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Day 2 of VBS. Mckenzie was much happier at drop off than yesterday. Yay! Like yesterday, her favorite part was the ice pop and playing outside. Same thing for Abby. Ice pop and playing outside. I was very productive while the girls were gone. I managed to get my first run in post stress fracture!! It was tough, but I think my leg is ready to go!!! Now, just to get my mind back into gear! I keep thinking I will have all this time to myself when the girls are at camp, but between laundry and errands, there isn't much left over time.

This afternoon, Abby had a couple of friends over. I'm not too sure what they were doing, but I heard a loud noise followed by "uh oh. your mom might have heard that. We better not do it anymore." At least they stopped doing it :) Then they switched houses so the girls could go swimming. Mckenzie and I saw a rabbit across the street so I thought maybe we could sneak up on it to get a photo. Unfortunately, as we crunched across the dry grass, the rabbit saw us and took off into the trees. Mckenzie was showing me where the rabbit ran off too.






The light was really pretty and I wanted to get a photo of Mckenzie, but this was all I could get. No smiles for this grumpy gus!

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The had their first day of VBS. Abby was excited to go and barely said bye to me as I left her classroom. Mckenzie, on the other hand, was hesitant for me to leave. Luckily, a couple of her friends are also in VBS with her and that helped ease her transition. When I came back to pick the girls up, Mckenzie was sitting next to her friend Ava, with her hand around her back. It was so sweet :) Both girls gave me big hugs and smiles! I asked both girls what their favorite part of the day was and they gave me the same answer. The ice pop they got after playing outside. Typical!

Abby was super helpful tonight. She helped set the table and helped Mckenzie with things she needed. She even helped unload the clean dishes so I could get the supper dishes put away. I have noticed as we ask her to do more chores she has become more helpful in other things.

Our pine tree in the backyard.

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Twelve years ago Scott and I said I do! It has been quite an adventure and we have been blessed beyond anything I could have ever imagined. There are many different fairy tales out there, but ours is my favorite :)

Abby insisted on making us breakfast this morning! I offered to help a little and she let me make the eggs :) Abby was in charge of the frozen waffles. She toasted and buttered and syruped (is that even a word? probably not, but you get the point) them. All with a big smile.

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We went to the beach today. Traffic was a little heavy as I think everyone else had the same idea! But, it was worth the drive. The water was cool against the heat of the day! The girls had a blast and they love playing in the waves! I think they both could sit on the shore, letting the waves crash around them all day long!  We grabbed a late lunch and ice cream before heading home. The girls were exhausted from the heat! Mckenzie fell asleep within minutes of being in the car and even Abby fell asleep!

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The girls and I went to get manicures and pedicures this morning. This was Mckenzie's first time to go and she was excited! They were very busy and Mckenzie was getting restless waiting for a chair to open up. Mckenzie thought it was strange that she got to take her shoes off in public. She commented on how the water kept changing colors and how much it tickled her feet when the lady was scrubbing them. She seemed a little unsure of everything after first, but by the end, she was so excited to show off her new nails! Abby enjoyed herself like always. She looked like an old pro sitting next to Mckenize!

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We got to hang out with our friends a little bit this morning before they had to get home. Well, their temporary home that is. We had a great visit and I am so glad we got the chance to spend some time with them. Since I have the all clear to start running this coming week, we went to a running store so I could get a new pair running shoes. We stopped for lunch at a pizza place before going there and I think that was a mistake. Running in shoes to test them out after eating a huge slice of pizza is not very fun! But, I found a great pair and I can't wait to put them to good use!

Scott and the girls went bowling this afternoon. We are doing the Kids Bowl Free program again this year. Each child can bowl two games every day of the summer if they want to. The girls enjoy going and I think it is a great Daddy-Daughter activity :)

Playing on the iPad this morning.



It is hard to get all of them to look and or smile at the same time!


And even harder to get the dogs to cooperate. CJ was good, but Dakota doesn't like to sit still very long. And she was so excited to play with another dog that it was hard for her to look towards the camera! She just wanted to run and play with CJ. CJ, being the older dog she is, preferred to avoid Dakota and her youthful antics!

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Happy Independence Day! It is such an honor to live in the US where the freedoms we have been given are phenomenal. Thank you to everyone who has fought for this great nation!

We started our day with some patriotic pancakes. The girls were a bit hesitant at first to eat colored pancakes, but devoured them once they realized they tasted no different than the normal cakes. Abby said her favorite was blue and Mckenzie loved all of them.

The Schmidts came to visit us. We had a great time! The kids swam and played on the slip n slide for hours. When it got dark, the kids went on a firefly hunt. Abby didn't want to catch them at first, thinking they would bite her, but she eventually realized they were safe. Mckenzie worked on finding food to put in the bug jar. I think for every firefly we put into our jar, two flew out! The kids all crammed into Abby's room for the night and settled down pretty quickly. (big surprise here. I thought it would take forever to get them to fall asleep. Glad to be wrong on this one!) We broke out our traditional game of Trivial Pursuit and played boys vs girls. We have never finished a game and tonight was no different. We called it quits after Chris left the game to snuggle on the floor with their dog and I could hardly keep my eyes open. We girls were winning 5 pies to 3. I think that is the closest we have ever come to finishing a game. Although I think at this point it would seem wrong to actually end a game. Maybe someday when we are living in our retirement village we can finally see who wins :)



Watching Michael on the slip n slide


My cookie cake that got a little over cooked. I always forget our oven bakes hotter.



Looking for fireflies.


Giving the fireflies some food

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The morning seemed to slip away from us. I think it was because Scott didn't go into work until lunch making it feel like a weekend. We went to a friend's house this afternoon. The kids played in the sprinkler and on the slip n slide. Abby was a natural at the slip n slide. Mckenzie, not so much. She always hesitated at the beginning of the slide so she just seemed to plop down and not go anywhere. Even still, she enjoyed it.

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Feeding the dog seems to be a pretty big deal around here. No one wants to do it and it usually causes an argument when I ask for one of the little people to do it. It isn't a hard job. Just three little cups a couple times a day. But, yet just about every time I remind one of the girls to do it, I get an earful of why it really isn't her turn.




The girls and I went over to our friends' house to swim. The girls had fun splashing around. And, when it was time to leave, both girls left without throwing a fit!!! Amazing. Usually one or both whines about how they didn't get to play long enough but not today!!!

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Today was another scorcher! I felt so bad that Scott spent a couple of hours doing some much needed yard work. He looked exhausted when he came in. I’m sure it didn’t help that he went for a run before doing the yard work either. Too bad he couldn’t skip mowing the lawn. We went to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants and stopped at Target on the way home. We needed to pick up a few things for our upcoming camping trip. We let the girls swim again this afternoon and grilled for dinner. I love summer days like this!