College Reunion

I took the girls to Shelbina with me today so that I could meet up with some of my friends from college. My roommate, Twila, was getting ready to leave for the mission field so we all wanted to get together before she left.

All of our kids had a good time playing together, which made it doubly fun.

Twila's husband, Chris, was awesome with the kids. They kept pretending they were cats and they would paw and scratch at him. He was extremely patient and playful with those little kittens!

Hush! They're Sleeping.

Brent and Ella passed out on the couch together this afternoon. Gracie and I tried to be really quiet so they could sleep.

Gracie thought my camera was being too loud, so she hushed me.

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Nana had a big birthday today, so we went to Moberly to help celebrate.

What is making Nana laugh?

I believe she was laughing at silly Ella who was being a comedian.

Gracie was probably requesting a second scoop of ice cream. :)

Vacation 2011

We went with Grandpa and Nana to our favorite condo's for a few days this week. It really is a great location, and the girls love their pools. Don't they look happy?!

Ella snuggled with Nana while we watched Tangled.

We always enjoy a good game of miniature golf. Brent wasn't there to dominate since he had a school board meeting this night, so we didn't look as bad as usual. :-)

VBS 2011

We had the most awesome VBS this week. It was called Pandamania, and let me tell you...the church couldn't have been decorated any cuter. I was in love with the Asian inspired decor! Gracie and Ella were able to go everyday, and they loved every single minute. Today we had the closing for VBS during church. Both girls had to go on stage with their group and sing a song, and they did fantastic. I couldn't get a picture of Gracie on stage because I was her group's leader and had to help lead them in their song.

Ella was supposed to wear her Pandamania t-shirt, but she refused. She wanted to wear a dress to church, so I let her.

Gracie with some of her buddies from our group.

Gacie's Art

This was a Christmas present 3 years ago, but Gracie still loves her easel. She loves to draw and write, so the easel allows her to do both. I'm so proud of her creative side, because I don't feel like I am creative at all!

Domino Crazy

Lately, Gracie has been building domino mazes on the dining room table. She loves to see how elaborate her design can be before it falls over. Unfortuately, for a little girl named Grace, she's not the most "graceful" girl. She is frequently bumping into the table or grazing the corner of the dominos with her hands. There have been some tears, but she always jumps back in and starts over. Today our neices and nephews from Unionville came to spend the day with us. I took them to Longbranch Lake until they closed the lake because of lightning. We didn't let that stop the fun. As soon as we got home, Lucas and Gracie started building a new creation with the dominos. They had such a good time together. It was fun to watch them working as a team. They were both so proud of their maze! Gracie took the stairs from one of our dollhouses and put dominos on each stair. It was super creative!

What?!

I don't have a good explanation for this picture. This is just Ella being....Ella. She's a kooky, quirky little girl. We love her crazy personality. She keeps things very interesting around our house which is fun! I think Ella made these at church. She just randomly decides to wear them around the house. This was one of those days.

Slip 'N Slide

Today was the big day! The girls had been begging us to get the slip 'n slide out, but you have to have the perfect circumstances to get it out. I don't like getting it out unless we are going to be home for a long chunk of time. Gracie and Ella love it for a while, then get bored and want to go inside, and then a little while later they will decide they want to go back out and slide some more. Today was nice and hot, so they enjoyed it for quite a while!

Fourth of July

I started the morning off by running in Todd's Independence Day 5K in Moberly. It wasn't a cross country run this time; it went straight through Rothwell Park. It was mighty hilly, but it was a great morning for a run. Niki did it with me, so it was fun !

After the race all the Macon runners got together for a group picture. We had quite a representation!

Yes we are sweaty, but that proves we worked hard! The girl in the middle is Amanda Newbrough. We have done several 5K's together. We also go to church together and are in the same small group.

My cute cousins don't look a bit worn out from the run, but they are both at Central Methodist on cross country scholarships. I think the 5K felt like a warm-up for them. Taylor is on the left and Amber is the right. (Brent has been in our family for 12 years now and he still can't tell them apart.)

I was super surprised to find out that I placed 3rd in my age group!

The afternoon brought some pool time at Grandpa and Nana's. They have an inflatable pool that they get out for the girls from time to time. They enjoy it very much!

After a yummy supper we went out to watch the fireworks. We park at MACC and watch them from the parking lot. It's always a good spot.

Ella grows tired of the loud noises the fireworks create. At least this year she stayed awake. She usually prefers to go back to the van and sleep instead of sitting out in the open and hearing the fireworks.