the girls and I headed over to the church to decorate and set up. In the car on the way there Mallory let the loudest stinker I've ever heard!!! Then she said "Ewwww that smells like a french fry!" Maddy and I about passed out from laughing! The car got quite for awhile then Maddy (who must have been studying gas prices) says, "Wow! $3.78... that's insane!" Where do they come up with these things??

Fair day!

This week was our county fair so I took Madison, her friend Makaela and Mallory this afternoon. First of all, fair food is awesome! (although it requires that I put in an extra 45 minutes on the elliptical) Elephant ears, corn dogs, grilled corn on the cob, yummy! The girls loved checking out the animals. Unfortunately, the rides weren't open until the evening so the girls were a little bummed out about that, but it saved me $$$$! :)
Madison was chosen to help with a fire safety demonstration and the picture of Mallory crying was because she was just sure that during the demonstration there would be a loud noise...??? I never really figured that one out. I'm not sure about that poor child of ours. Hope she gets over these fears before too long! Well, we had a great time and the girls are exhausted so I better get them to bed.

Sunday School get-together

Dan is the 5th and 6th grade boys Sunday school teacher. We invited them (and the 5th & 6th grade girls) to my parents house for a summer get-together. Dad and Mom have a huge yard perfect for lots of wild tweens! :) I thought I would post a few pics and brag on Dan a little. He's never really felt like teaching is his one of his biggest strengths, but I know he's made an impact on these kids. Many of whom don't have a father figure around. These boys look up to him and love having him as their teacher. They actually think he's "cool" which is quite impressive considering these are 11 and 12 year old boys I'm talking about!!!! Thanks Daniel for being a great Daddy and a role model to the boys in your class!
Maddy and Mallory came along and played right along side the big kids. I could tell Maddy thought she was very grown up hanging out with the older girls. :) Oops. Once I looked at the pictures I took I realized I didn't get any with Dan and the boys!!! Mostly Madison and Mallory playing with the "big girls."

Our little photographer

Mallory absolutely loves taking pictures. We find the most hilarious photos on our camera! This morning I caught her with it and took it away. After she left the room I checked to see what she had taken pictures of and this is what I saw... I think she's pretty good. Maybe she could give me a photography lesson.

notes

Now that Maddy is writing, several times a week Dan and I will find little notes she's written to us. Sometimes the notes are slipped under our bedroom door, folded on our pillow or often she lays them on the bathroom sink. This evening she had misbehaved and was sent to her room. Later we found an adorable, phonetically spelled note that read:

To: Mom and Dad I am sore that I disobayed.
From: Madison

Monkey business

These pictures sum up the girls today. They behaved like I'd fed them a pound of sugar! Some days I'm so happy when bedtime comes around! :)

We survived!

We're home and survived our first camping trip with the girls. They actually did great and we had lots of fun. (despite the 93 degree temps) When we arrived at the park our campsite was out in direct sunlight with barely room for our tent! Feeling slightly panicked Dan and I drove back to office to see if we could find another available campsite. Luckily, we found a great spot available back in the woods in deep shade. Thank goodness!!! We did lots of hiking, an afternoon of canoeing and enjoyed being together without computers and cell phones... ok so Kasey and I texted once or twice, but that's it!
There were only a few annoying things about our trip. The first being the fact that Mallory was afraid of our campfire... I mean I understand her fear of fireworks, but a campfire? She didn't like the sound of the crackling wood. Odd, very odd. Second, we were canoeing having a wonderful time swimming, wading and Dan points out to us the tadpoles and fish swimming around in front of us and of course Mallory practically pukes up her lunch she's so scared! And finally REVENGE OF THE GNATS! I'm not sure what was going on, but we had a constant swarm of gnats around our heads. Ewww! We were constantly eating them, sucking them up our noses and pulling them out of our eyes. The black specks in Dan's teeth weren't coffee grounds they were gnats!!!! :) (jk) Anyway, it was fun. We made lots of memories and are looking forward to another trip next summer.

The great outdoors

We're leaving this afternoon with Dan's parents to camp and canoe for a few days. I'm really looking forward to it. I LOVE doing just about anything outside. Camping, fishing, swimming, running, boating, canoeing, snow skiing, hiking, biking... :) Anyway, I'm amazed at the amount there is to pack for only 2 nights!!!! This is the 1st "real" camping trip we've taken the girls on so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well. I say "real" camping trip b/c they've camped in a tent in our backyard. However, we put them to bed inside the house around 8 and carried them into the tent when Dan and I were ready to sleep around 11. (totally cheating I know) Well, I'll be taking pictures and will have more to post when we return. :)

Only a few more...I promise!!

I know, I know, enough of the wedding photos, but I took so many it's hard to only choose a few! The movie clip at the bottom is of Mallory dancing at the reception. She was really cracking us up. I had unfortunately put our camera away for her finale... She did a break dance move where she spun around on her back, lifting her dress above her head and showed all 150 people her blue underpants!!!

Rehearsal and Wedding pics

I was so exhausted last night that I didn't add all the pictures from the weekend that I wanted to . Here are a few from the rehersal and a couple from the wedding. The girls did great considering we had to be there for pictures at 10:45 and the wedding didn't start until 2:00! I was really worried Mallory would melt down before the wedding even began, but she did fine. Dan and I kept bribing her with the hotel pool. :) We took some great pics and a funny video of the reception, but I think I'll wait and have Dan help me this evening. I'm not sure why the pictures aren't lining up right...Dan's not here to help. We only have Mac's (computer's) and I'm not good at using them!

Back home again!

We've been in Georgia since Friday. My cousin was getting married and asked Madison and Mallory to be the flower girls. The drive down was about 8 hours it and wasn't too bad considering we drove through the mountains without a puking incident! At one point I realized the back seat was quiet and no one had been fussing, whining, or asking "are we there yet" so I turned to see if they were still there... both were asleep! I fumbled through my purse grabbing the camera to take their picture (after all this NEVER happens). I snapped Maddy's then Mal's and... she opens her eyes and says, "just kidding." Little stinker!!!! Maddy stayed asleep a whopping 20 minutes and that was the extent of the sleeping. All of you parents out there who's childern actually sleep on car trips...Do you know how lucky you are?

Chicago or bust!

My parents are desperately trying to help us with Madison and her "sleep issues." It's something we've struggled with since she was 3. (she's going on 7 now) Anyway, as a reward for going to sleep without getting up out of bed for 2 weeks they took her/us to Chicago to the American Girl store. I know some of you are thinking wow only 2 weeks? Well, whatever works!!!! :)
We ate brunch which was really fun and they had highchairs for the girls to put their dolls in along with teacups and saucers for the dolls! Maddy went to the hair salon and chose a style for her doll and a stylist fixed her hair! The store was 3 floors and I've never seen so many doll accessories in my life. Here are a few pics from our trip.

Hooray for Chick-fil-A!

The girls and I LOVE Chick-fil-A. I could eat there everyday! (Weird. I sound like Dr. Seuss) Today was customer appreciation day at our local store so I took the girls over this afternoon to check it out. Face painting, pony rides, games and free milkshake samples. PERFECT!

Oh, Thanks to all of you who posted. I was estatic to see people had actually read our blog!!! :)