Harvest and Homemade Pickles

Thanks to Brandon and Emmalyn for lining up our tomatoes and zucchini!  We also received a ton of cucumbers from GG-Pa so we made pickles.  Yum!

Slushies!

Lily's birthday party featured a slushie maker.  The kids were more than happy to stick out their tongues for the camera!

Emmalyn's First Haircut

Uncle Jason came over and gave Emmalyn her first haircut.  She was very good and sat nice and still for him.

 Checking out her hair!

 Admiring her new hair in the bathroom mirror.

 Riley stayed over to play for a few hours.

 Brandon and Emmalyn reading one of their favorite books later that evening.  Asiago, the little vampire, unintentionally spent a day at the beach in the sun, eating garlic and getting splinters.  The kids loved it.  I was so happy when our 3 weeks were up and we had to return it to the library.

Cucumber and Zucchini Harvest

Brandon was very busy riding his bike, but he managed to slow down enough for a quick picture.

 Emmalyn showing off our zucchini.

 And a yellow heirloom tomato as well as a cucumber.

 Picnic dinner.

Tomato Harvest

This is the first of many harvest pictures to come.  Brandon is very particular about certain things...he insisted on lining up the tomatoes for the picture.

Auntie Kathy's Park

My kids don't know the real names of parks.  They just name them after their favorite people.  

So Auntie Kathy's park had a fun surprise hiding out in the sandbox...a family of tiny frogs.  They kids spent almost 30 minutes following them around the sandbox.  

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 An unintentional self-portrait.

 Hanging out on the slide.

 They love standing on things...this time it was a stump by the parking lot.

Concert in the Park

Every Thursday in the summer there is a different concert at Whitnall Park.  As you can see Emmalyn was totally and completely relaxed.

 We joined Auntie Kathy, Auntie Coco, Kimberly, Riley and Grandma to see the "Beach Boys".

 Riley wandered a bit and spent a lot of time with this older gentleman across the walkway.  (He relocated about halfway through the concert when Riley was visiting some of our other neighbors.)

 Emmalyn was the self-appointed keeper of Auntie Coco's rice krispies treats.

 One of the beach balls that ended up staying with us.

Kids In Motion

Nicole and I took the little girls to Kids in Motion since Brandon and Kimberly were Up North for the weekend.  They did a little grocery shopping.

 They also played in the dinosaur bean pit (Emmalyn was wearing a beautiful dress from the dress-up area.)

 We ended our night in the puzzle area.

Muffin Tin Dinner

Such a great way to eat up leftovers!  The kids enjoyed the variety and they got to have a picnic (aka eating dinner on a blanket in the living room.)

Independence Day

It was a very hot 4th of July this year, but we all had a great time despite the heat.  Here's Emmalyn having fun before the parade started.  

 Emmalyn and Riley.

 Brandon with his candy.

 Festive Auntie Kathy.

Riley.

 The parade was over and we were packing up.  You can tell the kids we're starting to feel the heat.  (They were probably coming down from a sugar high as well!)

Emmalyn and GG-Ma

I love these pictures of Emmalyn with her Great Grandma!

Pool Fun

Brandon and Emmalyn had such a great time playing in the pool on this hot July day.  I was able to get some great pictures without getting too wet.