Good times on the 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July! We missed Brad A LOT, but we were so glad to spend the day with good friends.  The girls got to participate in a local parade.  They had a great time.

Olivia was so cute in the parade.  She took her time waving and throwing out candy.  It was quite a long parade route for those little legs, but she rode the entire way.   
The girls were able to participate in fun activities and races.  There were two turtles that raced in the park.    Addison is convinced that we need a turtle for a pet. :) 
The Rhodes family invited us to join them for dinner, some fireworks at home and then a firework show at Lake Shawnee.  We had such a great time!  Thank you so much John and Sally, you are the best!

Brad-We miss you like crazy!

Brad has been gone for a week. He is cutting corn mazes with his brother.  Right now he is living it up in Chicago. :)  I miss him SO MUCH.  Talking on the phone is just not enough, I need him here to hang out with. Our little girls are so attached to their dad, it is hard for them too.  

Livi told us this morning that

 she is going to marry him 

when he gets home.  We will all be VERY excited to see him!!! 

 So, Brad we are sending you a big hug and a kiss from Kansas!  We tried our best to take some pictures in our Mac photo booth today.  Ha! Don't you love them? :) We love you.  See you soon.

Visiting the Kansas History Museum

This summer the girls and I have been reading from the "The Little House Collection". I have such fond childhood memories of the Ingalls fam, I thought it would be fun to read the books with my kids. We have been loving it! Since we have been learning about history, we decided to take a little field trip to our local museum. We have been there a number of times, but this time the girls had a lot more interest. It was so cute to watch them play. We learned some pioneer games and they performed an adorable puppet show. I loved it. :)

Governor's Cup

Brad and I just signed up for the Governor's Cup 10k.  The race is scheduled for July 18th at 7:00 a.m.  Does anyone want to join us?  (Josh , Joni?)  My running partners are all out of town or very pregnant. :)  I am used to running to music or having someone to run (chat) with.  Music is not allowed in the race and Brad will be leaving me in the dust (he says that he won't, but he is a lot faster than me).  So, if you will be here on July 18th -please come and join the fun.   

Date with dad

Our girls absolutely adore Brad!!  They look forward to their "daddy-daughter date" each week.  The minute that the date is over they start planning the next one.  Brad has given them the option of going individually, but they insist on going together.  I think it is really cute.  This week the plan was to wear a hat (Addie's idea),  go to Sonic, and ride ponies at the park.  They had so much fun!!

Fun in the sun

The girls and I have been spending our afternoons at the pool.  We LOVE having a swimming pool right outside our front door.  Yesterday, Brad and some of our friends came to join us.   When Brad is at the pool, he has his hands full!  The girls all want to swim right on top of him.  It is nice to have him there, it gives me a chance to lay out for a while. :)  

What a mess.

This week we had some friends over to celebrate a birthday.  With only an hour until they arrived, I told the girls to go and play, gave Ella a cookie and went to work.  I was trying to keep an eye on the girls, but somehow I missed the small mud puddle right outside our front door.  I heard Livi say, "Addie, this time let's squish as far as we can."  When I got to them, it was too late.  They were a mess and they had painted the entry way with mud.  I just had to laugh.  Life seems to always go this way.  With no outside hose to spray them off,  clean up was a disaster. 

Addison and her new umbrella

Addison loves umbrellas.   Two days ago, she picked out a new pink umbrella.  She has had it by her side constantly (even in bed with her). If it is truly 7 years of bad luck for opening an umbrella indoor, we are out of luck for at least 700.   :)

All natural dishwasher detergent

I finally found a "green" recipe for my dishwasher.  It works great and is very inexpensive!   1 T baking soda + 1 T borax + vinegar (rinse cycle) = spot free, shiny dishes  :)

Mother's Day

I have had an amazing mother's day. I woke up to a bouquet of beautiful flowers, chocolate and breakfast in bed. The girls told me that if I needed anything during the day I could ring a bell. Addison said, "Mom, we don't really have a bell, but you can make a bird noise or whistle." I was not so sure about the bird noise, but I have been whistling all day. :) Brad made me an awesome lunch after church. We spent the afternoon playing Candyland and Go Fish. (They even let me win) Just before bedtime we took a walk at the Governor's Mansion. It was beautiful. What a perfect day. I just wish I could be celebrating with my mom today. I LOVE YOU MOM. YOU ARE THE BEST! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Addison drew this picture of our family. She is so cute, she said, "I hope you don't mind, I added another kid to our family, and I named him Sam." (I guess she wants a brother)

Ella's 1 year pictures

I finally took Ella's 1 year pics. I wanted to get them with her walking. She started walking a month ago, but has not been completely steady. Well, now I am chasing her everywhere. Taking her picture was an adventure. I made her mad when I tried to put a bow on her head. She started to cry and only stopped for a minute as I chased her through the park. :)

Green Cleaning

As many of you know, we have lung issues in our family.  Olivia has horrible asthma and Brad has sarcoidosis.   Our Pulmonologist gave me a list of suggestions that should improve our environment and possibly decrease health problems.  It was a list a mile long, and I was totally overwhelmed.  I had to change everything to all natural, "green" products.  So, I started doing my research.  After searching online and reading a few books, I am totally converted to going green all of the way.  It has been so fun, and SO EASY.  If any of you have things you do in your home or ideas for cleaning, etc.  please let me know.  I would LOVE knew ideas.  I am still looking for an all natural, inexpensive dishwasher detergent.  Any suggestions?

My favorite book.  You can clean your whole house with baking soda, vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice.

I love these cleaning products.
Method has some great products. I have not tried everything, but so far I love the foam hand soap, dish soap, cleaning wipes.  What do you think?
I joined "Green Moms" online.   You get a ton of good ideas.  I would highly recommend it if you are interested.

Tulip Garden

This is my favorite time of year.  I love tulips.  Addison, Olivia and I visited a nearby tulip garden.  The colors were amazing.  The girls ran up and down between the flowers over and over again.  They were so cute. They stopped to smell every color of tulip several times.   Addie said," The pink ones smell like strawberries, the yellow ones smell like lemons and the rest of the flowers smell exactly like roses!"  

Happy Birthday Ella!

We celebrated Ella's Birthday in Idaho. We had a fun party with all of her Idaho cousins. I can not believe that she is already a year old! The time has gone by so fast. She is a little angel. We love her so much!
This is a picture of Ella's new dollhouse. Brad and my dad built it for her. They did such a great job, I was very impressed. Addison, Olivia and I were a little bit more excited than little Ella, but she will grow into it soon enough. :)

Snowboarding at Sundance

While we were in Utah, Brad had the chance to go snowboarding a couple of times. My Uncle works at Sundance and gave a us a bunch of passes for Brad, his Mom and his Brother's family. They had SO much fun. The weather was great. The girls and I went to watch for a couple of hours. We can't wait to snowboard next year in Colorado!

This is Brad, on his way down the hill. As soon as he saw the camera, he tried to get fancy and crashed. I wasn't able to get a picture of that, but I am sure you can imagine.

Easter Sunday

Easter Weekend

My sisters and their families joined us at my parent's house for some fun Easter festivities. We started the day off with an Easter Egg Hunt in the snow! The hunt was followed by an amazing brunch. The kids had fun decorating eggs and making these cute little nests. Later, we went to Idaho Falls to have a party with extended family. It's great being in Idaho! We love spending so much time with family!