Happy Fourth!

 We had a fun-filled Fourth--VERY hot, but then again, it is July during one of the hottest summers the country has seen in a very long time!

During the day (and the afternoon/evening of the 3rd), Cubby was hard at work on trying out his smoker with a HUGE beef brisket (11 lbs).  In the afternoon, we all went to Papio Bay and kept cool splashing around in the pool with our friends.

That evening, we brought the party over to our backyard, with all of our favorite neighbor friends.  The kids were just a little excited for all of the fun!

 They did their best to keep cool in the pool and with water guns.

 Here is Juliana (with my friend, Bridget), keeping herself cool.

And here Juliana is, giving some smiles out to Bridget.

Christian and his friend, Henry, keeping watch over the dessert table.  Good job, boys!After dinner, the dads got out some fireworks and we lit a couple off in the backyard and then out in our driveway.  Nothing fancy, but definitely a fun day with friends and family! 

Happy Fourth!

Catch Up

I'm playing catch up for June!  (It's pretty sad that I only did four posts for the month!)  Here goes:

We did swim lessons the month of June.  The first two weeks, Kari and I took a "Mommy and Me" class.  Kari loves the water and we had a lot of fun together.  (Mommy sure loves Kari as the water was still pretty chilly!)  Grandma Karen came over to watch Juliana while we did this session. 

Kari was SUCH a big girl and even jumped off of the diving board for the first time!!  She was the littlest one to do it too!  Kari's teacher, Miss Ember, was very sweet and let Kari turn the slides "on" and "off."  The slides were Kari's favorite part of the lessons.  The big kids were jealous that we got to go down them so much!

 The weather most of the days was warm, but one day it was a bit rainy and pretty chilly!  Emily NEVER gets cold and still had a great time.  Christian was FREEZING, but was having fun and toughed it out.  At the end of the first session, Christian had passed Level 1 and got to move up to Level 2!  At the end of the second session, Emily was finally able to pass Level 3 and next summer will be able to enter Level 4!!!  (Level 3 is the level that many kids have to take over before getting to move on.)

 Way to go, kids!

 Also in June were Christian's baseball games.  Here is cute little Kari, eating her snacks and cheering her brother on.

 We've also had some down-time.  (Having a new baby in the house kind of forces you to slow down!)  But, the kids have enjoyed it and one day I popped in on them making Kari's day by having a tea party with her.  (That's a party hat that she's wearing, folks!)  Sweet times like these make me want to call out, "Alright, everyone, STOP GROWING!"  The days are long but the years go by way too quickly.

Juliana is also busy growing and Daddy is wasting no time at all teaching her some tricks.  Soon enough, he'll have her standing on his hand; just like the rest of the kids!

Good times!  Sometimes I wonder, "when does school start again??!" and other days I wish that summer would never end.

2 months!

So, this "little" girl is now 2 months old!   I put little in quotations because, she is little only in age, not in size.  Juliana had her two month check-up today.  Here are her stats:

Height:  25 inches (99%)

Weight:  14 lbs. 4 oz. (98%)

Head circumference:  16 inches (87%)

Now, wouldn't you agree with my quotations?

Such a sweetheart, Juliana fills our home with joy.  And, not to leave out real life, she makes life just a tad bit busier...we sure wouldn't want  a "down" day, now, would we?  (Yes, I love to use quotations.)  Hence, the reason my blog hasn't been updated in a bit.  We have been busy just keeping up with everyday life and trying to have some summer fun along the way!  More updates soon though, I promise!