the Holly girls

Two years ago Ethan's whole world was turned upside down by the birth of his sister. Weeks later my friends Katie had Rylee (who you have seen on here many times) and Holly had twin girls Allie & Faith. When the twins were born Ethan could not tell them apart so he called them the Holly girls. The four girls have had many play dates together over the last 2 years but today it was just us and the Holly girls. At their house we played and had lunch. Ethan found out quickly he was out numbered and at 2 it's not too easy to boss them around.

late night swim

At 106 degrees it's just TOO HOT for my kids to be playing outside but how do you explain that to a 2 year old? So for the last few days we have had to wait until the temp has gone down well as far down as it's going to get. Here are a few pictures of our late night swims and by late nights I mean around 9pm :)

garage sale

Ethan decided to sell lemonade at our garage sale this year. He set up a table, made signs & got a money box. Friday morning he sat out there waiting for the customers to buy his lemonade. When his Papa came over he gave Ethan a dollar bill for some lemonade Ethan said "WOW a dollar did you want another glass?" as you can see he did not give change. Next, he went up to a man and said "would you like some lemonade?" the man said yes Ethan gave him the glass and then said "that will be 25 cents" "oh" the man said "I have to buy it" I reminded Ethan he needed to ask people if they wanted to BUY the lemonade. He also sold otter pops because it was so hot. Uncle Brandon stopped by and paid $5 for an otter pop but hey it was a good one. The only thing that matters is Ethan had fun.

........by the way he made $18 too!

Gracie & Rylee VS The Picture People

What do you get when you put two 2 year olds into a studio where the photographer is an idiot? A whole lot of crying, hair pulling & meltdowns! My best friend Katie and I have been talking about having our girls' pictures taken ever since we were pregnant. But today was not the day to do it......

We had to wait 20 minutes after our appointment time before the photographer even came out to talk to us and when she did Rylee started crying. I'm not sure why she scared her but Rylee would not stop crying and holding on to Katie. As the photographer just sat there doing nothing we tried to settle the girls down and get them to play. After a few minutes it worked but the dumb photographer was not ready and wanted us to move all the way back by her instead of just cropping us out of the photo later. She tried to use ugly props that both Katie and I said we did not want and that just made the girls more unhappy and they started fighting. Rylee loves to pull Gracie's hair and Gracie likes to hit. So we thought if we changed the girls into their tutu's they would be happier but Gracie would not put on her shirt. So we had them face the wall and play with beads. That worked and the girls sat there for a few minutes playing before getting up to run away. I gave Gracie lip gloss and she sat back down to put some on Rylee. When we were done I thought we should have gotten some really good pictures since the girls sat still for like 6 minutes.......I was wrong. The idiot photographer only took TWO, yes two pictures during the whole 6 minutes the girls were sitting there smiling!

We will never go back to The Picture People and I suggest you don't either!
However, I must say our girls look very cute in this picture!

Gracie's photo shoot

Today Gracie had her 2 year old pictures taken. She was a very good girl and had lots of cute smiles for the camera. I loved this one the most because it shows her sweet and playful side that does not come out often.
But I could not pass this one up...............she had to tickle the rose.

Ethan's question on the day

I knew the day was coming but I never thought I would be answering this question from Ethan at age 5.


Ethan- "Mom when I get older will my penis be big like Daddy's?"

Me-"Yes Ethan, your penis will grow when you get older"

Ethan-"so like when.........do I have to wait until I'm like 18?"

Me-"Ethan your penis will grow with you just like your arms & legs"

Ethan-"oh good........cause that would be weird if I was big and my penis was little"


* * *note to Jake..........please shut the door when you change!* * *

pool time with the uncles & auntie

Gracie went swimming today with her Uncle Billy, Aunt Brittney & Uncle Brandon. She's like a little fish! She loved to jump off the edge and into their arms. Like always she is in love with her Uncle Billy and said "Billy swim.....Billy hold me"

Aunt Brittney had to give her chips after the swim.

Uncle Brandon didn't get in the water, he was working on his tan while on the phone.

lady bug birthday

Today was Gracie's lady bug birthday party. She had all her friends and family come over to help her celebrate her 2nd birthday. But before the party she had to get ready. She wanted to put curlers in her hair and paint her nails. She can be a real girly girl when she wants to.

Uncle Erich was going out of town so he stopped by before the party to drop of her gift. She was so happy to get her own bike, she clapped and said "mine...party....oh pretty" and as you can see she wasn't dressed yet but hey she still looked very cute.

She had to put the lady bug tutu her Grandma made her on to show Uncle Erich.

Time to open gifts

"happy birthday to you......happy birthday to you.....happy birthday Gracie......happy birthday to you!"

............lady bug, lady bug, oh so sweet................