4 year old T-ball is a lot of fun.

At the zoo!

We decided to take advantage of another membership we have and went to the zoo. Here are Patch and Juliette getting ready to see the dolphin show...

Abbey and Madgie watching the show. Ben and Abbey both really enjoyed it.

Then the very next day, we got all dressed up, left the kids with Cousin Tim (thank you) and headed back to the zoo to watch my cousin get married! It was a very nice wedding and we had a fun time. Unfortunately some other cousins who were supposed to come had flight trouble and couldn't make it, so it was pretty much a double date with Madgie and Patch, but it was nice to have fun with them without the kids too!

Here is the lovely bride (my cousin) and her father (my uncle) as they walked down the aisle.

This is one of my cousins (the sister of the bride). I was her maid of honor and we get together every now and then - they live in Rockford though so distance and busy schedules haven't let us see them recently, so it was nice to catch up!

And that pretty much wraps up our week. Thanks Madgie and Patch for coming up and spending the week with us - we had so much fun and miss you already! And thank you for treating us to a night out too - we enjoyed our dinner away from the kids!

Children's Museum

Well, predictions told us to expect thunderstorms one day, so we decided to make use of our membership and head to the Children's Museum (note - it did not rain at all that day, but it was hot so we were thankful for an indoor activity). Ben and Patch spent some time maneuvering logs and branches to make the ball go into the hole in this exhibit.

Captain Abbey rows rows rows the boat gently down the stream...

And look who found a friend!

Patch was with her when she discovered her new friend in the mirror - he said she got quite a kick out of it and was laughing, touching, and kissing the mirror - very cute!

Abbey's Actual Birthday

Although we celebrated Abbey's birthday over the weekend, we still wanted to do something fun and special on her actual birthday. So, we took the kids to a nearby Spray and Play park. It is basically a place with fountains and spray guns and water toys that kids can run around and have fun in...and they did! Abbey was a little skeptical at first...

But Ben wasted no time getting into it and showing Abbey how much fun it was!

There was even little water sprouts for Juliette to sit near and enjoy. Abbey did eventually get into it and run around, but she seemed to mostly enjoy playing with the water toys and pouring water on herself.

That night we had another little celebration. She was very excited to hear everyone sing to her again!

And also was very excited to learn she would get another cake!

Juliette seemed to really like the cake...only a few more weeks until we celebrate her birthday!!

Other Weekend Fun!

Although we had Abbey's party on July 4th, a lot of the July 4th festivities in our village took place on July 5th! So, that morning we went to downtown and watched the parade. Paul and Aunt Domi went the night before to stake out our spot - it's a pretty big deal and the city won't let you lay down any blankets until 7pm the night before the parade (people used to go days in advance to claim their spot). So we got this great spot right on the curb to catch all the candy people from the parade throw out. So here is some of our crew.

Juliette had a great spot to watch the parade...

Luckily, Madgie wanted to get out of the sun for a while (it was pretty hot) and sat in the shade with Juliette (who also needed a break from the sun).

We went to the pool later that day too, but didn't bring the camera. The kids love going to the pool - even Juliette loved splashing around. Although she spent most of the time grabbing on to my hands and walking around in the water. The next day (I guess we are on Tuesday now) we had a low key day after all the weekend fun. But we did pack up a picnic and head to the park. Unfortunately, it was so hot that you couldn't really touch the swings or the slides even. The kids didn't mind though - they just followed Patch around for a while playing follow the leader!

Abbey turns 2!!

On July 4, we had a party to celebrate our dear Abbey turning 2! Aunt Theresa came over early to help make the cake...she didn't realize that she would have a big helper the whole time! Ben had fun though and was very proud of the cake - he couldn't wait to show it to Abbey when she woke up from nap.

Abbey and her cake - she loved it!

Then she got to open her presents! She got a lot of great, very girly, stuff. Here she is with her new stroller and her new baby doll! She loves all things related to baby dolls at the moment. She takes care of them just like we take care of Juliette - it is very cute!

And look who got new shoes and a beautiful tutu!

And here is our little princess!

Hey, she looks just like her Cinderella doll!

And she has found her Prince (aka Joey)!

Bye bye everyone - thanks for coming to my party!

Joey turns 2!

Well, once again, I am very behind in my blogging. So, be ready for a lot of updates as we have been very busy having lots of fun (which is why I have not had time to blog). Anyway, let's start way back on July 3rd. Madgie and Patch flew in to spend a week with us and we started the fun times at Uncle Phil and Aunt Sandy's house to celebrate Joey turning 2! Here is the birthday boy ready to blow out his candles on his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake!

They had a jump house set up in the backyard that the kids really enjoyed. Here are Abbey and Joey jumping around together.

They also had a water table set up that Abbey and Juliette really liked. Abbey eventually just started taking water out and pouring it on herself, so we had to borrow some clothes to go home in for her (thanks Sandy).

Juliette had a lot of fun too - she crawled around in the grass with Madgie and practiced her walking all around the yard. She has recently taken to walking anytime she can (holding on to our hands of course).

It was a great party - thanks again for inviting Madgie and Patch too!

Mommy dearest!

Sorry I don't have any pictures to post at the moment. PablitoRun has become a 100% KatrinaRun run enterprise. I just logged on to update Juliette's map to show that she took a trip to Florida. It only took me a month to update it!

I did want to take this opportunity to thank KatrinaRun for being the best wife and mother anywhere. I am back at school doing some night classes, and I think it is harder on her than it is on me. She takes it all in stride, even though it means a lot of extra work. This week has been especially hard as I have a final today and the kids need more attention now that Madgie and Patch have gone home.

Thank you sweetheart, I couldn't do it with out you!

Ok just one picture...

This is my favorite picture of KatrinaRun. It sits on a shelf in my office. I have been asked more than once if that is really my wife. :)

1 more TN post...

OK, so I decided one more post...

Uncle Al letting Juliette borrow his TN hat - when in east TN, everyone looks good in orange!

And for those of you curious, Chien comes to the lake with us and is the happiest dog in the world for that one week. He loves jumping off the dock, swimming in the lake, retrieving balls, following boats, eating children's PB&J's (it's not his fault their plates are right at his level) and taking an occasional rest on the dock on someone's towel or a floatie. I feel like this one week in TN is so fun for Chien, that it sort of makes up for a year of not enough attention...sort of!

And now to Juliette's big news...while in TN she started saying her first words! She has been saying Dada and Mama, but those don't count. She started to say "hi" and now she says it all the time when someone comes into a room or if she looks up at them. It's so cute the way she says it - I will try to get some video. She also said "dog" (understandable given there were 4 large dogs there that week - 2 goldens, 1 great dane, and 1 chow mix) and "all done" when finished eating. It's funny to me that she tried to say that before she could sign it as I have been trying to teach her! You can also tell when you say something that she is trying to say it back to you, even if she can't quite get all the sounds. She also claps a lot now, does "so big", does the motions to "wheels on the bus" and waves. She is full speed crawling now and can slowly pull up to standing. And yesterday she wouldn't let me sit her down while we were at the pool - she held tightly on to my hands and wanted to walk around. She is changing so much everyday!!