River Ranch Rope Swing

We have a river rope swing!!! Thanks to Matt's tree climbing skills, we were able to get one hung this summer. As you can see, it wasn't an easy task.

Sarah is ready to launch!


Brooke makes a splash!

The rope swing has gotten a lot of use and makes the river even more fun that it already is.

How to beat the summer heat

It's 11:00 am on a Friday morning and so far today the girls have ridden their bikes, dug a hole to china, made dirt pies, played in the sprinkler, and had a popcicle.

Steve took the training wheels off Brooke's bike last night and worked with her on riding big-girl style! She told him she thought it would be easier, like she saw in a TV commercial. Oh, if life was as easy as the commericals!

Here's a video of the girls having fun in the sprinkler..

Sister's Day

Shortly after Father's Day, Brooke asked me if there was such a thing as Sister's Day. I wasn't aware of one but loved the idea since Steve and I really want the girls to cherish each other as they grow. She picked a date off the calendar, August 15, and the girls started planning what Sister's day would be all about. When the day arrived, Steve and I let them call the shots, and here's what we ended up with.

We started the morning with sister pancakes..

Then we transformed our living room into a sister's carnival. We'd done this once before for Steve's birthday and the girls talk about it all the time. They we excited to have an occasion to do it again. I found a website that lets your put a picture on money and made sister bucks for the carnival.

Brooke and I pulled together a few homemade carnival games like the Musical Cake Walk

Pin The Head on the Sister

Ring Toss

Bean Bag Toss

We topped it all off with a trip to Kidtropolis (kind of like Chuck E Cheese) for some games and pizza. I think we have discovered a fun new family tradition!

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Back to School!

I really wanted to start a new back to school tradition for the girls this year.. something to commemorate the beginning of what will hopefully be a great year of learning for my kids. After polling Facebook for ideas and scouring the internet, Steve and I came up with two good ones that the kids loved!

On the night before school, we started a video back-to-school time capsule. Basically, Steve and I interviewed the kids about that their current likes and dislikes were and what their goal were for the next year ahead of them. Our goal is to watch the video on the last day of school and they can see how much they've grown and if they met their goals. It was all quite comical though because they were so hyper and bouncing off the walls. We couldn't get them to sit still to answer any questions and Brooke just wanted to shake her booty to the camera. Her teenage-self is going to be very embarrassed by that.

On the next morning we surprised them with donuts in bed. Steve ran out to get donuts and I prepared pretty trays for the girls with fancy dishes, flower petals and chocolate milk.

We carried Brooke into Ali's bed so they could share the excitement of the treat together. Brooke said it was the Best Breakfast Ever! Ali was really surprised and covered in chocolate when it was all over.

Then it was time for Brooke to dust off her school uniform and pose for the obligatory back to school photo..

And here she is with her new teacher, Mrs. Bocchino!

Ali started school the following week. Here she is with her new teacher, Mrs. Johnson.

Making a sign to label her cubby on meet-your-teacher day.

All ready to go on the first day of school! Such a big girl! I can't believe this is her last year of preschool and next year she will be a kindergartner!!