Finally Cool Enough for Playing Outside
Today Eileen had her second day of t-ball and the kids were able to hit off the tee and run the bases.

After we came home and ate some lunch the girls had a blast playing outside with the sidewalk paint Olivia got for her birthday from Jonathan and Sigan. It was a wonderful afternoon, finally 70's (not upper 90's) playing outside AND Olivia didn't bat an eye at sharing her new paint with her sister, can't ask for much more in an afternoon!

Olivia had so much fun covering the driveway with paint, the more the better, this however was a peacock.

Eileen much preferred painting pictures, this was a man in a hat with yellow pants.

You can see how much fun it was, our entire driveway is covered in blue, yellow, and green "paint"-we may have the worst looking yard in the neighborhood, but we now have the most beautiful driveway!

Happy Birthday Dear Eileen and Olivia!
Today is the big day, Eileen and Olivia are 5 and 3 and will both go to school in the fall now! We had a great day, Bryan got the day off so we did lots of fun family stuff. I made the girls monkey bread for breakfast and today was Eileen's first day of t-ball. At first she wasn't too sure about it and didn't want to stay but the coaches were great and now she thinks t-ball is "Fantastic"!

Eileen crossing home plate and getting a high 5 from Coach Carol.

After t-ball we came home and put Joseph down for a nap the girls and I worked on some of the crafts they got for their birthday. Eileen made a bracelet and Olivia made a wand and crown. For lunch we went to Stonefire Pizza, it was great! The food was pretty good (compared to what I was expecting) and there was so much for the kids (all 3 of them) to do we were there for over 2 hours!

Joseph had a lot of fun playing at the water table, the waterproof smocks were great!

Daddy giving Olivia her first "tat"

Eileen showing off her face pant.

Olivia going up the climber to go down the BIG slide!

Eileen had so much fun in the little restaurant area, she got us all food and drinks and promptly gave us our bill with a smile.

We are so lucky to be blessed with two beautiful, unique, intelligent, funny girls who share such a special bond of not only sisterhood but a birthday.

Ice Scream! You Scream! We all ate Ice Cream!

For the girls 3rd and 5th birthday we had an ice cream extravaganza! It was a great day. Brian came in the day before to help Bryan frame the basement (we have walls!!), and Nana and Papa came in that morning to celebrate with the girls.

Eileen and Olivia opening their gifts from Uncle Brian, and keeping an eye on the giant presents from Nana and Papa.

Eileen sitting in her new chair from Nana and Papa reading her new book of poetry. Olivia got a chair just like Eileen's, they love sitting in them and reading their new books.

Olivia hit her stride opening all her gifts, people were so generous!

The girls were able to open a gift for both of them together, that's a good sign right!?!

Eileen loved her nightgowns, so did Olivia. "Now we can be beautiful even when we sleep!"-Eileen

Grandma and Grandpa gave the girls a basketball hoop for their big gift. They were so excited, so is Dad-it has an i-pod hookup and a thirst quencher station!


Eileen got a new bat from Uncle Benjamin, she starts tee ball tomorrow! Bryan loves to make fun of her stance, but she can hit so what are you going to do!

Eileen and Olivia blowing out the candles on their cake. In the forground are just a FEW of the toppings we had, if you know anyone who would like some ice cream toppings let us know!

The next day the girls had to try on all of their new clothes and wanted me to take their picture. Here is a picture of them in their new "Princess Leia outfits" from Auntie Krista, and Olivia wanted to show off her new Dora dolls too, she could only hold two the other one is on the floor!

Olivia and Eileen are getting so big so fast I can not believe how fast the years are going already!

Grandma and Grandpa's House!

Last week Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids so Bryan and I could go out for a nice dinner. Grandpa shared his flash card with us so we could see all the great pictures he took. I looks and sounds like they had a blast, don't they always at with Grandma and Grandpa?Eating dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house

They took the kids to the park near their house, it looks like they had a great time!

It doesn't look like Grandpa had any easier of a time getting a good shot of all three of them, at least Grandma looks good!

What a sweet shot of Joseph and his Grandma.

Dressing up at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Eileen loved this costume right down to the gold shoes!

Sorry this took so long to post Grandpa, it was busy around here last week! Thanks for sharing the great pix!

Dad goes to the grocery store!
Since Bryan is on vacation this week I asked him to go to the grocery store for me while we had playgroup here this morning. He agreed and got everything on the list...plus he stopped at Target! He came home with a slip and slide and squirt guns for the kids!

Eileen trying out the new toy

Olivia just walked down the slide...
until the end! Oops!

Just before it was time to come in Eileen got the hang of how to run and slide, I didn't realize it was such a complex process!

Happy Father's Day!

We had a great Father's day here. When Bryan got up I went and got him a sandwich in Brookfield for his breakfast, then he went golfing with the other Dads. After watching a bit of the Brewers we went to Krista and Carl's house for a family gathering and cookout. They had the pool set up and a TON of water balloons, correction water bombs and grenades. The best part was when we got home a 7 the kids were exhausted and all they had to do was brush their teeth and go to bed.

Father and Son

The girls had a blast in the pool, just the right size!

Joseph on the other had was too busy playing with the basketball to get in the pool.

Trip to Madison!

Last week the kids and I went into Madison for a quick visit. It was nice to spend some time with Nana and Papa, but boy oh boy was it hot! Papa and I took the kids up to the park to play for a while, we had a lot of fun. However, Eileen fell from the (rather high) monkey bars and that shook her up a bit, she recovered nicely but wasn't very interested in getting back on the monkey bars.

Joseph rocking for his life! He loved this thing!

Olivia loved showing us how she can ride the horsey!

Eileen pre-fall, I told you the monkey bars were high!

Everyone loves a turn on the swing, particularly if you get a push!

After playing at the park and a good nap Papa turned the sprinkler on for the girls and was nice enough to sit and control the water flow to their whim, what would this world be like without grandparents!?!
Eileen was quick to jump in the sprinkler and didn't want to come out!

Olivia was a bit slower to warm up to the idea of the cold water.

What a great shot of summer!

The girls loved having the water "big" and "little"

Thank you Papa, for catering to our every whim (at least when it comes to water pressure)!

Kinderberg Park

Today we went to Kinderberg Park in Germantown today, what a great find! The park had a great playground with lots of slides, monkey bars, and 3 kinds of swings. It also had a "big kid" area and a "tot lot"-Perfect! The best part (as far as the kids were concerned) was the sprinklers! They had a lot of different sprinklers for the kids to run through, stand on, and stand under! Eileen had so much fun running through the water, Olivia on the other hand stayed on the edge-she doesn't like cold water-and then would go lay in the sun. However, I think Joseph liked it the best! I could not get him out of the water, he was FREEZING, lip shivering and everything, and every time I took him out he went running back in! We were there for over two hours and the kids never got board or started picking on one another, we will definitely go back! (Anyone want to join us? he-he)

Olivia and Joseph getting ready to go in, I LOVE that he is on his toes in excitement in the picture.

Eileen and Joseph enjoying the water, even when you were not in the water you still got wet from the wind blowing the water.

Joseph running for me, he was SO happy!

Eileen enjoying the water fountains!

Olivia getting warm and having a little snack.

I finally got Joseph out of the water with some goldfish crackers, can you go to the park without a snack anymore?