4th of July

This 4th of July, we celebrated with our neighbors!  We started the party at the Lenexa 4th of July Parade with the Talboys and the Bursons.

Taking photos of these girls is impossible!  At least one of them is doing their own thing in every picture.  Sometimes they are ALL doing their own thing...

The parade itself was mostly local politicians, Shriners, and (for some odd reason) every person to ever work at the Renaissance Festival.  But a lot of people handed out candy, so the girls were super happy to be there!  Plus, who doesn't love waving a flag?!

Sarah really enjoyed the Lenexa police section of the parade (or, as she called it, the "Chase motorcycles").

She was always on the lookout for people with bags of candy, though!

Success!

We actually had to tell her not to share the candy with her sister.  Of course, in future years we'll probably have to tell her that she HAS to share the candy with her sister!

We grabbed a lunch of hot dogs and BBQ at the VFW Hall, then went home to take it easy so we would be able to stay up late that night.  We weren't crazy enough to brave the crowds for an official fireworks show, but we celebrated Greystone Estates style in our driveway with fiber-optic wands, glow sticks, snaps, and sparklers!

Grace was brave enough to go first with the sparklers!

Daddy had to show Sarah that it was safe first.

She decided that she'd try it!

Again!  Again!

We took a little break to watch some tanks (the only real fireworks of the evening!).

Then it was back to the sparklers!  It got darker...

...and darker!

To end the night, Daddy broke out the Super Sparklers!

Grace was brave enough to hold one, but Sarah declined.

It was a fun, fun 4th!

Cool Summer Days

Holy cow, it's downright COLD this summer!  We've taken advantage of the weather and spent a lot of time outdoors, but we hadn't been to Deanna Rose yet this summer.  We changed that on Thursday when Grammie and PaPa tagged along for one of our family field trips!

PaPa spent most of the morning keeping Sarah entertained.  He started by showing her how brave he was (Sarah has yet to be brave enough to feed the chickens on her own!).

Then, he helped her mine for "treasure."

Then, he let her ride a pony!  This time, Sarah rode on Darby.  It was a first for her - she usually gets Cowboy or Jimmie!

And because a pony ride wasn't enough, we also had ice cream!

Sarah tried to feed the goats.  It didn't work well for her.

PaPa showed her how to stand NEAR the goats you want to feed.

That worked much better!  Thanks for the pointer, PaPa...

8 Weeks Old

June 25-July 1

Kate is 2 months old and already bored with me taking her picture.  Sorry, kiddo...

This is the "official" two-month photo. She looks mildly more interested in this one!

This week Kate had her two-month check up.  She weighs 11 pounds, 5 ounces (50%ile), is 1 foot, 10.2" long (50%ile) and has a head circumference of 15 1/4" (60%ile).  Sarah was always so big that it seems strange to have an "average" size child!  Poor Kate also had her first round of immunizations, which was harder on me than it was on her.  I just hate seeing my baby hurt!

In other big news, Kate rolled from her stomach onto her back for the first time this Saturday!  She's been working at it (she REALLY doesn't like tummy time!), but I was still surprised to see her roll this early.  I'm not sure I'm ready for her to be mobile yet!

This week Kate also got to attend her first birthday party when we celebrated my Great Uncle Bill's 85th birthday.  Here are the youngest and oldest people in the room!

Other cute photos from this week...