Family Weekend

We had a very special weekend with the Loscutoffs.  On Friday afternoon Walt, Helene, Peter and Megan all came into town to hang out, eat good grub and swim.  The weather was HOT and perfect for jumping and splashing in the pool!

Maggie LOVED jumping into the pool with Uncle Peter and Dedushka! 

We celebrated Kate and Maggie's birthday while family was in town.

We love Uncle Peter and Auntie Megan!

On Saturday morning we headed to the pool for a swim meet.  Kate and Maggie did an excellent job and they were rewarded with yummy snow cones!

Maggie is such an adorable and amazing little swimmer!

Gramma, Papa, Dedushka and Grammalene all came to the swim meet to cheer on the girls.

 "Go! Maggie, Go!"

We always love out visits with Dedushka and Grammalene!

Kate's Birthday and Party

We just entered into our busy summer celebration month, with 3 birthdays and our wedding anniversary.  The month begins on July 23, starting with Kate's 7th birthday.  

Kate was very specific about her birthday this year.  She wanted to stay in her pajamas all day long, not brush her hair or teeth, eat pumpkin cheesecake for breakfast and eat coffee cake for dinner.  At nighttime she wanted to stay up till midnight with me and then have me sleep in her room all night long.  All her wishes cam true including her birthday present wish list.

Kate really wanted a long, plush snake.  Maggie was delighted to give her this 70" rattle snack.

Kate also really wanted an American Girl Doll camper.  Dedushka and Grammalene were able to fulfill this wish.

Mommy and Daddy gave Kate an American Girl Doll gymnastic set with a balance beam, bars and tumbling mat, along with a gymnastic outfit to match.

Gramma and Papa gave Kate a pair of rainbow-sparkle shoes, called Heely's.  These special shoes have wheels on the bottom so Kate can glide wherever she walks.  The shoes require a bit of practice to learn how to safely balance and move but Kate refuses to take them off...she loves her Heely's!

Ever since last Thanksgiving, Kate has told me that she wanted pumpkin cheesecake for her birthday.  I gladly fulfilled her request...yummy!

On Sunday, we had Kate's birthday party with her friends.  She invited 4 friends to help her celebrate...2 friends from school and 2 friends from church.  Kate's party theme was a teatime lunch with dolls.  We made special doll party hats for all the dolls.

Next, the girls made doll-sized food out of Sculpy clay for their dolls.

All the dolls looked so cute in their party hats!

Tea time!  The girls enjoyed very fancy foods, including peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pigs-in-a-blanket.  Tea included pink lemonade and chocolate milk.  Perfect for 7 year olds!

After tea, we sent the girls on a scavenger hunt around the house and neighborhood.  Will did an excellent job writing creative clues to keep the girls on their toes!

The scavenger hunt led them to a candy-filled pinata!

Tea-time for the dolls!

Cake time! (With mini-cupcakes and s'more bites, of course!

Happy birthday beautiful Kate Kate!!!

Pool Fun!

I know I post tons and tons of pool pictures, but we just recently put our little raft in the pool which has created hours and hours of sailing fun.  The girls try to fill the boat as high with water as possible and then paddle back to the shallow end.  Or everyone takes turns cannon-ball jumping near the boat to splash the occupants inside. 

Last weekend, we had a pool party with our good friends the Dockters and Gaudards.  It was the most amount of people we had had in our pool yet! 

Jumping off the waterfall was a fan favorite!

I just love our pool!!!

Weekend Getaway to Tahoe

We just got back from a 2-night getaway in our family Tahoe cabin.  It was a quick trip due to our very busy summer schedules, but it was a fun trip!

We started off our trek to the cabin with allowing the girls to steer the car down Grass Lake Rd.  My dad let us do this as kids and so the tradition continues.

 First order of business at the cabin: explore the creek, climb on rocks and throw rocks!

Cold!

Kate really took to ping pong this trip.  She was excited to play with anyone, as long as it wasn't Maggie.

Our one and only full day in Tahoe was spent at the lake on Baldwin Beach.  We always love coming to this beach and spending hours digging in the sand and exploring.  This time around we spent about 3 hours soaking up the sun and greatly enjoying our surroundings.

Despite the freezing cold water, the girls still got a bit wet.

Even cousin Mckenna joined in on the beach fun.  She loved the sand and cold water too!

 Will and Kate built "Mount Tahoe" on the beach.

Maggie and Mckenna had so much fun playing together!

 On our last day in Tahoe, Gramma and Papa went on a quest to find rocks for Camp Gramma.  This year Camp Gramma is all about rocks so the creek by the cabin was a perfect time to talk about granite and other rock formations.