Summer Fun

It was a gorgeous morning with great lighting so I had to take my camera out and play with it. Plus she looked so cute - how could I not!

Even Conner got to be my subject. He actually will hold still for me, unlike a certain almost 2 year old.

We've been working so hard on just pointing at the flowers, but sometimes grabbing a good chunk of them is just too hard to resist. 

She loves helping me water the flowers and is so careful carrying her own watering can out. Half of it still ends up on her shirt.

In other news: THE DECK IS FINISHED!!! Doesn't it look great? My favorite part is the gate at the top of the stairs to keep small children and animals from getting out. Love it!

Trip to the farm

In honor of Ruby turning 95, we headed down to Meadow Sweet Farm for the day to join the festivities and help celebrate. The farm is real close to Pipestone, MN which is about 3.5 hours from home. It was a lot of driving in one day, but worth it to see everyone. Sienna got a kick out of seeing the horses, although getting her to actually pet one was another story. She is already a city girl at heart. On the drive down I kept pointing out all the farms as we'd pass them. She'd try and repeat me but instead would say, "faaarrrmmmm....ers markets." She didn't get the difference.  

One of the only times she touched the horse.

Admiring the horse from afar. 

She was almost as excited to see Ariana as she was the horses.

Nana taking the girls down to the horses....again.

After eating lunch Sienna, we told Sienna she could have a cupcake. Right as she finished she took a tumble when her chair fell sideways while she was still in it. Did she cry? No. Did she yell for Mom? No. The only thing that came out of her month was a panicked, "Cupcake!!!" We all had a good laugh.

The birthday girl! Doesn't look a day over 85. ;)

Father's Day Weekend

Belated Father's Day post. We spent the weekend celebrating. Ron & Mom came over for dinner on Saturday evening. Sunday we took Sienna to her first strawberry picking. She had a blast and ate her way through most of the time spent there. The strawberries were perfect - so sweet and juicy. We had high hopes for a fun afternoon enjoying the weather, but the rain came in so we finished our evening with a dinner out. 

One of the fist bites

Still eating

Showing off her hard picked deliciousness.

The day is complete when the shirt is all stained red.

Kisses

21 months and already chasing after the boys. An older one too...a 5 year old!! We are going to have to watch out for this girl. Eli has always been one of Sienna's favorites at daycare. He's very gentle with her and watches out for her ever since she was a little baby. The other day Eli came late to daycare. Sienna ran over to him and said, "Eyo miss you!" She grabbed his face, turned it towards her and laid a big kiss on his lips. They both giggled after. Now every time Justin or I ask for a kiss she says, "No! Kiss Eyo!" Those 2 are trouble.

21 months

Sienna,
Not a big milestone month, but you've changed so much in the past 3 months I couldn't wait until you were 2. (Can't believe you are going to be 2!!) You have started to assert your independence...for everything. You want to try to do everything yourself and get so mad if we do it for you. Luckily after a few attempts of not being able to do whatever it is, you let us help you.

You are still a huge chatter box. I think every little thought that comes into your head you try and verbalize it. You have been stringing multiple words together into small sentences for quite awhile now. You also give possession to everything. "My chair. Mama's car. etc" And you love to tell people what to do. "Mama sit there!" One of your favorite things to do is count. You count everything and have gotten really good at 1-4. The other morning you woke up, told Daddy you wanted to count, and proceed to count up to 10 all by yourself 3 times in a row. You also like to read to yourself. You are making us read the same books over and over again so you can memorize them and read them yourself. A few of your favorite books are "Brown Bear Brown Bear", "I'm Going to be the Best Ballerina Ever!", "Goodnight Moon", "It's Time to Sleep, My Love".

Your play kitchen, food, and tea set are your favorite toys. You're very good at serving tea and coffee to all our guests and also feeding your baby Stella. Playing Night Night is a close 2nd to cooking. The other day you and Daddy were playing night night and I told you to shake him awake - meaning shake his arm. You paused for a second and then starting dancing and saying, "Shake, shake!" until he woke up. We of course encouraged this and now it's how you wake everyone up.

I love seeing you around your friends. At daycare you follow the older kids around and do your best to keep up, especially with Maddie. She's a year older than you and you idolize her. You love giving everyone hugs, big waves, and saying goodbye when we leave. Everyone says you are such a sweet little girl and we are so lucky to have such a great, happy kid. We couldn't agree more!

Grandma & Grandpa are back!

In case you haven't heard my Dad & Deb moved back into town! Deb got a new job which brought them back. They moved away when I was in high school to Baltimore for quite a few years and from there they moved to Dallas. It's so nice to have them back. They've officially been in town for a little over a week and we've already gotten to see them twice. Sienna is loving getting to play with Grandma & Grandpa. You would never know she hadn't seen them in a long time. Buddies already!

Memorial Day BBQ #9

Hard to believe this was our 9th year of the Memorial Day bbqs. With all of the kids we had 19 in attendance this year. Crazy how fast everyone's families are growing. Cran & Brent hosted it at their [semi] new home in Woodbury. The afternoon was filled with fun chaos as we all switched between chasing after kids and chatting with the adults. The guys got a few rounds of bocce ball and golf in and the weather could not have been better! 

Jill & Ariana

Kristen (feeding Molly) & Cari

Justin & Brent sampling the appetizers

Sienna ate her way through the afternoon. Abbie watched.

Mikayla & I

Greg played super dad and pulled a wagon of 4 kids plus Ariana on his shoulders around the yard. 

Getting 6 kids (including a new walker) to look at a camera is impossible.

Dinner was a delish chicken, steak, shrimp, & veggie kabobs.

John, Greg, Cran, & Jeff

It was so great to catch up with everyone. Can't wait for year #10!