July the 4th

We spent the 4th of July in Saratoga Springs with our Anderson cousins. 

Here they are waiting to watch the parade.

 

Three years ago we spent the 4th with them in Idaho. During that parade we needed jackets, this time we needed a fan.

A video of our pre-parade conversation can be found here.

I LOVED the kids in their matching shirts. It made me feel very patriotic.

 

After the parade we wandered around Congress Park, saw ducks, got free balloons, and dipped toes in the fountain.

Miss Nattie J

Talon enjoying crackers and the water

CHEESE Abi

Emily Ann

Mr. Rigdon

Little Liz (Poor girl, it was so hot and muggy. She got all red and splotchy)

Lizzy, Saylor, Emily, Abigail, Natalie, Rigdon, Camille, Talon

 Climbing Camille

Next stop on our 4th of July adventure, Yaddo Gardens.

We love visitors

I don't know who was more excited for the Andersons to come visit New York, me or Miss Abs!

 

There were 8 kids age 5 and under running around the house for 5 days. We had soo much fun. 

Love these matching grins

Saylor loved holding the baby.

She was always asking to hold "it."

Love these sad faces. They must be related

After living in the Middle East I don't think anything could top playing in the rain.  For video action click here.

 The next day they went out and played in the driveway just hoping for more rain!

There was lots of fun with sidewalk chalk

 Abigail and Camille creating a masterpiece together.

Our driveway was taken over by chalk monsters.

One month gone

Aaah, I'm that old already?!

 Chillin' with my kitty

 I'm starting to really like it here.

Almost 2 years in the making

I FINALLY finished Camille's "spiderweb" quilt for her bed.

I royally screwed up on the binding but it got to a point where I didn't care. So it does, indeed, look awful around the edges but it still works as a quilt.

How do you spend Saturday afternoon?

"Hair"s our new look

The girls' hair desperately needed a trim.  Camille said she really wanted to cut her almost to her shoulders. It took a little bit to convince Brad. (I think when he hears "I want my hair shorter" he envisions a pixie cut.) He was hesitant but said I should take her somewhere to get it done. I took her to the Hairport in Greenfield. Ten dollars and six inches later, she was a happy girl. The lady didn't cut it as short as Camille had originally said but I think she was happy with how it turned out. (I think Brad is glad that it's still long.)

Before

 After

 As I'm taking pictures of Camille, Natalie is begging me to take some pictures of her too. I said I'd snap three.

Here's what I got:

 Yup she's Natalie!

I managed to take a before shot of her and then inspired by Camille's "short" hair, I cut Natalie's hair after her bath.

Camille said that her back and neck will be much cooler now and that it's still long enough for me do hairstyles for her. I'm just glad it looks less straggly on the days (Which are more frequent now that baby sister is here and there's no school.)  I don't do it. :)

A "Moth" See

Natalie was excited to show me something on the front porch that Uncle Ryan found.

One awesome looking moth. 

  Pretty big, slightly injured but we put it down and came back later and it was gone. Happy trails Mr. Moth thanks for letting the girls hold you. It made their day.

 Camille's turn

No more pencils...

We made it through the whole school year. Camille did great this school year and can't wait to be a first grader next year.

Look how we've changed over the year.

 

The girls enjoying their "Orange you glad it's summer?" treats.

 

I figured we needed to do something to celebrate summer starting. What better way to celebrate then with orange soda, Cheetos and Reese's peanut butter cups?

I'm glad it's summer. I'll be excited to have a flexible schedule and not having to be dressed for the bus stop. :)

The other girls

Since a lot of the posts of late have been about this little princess

I thought it was about time to document something about the other girls. 

Camille has been taking gymnastics for the past two years. Lately she's been spending a lot of time on the balance beams. They scare her but she loves them at the same time. This summer our gym is moving locations so we'll take a little hiatus for the summer and start back when school starts again.

Camille and Coach Rose

Camille and her class from this year.

Natalie just completed her first year of gymnastics. She loves it. She was SO excited when she turned 3 because it meant that she could do gymnastics just like Camille.

Natalie's class this year.

I love my little gymnasts and hope they love being in gymnastics as much as I love them doing it!

Grandma Myrna, Emily, and Brad attended the last day of class/award ceremony while I was home with a 2 day old baby.