farmers market

Last Thursday I discovered that the Farmer's Market had started again.
Of course last Thursday was the day I had off because of the wedding . I discovered the market in the city park as we left the Legion, and since we had some time to kill before I needed to be to the church for pictures I insisted Kevin stop. Naturally this would have been the time of day when I was ready for the wedding, you know hair and makeup, dress and let's not forgot those heels. :) Not to be deterred this was the farmer's market after all I stopped, generating a stare or two. So glad I stopped not only did they have fresh strawberries, but homemade bread and jellies. We have been enjoying the goodies I purchased all week, and naturally today I had to make a return trip, this time I brought the girls along. They had fun picking out new flavors of jelly and cookies. ( I know cookies really have nothing to do with fresh produce, but these cookies are simply amazing, this woman could put dirt on a plate and it would taste gourmet. yes she is that good) Another booth had green beans, which caused the most enthusiastic of happy dances from Rosie, this person also had fresh flowers at the unbelievable price of a dollar a bunch. How could I not purchase a few bunches? Can't wait to see what next week brings.

T_ball

Tuesday was his last day of t-ball. It is part of the summer rec program and ran for 6 weeks.
Twice a week he would join other boys his age where they began to learn the basics of baseball.
Often it looked like organized chaos as they ran here and there.
He had a great time and was a bit bummed when his last day rolled around.

8 on the 8th July edition

love bare toes in the grass, this is just so her,
these two are inseparable glad they still let me take their pictures, and the monthly bird feeder pic
so happy that there is grass in the picture and no snow.
her attire for swimming, yes the boots are a requirement, I didn't ask after all it's her fashion statement. Yahaira in her favorite place, outdoors.
we picked our first raspberries last night, don't be mislead she had no intention of sharing :)
My grandma had tiger lilies growing along the west side of her house, I used to love how they looked when they bloomed, last year I planted some along the side of my house, as they bloomed this year it reminded me of her.

Today she is 3

We celebrated her birthday with family and friends on Sunday.
Saturday night when we picked up her cake at Hyvee she was dancing thru the store singing "it's my birthday"
The Barbie cake generated a lot of interest at the party with a few fingers leaving their mark (adults included) as they tried to figure out just how this cake was created. When it came time to open gifts she decided a nap was more important ( I know the child who never naps go figure) as the pictures show once she recharged she was more than ready to open gifts.
How fast these three years have passed, it really seems like we just received the call and brought her home from the hospital. I am reminded just how fleeting time is when I look at her and no longer see any trace of the baby/toddler she just was. Almost daily I hear new words and sentences from her as her vocabulary explodes. She is fearless and embraces life as only a three year old can. I love watching her discover and explore and love that she still wants to crawl in my lap and snuggle. So today we celebrate her birthday and say thank you for the wonderful gift she is.

MN Zoo

Saturday we decided to take the kids to the zoo.
It has been over a year since we last visited and quite honestly I barely recognized it so many things had changed.
The biggest change was the opening of the new Russian coast Grizzly exhibit. We spent almost two hours in this area the kids loved the sea otters and the grizzly bears, Rosie stood by the glass viewing wall and stared in wonder as the bear swam right next to her. Another updated exhibit was the Minnesota trail which was another favorite of the kids. They loved the interactive feature of searching for the stamps to fill in their field guide. I loved how it felt like a lodge, the whole area was amazing.

so many things to see and do at the zoo

dolphin and shark tanks

not the best photos, but I love how their silhouette's look against the water.

Sea otter exhibit

July 4th, 2008

This year we changed things up a bit.
You may notice a few of those changes.
The most obvious would be the lack of the matching Old Navy shirts.
Back in May when I was at an Old Navy they only had little kids sizes in, and I'm afraid to admit that I didn't make it back.
The other big change was location we didn't host an annual 4th of July BBQ at our house. I was afraid we would all be pretty tired and didn't think anyone would really want to hang out with us. We spent the afternoon at Linda and Larry's, with their family, they opened gifts and we grilled burgers, later we headed to the park for the concert, where I was able to hear Judd Ruben sing live and in person, (amazing story, amazing voice, amazing young man) we took in the fireworks over the lake and then walked home, with a stopover at Linda and Larry's for a few more fireworks and s'mores.

a 4th of July tradition

family pics.
and another part of the tradition was the super excited faces some people presented me with.
Some things never change.

chair races

the girls loved these little stools. They played with them throughout the afternoon carrying them with as they moved from place to place. At one point it appeared they were racing, loved watching them as they say and giggled and played and then they would move on to the next spot.

smoke snakes

The Hendersons brought along some fireworks the smoke snakes were certainly fascinating to my crew.
I loved watching Yahaira's face as she waited for the little pellat to grow into a "snake"

July 4th