It was a wonderful weekend.  Doug and the kids came up to spend the weekend.   It was full of  sun, food and good cousin fun!

I must admit this one is a little out of order.  With wedding season full on I am a little behind on my personal blogging.  This was from May when we went to the Strawberry patch.  Evidently the strawberry in the mouth shot has caught on!  One of my favorites so I don’t complain when they do it.  ;  )

Sometimes your girls just do things that completely melt your heart.  This was one of those days.  Katie, Hannah and I were driving and just talking.  I can’t remember how we got on the topic but we were talking about the new van we bought.  I explained that we bought it for them so they could have their friends ride with us or so we could go to the grocery store without having all the groceries piled all around them and have plenty of space.   The van got really quiet for a couple of minutes then out of no where from the back came Hannah’s voice.  “Mommy.  You always really nice.”  Awe… How can you not just melt with a comment like that…

These are coming a little out of order as we have already gotten back from San Diego but I have yet to finish processing all the pictures.  But on the last day we took a cab to the airport.  As we are walking out of the hotel lobby I tell the girls to walk towards the yellow car, which by the way was an extremely bright yellow, more so than normal.  Anyway, after putting the car seats in and getting all settled we take off. Hannah asks for her window to be put down.  The cab driver obliges her.  She sits quietly for a couple of minutes then announces. “I LOVE THIS CAR!”  Who knew.  She must be my city girl bound for NY some day.

Well it is summer and the height of wedding season for me so of course I have lost all my babysitters.  Most have graduated and found jobs.  We still have Miss Lyall a little bit as she graduates this weekend and has been feverishly applying for a teaching job which are hard to get with the state budget cuts.  Anyway, on the way home from the airport Katie notices a homeless man in the median carrying a sign.  She asks me, “What does that sign say?” I reply, “NEED WORK”.   Then I explain that the man is asking for work because he needs money.  Her reply was, “THAT’S WHAT MISS LYALL SHOULD DO!”  Gotta love her.  It’s so simple! Why didn’t WE think of that?

The girls always love a visit from the cousins.  We made use of the time by going Strawberry picking and swimming!

My little cousins came for a visit this weekend.  Fun to be had by all.  First the neighborhood yard sale, then strawberry picking and lastly the pool opened today!  But the funniest for me was Daniel’s comment.  “We’re so lucky.  We have a rich Aunt!”  me “I’m not rich.  What makes you think I am rich?” Daniel, “Because!  You have a thousand dollars!” me laughing.  “A thousand dollars doesn’t make someone rich.  It takes more like a couple million.”  Daniel, “Well, we’re still lucky.”  Yes we are Daniel.

Katie has always been my conservative, well behaved responsible one.  Hannah still being very young is still in the processes of showing us who she is going to be.  So with that said, Katie is conscious to tell me when ever I am speeding or at least ask “Mommy are you going the speed limit?”  When I was going to pick up Katie from school one day Hannah said something I didn’t quite understand.  She kept on trying though, every time we would leave the neighborhood to pick up Katie.  I finally figured it out.  “GO REALLY FAST!”  ha ha! She does it every time katie is not in the car.  Hmmm….

As I walked out into the backyard to call the girls in for bed I see Katie swinging high upon her swing.  When I announce bedtime in 5 minutes, her reply was, “Too bad you caught me on the fly!” as she took another huge swing into the air!

The girls love the museum. It isn’t the way I remembered when I was young.

Ah my little artists.  As you can see they make themselves houses and even beds in the houses and then lay in them. They crack me up.  Oh and Katie made me my favorite flower in her house.  Hannah’s favorite part is drawing the garden around the house. She makes SURE all the flowers have stems and have the middles colored.

Last year my little love said April Fools was the BEST DAY OF HER LIFE! Well I certainly couldn’t disappoint her this year. Although this year she was much wiser.  I couldn’t get her with the baby elephant the UPS man was bringing or the flying car we were taking to school. So this year it had to be different! So into the kitchen I went… Meatloaf cupcakes with pink mashed potatoes to look like icing and pound cake grilled a touch with orange icing in the middle to look like a Grilled Cheese.  They had a ball!  Hannah REALLY liked her Grilled Cheese!!!! “TASTY!”

This is our second time going to the circus.  Last year I remember it being fairly uneventful. However, Hannah being a year older and more opinionated definitely made for a different experience this year. Both girls LOVED the elephants and tigers.  But as soon as the scary music came on both girls were OUTTA THERE!  Katie just didn’t like the villain clown music, Hannah on the other hand wanted NOTHING to do with the music OR the clowns! We spent about 1/2 the circus in the auditorium hallway walking around till Daddy would call out the ALL CLEAR to come back in and watch the animals!!

I certainly hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. John, Katie and Hannah love to have dinner at the club. Katie boasts without a doubt the best chicken tenders in all the land. I am not sure how they got on the discussion but somehow they were talking about bad guys. Katie states emphatically “I don’t like bad guys.” John counters with “me either.” Hannah pauses for a moment and says, “I like bad guys.” Katie confused says, “You like bad guys?” Hannah, “Yes. I like bad guys.” Katie then goes into a long detailed explanation of how bad guys steal, and are not nice. How they were the one’s who broke into Daddy’s car and took his computer. To which Hannah responds, “I like bad guys.” John clearly disturbed says, “Well Hannah, do you like good guys?” Hannah says, “I like good guys.” Another pause. “I like bad guys too.” Should I be worried?

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As usual something managed to get on the carpet. I think one of the girls got icing on their shoe and dragged it into the living room. I was making a comment that we were going to have to get new carpet soon since this one was so stained. Katie jumps right in and says, “You know Mommy, I saw this stuff on TV and it will clean ANYTHING! I mean anything! You just rub it on then vacuum it and it’s gone!” Well, I am glad the infomercials seem to be having their impact on my child.

We usually get snow a couple times a year but this year it REALLY snowed. We had snow on the ground for several days. Not sure how the club feels about it but the golf course made for some REALLY good sledding. Hannah liked rolling down the hill the best.

The girls went over to a friends house who owns a farm. It is always such a treat for the girls. They love it there. We were fortunate in that they hatched about 30 baby chics they plan to raise for eggs this summer so we made a fun little photo shoot out of it. The girls loved it and did so well! No squished chics.