Turtle, Turtle

One day Brad was working in the yard. He found a new friend and brought him into visit. It was a turtle. The turtle just sat in the middle of the floor for awhile and didn't move. Eventually he got more comfortable and began to move about. Abby seemed to be very protective and would lay by him, and if anyone came over to the turtle she would stand up and start smelling the turtle and nudging him. After awhile we took the turtle back outside so he could go back to his "home".

Summer Fun

I realize I have been really behind in my posts! We have been having a fun and busy summer. Nothing big, just a lot of fun! We've been having swim lessons on Tuesdays and Kaylee has tap/ballet on Thursdays, playing at parks, working in the garden, and just hanging out. Here are some of our summer fun photos.

The girls got to go to their first wedding this summer. Kaylee was super excited to go! My cousin, Erica, got married and we took the girls. Here is a photo of Kaylee, with cousin Jillian, after the wedding and the cake and punch reception.


Here's Ainsley trying to curtsy in her pretty dress.


We celebrated Father's Day with all of the AWESOME Dads/Grandpas we are so fortunate to have in our lives.

The girls with Grandpa Duffy. We did Father's Day and his birthday.

The girls helping Grandpa Bentley with his Father's Day gift.


Kaylee with Daddy, hanging out.


My beautiful babies on a summer day!

My little Ainsley in her outfit she picked-out to dress-up in. We do a lot of dressing-up in our house.

Ainsley had me put the wings on the back of her dress and she kept turning around going "Where my wings, Where my wings?"


Ainsley in yet another dress. She kept setting Elmo up and he would fall over and she would say "not again", but then once she would get him to stand-up and stay she would knock him over. She loves Elmo so. Thankfully he's a good sport about it. HEHE.

Kaylee was into getting her photo taken. As soon as she would see me take one of Ainsley she would ask me to take hers. So of course I obliged.

We have been doing some swimming. Ainsley LOVES the water. The girl has no fear. She just goes, goes, goes!

Skyeler, Ainsley and Kaylee taking a swim.

We love to eat outside in the summer. Kaylee is really into setting the table and helping out around the house. Which I love! This day she was very proud of carrying everything outside, so I thought a photo was in order. She's so proud!


Of course in summer there is also a lot of ice cream. Many times after swim lessons we go to eat at Green Gables. This night it was our wedding anniversary, so we also needed ice cream! Well my thought was we would be eating it outside, however when I came out from paying Brad had already put the girls in the car. I was a little leery as a friend of mine had just picked-up and gifted the cover for Ainsley's seat. While I can wash it I really wasn't happy about the possibility of needing to...because again we had just got it! Ainsley loved her ice cream and the cover fared well. So all in all it turned out OK.

Fun on the Fourth!

What a rainy 4th of July we had this year! I felt bad for Kaylee because she was SO excited for the 4th; one would have thought it was Christmas by all her excitement. Towanda usually has quite the 4th of July festival. However, given the condition we chose to skip it this year.

We still were able to find some fun though. We had my niece, Skyeler, and nephew, Koen, birthday party. Koen turned 6 on June 28 and Skyeler turned 8 on July 6th. I can't even believe it. Especially Skyeler who was a mere 1 week old when Brad and I got married! The girls had lots of fun, as they always do playing with their cousins.


Grandma and Grandpa Duffy with all the grandkids. It's always interesting trying to get one of these photos. I can't imagine why we have such a hard time getting 5 kids, ages 2-8, to stay still, look at the camera and smile all at the same time.



Ainsley is trying to put on the Uncle Sam hat that was the pinata.


I'm not 100% sure what Maddox and Ainsley are doing in this photo. Perhaps helping each other accessorise? I am 100% sure that regardless of what they are doing that red/yellow car always seems to be involved!


After the party we headed out to Lake Bloomington to watch the fireworks. However, when we got there we found out they had been cancelled. Kaylee was very sad! Which was a little surprising because the night before we had gone to a pre-4th cookout where there was fireworks and Kaylee wasn't a big fan. So Daddy, being the hero he is, took us into Fairview so we could watch the fireworks there. Another reason Daddy is a hero is because he bought headphones the girls could wear so the fireworks wouldn't be as loud. We backed into our parking spot, opened the back of the van and set a sleeping bag up so the girls could sit there and watch, and Brad and I sat in folding chairs. They were all set, with their star marshmallow snacks Grandma had sent, and we were ready to watch!


Kaylee had her headphones on well before the fireworks started! Ainsley ended-up sitting on my lap and putting hers on after the fireworks started.


Waiting for fireworks!

Yey for Daddy who saved our 4th of July!