Ellers

Although this looks incredibly posed, it was not. Jon takes Elle to school each morning and I went out to kiss her good-bye and she was riding her scooter while she waited for her daddy. That little face she is making is such an "elle face". I love it.

Last night was Back-to-School Night at the Elementary School. Jon and I were able to go and meet Elle's teacher and sit at her desk. It's now official. I want to be in 2nd Grade. She has the nicest teacher. I just sat there listening to all that they'll be learning this year and I kept thinking how grateful I am that she was put in this particular class. She's with her teacher about the same amount of time she is with me during the day. That's a a big deal. I can now see why she hops in the car each day with a big smile on her face. The best part of the night however was sneaking a note into her pencil box for her to discover today at school. I always LOVED finding those notes at my desk from my mom and dad.

Lily

While your sisters are at school -

I'm loving my time alone with you, Lily.

I wish you could stay this little forever.

Baby Doll

My lily is REALLY into baby dolls right now. She loves being the mama. I took these pictures of her this morning as we were heading out to take Gwen to preschool. Lily-pie is always carrying a dolly around these days and of course loves all of the accessories. All of my girls have used this little bag to carry around dollies in. It happens to not really be a bag but it is my Easter Basket from when I was a little girl. My mom had cloth Easter baskets made for each of us when we were little. Mine was pink, of course. I love that it still has lots of little chocolate stains in it from years of milk chocolate foil wrapped eggs being in it on Easter morning. All 3 of my girls have loved this little "basket". It fits around them like a purse and dollies and bottles fit perfectly inside. Lily takes it with her everywhere we go. Adorable.

Gwennie

I've been calling my Gwen, Gwennie lately. She's named after my grandma, Gwen. We called her Grammy Gwen. Grammy's nickname growing up was Gwennie and she always told me she hated it. I personally think it's incredibly cute. Jon on the other hand has always called her Gigi. I called Gwen that the other day and she looked me square in the eyes and said, "Mom. ONLY DAD can call me Gigi." Alrighty then... I got it. My mistake.

Here's another picture from my phone. Elle's swim team practice is just steps from the ocean. This summer I would park and then Gwen, Lily and I would walk down to the beach. That's why we were there this day. It was unreal how pretty the sunset was this night. My little Gwennie looked so pretty in her sundress. 4 1/2 never looked so cute.

Secret Hide-out

Here's my sweet Elle. I love her so much. If I know she's sad and I can't find her this is the first place I look. She nuzzles in between the wall and the side of my bed. It's "her secret hide-out". She was upset the morning I took this picture because Gwen was being mean to her. I remember my secret hiding spot when I was little. It was in my closet. I had a really large closet so half of it was also used for storage. I would use the boxes to climb my way up and then I would sit on the top shelf. I wish I had a picture of me sitting up there sulking. It would be pretty funny now. With 5 kids in our family you didn't have much privacy so that is where I would go. This is Elle's spot and even though she's sad here, I still think she looks pretty cute. I love you, sweet Elle.

Mama Bird

My camera is broken. That is the reason for me not taking many photos this summer. It's killing me too. I see things as photographs in my mind and not being able to capture them is the worst. My camera is being sent out today to figure out what the problem is. I am sooo anxious to have it back. I have had my camera on my iphone which is what I have had to rely on. That first image of the bird is not mine. I wish I knew who captured that picture. Isn't it the cutest thing ever? It melts me. That's exactly the stage of life I feel I am in. My little "birds" still under my wings. I know this season of life will change but I'm not in any hurry. When I saw that picture of the mama bird it reminded me of my little girls hanging on my legs. The picture above is of my lily-pie hanging on me. She's the sweetest little girl around. It's for real. I want to just bottle her up. I'll post some of my pictures from my phone from this summer. I don't want them to get lost on my computer. My little birdies are growing up too fast.

Gwen's First Day of Preschool (again)

Gwen was super excited about going to preschool today. It's her second year (she's a December birthday and missed the kindergarten cut-off) so she was not nervous a bit this morning. She was VERY excited about her backpack and also that her hair is long enough now to wear in a pony tail. After I took these pictures Gwen asked if she could just walk across the street and back so that everyone could see how "bootiful" she looked. I couldn't stop smiling. Classic.

First Day of 2nd Grade!

Today was Elle's first day of 2nd Grade. She was sooo excited. She picked out her dress and of course her school bag. No backpack for her this year, she wanted a shoulder bag. The class lists came out last Friday telling her who was in her class and what teacher she was going to get. She hit the jackpot. An amazing teacher and a class packed full of her friends. We made it a family affair this morning walking her to her new class. She had the whole family at her send-off. I was just so happy to see how happy and excited she was as we waved good-bye to her from her classroom door. It's going to be a good year...I can feel it.

