Having fun with Great Grandma and Grandpa Graham

Last weekend, we went to Delafield for a quick visit with Great Grandma and Grandpa Graham. The kids had SO much fun seeing them, and I did too. We're so grateful that they made the long drive up from Kansas City. We packed a lot of fun into 2 days!

Here's a typical picture of Emily after eating dinner. So messy... and it gets all in her hair as well as her face.
I think Jack is more Lego obsessed than Andy is right now... and he doesn't even meet the age requirements yet! He's going to be a lego expert soon :)

Andy was MORE than happy to explain Uno rules to his Great Grandma and Grandpa Graham. Throughout the game he was very reassuring to them, telling them they were doing well! (he was also very eager to give Draw Four cards to them too :) )

Great Grandma and Emily spending some time together

Great Grandpa hanging out with Emily. She was very entertained with a paper cup for awhile :) She'll pretty much play with anything, as long as it's not one of her toys.

Great Grandma and Andy relaxing and playing with some robots that they got the boys. (an instant hit!)

A really nice pictures of Andy and Great Grandma. Andy and Jack also enjoyed introducing Great Grandma and Grandpa to the movies Tangled and How To Train Your Dragon.
Andy, scaring me with a toy snake :)
A couple of pictures of Great Grandma and Grandpa with the kids before we left to go home on Saturday. What a wonderful visit we had!

Milwaukee Zoo and Cousin time

In mid-June, Chris had to go on a trip to China, so the kids and I spent a long weekend in Delafield. We went to the Milwaukee zoo and had a very fun morning there. The train ride and the monkeys were our favorites this time. After that, it was a lot of relaxing with family - the boys played with their cousin Ben, we enjoyed seeing how much Jude has grown, we played quite a few games of Uno where Andy showed off his competitive side, and the kids spent some time in the kiddie pool. Brad, Ryan, Dad, and I also played some softball - the first time we had played together in a couple of years. Chris got home last Tuesday, with a cold and some jetlag. He's finally feeling back to his normal self and we had a great day today, spending lots of time outside. (hiking at the Nature Preserve, splashing in the fountains in downtown Neenah, and going for a walk around the neighborhood while Andy biked)

Our Backyard Just Got a Little Bit More Fun!

We had a nice, busy weekend. Jack and Emily came to Delafield with me on Friday night. I did the Trek 100 Bike Ride with my dad and Brad on Saturday (it was so fun, even if it was only 55 degrees!). Jack and Emily spent some quality time with Grandma Graham, and Andy got a special day with daddy where they went to the library, went to see Kung Fu Panda 2, went out to Noodles for lunch, and played video games. Fun was had by all!

On Sunday we moved some play equipment into our backyard! Our very nice and generous neighbors offered their equipment to us, since their kids had outgrown it. Even though it's not new, it will definitely be fun for the kids!

Emmie has a swing outside now. It's nice to have somewhere to set her, when we're outside playing with the kids. Plus, she loves it :)

Even Bailey was enjoying the play equipment... His little shady "dog house"

Jack was escaping from jail (Chris and I would put the boys in the top part of the play gym, and they would escape using the slide)

Today we had a wonderful, long play date at the park that included some hiking and a picnic. The kids were warm when they got home, so we added a new element to the fun today... putting the sprinkler splash pad right at the bottom of the slide. Awesome - kind of like a slip and slide at the bottom.

Emily liked watching her crazy brothers getting soaked

Andy heading down into the water

Jack going down for a splash

Just a bit soaked...

Andy trying to drink the water Action shots!

Afterwards, the boys ate some icee pops. Then we went inside to play with legos and Emily got to be free to cruise around. Tomorrow, the boys' kiddie camp starts in the morning. I really hope that it goes well and they have fun.

Silly Pictures of Silly Kids

This week, the boys' favorite toy has been their Zoob set (the pieces snap together to make all sorts of different creations). I made Jack a helmet (with attached communication device) - then Andy had to have one too. Soon, they were Star Wars bounty hunters with all sorts of ocean rescue missions that they had to go on....

Emily likes to dump out the pieces...

But she was a good sport and wore the helmet when Andy put it on her :)

Andy with his helmet on

Cool guys :) (or future blackmail pics when they are teens!) They wanted to wear the hemets grocery shopping today, but I was a) afraid they would lose pieces and b) thinking we would attract even more attention than we usually do when we are driving the huge cart around!

Emily also enjoys chewing on them - they aren't a choking hazard and I think they feel good on her gums which have another tooth on top coming through.

We brought up a new toy for Emily and she can stand up with it to play music. Soon she's going to be cruising!