June 30

Pictures 37, 38, 39

Daphne is learning to feed herself with a spoon.

It is really just easier to eat straight from the bowl!

A close-up for Grandpa Steve - don't you just love that gooey face?!

So I made it through the month of June. I think I only missed 2 days of pictures - not too bad. Although, I have probably spoiled the grandparents - they will expect this all the time!! Ha ha!!

June 29

Pictures 35 & 36

Who needs Mr. Potato Head when you have a little sister?

June 28

So. . . . I didn't take any pictures today.

Our day started out at 5:20 - Lucy decided that was an appropriate time to get up for the day. That didn't go over well. She is getting up earlier and earlier and I have no idea what to do about it. If we send her back to bed, she ends up waking Norah and then eventually, Daphne. I do not want this to become a habit. I am open to suggestions!!!

The girls had swim lessons this morning and they are doing great!!!

Knowing that it was going to be a long day, we invited ourselves over to the Morrison's pool for the afternoon. Poor Heather - besides inviting myself to her pool, she also usually helps with at least one of my kids. Her kids are fish - seriously, it is amazing. Mine - not so much. Well, Daphne thinks she is a fish, but since she isn't it is a little tricky to keep a hand on her and help Norah and Lucy swim. I totally should have taken my camera, but I forgot. The kids had a blast!! We were there for several hours, and then we headed to the library for a quick visit, then home. The kids were exhausted and crashed by 7.

Hopefully, Lucy will sleep later tomorrow morning!!

June 27

Pictures 31, 32, 33, 34

Your guess is as good as mine.

Kevin took these through the window - the girls didn't know we were watching.

June 26

Picture #30

Wow! That is some hair-do!

June25

Picture #29

Lemonade Stand!

Norah, Lucy, Savannah, and Sawyer had a lemonade stand today!! They made about $12 total - honestly, not as much as I thought considering it was so warm. They were hilarious trying to sell lemonade. We were having a garage sale at the same time so as soon as someone new started walking up the driveway, the kids would yell, "Lemonade for sale! Lemonade for sale!" They would sometimes yell it until the person walked away. They also were a little skimpy on the amount of lemonade they gave people. We had to remind them to FILL the cups up. Cracked us up.

June 24

Picture #28

Daphne now walks around with her hands turned up in a question. I totally remember Norah and Lucy doing this and I LOVE it.

June 23

Pictures 26 & 27

The girls started swim lessons this week. At first Lucy was not sure about going - last year she totally freaked out and cried and would only sit on the cement about a foot from the actual pool. I was really hoping it would go better this year. She had 2 major requests - that her class was in the little pool and that she had a girl teacher. She is in the little pool, but her teacher is a guy. She wasn't too disappointed, though. By the second day, she was saying, "I love my boy teacher! I just love him." After just 3 days of lessons, they are really doing well. We have a week left and the girls are excited to get to go all week!!

June 22

Picture 25

Daphne's new favorite activity is taking ALL the books off the bookshelf, sitting on/in them and looking at them one at a time. While I don't love picking up all the books, but I do love that she likes to sit and look at books.

June 21

Pictures #23 & 24

Chile

We are cheering on Chile today! Norah is sporting her Chilean soccer outfit. Lucy has one too - the white one, but she didn't really want to wear it when she saw that Chile was wearing red today.

Happy Father's Day

Picture #22

I know the light is bad, but we were in a hurry to get to church today so I just snapped some pics and didn't check to see what they looked like. Oh well - at least they are all smiling!!! Amazing! Oh, and I need to add that Norah is NOT happy that her dress is not showing. She did not like it that I told her to stand in the back! Ha!

Happy Father's Day to Kevin - You are the BEST daddy our little girls could ask for. While playing dress-up or Polly Pockets may not be at the top of your list of things to play, we all adore you for it!! We love you!!

I should point out that Kevin spent his morning at church helping 45 kindergarteners and 1st graders making Father's Day crafts for their dads - that is a servant. It was utter chaos as we tried to help the kids use glue dots to glue all of their little pieces down. While we were both sweating by the time we were done, Kevin worked hard to make sure every kid finished their craft before their parent's came to pick them up.

