First Holy Communion

We attended Delphina and Gabriel's First Holy Communion. I don't have a lot of pictures or any great ones, just a few to show off my adorable niece and nephew.

Delphina and Gabriel. Glowing.

Delphina and Mandy

Gabriel with Laurie and Kevin.

Delphina with Msgr. Nemec.

Gabriel with Msgr. Nemec and his friend Gerard from School.

A special day for two sweet, fun-loving cousins to share together.

Hot Day outside

It's a hot day outside and Evie and Ethan are taking a break to have a Pedialyte Popsicle. I bought them a few weeks ago when Ethan was sick and we never used them. They are certainly enjoying them now. Evie is giving Ethan a little love. She is a good big sister.

There is Ethan being his aggressive little self...

...and Evie being her sweet little self

Joel just finished putting down some grass seed and brought the bag in to make Evie a little dress. She loves pretending that it's her 'rags' dress that she does her chores in like Cinderella.

Early Childhood Celebration

We attended the Early Childhood Celebration today in the Agricultural Hall at the State Fair Grounds with my sister's Laurie and Mandy. There were over 30 booths with hands-on activities for children and stage performances throughout the day. The kids had a good time and since it was kid of rainy outside it was the perfect indoor thing to do. Gabriel and Delphina enjoyed playing the violin.at the Northeast Family Center's booth. None of the kids wanted to hold the violin up to their chin - they all wanted to play it like this...

Delphina is getting Ethan set up with some maracas

Evie may seem really focused on strumming the guitar but that lasted only a few minutes

Ethan just backed himself up to this drum and took a seat. He enjoyed watching the kids make music.

The kids were able to create their own Button's to wear at the Respite Network's booth

Claudia is busy exploring at the Dimensions Early Education Center Booth.

I think this may have been Evie and Ethan's favorite booth. Ethan is busy collecting bugs with his cousin Clare. Evie is busy collecting butterflies and organizing them in little families.

Evie turned herself into a beautiful princess. We didn't notice that it was the Planned Parenthood booth until we walked away. It seems a bit ironic to have Planned Parenthood sponsor a booth at a Childhood Celebration event, doesn't it.

Evie with her princess cousin Delphina

Delphina and Ethan enjoying a sing-along stage activity

Swing your partner round and round...

My Prince charming...

Ethan could have stayed at the SCC Child development Center's booth all day. He had fun scooping beads and putting them in this little container that the gal in blue so nicely held. She put a cap on his container and taped it closed (to make a music shaker). He was still trying to put beads in it with the cap on. When I tried to take him away from the booth he was pretty bummed so the gal said to bring him back and they played with the beads for another 5 minutes. I think they both had a good time.

The kid are watching one of the stage performances. I wasn't so sure about it. I'm all for kids taking dance classes and look forward to Evie being in dance but these dance moves were a bit suspect for kids their age.

The kids enjoyed playing dress up at the 'what do I want to be?' booth sponsored by Loving Hearts CDC.

Dr. Claudia.

Giddy-up Cowboy. Ethan needs to keep that beer belly tucked inside his trousers...

It was bright outside so I got a lot of squinty pictures of the kids on the BN Mini Train. The train wasn't on a track and it drove through the parking lot. The engineer was older, maybe in his 70's and actually drove fast enough that we had to hold on when he was cornering. The kids had a great time. Here is Ethan, Clare and Evie

Delphina, Gabriel, Mandy and Claudia sat right behind us.

Laurie (holding Luis in the Bjorn) and Anderson

Coming into the station at the Ag Hall building.

And to top off a fun afternoon we ate at Burger King.

Ager Indoor Playground

Evie woke up this morning in such a sweet mood. She just sat down at the table and asked for her breakfast. She has only been awake for a few minutes but I had the camera handy because I was taking a picture of Ethan...

I was taking a picture of Ethan because finally his eye isn't goopy. I can't remember the last time it wasn't goopy. Too bad I can't say the same about his nose. Sorry, I know it looks gross. I don't know how he can even breathe.

