The Fauna & Flora of our backyard

Some deer we saw in our backyard one morning.

My first and (so far) only zucchini. Some kind of squash beetle (?) got our plants. They're still alive, but having a hard time producing. I also harvested one tomato. The squirrels have been enjoying a green tomato feast! Oh well! Maybe we can make changes next year to protect our bounty.

Sydney's 3!!!

We had a small get together for Sydney's birthday. The ice cream cones are cake! Sydney is such a sweet girl with the most amazing laugh. Although, her most hilarious chuckles come when she's doing something naughty (like putting a booger on Kathryn or basically doing something annoying to Kathryn). She has a hard time sitting still enough to even make eye contact most of the time, so it's fitting that she's not looking in ANY of these pictures.

Eat Mor Chikin!

On Friday it was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A, so we dressed up like cows to get our free food! It was fun, silly, and yummy!

Another Birthday Celebration

We had another birthday celebration at the end of the week so that we could include Baby Madeline! Here are Matt (Mike's brother) and Kathryn posing with cute bowls.

Madeline's first taste of cake and frosting! YUM!

Sydney Jumping

Not to be left out...Sydney jumped off the diving board, but she kept her life jacket on. She jumped this same cute way every time, arms straight out and one left forward, one leg back. Isn't that cute? Since she had her jacket on, she would just swim on over to the side by herself and climb up the ladder. (And notice the McDaniel's beautiful backyard on the bayou! We felt so lucky to be there.)

Kathryn Jumping

Kathryn pretty much taught herself to swim on this vacation. The week before vacation she was peer pressured (in a good way) into putting her face in the water and jumping off the side of the pool with her life jacket on and going all the way under. So, she was so excited to come and show Aunt Kelly her skills. Once we started swimming she wanted to take her life jacket off and she was so excited that she could go under the water. She spent 5 minutes going under and looking around. We couldn't even talk to her because she just kept going under! So, after a couple of days, she graduated to jumping off of the diving board without her life jacket on (!!!) and swimming to the edge. I would sit on a noodle and be there if she needed me. Now she has to work on being able to take a breath and then keep swimming. We are so proud of her!

(Notice those tensed muscles!)

4th of July

On the 4th we got up early and took the girls to a children's parade. Kelly helped me make these cute dresses for the girls.

We ate an early dinner of brisket and ribs, and then we went to see the fireworks in Monroe. We sat very close and I had the honor of having the largest piece of debris (a fuse) land on me!

Our Super Fun 4th of July Vacation to Louisiana

We had such a great time spending a week with Mike's Aunt Kelly, Uncle Emmett, and cousins, Zack, Aaron, & Sam.
We went swimming twice a day.

We ate snow cones.

The girls played with the dogs.

We visited the children's museum.

And more...

Our New Sidewalk!

This past Saturday we had our sidewalk poured. It was so exciting! I have wanted once ever since we moved into our house. The previous owner broke up the original sidewalk and put in stepping stones to make room for his trains. From what people tell us, he had tracks all around the front beds and ran trains on them (?!). Anyway, we are now the proud owners of a new sidewalk and a mound of dirt, that was actually mostly the old broken up concrete, unforunately. Since it's 98 degrees outside this week, we are waiting until we get back from vacation to finish the landscaping. I hope our neighbors don't mind. Please...one of our neighbors kept his Christmas decorations up until May(!) in 2007. I think we're good.

Safety Town

Won't you take me to...Safety Town? We've been singing that for the past two weeks because Kathryn has been attending Safety Town. It is a program that is run by the City of O'Fallon Police Department. Well, here it is in their own words:
"Safety Town is a program for youngsters age 4½ - 6 that teaches the basics of keeping safe. Certified teachers, police officers, firefighters and other experts coach children as they practice and experience “real life” situations through a simulated town layout. Lessons teach how to be safe with traffic, bikes, water, fire, poisons, animals and personal safety."
Some important things that Kathryn learned are: Stop, Look, Listen (before you cross the street), that policemen are our friends, not to go with strangers, to always wear your helmet when you're riding your bike, how to call 911, and more I'm sure.

Here is Kathryn with Sam, her counselor, in front of safety town.

Women from the Ladies Auxillary that help support Safety Town and the yummy graduation cake.

Sydney being a poser.

Kathryn trying to put on a brave face. She gets so shy and nervous in these situations. As my stepmom would say, she got it honest. I can distinctly remember feeling the exact same way. But I can also see the other side now that I'm grown and pretty much not shy.

So, they got up there and sang a cute song and she actually sang. I was impressed. But then it came time for them to walk down the aisle and shake the police officers hands. I tried not to look at her because I knew she was going to have a hard time, and then when they called her name she just started crying and inching down the aisle and then I started crying and it was just embarrassing. Anyway, Officer Dave made a cute joke about her being so sad to leave Safety Town and that made it a little better. She came and hugged me and we cried together. I'm actually tearing up as I write this. I'm not even that emotional about it, I'm just a suggestive crier. I CAN NOT help crying if I see someone else crying. IF it's sincere crying. The fakers don't get me.

Gymnastics

The girls are in gymnastics again and are really enjoying it. Sydney's class is first and it is amazing how well she listens and obeys. Here she is sitting on her circle waiting for class to start. (I'll try harder to get some action shots next week, but the teacher doesn't like parents in the room because it's distracting...and I agree.)

Here is Kathryn working on her back roll.

And blurrily hopscotching. (Ha, she looks like she has a huge hair-colored tulip growing out of her head.)

Some summer fun...

This past Sunday we attended a baby shower for the daughter of our friend Thalia. She is having a boy in July. The girls had fun eating and watching Jill open her presents.

We built these birdhouses as a family a couple of weeks ago and the girls got to paint them this week. Sydney chose to paint hers pink and Kathryn chose blue. Those are their favorite colors and they seldom deviate. See, even their aprons are blue and pink! Oh, the ridiculousness. I just realized Sydney is wearing a pink shirt and Kathryn is wearing a blue shirt!