Swimming Pool

We are actually starting to have to think about when to start packing to move, what day to move, trying to sublease our townhouse, etc. Oh how we are going to miss the Hutton Farms pool. Next summer we are going to have to make a little effort to get ourselves to a pool. We have had so much fun this summer and last swimming at the pool and hosting family and friends for pool parties!

A highlight of this summer has definitely been Amelia learning to swim. It seems like overnight she became confident in the water, could get herself from one side of the pool to the other swimming and mastered the belly flop!

Spring.. Summer... Where Does Time Go..

There is always an excuse to not get things done. Always! This spring/summer we have been a bit pre-occupied with our latest purchase... We shall save that little project for another blog. But what I really want to have documented 20 years from now is our cute little girls. The warm weather has treated them great!

This year on JuJu and Poppy's spring drive back to Chicago they arrived in Lawrence on JuJu's birthday. They girls were SO proud of the cake they baked and decorated.

Taking care of their Vivi

Juliet has a love/dislike relationship with her little cousin. Lets face it, Viv garners attention which the previous baby of the family doesn't always like.

Meme however is a dotting big cousin who takes very good care of her Vivi.

A lovely Easter morning collected Easter eggs at Alvamar with a whole football team of Raintree buddies.

The pool is open, must mean it is summer in Kansas!

4th of July at Lake of the Forest! No dock jumping injuries this  year! But we did make it in time to join in the parade. Amelia rode a scooter and Juliet got pulled in a wagon while eating candy.

The girls are old enough to learn that you can ride in the back of a pick-up truck, right?

Girls, girls and more girls. Amelia, Sophia, Juliet and Norah. This year we added two new girls, Ruby and Tessa to our 4th of July festivities! Like their big sisters they were amazed at their dad's triathlon times :)  

A trip to the park in your swimsuit means summer is really in full gear!

Amelia aka Elsa helping me with our big project but more on that later....

Spring Break 2014

Can't beat the sunshine of Palm Desert and Phoenix! We also celebrated Papa's 70th but I'm waiting for some pictures of that fun night…

2014 Year Beginning Photo Dump

Mark wonders why I still do blog postings and really it is selfish. Well I do know that the grandparents can't see their girls enough but it is also for me. I just know when the girls grow up and move away that I will have books (that I create from these blogs and that yes, I'm about 3 years behind on) to sit and cry over… So here are some shots of how our year began.

We rang in 2014 at a water park with the Cates. There may be a story involving locking our children in a hotel room….

Their first picture together! 

and the biggest news of 2014 as been welcoming baby Vivian!!!! Juliet insists on holding her  whenever she sees her. She is SO  serious when she holds her which is darling since it so uncharacteristic. At this rate Vivian will weigh more than Juliet by the end of the year :)

Amelia looking all fashionable at the Art Center's William Burroughs exhibit

babysitting so their mommy and daddy could go cheer on the Jayhawks!

tumbling or something like that

that is how we felt about our Jayhawks this spring

Sweet, wild Juliet turned THREE. We got a pretty good size snow storm the weekend of her birthday so we stayed nice and warm baking her birthday cake.

she has turned into a feel trained Montessori kiddo and insisted on washing her own birthday cake dishes.

a snow storm and halter dress, Juliet is LOVING picking out her own clothes these days!

In fact this is what she picked out to wear to Raintree on her birthday… She was just so excited about all the clothes she got for her birthday that she had to wear them ALL the next day.

a selfie, is that what they call these?

Is she really this big???? AND she can read!

Christmas 2013

Yeah, so it is almost the end of February and I'm just getting updated from Christmas… Life has been pretty wild since the beginning of the year with Mark and I both putting in lots of extra hours in the office. I think the only picture that needs an explanation is the final one. Amelia's teacher Ms. Lisa texted me the picture with the caption, "Amelia's favorite holiday song." It just so precious and although she didn't exactly get the words spelled correctly it is pretty easy to follow along!

Amelia is Five!

Wow! Yes, I say this every single birthday but I cannot believe that Amelia is five! This past year has been a great year for Amelia. Some of the things that she loves: her little sister (especially when she follows her orders), Raintree, her new Junie B Jones books, one on one time with mom or dad, Shirley Temple drinks, going to Johnny's for tater tots, family runs in the big red stroller, the color purple (still!), pepperoni pizza with ranch and her new Minnie Mouse stuffed animal.

She got a custom cake made by EE. It was the character she requested and EE let her pick out all the toppings. Yum, a strawberry cake with candy on the top :).

A few friends came over to celebrate with her!

Thanksgiving festivities always coincide with Amelia's birthday. After the Raintree Thanksgiving feast Amelia was very concerned that we were not going to have dinner rolls at Thanksgiving. The night before Thanksgiving mom, Amelia, Juliet and I made dinner rolls from scratch. We quickly learned to just give Juliet some of the dough and let her do as she wished with it....

The five year old and daddy!

This photo made my week! Amelia's teacher send it to me with the subject, "Amelia's Favorite Holiday Song." I think it was JuJu who responded, "absolutely adorable" and I could not agree more!