Water Blob!

 While Josey and Caity were here, we decided to make a water blob. What is a water blob? Glad you asked! I found a tutorial online, and thought "why didn't I think of that?!" Simply buy a plastic dropcloth for painting and some packaging tape. Fold the plastic, tape the edges to make a pocket of sorts. Put the hose in, fill it up, and tape the hole the hose went into. Viola! Water blob! 

Gracie loved having Josey bounce her on the blob.

JR wasn't too sure about it...

Bee checking it out.

She danced on it and called it her "fluffy dance floor."

It was hot, so we also set up our two pools.

Jerry decided he'd rather swim.

He went back and forth, from pool to pool.

Josey & Caity

 Our dear friend, Josey came to visit this summer. This time she brought one of her friends, Caity. We are so happy to have a new friend! In addition to having a ton of fun with Josey and Caity, Caity took a LOT of really great pictures of our week together. Here are some, in no particular order.

Running to home at one of her last two T-ball games.

He's just too cute!

My little blue eyed boy, swimming on our turtle.

Gracie was upset that I only had a plain band-aid, so I was drawing happy faces on it!

Such an angel...

Josey's one year pic. She has one like this of each of my kiddos.

Yea! Josey's here!

huh?

Besties

Gracie loves the giraffe Josey & Caity bought her. She named him Babycakes.

Besties: You can have more than one best friend!

Teddy Bear Park

Jerry's First Birthday.

JR

 My sweet Jerry boy is growing up! The first three pictures here were taken at the beginning of the summer/end of spring. The last one was a couple of weeks ago. He's so big!

Bee prefers to push Jerry rather than swinging herself.

Love this shot!

Jerry had his one year exam in July. He weighed in at 20.1.5oz, which is the 25th percentile. His length was also 25th, at 29.5". Not surprisingly, his head was the 90th percentile at 48cm. All of our kids have been the 90th percentile for head circumference! We blame Daddy. :)

Parades

 Now that we finally have started to get settled into our new house (and have internet!) I realize that I haven't really blogged this year. So here's a series of posts on what we've been up to, in addition to Momma taking a class through UW-Stout (so I can have a student teacher this year), teaching summer school, and moving into our first home.

We went to the Oakdale Parade with the Moritzs

Anticipating the beginning of the parade.

Bee trying to do gymnastics like the gymnasts in the parade.

Dancing to a marching band.

 We also braved the Hudson Booster Days Parade with Aunt Jenni and her boys.

Beginning of the parade.

 We got primo seats, right next to the judges stand! 

Most of Jenni's fam (Daddy had to work).

Most of my fam (Daddy also had to work).

The girls' dance studio was in the parade. Gracie was excited to say Hi to Miss Laura!

Sky VBS

Gracie attended SKY VBS at a local church this summer. We take her to a neighboring church, as our church's VBS starts with Kindergarten. The church asked if children would be willing to present what they learned at the service following the completion of VBS. Gracie joined those kids in singing for the church. I was at the Color Run (which I had been anticipating since December, otherwise I would have skipped it to see my girl sing) so Daddy took this video for me.



Dress Rehearsal

Yesterday was Gracie's dress rehearsal for her first recital. I was really nervous. She tends to run around a lot during her weekly classes and I wasn't sure what she would do up on stage. We had such a great time together, and she did amazing up on stage! I think she knew more steps than any of the other kids in her class! Of course, it helps that her teacher stands off to the side doing the steps, but as soon as Miss Jordan started a step Gracie would do it without watching. I made a huge deal about how great she did, and how proud I am of how happy she looked on stage. She just lit up. She went on and on afterwards about how fun it was to be on a real stage. I think she's just gotten the dance bug!

Found a feather from someone else's costume.

Posing for Momma.

All the kiddos in our rehearsal time getting ready to rehearse the finale dance.

There are many things I don't appreciate about our studio. The one I was in growing up was much smaller so things are very different here. However, I love how they did rehearsal. It was very smooth and quick~I was anticipating being there all night (as I remember being growing up), but we were in and out in a little over an hour! They had all the students rehearse the finale first, then their tap number. Once they were done with tap they changed to ballet shoes and went right back up. While shoes were being changed, another group was doing one of their numbers. I did get a little frustrated that some older kids were called up before Gracie's 3 and 4-year-old group, but I can't complain about being out of there so quickly!

 

Disclaimer: That's NOT me giggling in the background. A lady sitting next to me had a case of the giggles when all those cute little pumpkins started jamming. I was busy crying~So proud my sweet girl was participating!

Fishing with Grandpa

Our local state park had a kids' fishing contest and arts & crafts show today. Grandpa is an avid fisherman, so we figured it would be perfect bonding time with him! Last night we headed out to a local store and let the girls pick out their own fishing poles. Gracie stated that she wanted a Spider-Man one before we even left for the store, and Bee declared that she wanted Princesses. They stuck with those decisions almost all the way to the checkout. Then Gracie realized the handle of hers lights up. Bee discovered hers didn't. Back to the fishing pole aisle! Bee switched to a light up Barbie pole and we were good to go.

Ready to fish with Grandpa!

This morning we got up bright and early and headed to the park. Grandpa showed the girls how to cast and they looked at him like he has three heads. Momma and Grandpa cast their lines and they excitedly grabbed their poles. 

Fishing contest!

JR caught a fishie!

"Momma, did I catch a fish yet?"

Two minutes later Gracie asked if she had caught a fish yet. We told her to watch her bobber. One minute later Gracie asked me to hold her pole "for a sec." 

She proceeded to play in an open area on the dam. Bee joined her. Now Grandpa and I were fishing. 

We tried a couple other locations, but the fish just were not biting. When we left, with ten minutes left in the final round of the contest (it was broken into three age categories), there were five fish caught out of all the contestants in all three rounds! 

Drawing on their tote bags.

We rode on a tractor that was converted to look like a train and then scoped out the arts & craft tents. There was one tent for the kids to color a tote bag, which occupied the girls for about three minutes. The rest was pretty average. All in all, a great morning!