Happy Father's Day to my dad - I am sorry it didn't work out to be with you today, but please know that I am thankful for you. Thank you for loving me and for teaching me about God's love for His Son. Thank you for faithfully taking my to church every Sunday so I could grow in my faith. Thank you for loving my girls!! We love you!!

Happy Father's Day to Kevin's dad - Thank you for raising Kevin to be the loving and faithful dad and husband. Thank you for teaching him about God's love for His Son! We love you!

June 19

Picture #21

The girls are enjoying time with our friend, Macy! I think they were "on an airplane."

June 18

Picture #20

Hmm. So serious. This is not the norm for Daphne!

June 17

Picture #19

Last night, I was so busy admiring my little pumpkin that I failed to notice the gargantuan zucchini growing in our garden. That banana is a fairly large banana and yes, the zucchini is longer and MUCH fatter.

17 Months

What?!? Did I really just right 17 months? Well, it is the truth. Daphne is 17 months and SO much of a toddler!! Here are a few updates:

1. Daphne is signing all the time now. She has added all done, thank you, and milk to the list of signs. She signs please in any and every situation. If she wants something she isn't supposed to have she signs please, if she wants something someone else has, she signs please, etc. It is hard telling her no sometimes because she is so cute when she signs!!

2. So in addition to mama, dada, nana (for banana), ba (ball) and ruru (her barking), Daphne now says rah rah (for Norah), bubbu (bubbles), bipa (long i - as she is saying diaper), meme (mine), and dow (down). I am guessing that I am missing some - but those are the most common words she says.

3. Daphne can now come down the stairs quite confidently. She sits on her bottom, scoots to the top step and scoots down on her bottom one step at a time. She is quite proud of herself when she gets to the bottom.

4. Thankfully, Daphne is not screeching so much, but she really wants her voice to be heard. If Norah or Lucy are talking, Daphne seems to think she needs to be talking as well. She just repeats the words she does know over and over so we all can hear her.

5. Daphne can throw. Seriously, that girl has an arm!! She can throw a ball - probably further than her sisters can even now! She is constantly throwing toys, food, etc. and whatever she throws, flies across the room!!

6. Kevin and I joke that Daphne does everything with a purpose. When she is done eating, she signs all done and then before we can get to her, she launches her food across the kitchen. If you tell her to sit down, she FLOPS to her bottom. If you ask her to set something down, she slams it down.

7. Just as of this week, Daphne has started hitting. Urgh. Not a fun stage to be in. She will hit Norah or Lucy for no reason. She seems awfully young to be hitting so much - but with 2 sisters, she mimics their behaviors.

June 16

Picture #18

That's right, folks. That is a pumpkin. Having grown up in the Pumpkin Capital of the World, I am pumped that we have a pumpkin growing. Maybe we could take ours back to Morton and win the weigh off. Although I may be getting ahead of myself since our pumpkin is about the size of a baseball!! A girl can dream. . . . .

June 15

Picture #17

Kevin and the girls are watching the rain. Norah begged Kevin to stay home today - claiming that it was raining too hard for him to go into work. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful in her attempt.

June 14

Picture #16

A little sprinkler action

June 13

Picture #15

Ready for church

June 12

Oops. I didn't take any pictures today!! We had a crazy, but fun day today. Norah had her last soccer game - it was so hot, but the girls on our team were such troopers!! Then the girls had ice cream right after with the Morrison's.

We headed home for a quick rest time and then off again for an End of the Year BBQ with our homeschool friends. The kids had swimsuits on and played in the pools and water table - even though it rained off and on the entire time!!

It was a long, busy, fun week so the girls CRASHED at bedtime tonight!!!

I will be back tomorrow with some pics!!

June 11

Picture #14

Daphne seemed to enjoy her alone time with mommy this week. We played a lot and ran a lot of errands. It is amazing how easy errands are when you only have one kid!! Daphne was always glad to see her sisters when we went to pick them up from VBS!

