Two Wednesdays

TODAY:
We chilled at Nana and Papa's house. It was nice. The only thing missing was Drew.

We played in the pool:Checked the chemicals:Played with bubbles:Gabrielle joined us outside in the evening:

LAST WEDNESDAY:

I spent much of the day recovering from my Tuesday travels. The girls weren't too bad on the plane. My favorite moment: when my mom and I traded kids by passing them over the seat (she was seated in front of me). I spent the evening at my grandfather's viewing. Favorites from that: the photo montage Julie made, the bowl M 'n M's for mourners, seeing my cousins and their children, saying goodbye to Grandpa Bud, having my family remember my little Jacob in Grandpa Bud's obituary (that especially touched me).

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This is what Alaina wore on the plane, slept in (lost one shoe in the night), and wore for half of the day. She didn't want to change and I didn't want to fight her.

Cousin Smith holding Gabrielle:

Uncle Mike holding Gabrielle:

Grandpa was always passing out M 'n M's so it was fitting to have these at his funeral (Lainey ate tons). The next day I saw my dad slip a bag of the candy into Grandpa's coffin before they closed the lid and that's when I started crying. Funny what sets you off.

My Dad with three of my four bros: Rob, Scott, and Mike:

Goodbye jumper cables

Last Tuesday I flew to Utah for my grandfather's funeral (more on that later). Today, just a week later, I drove to South Carolina so my kids can spend time with their grandparents. It's been a busy week. While we we were in Utah my mom's car died. This morning Mom and I tried to jump start it ourselves. It didn't go too well.

Mom hooked up the cables, I started my van, and the cables started smoking. Then, the plastic coating started to melt off the wires even though I had shut off my engine. . . .

Then we called AAA. Needless to say, we got a late start.

Official Birth Announcement

Picture by Penny Lutz, design my my sister, Julie Broadbent (one of her namesakes).

S Day

Yesterday was our S day. I had grand ideas of strawberry pancakes and scavenger hunts, but with all the craziness of prepping for my last-minute Utah trip and getting Lizzie to the first day of Vacation Bible School, pretty much all we had time for was stamping (we used regular stamps and experimented with various toys). We also tried to go swimming, but it didn't quite work out. Within 15 minutes of our arrival we heard thunder and had to vacate the pool. It was just as well. It was crazy hot and I had spent most of those 15 minutes trying to cool off Gabrielle with cool compresses (a frozen capri sun wrapped in my nursing apron).

Below is a shot of Lizzie in her antennae from her Believe VBS. We're trying a new one this summer and so far so good. Today she came home with a kids christian rock CD and was able to sing along with some of the songs which was interesting.

More dance pictures (thanks Amanda)

Week in Review

mOnDaY - Our first day (and so far, only day) at the pool. I survived with all three girls. Alaina kept trying to take off her swimsuit (and hat and hair tie) and eventually, I gave in.

TuEsDaY - Played at the mall, signed up for reading programs (Borders and Barnes and Noble have summer reading programs and the kids earn a free book!), went to our final Daisey Girl Scout activity (we delivered food and other supplies to a food pantry that the girls bought with their cookie money last week). wEdNeSdAy - Gabrielle is one month old! I can't believe how fast these last four weeks have gone. I'm a little sad that she's old enough for us to state her age in months not weeks, and soon I'll be figuring Lainey's age in years instead of months. It's going so fast! ThUrSdAy - Last day of first grade! Lizzie's growing up too fast too. We celebrated by going to Johnny Rockets with three of her favorite classmates. We also went to the never-ending dress rehearsal for Lizzie's upcoming rehearsal. It was crazy managing everything with all three girls, but we survived and Laina LOVED watching the girls dance. Afterwards we joined some dance friends at . . . Johnny Rockets (ugh). And after that, on the drive home, I found out that my grandfather died.fRiDaY - "O" day fun with oranges and other sundry things. In the evening Lizzie climbed in Alaina's crib (and piled in a bunch of pillows) to read her stories at night. So cute.SaTuRdAy - Dance Recital! Four hours long, 64 dance numbers, took up our whole day, but it was so fun to see Liz on stage. The babies did pretty well too. They both slept through most of the second half. Actually, Andrew and I rested our eyes a bit too. After the performance Drew gave some flowers to Lizzie because she did such a great job and some flowers to Alaina (wearing her tutu again, of course) so she wouldn't be jealous of Liz. Also, I booked my flight to Utah for Grandpa Bud's funeral.

Today brought to you by the letter O . . .

Since today was the first day of summer we started our alphabet days. Today was O.

Our activities included an outing (lunch at Ikea with friends), an oil change (Liz said this one was pretty lame), and the following food:

Some hot dog octopus for dinner (really it was supposed to be a jellyfish, but since it was O day we called it an octopus). Fresh squeezed orange juice.

Jello in an orange (not pictured) and cupcakes in an orange. Liz picked red velvet cake and we were a little sloppy when we filled the oranges. They looked like they were bleeding.

The cupcakes overflowed the oranges, but were really tasty. We'll eat the jello tomorrow.

One of my favorite things about today was the outfit Alaina insisted on wearing (shoes and all):

When it came time to put on pajamas, Alaina didn't want to take off her tu-tu so I let her put on a puffy dress up skirt (and the drama ceased).

Naturally she wanted to sleep in it as well.