Ethan took a short afternoon nap yesterday and was exhausted by 5:30pm so I put him down for a nap but when I went to check on him at 7:00pm he was totally out. I just let him be thinking he might just need the sleep and might make it until morning. I was wrong. He was up from 1:00-2:00am chatting and crying off and on and then he was up at 5:00am for the day, ouch. He woke up with this gross crusty nose. He has been working hard on his new teeth but he also has a little cold. (Yes he is still in his clothes from the day before and yes it's still dark outside). I don't know how he can be so bright eyed and awake at 5:00am...why doesn't he know that is too early?

We met my brother Jeremy and sister Mandy at the Ager Indoor Playground after Ethan's morning nap. Here is Isaiah having fun playing in the balls.

Ethan is having fun for the few minutes he was playing in the balls. He was just in the mood to be held today.

This is a little friend Evie made the minute we walked in the door. They played really well together.

Feel free to sing along...Bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon, Bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon, Bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon, Havin' so much fun.

Well maybe not all of us are having fun. Poor guy has a few new teeth coming

Noah is having a good time. Ethan however is still bumming.

Evie and Isaiah

Isaiah driving his own car

Mandy, gettin-er done...

Victory for Evie

Claudia is giving Grace a push. I think Grace enjoyed her ride. I certainly enjoyed watching them have fun.

Antelope Park

We had a play date at Antelope park with my brother Jeremy and sister Laurie.

Ethan loved going down the slide. It's a good one with a long landing so he lands on his feet. Some of the slides are so fast they shoot the kids off and they are on their bottoms before they know it.

Evie's cousins just arrived and it's an instant party. My brother and sister each have four kids.

Just hanging around...

Gabriel, the one pushing, is the oldest of Evie's cousins. He is only eight and already a true gentleman. He's strong too. He was really giving the kids a good ride on the swing.

A few of Evie's cousins. They really get along so well. They are so proud of each other too. Maddie and Morgan were saying how they taught their brother Noah how to pump so he can swing by himself. He of course was proud to be swinging by himself.

Ethan is hanging out in the castle with his cousin Isaiah, my brothers youngest.

Evie and her cousin Clare, my sister's second oldest.

Clare, just monkeying around.

Gabriel, my sister's oldest. He is such a good climber. He's not afraid either.

We were having a little fun with Isaiah and Static electricity. Jeremy kept sending him up and down the slide giving us a laugh...Isaiah didn't seem to mind.

Ethan, just chilling out. The balance bar was just the right height for him to straddle and sit down on.

Maddie, Ethan and Isaiah on the balance bar.

Anderson and Evie were busy studying someones chalk drawing...and the dirt between the rubber tiles. You should have seen Evie's hands and nails when we got home.

The afternoon was so nice I decided to build this little picnic table for the kids while they played outside. I didn't get much done at first, my little helpers were helping just a little too much. I finally surrendered and decided to finish it when Ethan took his nap.

Evie had fun tearing apart the packing Styrofoam (and making a huge mess for me to clean up) She couldn't figure out how it kept sticking to her. It was cute to watch her try to wipe it off...it just wouldn't go anywhere.

Ethan busied himself taking the bolts out of the box and then putting them all back in again.

Evie, I mean Snow White was pretending this was her coffin of glass like in the movie. Sometimes I am blown away at the differences between Ethan and Evie or boy/girl. As soon as I opened the box Evie took the lid and pretended to be Snow White while Ethan grabbed the tools and screws and instantly started banging.

We finished the table when Ethan took his nap. The Styrofoam was everywhere, including Evie's hair, but she was having fun.

Evie makes me laugh - I was busy screwing down the top of the table down so my head was down. When I looked up Evie was standing there asking me if I was hungry, that Ariel brought me a piece of cottage cheese.

Thanks to Ethan taking a good nap I actually finished a project I started in the same day....it felt good.