Biker Chicks

We took Gwen's training wheels off again. I say "again" because she actually learned how to ride without them quite some time ago but Jon put them back on her bike to "slow her down". She's our daredevil and it was flat out dangerous. The training wheels are off now for good and she couldn't be happier. She really has no fear. It's scary and amusing all at the same time. Elle was her voice of reason and took her around the paths in our neighborhood this afternoon as they were waiting for lily to wake up from her nap and for me to load up the car. Every morning they put their bathing suits on in hopes that I will take them to the beach or the pool. We hit the pool this afternoon. Their outfits are crazy and I'm also just now noticing their little baggies of animal crackers they have with them- so darn cute.

He Did It (again)

My Jonnie raced the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race this year.

Remember last year?

Well, this year his time was an impressive 8 hours 11 minutes.

He received the much acclaimed "under 9 hours belt buckle".

I'm soo proud of him.

Better late than never...

Jon took this picture of us this morning with my phone when the girls hopped in bed with us to snuggle. I LOVE this about summer mornings. No rushing to get everyone up and dressed. It's the BEST!

I am now on instagram (the free iphone app) and I must say I am loving getting pictures of my friends throughout my day on my phone. It's really so fun. As it is with all trends, I am usually the last to know. This one is no exception. Thanks to my friend Stacey, I am now on and my username is amymcgee

Join me! (megan, briar, josie and jake...do it)

My Gwen

This little girl has a BIG personality. She makes me laugh each and every day. I love this picture of her with her bike helmet on and in her very favorite doggy shirt. This will always be my image of her as a little girl - a big smile and her bike helmet.

She was upset with me the other day and said, " Mom, someday I'm going to get in my pink car and drive away from you!" She was very serious but I couldn't help but smile because I loved that she added that her car would be pink. See, she's funny and I adore her.

Lily's Party

Lily's party details included just the five of us in our backyard with chocolate chip cookies. It was perfect and the best part was seeing how much she loved getting ALL of the attention for a change. She was beaming when we sang happy birthday to her. Adorable. The princess dress was a big hit - look how proud she is as her daddy helped her put it on. Around her neck is a portable princess CD player. I can barely get it off of her for her naps and bedtime. It's been around her neck (and the music it plays has been in my ears) for the past 4 days straight.

It's good to be 2.

Look Who's 2!

My Lily-pie turned 2 yesterday. It's hard to believe. I can't even express how much I love her. She is the sweetest little girl ever. If she ever hears music she'll walk straight over to me and put her hands up. She loves for me to hold her and dance. Lily's just starting to talk and usually I am the only one who can understand her. My favorite thing is when I ask her something and her answer is yes, she looks me straight in the eye and just does one single large nod with her head. It's so cute. She's my little side-kick all day and I wouldn't have it any other way. She is a happy little girl through and through. I can't believe I get to call her mine.

I love you, Lily. Forever.

My Lily

Catch-up

I am quite behind with my pictures as of late. With school out and everyone home all day everyday I seem to not get much done. We've had lots of beach and pool days, Elle had her birthday and Jon and I just returned from an amazing weekend in Vail, Colorado with friends. We were there for Jon to train for his upcoming mountain bike race next month. I had never been to vail and I must say I now can't wait to go back. It was unbelievably beautiful. And for the record, how cute is Jon?

A total keeper.

White

I decided to paint our front room bright white. I did love the grey color but my walls had been grey for almost 7 years now and I wanted a change. I finally saved enough and ordered the white belgian linen draperies from restoration hardware. I ordered one panel each month and then the next few months I ordered the drapery rods one at a time. Well, it paid off and finally I had everything I needed to give our front room a new look. As soon as the primer started going onto the walls I got nervous but I'm so glad I went for it. It is really pretty.

The windows in this room are hard to work with - the one behind the green chest was tricky because it is not centered on that wall. I wondered how to deal with it but decided on just ignoring the window and putting draperies along the whole wall to disguise the fact that it's off centered. It worked and it is so much more visually appealing to me now.

Jon's a good sport when i do all of these things to our home. I made him hang the curtain rods at 11:30 at night. He looked at me and said, "right now? are you serious?" I shook my head yes. He's a very good husband. I asked him how he liked it once it was all done and he said, "if you're happy, i'm happy."

Well, Jonnie - I'm very happy.

Elle

This is Elle's Birthday month. She's turning 7 and I can hardly believe it.

4th of July

and to prove I really was with my family ...

