Love of Learning....

Lately my girls are like little sponges.  The absorb everything and are constantly wanting to learn more.  I love it!  We probably go to the library two, if not three times every week.  They LOVE to read and can't get enough.  We just completed the summer reading program.....reading more than 4000 pages since the end of May.  We are very fortunate to have such an incredible library in our city that makes learning so fun.  I hope their love of reading continues!

(photo was taken while waiting to get their completion certificates for the summer reading program)

Another build and grow event.....

This past Saturday we attended another Build And Grow Event at our local Lowe's hardware store.  My girls absolutely LOVE these events.  They take such pride in knowing that they built something by themselves (or with mom and dad's help).  In their little eyes, they built it and they get all the credit.  We love these little clinics!  Hopefully, my girls will grow up to be more proficient with a hammer than I am!

 

Addison with her completed car.

 

Alexis with her race car.  Although you can see one of the stickers from the wheel is missing.  When she discovered the sticker had come off, you would of thought the world was coming to an end. 

And my never ending attempts to get a photo of both of them.  This was the best I could do.

Coffee Table Fun.....

 

 

The amount of pretend play in our house lately has been off the charts. The imaginations of these two never ceases to amaze me. Most recently their My Little Ponies have been going on some interesting adventures. I love it when I catch them playing pretend. I also love it when they play together without fighting. Watching them become best friends every day just melts my heart!!

 

Ronald McDonald...

I think I have mentioned numerous time how great our local library is.  The girls attended another fabulous event last week.  They are still talking about story time with Ronald McDonald.  Sadly this was during the day and I was at work.  But I made sure that Terry took the camera.



 

 

The girls keep telling me how funny Ronald was.  The both want to learn how to juggle now.  Watching them try is hysterical!

 

Addison wasn't so sure about Ronald.

 

Alexis was in love with him. 

Birthday Party Fun....

This past weekend the girls attended a birthday party for their BFF from pre-school.  They were super excited to go to Josie's 4th birthday party. 

Josie's party had a Doc McStuffin theme.   If you are not familiar....Doc McStuffin is a toy doctor and runs a clinic in her playhouse.  Cute kids show that my girlies are totally into right now.  The girls brought their favorite stuffed animal to give a check up to.

 

The girls with Josie.

 

Coloring their Doc coloring sheet.

 

Josie's Mom had a cute little clinic set up for check ups.

 

Their surgical masks were slightly big, but still cute nonetheless.

 

And this is how my girls eat cupcakes....or should I say this is how my girls eat frosting?

All dressed up....

 

 One of my BFF's (Sherri) made these adorable dresses for the girls for their birthday.

 

She is so talented.  I wish I was half as crafty! 

 

 

 

I can only get my girls to pose nicely with the promise of taking a "silly face" photo.  Such goof balls these two!!! 

 

 

Child Labor????

I love that my girls LOVE to help.  Everyday they are becoming more and more independent.  This past weekend one of the things on our agenda was cleaning up the girls room and finding a new room darkening curtain for their window. (I neglected to photograph the super cute curtain I found)  This process included picking up all the toys, re-organizing the books and getting rid of the baby books, some baby toys, changing the sheets, vacuuming and just straightening up in general.  Their room was in desperate need of a cleaning, as it appeared a small tornado has recently blown through!

Alexis was adamant that she was going to do the vacuuming and Addison was going to "reorganize" all of their toys.  Surprisingly, I didn't have to do much.  I was able to clean the entire upstairs bathroom while they cleaned their room.

These pictures are not the best but I wanted to capture this moment:

 

Alexis is actually fairly good at vacuuming.  She is strong and can actually push the sweeper.

 

 

Addison struggled a little bit but managed to help a little.

 

Both of the girlies were completely mesmerized by my little carpet cleaner, the spot bot!!  We had a mishap with some juice upstairs.  This thing works wonders.  They seriously didn't move for eight minutes watching this thing work it's magic.

 

I'm hoping the girls are as willing to help me next weekend when I attack the basement playroom.  If you don't hear from my in awhile....it's because I'm stuck in the basement trapped beneath piles and piles of toys and books!!!

No cavities!!!

 

NO CAVITIES......Was music to my ears!!!!

 

 Because of the oxygen levels they received after birth,  the girls neonatal doctors always warned us to be careful with the girls gums and teeth.  Another successful trip to the dentist makes me very happy!

