Independence Day 2011

     This year one of my good friends invited us to her family gathering on the 4th of July. I hadn't seen her in awhile so it was awesome to catch up on everything. Amidst the usual chatter she asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding! (I accepted.) While we talked, the girls made friends with her niece. They had a great time learning to hula hoop and hanging out in the yard. After eating dinner we sat outside and enjoyed the fireworks that were only a few blocks away.

Rauls reading while we were waiting for the show to begin.

Watching. (And screeeeaming at every one.)

Cheeeeese

Thank you, Rice's, for letting us enjoy the holiday with you!

SKILLS--Robbing Banks

Partners in Crime

SKILLS--Archeology

"Hey, Mom! I found a dinosaur tooth! It's a real one! Can we keep it?"

Night Bugs

     A few nights ago the girls got to catch lightning bugs with their cousin, Jayla. Nana found some jars to keep the critters, dubbed "night bugs," in and we spent a good twenty minutes filling them up. I then directed the girls to the bathroom where we shut off the lights and watched them glow. The older girls were intrigued, but Raulee just kept saying, "I can't see! I can't see!"

     Before we went inside I took some pictures of the girls with their jars. Jayla's parents and I were laughing about how, with a few photoshop edits, these could be a glimpse into their (hopefully distant) future.

Cheers!

Skills: Hiding and Being Seeked

While playing Hide and Seek:

Aubree: "Raaaaauuulee....where are you?"

Raulee: "I'm hiding!"

Raulee's First Movie. With a twist of Mishap.

     Aubree's first movie theater experience was watching Shrek: Forever After with my sister and I. She sat quietly munching popcorn throughout most of the movie and thereafter told everyone she spoke to that she had finally been to a "movie gator." (Which she still calls it.)

     Yesterday, I enlisted the help of my other sister and took both girls to see Cars 2. This was Raulee's first time. Things went well until Raulee needed to go to the bathroom. After realizing that I had no diapers in the car, I decided to brave the remainder of the movie sans diaper. She has been doing well with potty training recently and successfully went in the toilet in one of the hundred stalls in the bathroom, after which we returned to our seats. About half-way through she really started bopping around and I could see that as much as I wanted her to sit still and watch the movie she was, after all, a two year old. I decided to hold her on my lap. A few minutes into this seating arrangement she went ahead and relieved herself (again!) right then and there.

     I left Aubree with my sister, ran home and changed the both of us, and got back in time to enjoy the end of the movie.



SKILLS: Doing Laundry

Raulee's handiwork:

She decided to wash her pants after a potty-training session.

SKILLS: Murdering Tires

      I unknowingly drove from somewhere in Indiana (I think) to Oneida, IL on this beauty:

This was my first murder.

Later in the week, a different tire was slain, presumably in the driveway since another car that frequented there also had the same tire meet it's demise.

That's three.

Before driving to Illinois again later in the month, the front left tire had to be replaced due to a not so slow leak.

Four.

And then on the journey itself....In the middle of Indiana, around 10pm, while cruising down the interstate...I had the remaining tire blow out. Luckily, it only took me twenty minutes to change it and the girls were watching a movie on the laptop the whole time so they didn't see my not-so-graceful flailing about while I was trying to get the lugnuts off. They (hopefully) didn't hear what I was muttering, either.

Five tires in a month. Seriously?

Nana and Papa's Growing Farm

     The girls and I visited Nana and Papa's farm in mid-March and were surprised by the new arrivals in the Damer family. Aubree and Raulee really enjoyed helping Nana with chores early each morning and I really enjoyed sleeping in while they did so. I managed to drag myself out of bed early enough one morning to get some pictures, though.

Feeding chickens in the chicken coop.

Rauls checking out the new baby chickens.

Harry the rooster. (We ate him later in the month in some chicken noodle soup.)

The two new calves, Ricochet and Curly. (Who will eventually be eaten.)

Aubree helping her little sis feed the horses.

Meeting the new baby turkeys. (They're huge now.)