Julie & Gunnar's Birthday

Julie and Gunnar, who are two of my good friend Sarah's children and Y buddies of Elizabeth and Emily, recently had a small, informal birthday gathering that featured horses, slip and slide and an enormous tire swing.  I don't think that our girls have ever had so much fun in one afternoon!  They each got to go for a buggy ride with the horses (owned by a neighbor up the road) and the slip and slide gave them hours of fun.  It was a such a great afternoon of fun in the sun - so much so that when Emily crashed, she crashed very hard - "I want to go home NOW!"  Both girls were completely exhausted and slept almost twelve hours that night!

Elizabeth feeding Blessings.

Emily and Julie, taking a buggy ride together.

While Elizabeth and Julie went up to the neighbor's barn and traded Blessings for Treasure, Emily tried out the slip and slide.

Elizabeth loved Treasure! 

Riding the giant tire swing.

Elizabeth and Gunnar, enjoying some juice.

Elizabeth on the slip and slide.

Sarah shows the kids how to sound the air horn, announcing that the slip and slide is open!!!

Julie and Elizabeth on the slip and slide.

Our beautiful girl.

Hair Cut

I am not one for drastic changes, especially when it comes to my appearance, but when I was younger, I often took risks when it came to my hair.  My grade school and even high school friends will remember seeing me with hair to my waist one day and the "Dorothy Hamill" cut the next day.  While it has been some time since I've done anything drastic like that, the girls still have a sense of adventure.  Every year, a few days after their dance recital, they get their hair cut shorter for the summer.  Two years ago, you may remember Emily's first hair cut, which was very drastic.  This year, it was Elizabeth's turn.  While Emily was having her hair cut, I talked to Lisa about how she thought much shorter hair would look on Elizabeth.  She was enthusiastic about the idea and said she thought that Elizabeth would look really great, so we decided to take the plunge.

Emily has so much hair!!! 

Elizabeth inspects Lisa's handy work. 

No turning back now!!! 

Stylin'. 

Although I miss the long hair, she looks absolutely adorable and so grown up!! 

Emily loves her new do!! 

That's a lot of hair!!!

Llama Llama

Our local library often has interesting events, you just have to know where to look for the information.  This past weekend, a llama visited the library and Emily was there to meet her!

Making her grand entrance. 

Emily's turn to pet her. 

The llama thought that the flower on Emily's headband was real and sniffed it! 

She knows how to sit so nicely!

Father's Day

Like just about every year, Father's Day was a low key event.  The girls and I each gave Lee a card and a gift, which he loved:

Lee opens Emily's present. 

He loved her card. 

Just what he needed - a new key chain!!  

Elizabeth made this card for him. 

Opening my card and gift. 

Similar to the birthday questions (from the previous post), the girls answered a bunch of questions about their dad; some of the answers are spot on and the others are simply hilarious. 

Celebrating Six

We celebrated Emily's birthday, as always, with Peter, Lisa and Taylor.  After sharing dinner together, it was time for cake and for Emily to open her presents.  She had a great time!!

Her birthday cake, made to her exact specifications.  Those are Reese's Pieces bits making up the six.

Blowing out the candles. 

Opening Elizabeth's present. 

Because one lambie is never enough..... 

Elizabeth was a great help, reading the card from Uncle Mike and Auntie Sandra. 

She recognizes the paper as American Girl..... 

You can never go wrong with AGD - especially Rebecca's movie star dress and hat!! 

A Barbie pool from Peter and Lisa! 

The journal she wanted. 

Looking through a fairy book. 

A fairy garden from Grammy and Grampy. 

We had a lambie necklace specially made for her. 

This should have been in the last post - I found this great list of questions on line and I hope to remember to ask them of the girls each year on their birthday.