HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANNY!

A special blog happy birthday seemed fitting for one of my biggest blog fans!  Happy Birthday Granny, we love you - Bethany, Michael, Addison and Ella

Father's Day Beach Weekend

I found these adorable adirondack chairs for kids at the Big Store and couldn't pass them up.  They are low to the ground and Ella can't tump them over.  The chairs were a hit...

except when Ella sits in it properly she sometimes has a bit of trouble getting out!

Addy has been talking about smores for ages, so we took the fixin's to the beach this weekend.  Maybe not the best to roast marshmallows over charcoal, but not a lot of wood down at the beach!  I think that the melty chocolate was the most exciting part of it all. 

Ella was super tired on Sunday and just wanted to go take a nap, but nope, we were headed to the beach for one last dip in the ocean.  At first Ella just laid her head down on Michael's tool bag like it was a pillow and then she decided it looked like a comfy seat.  She looked like a little birdie in a nest, even laid back onto another tool box behind her and just sat there forever while we got ready for the beach. 

Ms. Ella woke up once we got to the beach though.  She LOVES the water now.  She doesn't even get upset when the waves knock her over.  She isn't a fan once you get too deep, but she will play around in the shallow water for ages. 

Cute sisters!

Instead of packing up and heading back to the house for lunch, we just took lunch with us and had a picnic.  Little sandy, but lots of fun! 

Addy still loves digging holes (as does mommy) and now Ella likes coming and sitting in the holes as we are trying to dig them out.  

HAPPY DADDY'S DAY!  Michael and his girls at the beach.

(I waited too long to take this - Ella was done with the beach at this point, way, way past nap time!)

The New Mommy, Addy, Ella Days

This summer Addy is going to camp 5 days a week again and she will continue with 5 days in the fall.  I am so fortunate to only work 3 days a week that I have always loved having Mondays and Fridays to be a stay at home mom.  It is a change having Addy gone part of the day on Monday and Fridays (she is only at camp from 9-3 and will only be in school in the fall from 9-12) but it is also fun to have some one-on-one time with Ella.  It has been an adjustment going back to being the one dictating the schedule and activities, as opposed to when Addy is around when I just ask her what she wants to do and we go from there. 

Ella is a ball of energy and always going non-stop unless there are good books around.  We did a trial gymnastics class on Friday and she LOVED it, so we are going to start doing that every Friday.  Here are some funny pics of Ella goofing around on Monday

Butterfly Kisses

Our little butterfly did an awesome job at her dance recital today.  Her dance was called Butterfly Kisses and and as you can see she had a great purple costume, she got to wear makeup.  It was very exciting (mainly the makeup part, specifically the red lipstick).

We weren't allowed to take pics during the actual show, but here are some from the dress rehearsal on Thursday.  I have video from dress rehearsal too that I'll try to post, but haven't done a video post yet, so not sure how timely I'll get that done!

Rehearsing the big finale

Happy 8th Birthday Star!

Super Star turned 8 today and we had a mini celebration after Addy picked out some gifts for Star.  Star of course had no clue what was going on, but I know she appreciated the attention!

 For the 1st time in 8 years, Star finally has a collar with pink on it.  There was a remarkably large number of collars with pink on them, but Addy picked this one.  

And it wouldn't be a birthday celebration without rawhide treats.  Addy had to help Star a bit with the unwrapping. 

Summer Days

I think that the goal this summer is to either spend our weekends at the beach, or in the pool.  It is HOT!  Today was our first big swim day, mainly because the water was finally warm enough for me to be willing to get in (I'm a wimp!).  Also was Ella's first official swim.  She's been in the pool before, but not for more than a couple minutes.  Probably was a good hour today.  She wasn't a fan at first, but we got her in a float and I think that she realized it was just like a big tub and she was hooked.  She was even putting her face in the water before it was all over. 

Addy is starting to remember everything that she learned in swimming class last year and today we introduced her to diving and by the end of the swim she was diving/jumping in (still perfecting the dive) by herself in the shallow end.  Ready for her to start her swim lessons and I told her that she is going to be swimming the length of the pool by the end of the summer and diving off the diving rock - we'll see!!

And of course some fun pics from the day