 

 

I was a little disappointed with the dental office this visit.  I specifically asked for the girls appointments to be back to back....like 4:00 & 4:30, instead of at the same time.  I specified this numerous times when I scheduled the appointment.  Unfortunately, they didn't book them that way.  Luckily, Alexis was ok with going by herself and didn't even care that Mom wasn't right by her side.  She is growing up so quickly.  Addison is a little more reserved and takes awhile to warm up to people.  Addison didn't want me taking her picture during her appointment, but I was able to sneak one!!

STL Zoo....

Ok, so this will be my last post about our St. Louis trip.  I'm finally wrapping up going through several hundred photos. 

On our last full day in Missouri we decided to visit the zoo.  This zoo really puts our Indianapolis Zoo to shame.  In three hours we barely covered any ground.  In Indy you can pretty much see everything in less than two hours.

Here are a few photos:

 

Posing for a photo with the elephant at the zoo entrance.

 

Any one who is from Missouri or has been to the STL zoo, knows that this gorilla is iconic and has been around for ages.  It makes me smile seeing my girls with this Gorilla.  I wish I had taken the time to look through the old photo albums at my parents house to find the pic of me and my sisters in front of this gorilla.

 

Another photo with Cousin Luke

On our way home we happened to stop at a rest stop for a quick bathroom break.  It worked out perfectly that they had a play ground.  This rest stop will definitely be the one we stop at in the future.  It gave the girls the chance to run off some energy and Mom the chance to stretch her legs.

 

 

 

Addison told me that "rest stops with playgrounds are her fav".

More Fourth of July Fun....

Grandma was able to score this really neat water slide/pool for the kiddos to play with. 

My girls were in love.

 

 

 

 

After playing in the pool for awhile we came inside to get cleaned up to go to the fireworks.  I love this cute photo of Addison while she was waiting to go.

 

This was the girls first experience seeing fireworks.  I was asked on multiple occasions why the girls had never seen fireworks before.  Well their first two years alive, we opted not to take them since it doesn't get dark until after 9:30 in Indiana.  Our fireworks shows generally don't start until around 10:15.  And last year due to the drought and the burn bans the fireworks were cancelled.  So, they were pretty excited to see them.

 

Unfortunately, about ten minutes prior to the fireworks starting I was pelted in the back of my head/neck with a full force football.  Some kids were tossing a ball around and It smacked me hard in the head.  I'm fairly certain that I had a minor concussion.  I don't remember much of the fireworks, but I do remember Alexis' eyes.  I have never seen her eyes opened so wide.  She was mesmerized.  I also remember my Mom holding Addison's ears.  That is all I can recollect. 

 

I do remember helping my mom get the girls to be that night.  After helping Alexis brush her teeth I told her to go get in her bed, while Addison brushed her teeth.  I walked into the room to find this:

 

 

 

Alexis was so excited about all the fireworks still going off that she couldn't handle it.  She was standing on the bed, under the curtains, looking out the window.  When I asked her what she was doing she responded with "but Mom, I am 'on' my bed". 

 

I am bummed that I was so taken out by the football to the head that I didn't get any photos of the girls witnessing their first firework show.  :-(

 

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On Friday evening we had a super yummy dinner with my sister at Cheeburger Cheeburger.  I literally ate so much that my stomach hurt.  It was so good.

 

 

 

The girls were loving the onion rings. 

 

 

 

And Cousin Luke entertaining....

 

 

Some after dinner photos...... I was asked on several occasions where I got the girls patriotic apparel from. All of their outfits came from Kohls.

 

 

Grant's Farm.....PART TWO.

Here is the continuation of out Grant's Farm visit.  I'm going to let the photos do the explaining....

 

 

 

Posing for a photo op with Cousin Luke.

 

 

At first the camel started by taking the carrot out of your hand....

 

Then he just got lazy and started opening his mouth for you to throw it in.

 

Notice the slobber.  The girls still talk about the camels eating carrots.

Another photo op in front of the Clydesdale wagon.  At this point the girls were getting a little worn out, so the photo isn't the best.

 

Petting a baby Clydesdale.

 

After this photo was taken we decided to go back to Grandma's for a nap and some swimming before the fireworks that evening.

 

Stay tuned for more about our trip!