New Ride

Thanks to a great garage sale find by Grandpa we now have a bike trailer. The kids enjoy it most of the time (they are still getting used to sitting close and wearing helmets)
We realized it has been 4 years since David and I were biking. I'm a bit rusty so will not be pulling it till I'm in better shape :)

Ready to ride

Samuel enjoys wearing his helmet more in the grass than in the trailer

Ready for anything

Amelia Style

This will be a post with no pictures (sorry) but very cute stories of Amelia in the last weeks. She is talking a lot more and it is funny to hear what she comes up with somedays.

Tonight at bedtime snack we asked who she would like to have put her to bed, mommy or daddy. She thought for a minute and then with a big smile said "Nobody." I think she figured if she said this she would not have to go to bed. Smart girl.

We have been working more on potty training (it seems endless some days). Amelia has eagerly been awaiting the day when she could get princess underwear. I would explain that when she could keep her pull up dry for the day we would go to underwear. After weeks of talking about this and still getting occassinally wet pull-ups, I thought maybe the incentive of getting princess underwear might be a new motivator so off to Target we went. While searching through the undergarment aisle, Amelia all of the sudden blurted out "Boobies too?" I wondered what she was talking about and then realized that she associated underwear with another undergarment worn on top and she figured when you got one you got the other. I had to explain that we would not be getting "boobies" today. She then asked, "2 days?" 2 days is her common phrase when she doesnt want to do something or is waiting for something to happen. Through the rest of Target she kept saying to people "Underwear, no boobies."

By the way we went through 3 pairs of underwear in 2 hours before she decided she had enough and wanted to go back to pull-ups. We are still working on it!!

A few more pictures of our weekend

This is one of my favorite shots of the weekend... Amelia enjoyed being in the hammock with my youngest cousin Kyle (now in his 20's?!) Her cousins Isaac and Zachery joined her, along with my cousin Kari's daughter Ava. What fun!

Amelia all ready to go to the wedding. That is her new smile (mouth open). You can tell she is excited to go though.

The Family picture... always a bit of a challenge. I had high hopes of getting a great picture in our fancy duds but was a bit disappointed. Do you ever get home from an event and realize the pictures you took were not that great and you wish you had gotten different ones (or more)? This was one of those times for me. Oh well!
Overall, all my fears of traveling, packing, schedules, etc were unfounded and we had a wonderful weekend with family.

Fun Family Times

A lot of my Dad's immediate and extended family live in Illinois. It turns into a mini family reunion when we all get together. We had a lovely brunch at my Aunt and Uncles home on Saturday morning. Amelia enjoyed playing with her cousins and 2nd cousins.

Later in the afternoon we all headed to an indoor waterpark and enjoyed that.

That evening we went to my other Aunt and Uncle's house (the one whose daughter got married) and enjoyed a great supper with family and extended family. Amelia and Samuel enjoyed going on the trampoline while my Uncle and cousin's son look on.

All of the "cousins" on the swings.
What a great time!

Another Princess Wedding

This last weekend we headed to Rockford, Illinois to see my cousin get married. Amelia was of course very excited to get to go to another wedding, wear a "princess dress", eat cake, and play with her cousins and new found 2nd cousins. It was quite a jam packed weekend full of fun activities, good food, and visiting.

Amelia always finds new friends and she was especially fond of all of my cousins. Here she was with Laura (a wonderful dance partner for Amelia too!)

Amelia was again enthralled with the bride. You could see her eyes light up when she saw Kim walk in. You can only wonder what was going through her head. She would walk up to her and just stand below her ( Kim is tall) and just gaze up at her in wonder. In the above picture Kim was going around greeting the tables.... Amelia figured it was her job to go too. At the first table she waved at them like Miss America. I can only imagine what her wedding day will be like!!! My whole family comments that she is just like me.... I don't think I was ever like that??!

Dancing with cousin Isaac
What could be better than a wedding... food, dancing, and getting to wear a pretty dress.

The kids took over the dance floor with a game of duck-duck goose
Anything to keep them entertained, right?

Kim and Dan- What an honor to share in this special day with you.

Amelia Style

It has been quite awhile since we had an Amelia style posting so I figured it was time. Amelia has had an interesting couple of days too. Yesterday morning I found her in her bed in nothing! I was shocked to see that her pull-up was dry but then realized the bedding was not.... many tears followed as she realized that bear, blanket, and other precious things would now have to be washed. I finally got her settled down after agreeing to get her dress on and have breakfast. I poured her a cup of applejuice and while preparing other things she bumped it, spilling it all over the dress, more tears, followed by throwing the dress in the dryer. I then gave a second cup of juice which shortly after that proceeded to spill. That is how the morning started. After lunch we went to play outside and I was talking to a good friend. I thought I noticed Amelia crouching in a corner (you mom's know what that means) but thought I could talk a few minutes more. When we came in 10 minutes later we had another huge mess, this time requiring a bath. She is trying hard to get the potty thing down, but we aren't there yet.

Today has included more playing outside. Amelia of course is in another dress. I love this one of her climbing the swingset with her doll. She has put the doll's headband around her neck to carry her up with her (rather ingenious I would say!) Kind of like a mother carrying her kittens around by their necks.

Enjoying the slide on the new swingset

Pool, Park, Movies, and Dates

We did a lot while we were down in Rochester for 3 days. David and Dad went to see transformers, Mom and I went to see My Sister's keeper (a tear-jerker), and David and I had a date of mini-golf and going to see the Proposal. I teased David that it was like 2 dates in one so now we would be good for awhile! We also enjoyed relaxing and time outside.

What trip wouldn't be complete without a trip to the park. Samuel and Amelia enjoyed the swings.

Amelia however loved the pool Grandma and Grandpa got her. Despite being 70's, cloudy and the water cool.... Amelia didn't mind. She swam around like a fish!. Samuel however was not as fond of the water and would only look from afar.

Fun Fourth of July

This weekend we headed to Rochester to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Baird. We had a fun weekend. Amelia has now warmed up to their kitty Jasmine and kitty seems to tolerate Amelia too! Many times I would find Amelia wherever Jasmine was. Now Samuel is the one that is afraid and will scream when he sees her.

We enjoyed nice weather- cloudy with some sprinkles, but nice temperatures. We ate several meals outside on their new deck. David's grandma joined us on the 4th.

Family photos

Watching the fireworks.
This was the first time that Amelia had stayed up for fireworks. The night before she had been scarred by fireworks going off in the neighborhood so we were not sure how she would respond. She took "a little sleep before fireworks." and then David, Grandpa, Amelia and I headed down to watch them. Grandma graciously offered to stay back with Samuel. Amelia seemed to enjoy watching the other people, the sparklers, and just being up after dark. Midway through the show though she layed down on the blanket and then eventually got up and said 'Bye".. Her clue that she wanted to go. I think she was just tired from a long day though.

Thanks for a fun weekend!