Father/Daughter Banquet

Saturday evening we had a red carpet themed father/daughter banquet at our church. Kevin read the book Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters a while back and wanted to do something special to honor the father daughter relationship and decided on the idea of this banquet. It was fun to plan and thanks to several wonderful people, I think it was a success. There was a great turnout. The girls all looked beautiful and felt special getting to have a date with their dads. It was neat seeing fathers and daughters from all age ranges share this special evening. They had appetizers, dinner, and everyone enjoyed filling up a bag of candy from the candy bar. Faith, Tara, Heather, Kendra and Saundra, thank you SO much for all of your help! This is the border that my friend Heather made for the souvenir photos. Perfect I think! Thanks Heather.

Kevin and the girls on the red carpet before the evening began.

Londyn acting a little giddy waiting for everyone to arrive.

Skylar in rare form. This is one of the many poses she struck as she enjoyed her moment on the red carpet!

The girls writing their letters and drawing pictures for their dad.

I Scream, You Scream...

We all scream for ICE CREAM! We made a visit to the Blue Bell Factory last week to see how ice cream is made, and to sample some of their delicious ice cream! You weren't actually allowed to take pictures inside the factory, so here are a few pics of us in our goofy hats doing a little taste testing!

Lincoln and Brody along for the ride. They weren't too interested in the making of the ice cream.

Lincoln is not super keen on fruits and veggies, but the boy loves ice cream! I anticipate that he will have a sweet tooth just like his big sisters.

The girls and their buddy Gavin on their favorite part of the tour.

Drillers Baseball

Kevin was able to get some free tickets to the baseball game last week, so we attempted a trip to the ball park. The Drillers have a new stadium this year, so we thought we needed to check it out. And of course, summer wouldn't be complete without attending a baseball game. Maybe we showed up two hours late, and maybe it started storming thirty minutes after our arrival, but we got a few pics of us at the ball field, which is what it's all about anyway, right? We'll have to try to actually see a game later this summer.

DIY

No, this is not some cute Do It Yourself home project. I wish I had the creativity to actually try something like that, but I just don't have it in me. Anyway, when I think of Do It Yourself it's more like; You want breakfast? Do It Yourself! The girls are becoming more self sufficient everyday, and I'm loving it. Not only are they able to take on more tasks for themselves, but they ENJOY it, and are so proud of themselves. The other morning, they made themselves a waffle breakfast without any help from me, and had a pretty good time while they were at it.

Exercise

I was desperate for a walking partner so I told the girls to go get dressed for a walk. I was going to the reservoir, which is about a 3 mile walk, so I told them to make sure they had on shoes and socks. This is how they looked when they came downstairs. I'm not sure what decade they think we are in, but they were pretty excited about exercising.

Annual Visit to the Drive-In Movies

We had planned to go camping last weekend, but rain was in the forecast, so we opted out. It never actually rained, so we decided to go to the Drive-In movies instead. The girls were again ecstatic. I however do not recommend taking an 8 month old to the late movie. I knew this going in, but did it anyway. We all still managed to enjoy a night out together in the nice weather.

Why my girls decided to pose for me and want their pictures taken as we were dressed in rags and at the movies is beyond me, but I'll take what I can get.

A giant box of candy for everyone.

Don't Judge

There are so many things wrong here....

The Zoo...Again

Well, we haven't been for a while, but I do recall several zoo posts. We went to the zoo for a weekly play date with our church group yesterday. It turned out to be a perfect day as far as the weather was concerned. It was plenty warm with a bit of a breeze. We saw a few of the animals, enjoyed a picnic lunch and then headed home. It was great to get out a bit, and Lincoln was a trooper. He never gave in to a nap while we were out, but he just hung out and took in the sights along the way.

The monkeys were putting on quite a show. They were apparently enjoying all of the attention. It was hard to pull the girls away.

A Visit From Grandmommy

Kevin's mom came for a visit from Portland last week. The little guy limits our ability to do much running around, but the kids of course, loved having her around for a few days. She joined us as we attempted some family pics in the park, and we went out to eat a few times. Other times, she graciously kept Lincoln while the girls and I went to the pool. It's always nice to get company and have an extra pair of hands to help out with the kids, and I know Kevin enjoys it when his family is able to visit since we don't get to see them very often. Raynette, thanks for visiting, and the girls are already talking about their visit to Portland at Christmas!

Swim Time

My favorite summertime activity is the time we spend at the pool. It's been super hot already this week, so we had our first pool day Tuesday. The girls were unbelievably excited, and Lincoln had a pretty good time as well. Three of my favorite kids...

One happy baby!

Music in the Park

One of the things I love about summer are all of the free events in the area. Throughout June we will be taking advantage of the music in the park on Tuesday evenings. We went this week, and I didn't come away with any great photos, but the kids had a great time running around and hanging out. The girls are looking a little wild, but I love those smiles!

Lincoln with his buddy Brody.

Trying to keep Lincoln entertained with a straw and everything else in sight. We adore this little guy, but relaxing summer outings just aren't what they used to be. I hope you are enjoying your summer so far! It's only the beginning, but I'm loving the freedom that comes with summer. Looking forward to a few more great weeks of summertime fun!