Happy Birthday Olivia!!

June 9th Liv turned 6. She had a really fun birthday. 1st Grandma JoLynn came to her school and read to her class. She read Skippy John Jones, and Olivia. Then we had 8 cute little friends over for a birthday party in our back yard. Liv chose a rainbow theme, charades, and a balloon popping game for the festivities. I love this little girl. Really what is there not to love. She is a fun, beautiful, loving child and we adore her. Happy Birthday Angel!

Random Sampling

-I'm sitting at my kitchen table as I type this. Right next to the fresh peonies I cut from my garden. They make the whole room smell heavenly. This is always the time of year that I fall in love with my gardens. Today I am reminded of how much I love peonies (right now they are my favorites), and how much I am going to miss my flowers. I definitely plan on taking some of them with me when we move. It's funny how attached I am to them. I have a lot of flowers that have been given to me by friends, I always think about those friends when I weed around their perticular plants. So, I guess if you want me to think about you more, give me a piece of one of your perenials =0).

- The girls left on the plane yesterday with my mom. My mom came for 12 days, the girls flew home with her for 8 days, and then my sister is flying them home and staying here for 6 more days. Pretty great, right?! I was actually surprised to feel sad as I said goodbye to them. I am concentrating on how awesome it is that they get the chance to be in St. Louis alone with Grandma and Papa, and on doing all of the things that are amazingly easier with only 1 child.

- I started "training" for our annual triathlon today. Beckham and I went on a 1/2 hour bike ride. I found it a lot harder than I expected, and was definitely using an easier gear than I have been able to do in the past. Its sad that I was in better shape for it this time last year when I was 7 months pregnant. This is the 4th year, and my goal is to do all of them, so backing out is not an option. I know that when the day comes, I'll have a great time, be so glad that I did it, and wish that I had put more into my training. Oh well, maybe next year.

-We are going to Guatamala to do dentistry in 2 1/2 weeks, and I still know almost nothing about what I am supposed to bring. Finding out is top on my list of things to do tomorrow.

-Brad and I leave this weekend for a trip to Boston. I'm looking forward to spending time with him.

Grandma's Visit: Breakwater Lighthouse

We also drove down to the Campden/Rockport, which included a trip to Perry's Nuthouse (always). We ordered Pizza and ate it at a park on a harbor. Brad Fell asleep on the ground, got a sunburn and Gwen decorated him with flowers. My mom and I talked and laughed while the girls picked buttercup, and played on a gigantic anchor. Beckham alternated between being happy doing whatever we were doing and eating. Then we drove out to the breakwater lighthouse. We had to walk out to it in the harbor on a 10 foot wide, 1/2 mile walkway. It was quite windy and quite long, but it was an experience =0). And, lucky for us, we found more shells at the beach on the way back to the car. The girls loved collecting the shells (again), and even figured out they could use their dresses as baskets to hold them in. Everyone was happy, except Beckham who started getting sick, with a fever, halfway through our windy way to the lighthouse.

Grandma's Visit: Geocaching

Warning: hiding places are exposed within this post.

Grandma's Visit: Wonderland

We had a wonderful time with my mom here. . . Of Course. One of the first days she was here, we took her to a beach on Mt. Desert Island called Wonderland. Brad remembered it from his childhood, and none of the rest of us had ever been there. We drove in the right direction, found a small sign that said "wonderland", parked and headed down a trail. At the end of the trail, we found a rocky beach filled with seashells. We spent the next while searching for all kinds of seashells among the rocks. Seeing as my mom loves that kind of thing, it was perfect. We also discovered that Gwen would have spent hours and hours there, sitting in one spot, searching for shells. She especially loved the baby ones, and I mean itty bitty teeny tiny, you could hardly see them baby ones. Liv loved walking back and forth, climbing on rocks, going from person to person to see what everyone found, and show them the colorful pieces of clam shells she had collected. Brad found a biology professor to teach him all about different shells and what kind of creature inhabited them.

Great Children's Books

My mom and I took the kids to the Library and to Border's today. I was amazed at how hard it was to find great Children's books. I decided that the best way to find them is to get suggestions from other people. I know you have great ideas. Will you please leave a comment here with a list of books you love to read your kids, or have them read?? THANK YOU!!!