July, Part 1

Yes, I know--we skipped a month and a half in there. The problem is that although we have two computers, they are never both functioning at the same time. So for a month and a half, Matt's desktop was broken and all photos were uploaded to the laptop. We got the desktop back, and now the laptop isn't working...which means I have no access to the photos it holds. So I will eventually go back and post the rest of May and June (whenever the laptop is fixed), but until then...

This is our friend Tom carrying Makenna up for a ride down the super-high, super-steep inflatable slide that was next-door for our neighbor boy's birthday party. Mattaya wouldn't go anywhere near the thing, but Makenna was pretty sure she wanted to try it. :)

And down they came!

(Tom made it a pretty non-traumatic descent.)

Maybe if it had been a little more traumatic, she wouldn't have wanted to try it again! ;)

Matt's parents (aka Grampa Gary and Gramma Pam) came up for a visit.

We all went for a walk/ride.

You're never going to believe this. (Or maybe you will if you've been following this blog for very long.) I've hit my quota for the number of photos I can upload. Huge bummer. Therefore, so-not-tech-savvy-it's-not-even-funny-Karisa is going to have to figure out what to do next... I'll be sure to let you know when we have it figured out!

May, Part 1

Makenna is a happy and efficient little eater.

It is good for me to see these pictures and remember that they do sometimes share nicely and peacefully coexist. :)

They both love books, and it's not uncommon to find them reading together (separate books, though), with books strewn all about the room...

Mattaya FINALLY got to plant some seeds!

Yes, Valerie--my child is eating her snack on the garage floor. ;)

Why so happy? Because Mommy let her wear a hoodie with her pajamas. It's the little things. :)

Name that bird!

(Matt noticed it but couldn't figure out what it was...it was more electric orange than yellow.)

A snack picnic.

Soothing Baby George (or perhaps Georgette as the clothing would indicate).

George sleeps in Mattaya's bed but in his own little space. She tucks him in and tells him the rules (no talking, no jumping, stay on your pillow, no touching curtains). :)

This girls LOVES BOOKS!

I had to run to Hobby Lobby for something, and Mattaya picked out these tiny blocks to be a painting project.

Makenna lost interest pretty quickly.

And then Jake turned 21! This is Jason barbecuing the meat.

Andrew & Davina, Nicole, Micah, Catherine, and Baby Lexi.

Jake's not big on cake, so his dessert of choice was homemade blizzards (we have the Black & Decker Arctic Twister machine--it does a really good job!). Catherine's boys were watching EAGERLY...

This is what happens when your friends are old...and parents of girls. Poor Jake--we totally weren't trying to insinuate that he's a girl (the banner we had used for Micah's party was still at Gramma Julie's after being used for Benton's party). The girliness didn't seem to hamper his enjoyment of his birthday, however.

Ready for church. Kind of. Makenna's throwing an absolute fit because Mattaya wants to hold her hand. Can you think of ANYTHING worse that your sister's wanting to hold your hand?

Taking a "quick rest" with George.

I really don't remember if Matt was TRYING to be a goon, or if I just caught him in his natural element. ;)

Riding her bike to the park.

Snack break before heading home

Happy to rake the dirt. :)

The Rest of April

So this was what happened in the second half of April. :) Crazy how the girls look like such munchkins compared to now. Time really does fly.

(I'm not entirely sure why, but these pictures are jumbled...so please pardon if it starts to resemble Groundhog Day as big events appear to repeat themselves!)

Just being a silly nut.

Reading a new Sid the Science Kid book with Daddy.

Teaching Sunday school :)

One night at dinner, Mattaya randomly asked for chopsticks. We have NEVER used chopsticks in our home, and she's never (to our knowledge) seen them used. BUT, we happened to have a set leftover from a trip to Noodles & Co. (which we don't have here...yes, I'm a pack rat...KIND of). So Matt hooked her up with some chopsticks, and she LOVED it! Using chopsticks has made eating her meat (her least favorite) much more fun. :)

She enjoyed feeding Makenna with the chopsticks, too.

Daddy's attempt at a ponytail. :) He was so proud of himself.

(And I was rolling my eyes because there was more hair OUT of the ponytail than there was IN.)

These sisters love to help in the kitchen.

Mattaya had been eyeing Matt's seed starter kit for quite a while (spring took a long time to come this year). One day she was DESPERATE to "play" with it. We couldn't do any planting just yet, but we let her pretend to plant flowers in it, and she was satisfied with that. :)

Makenna just happily ate her snack and smiled for pictures.

