Happy Memorial Day!

Our plans for today were to have a family cookout at Grandma & PawPaw's house. But, the weather had other plans for today. :) It was quite rainy today but in between the scattered showers my dad did manage to grill hamburgers and hotdogs and the kids were even able to get out for a bit and ride bikes.

Happy Memorial Day!

Gabe LOVES his Grandma & PawPaw

Cousins!!

Hannah - Gabe - Kate - Zane

Hannah with Kate & Gabe

The funny thing about Hannah & Gabe is that despite their appearance, Gabe is actually 5 weeks OLDER than Hannah! :)

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Kate & Zane

Hurry, let's ride bikes before it starts raining again!

Zane isn't quite ready for a bike, but he had just as much fun running behind this little car.

Then, just before going home for bed, Kate & Gabe walked across the street to get their buddy Griffen to ride for a few minutes.

Exploring Narnia

After church today the kids and I took Daddy to MOSH (Museum of Science & History) to see their latest exhibit....Narnia!!! Jon & Kate have a very special bond with Narnia. Jon loved these books as a kid and has now transferred that love to Kate. They are only on Book Two, but she loves it! And the amazing thing to me is that she really knows what is going on. To listen to her and Jon talk about Narnia and the different characters is so amazing. I love that she loves books and can only hope that Gabe will too! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit, but the kids and Jon did enjoy seeing all the movie artifacts and also the interactive features. We hope to go back again before the exhibit leaves our area.





After church, lunch with the grandparents, and then Narnia at MOSH, our kids were exhausted! Notice that even in the car, Gabe sleeps with his bike! And poor Kate, her new booster seat is definitely not as good to sleep in as her old carseat! These kids have had a full day of fun!

Pre-Memorial Day Cookout

Our friends Will & Emily invited us over for a pre-Memorial Day cookout! We had such a great time hanging out with friends, eating yummy food, and the weather was perfect for eating/playing outdoors!




Kate is in a serious game-playing phase. She makes up games for us to play nearly every day, and today was no exception. But, instead of us, this time she made up a game for her friends. I think she was the leader and had everyone sing a song. Whoever did the best would win the ball for that round. And, no surprise, I think her friend Caroline beat the boys in every round! :)

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Gabe loved having access to all of Wyatt's cars and trucks tonight! but, you can see clearly in the first picture that he did NOT want me to interupt them for a picture! But, he did later let me get one quick shot...but still no real smile. :) He was too busy for cameras.....

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As the night was coming to a close, the kids discovered this golf cart just waiting for them to play on! Thank goodness they didn't find the keys because I think this wild bunch might just would have tried to work together to take it out for a drive around downtown!

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Thanks again Will, Emily, Mallory, & Wyatt for having us over tonight.

We had a blast!!!

Rotary Club Duck Race

To kick off the summer, the local Rotary Club hosts a fundraiser/festival that includes a Rubber Ducky race down the river for a grand prize of $1000! Of course the kids & I bought a duck!

The ducks were all loaded into this large crate and lifted above the water by a large crane on this boat.

Then, as we all counted down from 10, the ducks were released and dropped into the river...and the race to the finish line begins!!! Kate & Gabe both cheered on our duck as we watched them all float to the finish line.

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You can sort of see the yellow line of ducks floating through the water.






The winning ducks have been pulled from the river!

Kate anxiously awaited as they began with 3rd place and ended with the big winner.

We didn't win, but we still had so much fun watching the ducks! And maybe next year we will buy two! :)

Aside from the duck race, there were craft booths, games, politicians of course, and the always beautiful scenery that is our downtown!

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Bounce Houses!

Kate, Gabe, & Mallory had soooo much fun!

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Fun in the Sun Friday

It's Friday! That means it's time to load up the kids and head to the beach!!!

As usual, today was another wonderful day in the sun with our friends!

Kate & Emma--------------------------------------Ava & "Little" Emma

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Ava must have stayed near my camera today. I didn't realize I had so many pictures of her until I got home and looked at today's pictures. She is a cutie though! She & Gabe usually play pretty good together too. The funny thing about Gabe is that he can be as crazy as Kate playing with her or the boys, but he is so much calmer & much more quiet around the girls.

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Kate loves nature...anything & everything about it!

So when it comes to finding something alive, she gets very excited! Today she found a baby crab!




Kate showed everyone her baby crab, but of course I only got a picture of her showing Ava!

I'm telling you, Ava was in almost every picture from today! :)

Edible Art

Tonight Kate & I decided to make something fun...and yummy! This was supposed to be so simple, but for many reasons it was not! First, it was almost impossible to blow up these water balloons without them popping. (I think the Dollar Tree must have a cheaper quality than most) Then, although I use melted chocolate for many things, I could not get my original chocolate to melt. After many busted balloons and chocolate all over the cabinets and counter, we did manage to successfully dip 5 water balloons into chocolate. I don't know if we will ever attempt this "simple" edible art project again, but it was fun and I think we finally learned a few secrets along the way. Once the balloons were dipped, we stuck them in the refrigerator to harden.

Time to pop those balloons!

Kate was very excited about this part!

Kate knew what was going to happen, but I think it still took her by surprise. :)

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Once the balloons were popped and removed, we were left with a yummy chocolate bowl ready to be filled with ice cream!

Backyard Fun

School is out, it's getting hot, that can only mean one thing...time to breakout the little backyard pool! We actually have a bigger blowup pool, but this one is so much easier and the kids have just as much fun!

Diamond Dawgs Last Game

T-Ball season has been sooo much fun! This was Kate's introduction into team sports...and she loved it! It was hot and there were gnats, but she got to practice and play with friends. And not only did she have fun, but she was also pretty good! I think Miss Kate might just have a future in team sports!

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Kate & Emma are in the dugout and ready to get this game started!

Since this is Kate's last game for the season, I decided to sort of take pictures to show a play-by-play of her journey at bat. And the best part, Mr. Jonathan decided to let Kate try "coach pitch" instead of using the tee for her last at bat...and she hit the ball! I was shocked and you could tell that so was Kate. She was so proud of herself!

Here comes the pitch!

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She hit the ball! As it rolled past the pitchers mound, it took Kate a second to register that she actually hit the pitched ball and now it was time to RUN!

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Look at that SMILE! :-)

She ran fast and made it safe to 1st base!

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You did it Kate!






She was sooo proud of herself!
Kate, we are so proud of you too!

Making it safely around the bases, Kate is finally heading HOME!

They don't keep score in t-ball, but making it home still feels great!

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What a great way to end your season Kate!

Go Diamond Dawgs!!!

Going into the dugout one last time.....

Gabe & Derek mostly just played with cars, but they did support their siblings for a few minutes.

After the game, Kate & Emma were hot & tired, but still just as sweet.

And silly!

Time for the party! Mr. Jonathan passed out trophies to all the players for a successful season. Kate was so proud and was quick to tell me that she now has two medals from preschool and now a trophy!

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And what better way to end the season than with a pizza party!!!

Miss Katelyn Amelia
Diamond Dawgs

2010 T-Ball Season