Friday, June 26, 2009


HAPPY BIRTHDAY EILEEN AND OLIVIA!!!
It has happened again, the girls are one year older and I am amazed daily by who they are becoming-it reminds me of when they were babies and learning new things at such a rapid rate I could hardly keep up-now they are taking all of that knowledge and becoming their own person. I am so proud of both of them, they (for the most part) are kind, thoughtful, funny, intelligent girls-each in their own way.
We had a great day as a family today, it began early and ended late but we all had a lot of fun!
The table waiting for the girls
Here come the Birthday Girls!

When the girls woke up the table was decorated and their new dress and Waterford (annual gifts) were waiting at their spot. This is the first year that we let the girls use their new crystal for the whole day, they felt very grown up!
Olivia in her new dress drinking her juice

Eileen with hers

After getting dressed and having some juice we all walked to the local Italian bakery for doughnuts!
Walking to the bakery

Eileen with her healthy breakfast

Olivia enjoying her selection

Joseph picked chocolate with sprinkles

After breakfast we walked over to the waterfall and checked out the gazebo, I was able to get a few pictures of the girls

Eileen Kathryn, 7 years old!

Olivia Mary, 5 years old!

After breakfast and the LONG (not really, they just got up WAY too early!) walk home we went to the store and got each of the kids a webkinz, this was something that they said they really wanted to do today.
Olivia with her new webkinz, Tinkerbell


Eileen in the pool

After shopping the kids went swimming with Daddy and then we went out for lunch. After lunch the girls wanted to go to the salon and get their hair cut, this is something they often ask to do-not sure why, but they LOVE it! After the "salon" we had quiet time and then when everyone (Joseph) woke up from his nap, presents!!!

Eileen with her new hair cut and her gifts

Olivia with her new haircut, she wanted the same one as Eileen!

Before we went in the dining room to open gifts Olivia pulled me aside, she had to tell me a secret. She whispered in my ear that she was going to let Joseph open one of her gifts, I was taken aback by how thoughtful that was and how hard that must have been for her. Eileen thought it was a great idea and let Joseph open one of hers as well!

After taking some time to play with all of their gifts the girls decided they wanted McDonald's for dinner, we picked up Happy Meals (and made a very big deal about how only because it is their birthday are we having this!) brought them home and let the kids eat while they watched the movie Tinkerbell. Once the movie was done, time for cake!

The girls shared their cake tonight, they each had their own at their parties earlier

Blowing out the candles

Toasting one another with strawberry milk, Happy Birthday Girls!!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Today!
So we are now all caught up! Once again we had a beautiful but HOT day! We played in ALL of the sprinklers at least once, I would not put up the slip and slide because the ground is so saturated from all of the rain and the slip 'n slide just soaks the ground.
Eileen running past the sprinkler

We also made face paint and the kids decorated their faces, arms, legs, hands...any skin that was showing pretty much. It was fun though because then they just washed it off in the sprinkler.

Me, trying to keep things organized...
I gave up

There was no way to not post this picture Bryan took of Joseph playing in the sprinkler!

So there you have it, we are now live!
Happy Father's Day!
I hope Bryan had a great day, we sure had fun! While Bryan slept in, I went and picked up doughnuts and Cap'n Crunch for his breakfast. After breakfast Bryan went golfing with Uncle Eric, Uncle Carl and his family. When Bryan came home his gifts and children were waiting for him!
We had more than a few extra balloons around with all of the parties we have been having, so Bryan decided to show the kids what happens when you suck helium...
can you tell they thought it was haliarous!

Eileen giving Daddy his gift

Olivia giving her gift to Daddy

And Joseph with his!

After opening his gifts and watching Clone Wars with the kids, we headed over the Krista and Carls house for a cook out! The kids always have so much fun together but it is even more fun with Auntie Krista filling water balloons and Daddy playing along!
Eileen's 7th Birthday Party!
2-4-6-8
Come help us celebrate!

For Eileen's friend party this year she wanted to have a cheerleader party so we invited all of her friends and had the neighbor come and teach the girls a few moves. Eileen had so much fun, and it was really cute to watch all of the girls!Eileen and Olivia (the neighbor)

All 3 kiddos with Olivia, can you tell that they love her?

We had amazing weather that day, not a cloud in sight-but it was hot! One of the activities for the girls to do (after getting their white grosgrain ribbon put in) was to decorate their drink holder. I am going to have to remember this trick, I didn't have to throw away any half filled drinks!The girls worked very well on this project too, helping each other find the right letter or shape.

Once the drink holders were done, and drinks placed in them the girls moved on to the next activity-cheer shorts. I picked up a pair of shorts for each of the girls and a bunch of puffy paints and had them decorate how ever they wanted.Table number 2

All of the shorts drying, they were so creative!

For lunch we had food that you would have at a sporting event, since that is where you find cheerleaders (okay, so it was modified to fit my needs as well). They had hot dogs, bags of chips, Gatorade, individual bags of mini carrots, yogurt, fruit kabobs-without watermelon, and finger jello-in the shape of a megaphone.
After lunch the girls learned a few moves


They did pretty well I thought!


Eileen had a chocolate cake in the shape of a pink and purple megaphone, with 7 candles in the shape of a 7Happy Birthday Dear Eileen

After cake and ice cream on such a fun hot day what could you end with but a water balloon fight!some of the girls really got into it!


Eileen playing with all of her new Barbies (I did say that once she was 7 she could have them...), of course she finished all of her thank you cards before playing with anything-just like Olivia!

And just think it's not even their birthday yet!
It is officially summer!
And not just by the calendar, Wisconsin weather has finally come around (possibly a bit too much!).

Swimming Lessons Have Begun!
Eileen and Olivia are both able to get in the pool with out a parent so they can now take their lessons during the week!! Bryan still takes Joseph on Saturday mornings-no pictures.

Their classes are right beside each other. I couldn't get a picture of Eileen not in motion and I couldn't get a picture of Olivia in the water!

Eileen's class, she is on the far left, getting ready to jump in!

Olivia's teacher is trying to get her to get into the water too!

Night at the Zoo
This year we attended our first night at the zoo last week, Bryan had to meet us there after work. It was so much fun, crafts, games, tons of food, and live music!

Here are the kids after they made their first set of crafts, a fan and a penguin.

Eating dinner that I packed and listening to some live music

I had to post this picture, the look on Olivia's face upon seeing the flamingos was perfect!

Eileen and Joseph checking out the koi fish


Time to head for home, the kids were exhausted but full and happy!