"Rockin' Animals" at Grandma's

Some of Haleigh's most prized treasures are rocks. Each time we get to Grandma and Poppy's house Haleigh will spend countless hours by the pond stacking rocks, washing rocks, sorting rocks...

On this last trip Haleigh usually had her sidekick close by.
The week before our trip to West Virginia I saw a craft in a Family Fun magazine that screamed HALEIGH!

Rocks were gathered and painted (or should I say designed:)

Pop sickle sticks were painted in preparation of becoming legs and noses.Googly eyes were matched and added.

Walla, rock pets were crafted!

Are these cute or what?!

They have since scattered about Grandma's porch plants so they can peek at her and blow kisses from their crafters.

(By the way, the youngest crafter who needed to be picked up early continues to ask to go to Grandma's house every time we get in the car. Haleigh informed her, "you had your chance.")

Thanks for the pics Mom :)
(By the way if you flip through your Family Fun magazine to find this craft they are all frogs, but who could limit such fun to one animal!)

"Grandma Camp"

Last weekend we made the trip to Grandma and Poppy's house. This was the long awaited week that Sophie joins up with her cousins and goes to Vacation Bible School. Our drive was uneventful except for the extra two hours sitting in traffic, but I have to say our girls are the best travelers ever. Once we finally arrived, about 9:30 the girls had to get some energy out so what else would you do...

get in the pool

and go on a firefly hunt.Early the next morning we took care of things of highest importance

like a pedicure,a dip in the pool,and fish inspection.Sunday afternoon we drove Sophie up to her final destination and she was off to VBS

(I'll post pics of her adventures or send you to my sister's blog.)

Back at Poppy and Grandma's house we just soaked in fun and family!

(One of my all time favorite pics.)

Great Aunt Sab came for a visit and played some soccer and basketball.

I had a blast getting into making hair bows while Granny supervised the kiddos!
Tuesday evening Dad fixed up my ride for my trip home alone.

Much more fun happened after I left. Haleigh is an old hat at staying without Mom around, but this was a first for Mackenzie. She did great for the first day and a half! During a trip to the zoo the girls got to play with a baby monkey. Haleigh thought is was hilarious that it was wearing a diaper.(Poppy always supplies plenty of Dilly Bars!)

Thursday night Poppy picked up a tearful Sophie from Aunt Gretchen's and they headed to join up with her sisters for the night. Then Friday (one day early-Mackenzie was crying to go home and Haleigh was crying to stay with Grandma) all the troops headed toward the meeting spot to get everyone back to home base.

(They did a super cute craft at Grandma's, it needs it's own post, that will be next.)

Aahhh Summer!!

Bye Bye Crib!

This is it...

the last shots of the crib as a crib.

It was a group project, somewhat overdue.
but after we all mustered up the courage...

it was done.

The next morning I asked Mackenzie if she had a good night's sleep in her big girl bed. "You need to fix it!" was her response.

She has done great though.

And now it is a favorite hang out for all the girls.

The Rest of July 4th Celebrations!

Sunday started with an opportunity to be truly thankful that we live where we can freely worship our Savior!
Then we went home and were thankful that EVERYONE took a 3 hour nap in preparation of the evening's festivities.

Finally it arrived. One of the most prized evenings of the summer...


the cul-de-sac 4th of July fireworks!


This year Sophie helped Mark light 2 fireworks!!

Mackenzie stayed pretty close in case an unexpected firecracker boomed. That was the signal to get in someone's arms quickly!

(We had to take a mid-firework break to get into PJs for some added security :)

Haleigh celebrated in Haleigh style. She blinked all night. I was happy Mark bought this beautiful hair accessory as she was super easy to spot among the crowd. (Each tube blinked with little lights.)

Monday we celebrated the holiday with (those available) from our small group. When our backyard is full of our "small group family" our hearts are full of joy!!
Speaking of full, our bellies were super full too!

An Amazing Start to a Great Holiday Weekend!!

Saturday was the start to an amazing holiday weekend! We spent an incredible day with some friends on the lake. It was a blast to watch the girls completely enjoy the adventure.

The girls became great friends with our friend's daughter. She was sweet as sugar and a joy to spend the day with!

The girls took to the lake like fish.

These are our friends that filled our day with smiles and our stomachs with amazing food!!

Haleigh was "belting it out" for about 1/2 hour as we boated back to the house. Later I asked her what she was singing, "I was just praisin' Jesus!"

(Yes, she was really asleep!)

A special treat, as we prepared for smores, was catching this little toad. Sophie named him Mr. Chirpy because he made the neatest little chirping sound.

Then it was time for smores- YUM!

A great day was had by all.
And that was just the beginning of our 4th of July weekend!!