{sweet Karsen}

We stopped by Keith and Heather's this morning and got to visit with sweet baby Karsen. He is so very cute and so much fun, smiling and baby talking. Love it!

Ella loves SpongeBob.........

911...TRAUMA IN THE E.R..........

Ok--I'm posting it! I have debated over posting this because I wasn't sure I should post the picture that goes with it....but here goes!
It's amazing how a fun afternoon of swimming with your cousins can go south in an instant.
Sunday afternoon, we went to Katie's to swim with all the kids. Big fun, or so you would think. And it was, until Evan decided to do a backdive (her version is basically an "almost" backflip) off the side of the pool.
Well.....it didn't go so well. She hit her head on the edge and made quite a cut just inside her hairline.
Brad pulled her up out of the pool, took a look, and to say the least.....he kind of panicked.
I (nursing degree comes in handy sometimes) did not panic. Evan.....she really panicked. ("I can't handle this." -"I don't want to die!" -"This is the worst day of my life!")
Anyway, obviously we took her to the E.R. They stitched up the deeper part of the inside, then stapled up the outside (using staples allows them to close it up without shaving any hair). She handled it very well once we got to the E.R. I was very proud of her.

So, here is a picture of the cut that I took with my phone.

Here it is all clean and stapled up. We can wash her hair like normal, but she can't go under in a pool for about 10 days. Not good when you go swimming almost every day. Anyway, she is perfectly fine now, no pain at all! I'll take the staples out after 2 weeks and it'll all be over. God Is Good! This could have been so much worse.......-h.

Good Times..........

We spent Saturday at Devil's Den. Such a great time for all of us!!!! I grew up going there and thought it would be fun for the girls. Evan did a lot of screaming "spider", and talking about how grossed out she felt, but I think she really had fun. Of course, Ella had a blast. She is definitely in her element when she is outside, and though I wouldn't call myself the outdoorsy type, her joy in it makes me want to be right out there with her.........-h.

We rented pedal boats. Ella went with Brad, and after they got out in the water, he realized she couldn't reach the pedals so he had to do all the work himself. Evan and I had fun, she was great help with the peddling.

We hiked up to the cave and the girls and Brad went in. I went in about 20 feet and it started to get really narrow...enough for me...made me very nervous and back out I went while they trudged on. I thought the girls would be too scared to do it but they weren't at all. They were in there for about 20 minutes and then they emerged, quite filthy. Ella loved it, Evan did not. Way too dirty in that cave for her.

Brad caught this tiny, baby turtle, so now we have a new pet. "Princey" is now living in a fishbowl in Evan's room.

daddy's girls....

Last weekend, Brad and the girls went fishing with Ryan and Dylan. No fish were caught, but everyone had a good time. Anyway, Ryan took this picture and I love it. I had to post it. What a neat moment that Ryan captured. Who knew, he is quite the photographer........-h.

{sweet}

One morning last week, I looked in on sweet Evan after I woke up. This is what I saw. Too precious not to preserve with a picture............-h.

Happy Father's Day............

We had a great Father's Day, honoring the best father and husband in the WORLD.......-h.

Dancing Queen.........

Last night, Evan had her big dance recital. She and Isabella have been taking beginning hip-hop since September and it all paid off. They did a little routine to "I Don't Dance" from High School Musical II.
During the dress rehersal, the dance fell apart and they missed the whole ending, so when they nailed it during the Recital, it was sweet victory!
They were all quite proud of themselves, and they should have been. It was AWESOME!
Having a makeup pro in the family is great, too. Lorelei did their makeup and they looked way to pretty and way to old!!!!

Just before the big show!!!

Ella plays Catcher!?!

Well, tonight, since we were getting whipped by St. Boniface, the t-ball coach let the kids play some different positions. Ella asked to be catcher!?!
She was so proud of herself, and when I went up close with my camera she was happy to pose!
Oh - she did get her best hit ever tonight - a solid line drive to short stop. She is getting pretty good at hitting.
She loves t-ball so much, she was reminiscing a few nights ago about her first ever practice and talking about what they did. I love it, too! It's so much fun to watch her. Tonight I realized she only has 5 games left - I'm kind of sad about it coming to an end...............-h.

Painting........

So...I painted the kitchen today. I hate painting, but a painter wanted to charge us $700.....forget it. I can paint to save $700. The girls were driving me crazy wanting to help, so I gave them some paintbrushes and told them to go to town painting whatever they wanted (on the wall that will be covered by cabinets, of course). They had a great time, but it got a little messy. We were all covered in paint by the end of the project.........-h.Evan was quite serious about painting.
Ella was definitely having more fun than I was!