(Does she not look so "Gramma Julie" right here?!)

Gotta love that your mom used to work in preschool. ;) I whipped out an old project about animals that hatch from eggs. The girls went around finding eggs with animals inside and matching the animal to its partner on the chart.

And then we had a regular egg hunt (although there were semi-healthy snacks inside the eggs instead of candy).

:)

The look of intensity says, "The hunt is ON!"

Mattaya suddenly diverted and went to this rug (which apparently was the closest thing to a nest in our house) to "hatch" an egg.

Exploring Easter bags from Grampa Gary & Gramma Pam.

"This LOOKS like it should taste good..."

And then some friends came a-visitin'. This is Josh and Analise. They came on egg-dyeing day along with Angela (who you will see in the background making some delicious apple fritters!).

Makenna's not convinced this is going to be as much fun as Mommy says it is.

Mincing apples.

Mattaya found this much more enthralling than Makenna and Analise did.

Yep--like any good mom, when my kid was standing near a hot stove with boiling oil, I took a picture instead of removing her. :)

Better than TV?

Guess not. ;)

And after the eggs dried, there were stickers we could use to design faces!

(She's imitating the egg.)

Mmmmmm, apple fritters!

Easter baskets from Mommy and Daddy.

Easter morning. Just a LITTLE early for Makenna. ;) (Notice she still has pillow wrinkles on her face.)

Gramma Julie got these hats, and Makenna wouldn't keep hers on.

Mattaya kept complaining about how cold she was. In her defense, ND in April wasn't terribly warm this year.

(picture taken by Mattaya...still working on her viewfinder skills)

We were hosting Easter this year, and we tried our best to get the girls a nap before guests started coming...but Mattaya busted that plan. She heard people arriving and so wanted to be part of the fun. But she tried to "nap" while she waited for the rest of her friends.

Grampa Dave volunteered to show her how it's done.

Analise--such a cutie. :)

Thanks to our gracious guests, Easter lunch was FABULOUS!

Our friend Jacob from across the street.

Hayden from next door.

Easter baskets from Grampa Dave and Gramma Julie.

Hard at work on her new George puzzle.

Victory!

Matt's omelet.

Micah's omelet. :)

I don't remember why I allowed breakfast to be eaten in the office, but it was quite a treat.

They were enjoying listening to these songs and story CDs. From each movie, you get 4 or 5 songs and then the story told in about 20 minutes. Our girls LOVE them!

(Thank you, Gramma Julie, for putting this in Makenna's Easter basket!)

Daddy trying out the new frosting flavored chapstick. :)

Matt spent HOURS one day spying on a neighbor who had some ill-informed ideas about moving a vehicle. #1, this truck was not intended to move a vehicle. #2, those planks didn't stand a chance. #3, the damage they did to their vehicle I'm sure was more expensive than paying the proper vehicle to transport.

Matt actually took VIDEOS of this foolishness.

Trying on Sister's new bike helmet.

These are our friends Jason & Nicole who come to hang out pretty regularly. Makenna was soaking up all the attention. :)

Skewering some awesome asparagus so the boys could grill it.

And now flash back to when the girls were opening their Easter bags from Indiana.

Not sure when this happened...but that's Angela with Analise and Makenna at the playground.

Not sure who the little girl is. Mattaya tries to make friends with anyone who will talk to her.

Trying out their new popsicle holders from Gary & Pam.

Now this is Easter Sunday at the pancake breakfast. Makenna was ALL ABOUT IT.

Mattaya...well...Mattaya did alright. :)

She perked up a bit more when she saw Cousin Benton.

Benton: "Hey, Mom, this girl's head gear is attacking me."

And this was Easter afternoon. We went across the street to play in Miss Lisa's backyard. Miss Nicole and Miss Larissa came with us (which made Mommy's job super easy!).

Jacob: "I was just playing here and all of a sudden these girls just came in my yard and started playing with my stuff..."

(He did do a really good job sharing with our little invaders.)

Hmmm, snacks AND toys...looks like Mommy was going to sneak in a walk before taking the girls to the playground. ;)

Ready to roll.

Loves to swing.

Monkey see, monkey do.

In true second-child fashion, Makenna is determined to keep up with her sister and imitate everything she does.

This was actually taken at Old Navy. :) Mattaya sees very little difference between stores and playgrounds...