June Candids Part Two

All ready for the first night of family baseball!

Just a lazy summer morning coloring in their pajamas

Cherries almost ready on our trees!

My helpful ballerinas (ballet class was a common form of play at our house this summer : ) )

Fun summer night with friends

Post haircut fun

Listening to big sister read to them

Wise words of encouragement in our wait: "worship while you wait."

Oh the fun of pitting cherries . . . : )

Ballet

Ava chose Ballet as her activity for this summer.  It's been so interesting as she loved it . . but has chosen already to go back to gymnastics -  which really surprised me.  Regardless, it was so sweet to watch her all summer and see how she is growing up in how she absorbs and tries new things.

My sweet ballerina

For real - how cute are they!?

I'll miss watching my little ballerina : )

Father's Day

We turned Father's Day into a weekend since we decided to celebrate with just our little family on saturday.  We packed a picnic, load on to our bikes and took off to a park for a lunch and some fun.  It was the farthest we've gotten Ava to ride on her own and she did sooo great!

Sunday morning snuggles with one great daddy

These girls love their daddy

Sunday after church we headed up to Ryan's parents where Ryan, gasp, cooked his own Father's Day dinner with the help of his brother David.  For his Father's Day dinner, he wanted to do a shrimp boil and so they set to work.

Spreading dinner out on the table - SOOOO good!

Ryan, Dad and David

Happy Father's Day Grandpa!

Helping Grandpa open his gift

And we had a little "first" Father's Day surprise and present for Uncle David too. : )

June Candids Part One

Hooray for the summer's first pool day!!

Nothing beats snuggles in the morning

Yay for our garden starting to grow!

Well, doesn't that look like a comfortable way to sleep . . . 

Just a late night hanging out with Dad and watching tv . ..

Ava came in our room one night before VBS and had done her own hair including giving herself a real braid . . .and had never been shown how.  She was super proud of herself - pretty cute!

We declared one night a "sleep where ever you want."

Ava chose the crib . . .

and out of any bed in the house, Kate and Olivia chose the floor in our room?!

I think Ava slept better that night . . .especially since Daddy made her a tent. : )

Remember that dentist post?  Well Olivia went in and got her cavity filled. When we got in there, the dentist looked at me and said he wanted to try filling it without numbing her.  He thought it was shallow enough he could do it without bothering her and would spare her the ordeal of being numbed.  I gulped hard, said a prayer and agreed. She was SUCH a trooper.  It didn't bother her the slightest until just a bit at the end and he was done before it could become an issue.  Kind of a total oxymoron to take a child out for ice cream after a filling but despite several different prizes offered, ice cream was all the girl wanted and after she was such a trooper, mommy wasn't going to say no!

Hooray for ice cream!

Art Camp

For just an extra spot of fun to start the summer, I used the rest of our girl's birthday money for them to attend a really neat week long art camp put on by a friend of ours.  They went every morning and it was a great way to start off summer.  I knew Ava, my artist, would love it but it was really neat to see the twins soak it in and have fun with it too.  The theme of the week was "self portraits."  So each day they made a self portrait using a different medium/style of art.  The last day, they had an "art show" where family and friends could come see all their work.

Kate's self portrait exhibit

Olivia's self portrait exhibit

Ava's self portrait exhibit

Their guests : )

Ava actually got to attend the second week of camp as well.  The second week just focused on different styles of art and using different materials to create art.

Daddy and Grandma made it to her art show.  Pretty proud of my talented little girl!

Soccer!

The twin's activity for this summer for their first taste of soccer.  They were super excited to play  . .. and that two of their friends were playing with them as well!

And I may be biased, but they make pretty cute soccer players.

4 little girls ready to play soccer!

And they're off . . . 

Huddle up!

We're all kind of sad that this coming week is their last week.  It's been the highlight of their weeks and we are already thinking it may be a repeat next year.  Until then  . . .

Vacation Bible School

Our girls got to experience their first Vacation Bible School this past year.  Every year previously, the week of vbs coincided with the insurance conference Ryan needed to attend every year.  Since Ryan is no longer attending that (I'll admit to being a little sad : ) ), our girls now get to enjoy all that is VBS.  And this year there was LOTS to enjoy.

I took my camera one night to capture a few glimpses of the fun.

Starting the night out in worship - so fun to see the kids' enthusiasm!

The girls were very excited to have their Uncle David playing a star role in the skits that began each evening out addressing the theme of the week.  It was a week of construction and looking at what it takes to build upon the rock of Jesus Christ.  The girls saw the parable of the wise man and the foolish man come to life.  They did SUCH a great job.

I was helping with Ava's class the night the camera came along - watching a bunch of kindergartners and first graders compete boys versus girls?  Pretty funny.

Ava racing to place her shoebox on the wall.

Listening to their object lesson - Jesus is our "power source" that we need to be connected to in order to show His light to others and reflect His love.

My little construction workers at the end of the night : )

We had three tired little girls by the end of the week but it was worth it all.

First trip to the Dentist

Kate and Olivia got to have their trip to see our friendly dentist.  They were SUPER excited as they spent 10 months traveling in and out with me as I did invisalign this past year (if only I could go back to myself as a teenage and make myself wear my retainer!!!).  So long story short?

These girls were only excited heading in.  All the people were more than familiar and they already think they half own the place. : )

Kate wanted to go first - all set to go!

She was a total trooper - let her clean her teeth and even hung in there for the flouride treatment.  She was also a no cavity girl.

Next up was Olivia.  She was still pretty excited but just a touch nervous which actually made for a pretty adorable combination.  

She was so ready so laid back and popped her mouth open before the hygienist was even ready. : )

There she goes.  Olivia also did great for the cleaning and flouride treatment . . .but sadly, Olivia was the first of the kid clan to have a cavity (she is my candy eater too).  

The girls were all too happy to finish up and head straight to the treasure chest for their long awaited prizes. : )