pretty Sunday...

This past week my Aunt Kerri was cleaning out her closet and came across a few dresses that her daughter Kayla had worn and grown out of. One of those dresses happened to be the mini-bride dress that she wore to our wedding. It was a miniature version of my wedding dress-- cute. My mom had made it 9 years ago this month and it washed up just like new. Breckyn wore it to church today (because she is the queen of fancy) and pretended to the princess of the world all day...

Beautiful Breckyn all in white...
Can you tell that she feels like a princess? (she's totally been working on her picture poses)
Chloe and her boyfriend Timmy... Our little Chloe has really taken to her Uncle Timmy. She likes to snuggle him and give him all of her smiles. It's pretty stinkin' cute.
She wouldn't smile for me because I was interrupting her Timmy time. (note the hint of some cutie curls starting on her sides)
Mom and Dad, our fearless workers taking in some Sunday family time. Dad gets an amazing tan so easily-- it's sick! (but if you look closely you can see the faint outline of his new sweat band that he is constantly wearing-- oh, it's pretty)

outside play time...

Today we had a lot of work to do. We cleaned the house and mowed the lawn and the kids' reward was swimming and playing with the Barlows. They had a blast, as usual...

uh-oh!
Em was a little upset that his popsicle was all gone-- poor Emmy.
Rugs and his chocolate popsicle face...
Max wasn't in the mood for pictures-- but I took on anyway.... love you Max!
The twirlies enjoying a little pool time...
Rugs and several flotation devices-- this kid is defiantly NOT going to sink!
Caleb and his cool guy goggles...
Jodi and Chloe, who apparently liked the taste of the water...
B and Chlo after the swim hoping for some snacks...

Tim's latest and greatest. He bought this old power wheels off of eBay for $15 and added a few little extras to make it cool. He isn't done yet but, the kids were dying to try it. (as you can see Tim was too) Next step-- traction. That will be installed tomorrow morning bright and early.

school registration time...

The kids had school registration today. Our school does the year book pictures at registration so everyone needed to be pulled out of the pool and cleaned up to go. It was a little bit of a process-- but so worth the results.

Here is the crew all cleaned up and ready for pictures. (they are getting so old) (Maddie will be in 4th grade, Caleb and Breckyn will be in 2nd grade, and Zoey is going into 1st grade)
Pretty Zoey all nice for her pictures...
Breckyn, who loves to pose, looking so beautiful for her pictures even though she totally did not want to wear this shirt. She was thinking something a little more fancy. (bet you'd never guess that huh?!)
Emerson freshly up from his nap-- squirrelly hair and all. Curly Maddie...some women do unspeakable things to attain this level of perfection. Maddie's hair rocks! (sometimes she lets me play with it)Billy Rae Cyrus-- I mean Caleb and his new long hair do. He is our resident cool guy!

inside fun...

It has been super humid and hot here and it rained a ton last night so it wasn't outside play weather today at our house. The girls asked if I would teach them some new stuff today and they picked sewing and baking. Those of you who know me well know that I love to cook and bake-- but I'm not too secure in the sewing category. I can sew on a button or patch up a shirt with the best of them but that's about it. Right now the girls are under the impression that I am an amazing do all kind of mom-- like I'm going to let them down when they think that. So off to Wal-Mart we went for supplies.

Zoey picked a strawberry cake mix (kinda gross) with strawberry frosting (even worse). It was really fun to make and even more fun for them to eat. Zoey actually named her cake the "Zoey pretty pony" cake. Nice!
On to sewing lessons... They learned how to sew on a button and do a regular stitch. They both designed a nice book mark to impress their friends at school.
I did a little sewing of my own during the lesson. I've been making hair bows for the girls. I have most of them on barrettes and the others on rubber bands. I'm having a little too much fun trying all sorts of combinations.

house updates....

Here is the front view of the addition. Yaya's house is to the right and the shed to the left.
Here is the side that faces the shed. One window addition thanks to Ted and an extra window.
Dad has talked mom into manning the equipment and using himself as the guinea pig. I know, it looks a little "iffy." Mom's a good sport.
This is the front view. The garage is to the left and the new family room is to the right. There will be french doors on either end (back and front) of the living area to make it look like a breezeway. The door is up inside that sections off the two living spaces (yaya's and theirs). It's coming along quite nicely. The goal is to have Mom and Dad out of the stinky apartment by September. YIKES! It's almost go time!

Sundays...

Sunday nights is "free" night at our house. That means that everyone gets to pick what they want for dinner and make it themselves. I caught everyone in action...

Rugby getting his plate to get started...
Brecky taking care of business...
Emerson avoiding food because he already snuck some cereal.
Tim taking full advantage of "free" night. I think he thinks that means he is "free" of responsibilities....
Zoey made herself frozen eggos...eeeewww. (but she did it herself) You gotta love "free" night!

busy, busy, busy...

The kids were stuck entertaining themselves while Jodi, Mom, and I painted my bedroom. (pictures to come soon) The men were all working on Yaya's house and that left the kids to their own devices. They did really well and we were so proud of them....

Rugby was exploring his photography skills again... not bad buddy!

(B and her new camel-- Camy... because Camels are like her favorite animal)
The girls decided to do makeup on each other. This picture doesn't quite show just how much they gobbed on. It was pretty hilarious. They even had the powder caked on their eyelashes.
Maddie taught the girls how to do a model pose.... yeah, she's got it down cold!
This is Zoey's pose. Notice Maddie isn't actually willing to do it herself-- she is just the coach.
Caleb kept busy giving the babies a ride in the wagon. He is such a good big brother. Thanks buddy!
Here is my latest invention. I made these out of ribbon and buttons and attached them to barrettes for the girlies. I'm pretty proud of myself.
Zoey, who is not super happy to be my model-- but cute hair huh?!
This is the other version-- larger and sassier. It was meant to be a pony holder-- but it works in front too. Pretty cute! I'll be working on more versions this week-- stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Chloe...

Yesterday was Chloe's first birthday and we had a little party for her. She got to have a few things she's never had before. It was pretty funny....

"I'm the princess!!!"

(This is her latest look....super crusty. It cracks me up!)

Her first course was bread sticks.... not so crusty anymore...

Then she moved on to pizza. She was a fan of the pepperonis.

I'm pretty sure this was her favorite part. She eased into it....

OK, she got right down to business. This crusty was aimed towards her mother because the cupcake was all gone.

She is sooooo big!

I love this chubby little frosting face. Look at all of those big girl teeth!

After a quick dip in the tub, she's all clean. Man, I love this kid. She is so cute, snuggly, happy, joyful, and pretty quick on her feet. I'm not sure how we ever made it without her. I'm so glad she is here. I love you Chlo-- Happy Birthday babe!

Birthday girl and the cup cake!

...mid cup cake...

cupcake explosion...

Here's our little party girl showing off her newest skills. She is fast!

a few random pictures from the week...

When we were in the Dells this past winter Rugby saw a picture at a rib joint that he loves to reenact. We think it's pretty funny.
Rugby took over as chief photographer for the day-- he did pretty well...
Rugby's work again...
Brecky took a turn dressing Mr. Pigglesworth. He is all ready for a quick dip in the pool.
I did these colored flower experiments with the kids just like my grandma use to do with us. I got to be in charge of a little science for once, it was nice.