Madeline's First Day of Preschool

Madeline started her second year of preschool last week and she was super excited!! 

Fia wanted in on the pictures too.

For the first day, the parents get to stay and see what a day at preschool is like.  They start their day at the table working with various toys.

Then it's circle time where they learn the day of the week and discuss the weather outside.

And it wouldn't be preschool without some arts and crafts.  Her classroom is called "The Moonbeams" so they worked on making a moonbeam.  She cut hers out all by herself.

She was so proud!

When we got home, all she talked about was how the Mommies don't get to stay next time.  Ok kid, jeez, I get the hint.

Madeline Funny

The other night we took the kids to the Loveland Bike Trail for a nice bike ride/walk.  I rented a bike so I could ride alongside Madeline and Andy and Fia walked.  It is such a beautiful trail and the weather was perfect...low 70s.  We were having such a great time so we thought we would buy the kids an icee from the stand by the trail.  We found a bench to sit down and park our bikes and then Madeline says, "Okay, you guys go buy the icees and I'll watch Fia."  It was so cute and hilarious.  She takes this big sister thing seriously.

Dancin' in the Rain

Firetruck

My mom's group had a cookout at a local park recently for the whole family.  Since there were so many of us, they asked a local fire-station if they would bring a truck out for the kids.  They brought the whole house!!  A rescue truck, ladder truck, command truck and ambulance.  It was fabulous and the kids absolutely loved it!

Fun with our cousins

July

What else have we been up to this month?  Getting lost among the stuffed animals.....

"Painting" with water outside....

The Lewis Family Reunion

Party in the Park

Party in the Park is held at Yeatman's Cove along Cincinnati's riverfront every Wednesday night in the summer.  They have free live music, beer tents and food.  Sign us up!  We saw that "Lt. Dan's New Legs" were playing so we took the kids for a night out.  I'll admit, I felt a tad bit weird having the kids there because it was mostly young socialite's hanging out. But really, it ended up being an awesome night and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

When we first arrived, there weren't many people so the kids took advantage and ran around the field area.

Madeline even went up and danced with the band for a bit.

We took a walk and checked out the boats on the water.

Andy played football with a few guys he met there.

Meanwhile, a photographer caught me and Fia relaxing in the shade.

On our way home, we took the kids across the Purple People bridge.  Madeline is such a goofball.

Summer Vacation

For vacation this year, we went to Topsail, NC with Andy's parents and stayed right on the beach.  It was super relaxing and we all had a fabulous time.  Fia LOVED swimming in the ocean. Madeline preferred to just play in the sand and surf.  We also celebrated Andy's birthday!  I took a million pictures and can't post them all, but here is just a sampling of all the fun we had (mostly of the kids, of course). 

Horseback Ride

Recently, the kids and I had the opportunity to check out a "Western Town" and visit a horse stable nearby.  The western town is on a private property located way out in Maineville on a gorgeous wooded property.  The owner loves to build things.  Lots of things.  She, yes SHE, built this entire town by herself over the course of a few years.  Frankly, it's pretty incredible.  In the first picture here, you can see the Jail, General Store and Saloon behind us. We are sitting in the center of the "town" at the fire-pit.

Here are the kids "shopping" inside the general store.  

This here is the Livery.

And of course you have to have a Church.

This is inside the church!

There was also a teepee, cemetery and Railroad Station.  The Western Town was so neat and I hope to get a chance to take the kids back again for them to run around and play.

Our next stop was the horse stables and the kids favorite part of the trip.  I'm not exactly sure how many horses we saw, but it was a lot.  Just in this area alone there were probably a good 15 or so.  Can you make out little Fia there walking through?  

Madeline was even able to ride on a horse named Joy.  She absolutely loved it!  Fia had the opportunity as well, but she was too scared.

It was a fantastic trip and we went home with a souvenir.  

Making of Father's Day Trophies

As you all know, I've been watching my nieces for awhile now.  But alas, all good things must come to an end and their last week was this past week.  I was glad that it fell on the week before Father's Day so I could do one last big project with them.  The kids were also super excited to make something for their daddies, of course!  All of them loved putting the pasta on their trophy's.  And the big kids did really well with sharing and taking turns with the little ones.

Looking good!  Then they needed to dry out...

Once dry, I took them outside to spray them to look like a gold trophy.  

Then the kids finished them off with jewels and pictures of them with their Daddy.  It was a super fun project and they loved it!  The best part....I think their Daddy's really liked it too.