Summer fun

Wow, we have a lot of catching up to do around here, as usual. =)  Lots of pictures of kiddos enjoying their summer!

Silly girl!

a fun end-of-school party at the playground

 

"hi, molly!"

Cooling off and chilling out, and snuggling together

our little artist

The kids love to play with water on the deck - a bunch of containers and kitchen stuff and they are set for a full day of fun!  We had a very hot day where they stayed cool by playing with water in swimsuits, followed by a very rainy day.  They wanted all the water stuff again, and had a grand time splashing around in their rain gear!

In a blanket fort with cousin Evan

Our sweet girl is FOUR!

Molly turned four years old on Wednesday.  We celebrated last week at Koenobel's with Patrick's family, and we tried to make sure her actual birthday was pretty special, too.  She loved her Strawberry Shortcake decorations and reveled in choosing all her menus for the day.  We had 'M' and '4' shaped pancakes, smoothies, and "noodles with white sauce," of course.  Aunt Lorrie and the cousins came and took Molly and Elijah to a movie, in the theater!  And Bobbi came for dinner.  We had strawberry lemonade, strawberry cupcakes, and strawberry ice cream.  She was thrilled with all her gifts, including lots of Jessie and Hello Kitty and her very own (pink!) Legos. 

in her strawberry shirt, too, of course!

crisscross applesauce

Molly is spunky, silly, and full of energy. She loves to draw and color and is learning to write lots of letters.  She is really looking forward to preschool in the fall, and seems to be a little less shy around new people this year (although you never know when she's going to suddenly need to hide behind my legs or just need a few minutes to warm up).  She loves to play pretend with Elijah, or her babies, or just pretend!  She "has volleyball practice on Friday mornings" with her pink volleyball, and loves to swim and dance.  She is also our resident artist - she loves to color and draw and paint and write "notes."  We love this little girl, and the four years we've had together!

It must be summer!

Our annual summer tradition of spending the day at Koenobel's with Patrick's family happened on Friday.  We had a great time.  Finn napped a little in his stroller, and generally did well.  I'm sure that next year he'll be ready to try a couple of rides!  The big kids rode a lot - Elijah was tall enough to ride almost anything this year.  He tried a couple of things that he didn't like, but he didn't get sick or too upset about it.  We also celebrated Molly's birthday, Papa's birthday, and Father's Day together while we were there.

Molly's pink strawberry birthday cupcakes