We had a very happy 4th of July. Swimming and BBQ with cousins during the day and a fun firework show that night. We danced with the live band, the kids went on carnival rides and the firework show did not disappoint. Such a fun day.

Patio

Our back patio had a facelift this weekend. The girls love to eat their meals in the backyard and so I decided to fix it up a bit for the Summer. The biggest difference happens to be our new table and chairs but I somehow didn't get a picture of that. I found them at an antique shop. It's a weathered white round table that I LOVE. I also found this perfectly weathered bistro chair. Isn't it great? I loved the color of it and wasn't quite sure what I would do with it once I got it home but I knew we "needed" it. Later in the day Elle went with me to get flowers for our new table and we came home with flowers and also this old whiskey barrel. I love how it looks from our back door. I also love Lily in the background pushing her baby around in a stroller.

~ happy summer ~

Ballet

I'm not sure which Gwen loves more - ballet or her ballet teacher, Miss Theresa.

I think however that this picture says it all.

Father's Day

A Happy Father's Day

The 2 most important men in my life...

My Jonnie and my dad.

I love you both sooo much.

Elle made a card for Jon all by herself and was so excited to present it to her daddy.

She listed her favorite things about him.

Here is Elle's list in her own words:

Daddy - Here are the things I love about you!

1. you are nice to me

2. you smell good

3. you dress good

4. you are a good sport to me

5. you take really good care of me

6. you have good parents

7. you help me when I am sad

8. you give me fun stuff

9. you give good hugs

10. you give me good kisses

Pretty cute, huh? To see it in her 6 year old printing makes it even more adorable. We're saving it forever, for sure. Gwen and Lily gave their daddy his favorite candy, licorice and hot tamales. We presented all of his presents to him with breakfast in bed of course. I can't get over how excited they get about everything. So sweet.

We had a very happy father's day.

Tap

As you can imagine, Gwen was over the moon with excitement the day her tap dancing costume arrived. It's so cute on her. All she keeps telling me is "mom, you want to see my maxie ford?" I die.

I think I learned the maxie ford step when I was her same age.

She had a dress rehearsal in her class on Friday. Her eyes were glued on me during the entire dance making sure I caught every move. It was so cute. I love that part of being a mom. They're soo excited to show you everything. I made sure I made a big deal about the whole dance and of course how cute she looked. And what did I tell her I loved the best out of the whole routine...? The maxie ford steps of course.

Sisters

This morning I was upstairs trying to get everything ready to head out for swimming lessons and came downstairs to Elle in her jammies dancing with Lily. Elle said, "mama, Lily was sad and so I got her a baba (our word for sippy cup) and put music on to dance with her." I walked into the front room to this sight of Elle holding Lily tightly and dancing. Oh how I love them. I love that they love one another. What Elle was doing with Lily was exactly what I have done with her and also what she sees me doing with her sisters. It was so sweet to see Elle comforting her sister the way she has been comforted. Ellers, I love you.

Crunch!

Gwen and Lily set up camp on our trampoline this morning. Gwen took out quilts, stuffed animals, snacks and of course their pillow-pets. I found them just like this munching on apples all snuggled up next to each other. Lily is quickly leaving her baby stage behind (which makes me sad) and is now just one of the girls. Gwen is LOVING the company.

All Mine

I have said this many times but living with little kids is like having your very own cartoon characters running around your home. It's the best and I never tire of it.

School Carnival

Elle's elementary school had their annual carnival. The excitement level about this event was pretty high. On the day of the carnival the rides were being set up before school let out. Blow-up bounce houses covered the school yard and I can only imagine what a big deal that was for the kids to see while at recess. As I was driving Gwen and her friends around that day, every time we passed the school the preschoolers in the back of my car would start yelling and pointing. Jon came home from work early and we went as a family. Gwen won the cake walk which was a HUGE deal to her. She was able to go to a large table with her winning ticket and choose any cake she wanted. She chose the one with mounds of frosting in rainbow colors and on top balanced a big plastic crab. She was beaming and very proud. Elle spent the majority of her time waiting in line for the trampoline jump. They were hooked up with harnesses and were able to jump (in elle's words) super-duper high. Yes it was crowded and the lines were long but really, as a parent there is nothing better than watching your little ones be so excited and happy. Totally worth it.

Memorial Day

We spent memorial day at the beach. It was pure heaven for me and made me so excited for summertime. Jon was able to surf with his brother, Syd and the girls had fun trying to spot which black spots out in the ocean were uncle syddles and their daddy. Lily never tired of the sand toys and Elle and Gwen spent most of their time on their boogie boards. I came home with splotchy burned legs which is completely typical of my first time out each summer. Can't wait for more days just like this.