June 10

Picture #13

Norah and Lucy had VBS this week and had a GREAT time. Lucy is already talking about next year. They music and skits are amazing at our VBS - it is like a full-blown musical!! Lucy's favorite part of the week was the hayride with the Clydesdales and Norah's was singing "Happy Day" in the dark while the music team had glow in the dark shirts!! Thursday night was Family Night - all the kids were given a puppet. The puppets were donated to the church - there had to be close to 1,000.

June 9

Pictures 10, 11, 12

Norah's soccer game. We are so proud of how well Norah is doing this year!! While she is one of the smaller girls - she is not afraid to get in the middle of things and get the ball.

Lucy and Sawyer - during Norah and Savannah's game. Who knows what they are doing - but they always have a way of entertaining each other. Boy is Lucy going to miss Sawyer when they move!!

It was a hot, exhausting game!!

June 8

Picture #9

Lucy and Norah snapped our green beans for dinner. While we were eating, I commented that the green beans were so yummy. Lucy gobbled hers up and said, "We did a great job with the green beans!"

Decorating Ideas

I have decided to redecorate Daphne's room. I have some many little projects to get done that I am going to attempt One Project a Month . . . again.

While I really liked what we chose for our baby room at the time, I am ready for a change. I thought we were choosing something neutral - since we didn't know what we were having and I knew we wouldn't be changing our baby bedding with each kid. Now after having 3 girls, Daphne's room looks sort of boyish to me. We chose an "Americana" theme - tan, navy, and red. I love our quilt - my grandma made it for Norah - so it will be going on her bed to sleep with or in her keepsake box for awhile. (I will post before and after pics).

Anyway, I have some ideas floating around, but I am looking for more. I don't want to spend a lot of money and I know some of you are great at redecorating on a budget.

The walls are going to be "barely pink" and I bought a fabric that I love for the windows. What I need are some suggestions for wall decor and such. I want to go with a cottage style look - light colors and light and airy accessories.

Here are some pics of the fabric I bought for the curtains:

June 7

Picture #8

Norah reading to Lucy!! I love it!!

I wanted to encourage Norah's independent reading this summer so we are using the Summer Reading Challenge chart from here. Norah and Lucy each have a chart - Norah only marks off books she reads herself and Lucy marks off books that are read to her. The girls decided what they will do when they reach their 75 points. Norah wants to have a friend sleep over and Lucy wants to go on a picnic.

Did you take a picture today? Link up here so we can see your summer fun!!

June 6

Picture #7

Daphne LOVES to be outside in the kiddie pool!! She usually screams when we bring her back inside. Yes, she keeps the hat on . . . most of the time.

Did you take a picture today? Link here so we can see your summer fun!!

June 5

Picture #6

Mommy and Lucy after a great (HOT!) day at the ballpark with the Morrison's!

Did you post a picture today? Link up here!!

June 4

Pictures 4 & 5

Lucy is REALLY enjoying her donut!!

Celebrating Norah's last day of kindergarten!! Woohoo!! She is officially a first-grader!!

June 3

Picture #3

Is there anything more fun than orange soccer cones? I mean, really?

June 2

Picture #2

Norah is sporting the side ponytail.

Want to link up? Post a picture today and add your link here!!

June 14

Picture #16

A little sprinkler action

June 1

I know I have been absent in blogland. Life has been crazy - as it is with most people, but blogging is one thing that I have to let slip by the wayside sometimes.

For the sake of the grandparents, however, I am going to try to post one picture a day for the month of June. (I have taken pics everyday this week - just took some time to get them posted). Anyone else want to join me?

Picture #1 is our garden. Kevin made 3 garden boxes this spring for our garden. He did such a great job and the girls are really enjoying helping tend the garden!! Norah and Lucy are great helpers when it come to weeding!! In our garden we have: tomatoes, peppers, green beans, carrots, squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins. The pumpkins, squash, and cucumbers are already overflowing with vines.

Who else wants to post a picture a day for the month of June? Click the link below!!