4th of July

We had a great 4th of July at Andy's parents house! They always throw a good party and there were lots of family and friends to visit with. Here's Abby, excited about a 4th of July balloon. She carried it around for a LONG time that day.



Andy and his brother, Pat, who was visiting from Minnesota with his wife and two girls. We only see get to see them about once a year, so we always look forward to their visits.
And then there's grandpa, and his famous 4th of July pants that he's worn EVERY year for who knows how long. It's a good look for him, don't you think? :)

Zach and his cousins, anxiously awaiting the start of our "grand" fireworks display.
I love their little faces on this one.
Zach, Sarah, and Adam. Andy and Zach with his first sparkler. This one went well, but unfortunately he did another one later on that he ended up burning two of his fingers on. That pretty much put an end to our evening over there and we headed home.

Aunt Jeannette, Madeline and Abby watching from above. Madeline was soooo good with Abby all day. Such a little mother already and Abby was quite attached to her by the end of the day.

Abby and Andy. There's that balloon again!
Zach going down grandma and grandpa's hill on a little scooter thing. He was sure loving that!

Just hanging out.
All eyes were on Uncle Bill as he was getting the fireworks organized and ready to go.
So this is that evening, at home. Andy wanted to cheer Zach up after his sparkler incident, so when we got home he drug the couch out of the garage and onto the edge of our driveway, made him some popcorn, and did some more fireworks. Seemed to do the trick. Zach was engrossed. Notice the bag of ice that he has his little fingers resting on?

Playing at the Pool

My sister has a pass to Amazon Pool, so we tagged along with her for free today. Gotta love that! Zach had a BALL and did NOT want to leave when it was time to go. Abby, on the other hand, really wasn't interested in the water. She waded out a little ways, but then it was "na, na, na!" (Na in Abby language is No) Here she is, thinking about going in.....

Loving the water!
Can you tell it was bright out? Poor guy is squinting in every shot.
I liked this backside view of her.
Abandoning the whole water thing altogether in favor of the sand.
Having a little snack break.

We had such a good time that I think we'll be coming back a lot throughout the rest of the summer. What a fun afternoon!!

Little Waterers

Every morning Zach and Abby want to help me water the flower pots. Zach goes around very carefully, talking to them and asking them if they're hungry. He takes it all quite seriously! I love it. Abby doesn't really know what she's doing, but hey, if big brother is doing it it must be something good, right? So she happily follows suit, not really getting any water to come out of her watering can, but she thinks she is being very helpful which is all that matters. :)
I find it amusing that Zach likes to use the little pink watering can (it is much easier to maneuver) but that leaves Abby with the big heavy one. She just drags that thing along though and seems to manage! She cracks me up!

Here she is later that day with one of my mom's huge peony flowers. She was loving it and I thought she looked so sweet. But then, I'm kind-of a sucker for pretty flowers and my pretty little girl! :)

Happy Birthday, Andy!

Yesterday, June 19, was Andy's birthday and we had a little party for him at Roaring Rapids Pizza. It was nice, but low-key.....just right really. Here are a few pics.

Andy ended up breaking the standing record on this game. He had practically all the kids in the place gathered around him in awe, cheering him on. Pretty cute.
Zach got to sit at the big boy table with his cousins.
"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Andy, Happy Birthday to you!"
Take a deep breath...
...and blow!
Yumm-O!Listening to his cool baseball music card.

Opening gifts.And, falling asleep on the couch after a long day. Happy Birthday, honey. Love you!

Father's Day

We hosted a Father's Day celebration at our place on Sunday. Andy's parents, his sister Colleen, her husband, Mike and their 4 boys, sister-in-law Jeannette and nephew, Gary all came over for some fun. We had a ball! The food turned out great (Andy did a killer job manning the BBQ), it was a beautiful day and our yard was all fixed up nicely, but I think the best part was watching all of the "boys" playing in the tree-fort and sandbox that Andy made. They absolutely loved it and were pretty much kept busy with it the whole time. And of course Zach adored being able to play with so many of his cousins.

I love this picture of Andy and the kids. He's such a wonderful father and Zach and Abby couldn't love him more!
Here's Abby and Grandpa having a moment.
Some of the boys in the tree fort.
Andy, his dad, and his sister Colleen.
Andy and Abby enjoying some yummy berry pie. Mmmm, mmm, good!
Playing in the sand. We had to line everyone up when they were done and hose their legs down - you wouldn't believe the amount of sand that they had stuck to them! It was pretty funny.

Abby and daddy.

We had a wonderful day and we are so very grateful for our even more wonderful daddy! Hope you all had a great Father's Day too!

I wasn't fibbing....she really can walk!

Hey, I got one to work! For your viewing pleasure, may I present a little clip of Abby walking. It's not the best one that we have, but it's the shortest, and therefore Blogger is accepting it, so there ya go.... :)

Odds and Ends

Hi all! I haven't posted in awhile and thought I'd just put up some random pictures of what's been going on lately. Which, is not much, but still probably more exciting to you than looking at the title, "Abby's Walking" all the time. Sorry about that.

First of all, Andy and I had a lovely night away at the coast last week. Thanks to my mom for watching the kids! Pathetically, these are the only pictures we took, but here they are anyway. We stayed at the Casino in Florence, just to do something different than our usual Adobe stay. It was probably the nicest hotel room we've ever been in (everything is new and plush!) but the gambling thing wasn't so wonderful. I'm going to say that basically we're never going to let ourselves stay there again! Yikes!

Second, this is just a pretty picture of one of our Clematis blooms. I love this plant!

Third, Zach has been taking soccer lessons for the last couple of months. These pictures didn't turn out well, but it gives you an idea of it anyway. His last class for this session was yesterday. They gave out little awards and a team photo to all the kids and Zach LOVES looking at his! He starts a new session next week, but it will be outdoors this time. Hooray for that! I'll probably get some better pictures once we're outside. (Oh, notice that Zach is the only one NOT in his soccer uniform....he refuses and says it's "too scary." What's that all about?!)

Lastly, our niece, Jasmine, had a big birthday bash last Saturday. It was a luau theme and my sister went ALL out for it. It was a blast! The best part though was having all of my siblings and nieces and nephews gathered together. Doesn't happen that often. I didn't take nearly enough pictures to capture the day, but here are a few decent ones. Jasmine and her friend, Lauren.

Uncle Matt and Uncle Brad.My silly husband and his coconut bra. He was supposed to wear it without a shirt, but he chickened out. That's probably an ok thing though!

Me and Abs. Elena and Uncle Mark, who was not feeling well. Poor guy.