Father's Day

The girls really treated Daddy to many hugs and kisses this past Sunday morning. Margie is very excited about his gift.
What, cereal? No, mom just used the cereal box to wrap up Daddy's new outfit.

Of course the girls (about 3 weeks ago) made heartfelt cards for Brad too. They also wrote him poems and were so genuine in doing so that they included in the lines "My Dad is cuddly and snores a lot" and "He smells like dirty socks when he comes home from school" !!

We love you Daddy, snores and stinks and all!!

Congratulations Dan!

We attended a wonderful party this weekend for my cousin Dan (center, sandwiched by our grandparents). He is a graduate of Holy Cross Academy with many honors and is headed to the seminary in the fall! We wish him God's blessings.
Great Grandma visiting with Emmy.

My Grandma and my mother.

Dan's cake that his sister Becky made!

The kid's table that Aunt Joann always prepares for the little ones. I know my girls look forward to it!

Kimmy and Emmy. Long distance cousins that take no time to instantly become best friends once again when we get together.

They chatted for a long time. I wish I could have heard them.

Margie Jr. and Margie Sr.!!

Thanks for all of your hard work Aunt Joann and Uncle Pat! It was a wonderful party. xoxo

Playing in the Creek

The girls cooled there feet off after they walked down to visit Dad. Big sister Georgia is such a great helper. She had almost more than she could handle trying to keep Margie from face planting in the water. Margie really wanted to GO.
Squishy muck.

Emmy tentatively going in.

I have some wonderful helpers!

Walking down to meet Dad

painted turtle

Driving home from an appointment yesterday I spotted this painted turtle in the road. I can't for the life of me drive by them so I always move them to the ditch or in this case bring them home for some studying.
After a LONG while Mr. Eastern Painted Turtle popped his head out. This elicited an uproar from the girls because they waited soooooo long. You should have heard them when he took 1/2 step!!

We put him down in our creek after a while.

Almost immediately he was happy to get rid of our company and wallow in the mud.

He felt very safe behind this week, under our bridge. Maybe we'll see him again. Maybe I should have carved a "Jenny loves Brad" in his shell! Thanks for all the excitement Mr. Turtle. I asked the girls later on some questions based on there observations and Emmy insisted that YES, he was soft and furry and cuddly? I guess maybe in her eyes he was a cute turtle but that wasn't the answer I was looking for!

Georgia's softball

My little Georgia's softball season is full speed ahead. She is playing shortstop and pitching. Here she is in her "ready" position just daring them to hit it her way. Gun 'em down Georgia!
Then they shake in there cleats when she's on the rubber. 6 up 6 down the other night. I make sure to supply the "other" bench with Kleenex's when she's due to pitch.

Zip it in there girl.

After a strike (of course).

After another strike (of course).

And yet the third strike, send 'em packin', wind-up.

Now she's not all that good. She does have some weird mechanical problem with her swing. She makes contact each time but she has as I call it "what the heck is the barrel of the bat doing down there" sort of problem. Now that is the nice phrase I have for it. I have, in passing, whispered some choice words under my breath after pitching a ball and saying "You dropped it again Georgia" for the 1000th time in a row. And, maybe I've used some colorful language to Brad while describing "the drop" to him later in the evening. In other words she is dropping the head of the bat prior to swinging. It looks really ugly and makes her hit pop ups and foul balls back over the catcher. We're working on it. I still love you Georgia!! xo

Em's scissor skills

Emeline got a "math" book for her birthday. It is actually a preschool skills workbook but she calls it her math homework.
She insisted that she could do a cut and paste activity one day so I let her have at it.

Concentration

Aggravation

It's tough getting those scissors to do what you want them to.

She was VERY persistant as she worked to get ONE square cut out.

I thought she was done and was jumping around cheering but NO, she had to tidy it up a bit.

There it is. Later she was very upset that the other 8 squares had black lines on them. She stuck with it for a while, put it away because her hands ached and went back at it until it was cut, sorted and glued. Way to go Emmy!

prairie girl Georgia

Georgia got dressed in her prairie outfit to work in the garden. I made both her and Josie a dress and bonnet for play and Halloween last year. They still have a LOT of growing to go before they fit into them. This one was made for Josie!

Josie's T-Ball

Josie wrapped up her T-Ball. She was a slugger and a thrower let me tell you!
Everybody backed up when Josie was up to the plate. (Well we didn't have a "plate" I drew one in the dirt!)

She was also a very colorful player.

oops we caught Georgia in this one. I was a coach so it made it more fun. The kids were ALL actually hitting the ball without the tee towards the end. I didn't say that because of my coaching skills...well maybe it was because of my coaching skills a little :)

Selkirk Shores

We took another trip to Selkirk Shores for a picnic lunch.

The kiddies playing in the sand.

Yes it was slightly windy.

Throwing stones into the lake.

Margie did too. Lots of nice skipping stones just the waves are a bit too strong.

Theresa and Anthony

Josie and her cousin bud Ava.

My Margie

My boy and I

Walking out on the pier. SCARY!

My big girls, Georgia and Josie.

It was nice to see everyone and one of these trips is bound to end up comfortable weather wise.