Riding bikes

It was sprinkling, but we got out for a little while to ride bikes. Rachel has finally gotten enough confidence in breaking to go fast. However, Jake still refuses to use the pedals on his tricycle....of course he refuses to do a lot of things - he is 2 after all.

Hot Air Balloon Festival

The Hot Air Balloon race was rained out, but at least they blew up the balloons for all to see. And we didn't get up at 5am on a Saturday for nothing.

Twin bday party

Abby Rose, Katie?, Emma Claire, Rachel, big sister, Emily? , big sister's friend, Katy

Rachel, Emily and Katie, Emma Claire

Katie or Emily, Abby Rose, Rachel


Rachel went mini golfing with her school friends to celebrate Katie and Emily's 5th bday party. Rachel wasn't very serious about the golfing but was just happy to be with her friends - who will all go to different schools in the fall.

Painting on the porch

Having fun painting on the porch. Even Jake enjoys being creative (for a little while at least).

Planting flowers

Per request, we planted flowers this morning. I probably could have skipped it this summer. I always forget to water and they die anyway. But, the girls really wanted to do it. Of course, they only planted about 4 flowers each, then they lost interest and I was left to do it myself while they played in the slip n slide and water table.

AWANA awards

Reagan received an award for Completing her first year of Cubbies - saying 29 verses. Rachel was home sick with strep throat so we had to bring her the award for completing her second year of Cubbies - total of 58 verses in 2 years.

After saying 4 verses, Jake completed Puggles and will be a Cubbie next year.

Dance recital dress rehearsal

All made up in the green room. (Reagan was grumpy about her itchy straps. It didn't help that rehearsal was 2pm - in the middle of quiet time.)

Rachel is 5th from the left and Reagan is 3rd from the right. Made pictures and video difficult. I zoom in more in the video so Rachel is near the edge on the left and Reagan is about 2nd over on the right.

Rain Rain Go AWAY

This year, all it seems to do is rain. Everyday, rain in forecast. And sometimes it rains, even when it isn't in the forecast. Today we were outside riding bikes in the driveway when a big dark cloud came up. It started raining big plops. but by the time we went in and got raincoats on to splash in the puddles, it quit raining....

Mother's day

Spent over 12 hours at the hospital, but was greeted by three VERY EXCITED children when I came home from work on Mother's day. They could barely wait for me to shower and change clothes. They had made me cards. Rachel also presented me with a marigold she made at sunday school. Jake wanted to get into my Godivas, but I saved them for later. This package happened to have lots of dark chocolate truffles - my favorite. (Flowers were from my rose bush.)

Feeding the ducks

Armed with the heals of our Honey Wheat Home Pride, we fed the ducks outside art class on Friday. Even Jake figured out how to do it this year -without getting bit by a duck and without throwing the whole slice in the pond.

The new picnic blanket

It finally stopped raining long enough to sneak in a picnic today after swimming lessons. We were excited to use our new picnic blanket. But Jake, unhappy with the lunch selection (bread for sandwich was too fresh i.e. too mushy) refused to look up for a picture. So that's the best picture I got of all three. He did pop a smile while eating his "grapes" (i.e. raisins).

Corn on the cob

Enjoying the first corn of the cob of the season on a rainy afternoon.

New sunglasses

I got the girls new sunglasses. In order to get the full effect, they had to try them on with their new bathing suits.

Birmingham zoo

There weren't many people at the zoo that day. It had rained that morning in Birmingham and had a chance of rain that afternoon. But anything was better than Huntsville where it had been raining for several days (or weeks) straight.

Just looking. No camel rides today.

Hanging out in a rhino cage.

No zoo is complete without a train ride. Daddy barely had enough cash - we had to make a choice between bottled water and train ride.

Reagan and Rachel brush out the goats.

Jake pets the Baa Baa Sheep.