pool party!

it has been so, so, so hot lately!
we finally broke out the baby pool for a pool party on pensive st!
neighbor roni came over to join in the fun.
and guess who's liking the water lately?!!!

check out the chunk in orange stripes!

okay, she likes it most of the time, but she doesn't love it.

all afternoon she would climb out, and climb back in, climb out...

hot summer pool days have to accompany popsicle, right?

cutie roni.

franks kept walking up and down the sidewalk. she's crazy!

dancing with the daddy.

and i am happy to report that our first (of many) pool parties this summer was a smashing success.

our favorite babysitter

(non-family, of course)

my sweet friend sarah has been seriously helping with the babysitting lately!

i've decided that babysitting is the best way to my heart lately. it's the biggest help and the most needed.

i am so grateful for all the help!

sarah's an awesome babysitter!

she even takes pictures of the girlies while they play at her house.

frankie the dress-up girl.

playing outside.

(mixed with a little bit of dress-up)

driving "her" car.

reading.

dancing with tony-tone.

(i guess addie was all like, "i am not dancing," but frankie was all "i'll get my groove thang on!"

playing with abby's cousin izzy, who doted on frankie.

addie putting a ukulele up her dress? this is her new thing... totally not sure what to make of it.

3 cutie girls, looking out the window.

the girls love her and her house. 

and i'm pretty sure she loves them.

(which makes it a lot easier for this crazy mama, who hates to ask favors and take service, to accept service!)

win, win. :)

beach day #2

this past monday we (sarah and i) decided to take the girls over to the beach at solomons. we parked far away from the beach so we would be forced to hike down to the water. it's better than no exercise! as we walked down there were all sorts of signs that said "no swimming without a lifeguard on duty," so we weren't sure how long we'd be able to stay or if we'd get kicked out, but we decided to try our luck since really the girls were just wading.

as soon as we got there, the girls ran down to the water. i just happened to go down with them, which happened to be very lucky because this is what i saw immediately coming towards them.

yeah, that's a disgusting black water snake. the girls didn't seem bothered by it at all, but it sure skeeved the moms out. we kept our eye on it the whole time, and pretty much the whole time he stayed visible to us. icky.

despite some sand throwing and water pouring on heads, the girls play together really well. and they love the water!

this one does not. but she did play in the sand happily, eat some, and get up and walk around a little bit before coming right back to her spot and sitting.

i forgot my camera, so sarah took all of these, isn't she awesome?!

sweet abby. :) i usually have to stop and think for a minute about which 2-year-old i'm talking to, abby, or addie... they get called the wrong name a lot.

we stayed at the beach for a long time and then moseyed across the street to the playground. and then we looked at the time and it was already 2:00! so we gave the girls 5 minutes and packed up.

it was too late for me though, my back got fried!

lesson learned for next weeks beach trip, lesson learned. :)

an old mystery

looking back through ma old posts and i found this little diddy, all full of pictures that had never been posted.

why not, you ask?

i'm sure i don't know.

but if i went to all the trouble of uploading all the pictures, i might as well post them. :)

this one is from our library days of yore. they just love returning books. aren't they cute?

 i think i actually might have included this one in another post, but seriously, 12 month old discovers magnifying glass... does it get much better?!

here we were deep in the quesadilla craze (which we still haven't come out of bytheway) and franks was looking especially ravishing with cheesey tortilla all over her face.

extreme close-up. you do not come between a big girl and her food.

she really packs the food in.

addie has also been a roller-coaster olive lover lately.

(thank you abby!)

she loves them, she hates them, she loves to hate them, she loves them...

this day she loved them.

"no pictures, please!"

"oh okay, if you must..."

and that's all. 

not sure what the subject of the post was supposed to be. 

that can just remain a mystery for all involved.

and that concludes this rays days mystery.

more school fun

the end of each school year brings with it a flurry of shows, concerts, awards, and recognitions. this school year is no different. alexis' chorus teacher, (whom she does not care for) held a big awards banquet for all of his students. and alexis surprised me by actually wanting to go!

sooo, we went. 

the students were all supposed to dress up as their favorite movie character so alexis and layne dressed up as thing 1 and thing 2.

so darn cute!

there's my lu getting her award. can you see that little spec of red up there? that's her.

she was so excited for me to take this picture! ;)

i'm a little sad that she doesn't want to do chorus next year, but i think she's decided to take piano from an amazing lady in our ward instead. and i think that's a pretty good trade off.

beach day #1

sarah and i have decided we kinda like taking the girls to the beach in place of our monday library time (which is on break for the summer). the first week we went to greenwell state park. the beach is cute and tiny and just right for our little girls.

abby and addie ran straight to the water.

and it was cold water!

frankie stood still for a long, long time.

little miss frank'n'beans really does not like the beach.

but then she finally sat down and kind of played.

i love this one, with the girls playing in the water and timid little franks barely sitting on the sand.

we picnicked out there too. picnic's are so fun!

she was swinging her little booty back and forth. so cute.

love my brown eyed girl.

i finally gave up on frankie playing and got her dressed. she seemed much happier.

frankie is a climber. and a get-into-everything'er.

ugh. gotta love her.

and someday she will love the beach as much as the rest of us!