Here we are already in the middle of August! My goodness, where has the summer gone? I can't believe it's almost State Fair time!
After being on vacation for the first full week in July, we got right back into the swing of things around here. The month of July was very hot and humid! We did manage to get plenty of outdoor time outside though (mostly in the morning hours-before it got too hot!).
On July 12th, we had visits from Caden, Parker, Baylee and Livy. The hula-hoops were the hit of the day with the girls.
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| Baylee and Parker with the hula-hoops. |
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| Livy shares with Parker. |
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| Parker tries out the big hoop. |
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| Big slide time! |
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| Caden is busy fighting off evil with his dual light sabers! |
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| Taking turns on the swing. |
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| Fun in the playhouse! |
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| Back to the hula-hoops. |
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| Baylee and Livy. |
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| Baylee's beautiful smile! |
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| Silly Caden clowning around during lunch! |
Thursday, July 14th was a busy day here with visits from Parker, Maggie, Shelby, Alex, Drew, Luke and even Jackson! We had both inside and outside play that day. I have lots of pictures from that day!
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| Parker checks out (and approves of) Maggie's new infant pop-up gym. |
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| Music time in the basement. |
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| Alex takes his music seriously as Parker dances away! |
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| Drew joins in on the fun. |
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| Playing with the pirate ship. |
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| Maggie loves watching all the action around her. |
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| Parker-my little book lover! |
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| Jackson proudly shows off his Super Why! costume. |
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| Cool birthday costume Jackson! |
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| Movie time! |
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| Adorable baby alert!!! |
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| Alex in motion. |
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| Outdoor fun. |
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| Cops and Robbers is a popular play theme. |
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| Luke on his favorite bike. |
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| Jackson-my little artist! |
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| Everyone loves to play with Andrew. |
Wednesday, July 20th, we had visits from Shelby, Alex, Maggie and my niece Katherine. The fun toy of the day was a new Disney Princess book that had a view machine to watch on the wall. Andrew read the stories while Shelby and Alex took turns inserting and turning the special disks at the appropriate times.
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| Trying out the viewer. |
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| Lights out...it works, it works! |
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| Katherine just loved Maggie! |
Thursday, July 21st, we had visits from Shelby, Alex, Maggie, Parker and Jackson. Maggie sat in the baby walker for the first time and did wonderful! The day was beautiful and sunny so we spent most of it outside and even enjoyed a picnic lunch!
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| Maggie's first time in the baby walker! |
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| Chalk artists |
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| Andrew and Shelby shoot some hoops. |
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| Shelby in action. |
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| Fun in the zebra tent. |
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| Maggie loved hanging out in the outdoor bassinet. |
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| Plenty of room to play and protected from the mosquitoes! |
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| Perfect day for a picnic! |
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| Parker loves riding in the car. |
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| Awww...matching outfits! How cute! |
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| Parker just loves Baby Maggie! |
Friday, July 22nd we had Caden and Parker, Maggie and Madi here. The only picture I took that day was a picture of Madi and Parker.
Wednesday, July 27th was a busy one here. We had visits from Maggie, Shelby, Alex, Madi, Drew, Luke and Rocco! I know, that's a lot of children! They were all very well behaved though. It was a beautiful morning so we loaded up the children and decided to go on a nature walk.
We walked down by the park and around several blocks looking around at our surroundings and trying to see how many different animals (and other interesting things) we could see. We spotted several different birds, some dogs, and a rabbit. We also saw many different kinds of flowers all in bloom. Drew and Luke were very observant about how many boats were parked in the different driveways! It was a very fun walk!
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| Enjoying our nature walk! |
We spent some of our afternoon time playing downstairs. The race car track was the hot toy of the afternoon.
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| Giggles and laughter at the race track. (Look at Drew and Alex's faces!) |
We also spent part of our quiet time reading books in the living room. It was as quiet as a library while everyone enjoyed some great reading time!
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| Reading fun. |
OK, I know this picture is blurry but I loved her smile here.
Here's one that's not blurry.
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| Isn't she adorable? |
Lastly, Shelby and Alex were the only ones who were able to color some pictures of what they saw while on our nature walk today. I think they did a great job, don't you?
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| Beautiful artwork! |
Thursday, July 28th was our July Birthday celebration party. Jackson and Madi both have birthdays in July so we had one party for both of them. We pulled out the giant inflatable cake and had mini cupcakes for dessert. Yum yum! Then the birthday children got to open their presents! Oh what fun!
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| Birthday girl, Madi! |
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| Birthday boy, Jackson! |
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| Ready for a mini cupcake! |
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| Yum yum! |
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| Madi enjoys her cupcake. |
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| Jackson can't wait to open his present! |
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| He wanted to play with it right away! |
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| Madi is ready to open her gift too! |
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| Summer birthdays are the best! |
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| The children "blew out the candles" on the cake. |
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| Jackson was wore out after all the fun he had at his party! |
Kids & Cops Day!!!
Finally, July 29th, the day the children had been waiting for: Kids and Cops Day! The day was sunny and warm. We loaded up with sunscreen and headed to the Crystal Shopping center to enjoy a fun-filled afternoon. Rocco, Madi, Andrew, and my nephew David all got to go and have a blast. They enjoyed ice cold water, popcorn, games, gift bags, dance contests, prizes, face-painting, inflatable bounce houses and obstacle courses, and all kinds of other things to see and do! Everyone had a great time as you can see.
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| Andrew gets his face painted. |
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| Finished product. |
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| Madi getting her face painted. |
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| Rocco getting his face painted. |
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| Rocco and his cool shark! |
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| Madi and her cute puppy! |
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| In the bounce house. |
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| Dancing with the Radio Disney crew. |
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| Watching the karate demonstration. |
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| Madi proudly shows the bag she won in the dance contest. |
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| David and Andrew enjoyed some fun at the video game trailer. |
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| Rocco and Madi (in the middle) enjoy more dancing fun. |
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| Gettin' down and having fun! |
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| Petting the police dog. |
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| Rocco tries the bean bag toss. |
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| Madi tries the bean bag game too. |
Finally, here are a few pictures of Parker trying out the new toy in the infant/toddler side of the play area downstairs. There are lights that light up and fun sounds and music that play when you move different parts of the toy. Parker loved it. Looks like it's a new favorite!
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| Parker tries out the new toy. |
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| Turning on the light. |
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| Closing the door. |
That wraps up all of the July pictures. Hope you enjoyed them. Sorry you had to wait so long for them. August pictures will be coming soon! Bye for now!
