IKEA!

Charlie took Friday off from work, so we popped Louisa in the car and headed to IKEA! The shopping was great, as was the Swedish meatball lunch.  Our mission was to find some bookshelves, but that didn't pan out. Of course, we brought home a car full of goodies anyway, including a fabulous igloo tent and ice tunnel for the girls. How cool is that?  (pardon the pun) And since we are still without a couch, it's perfect for the family room. Brrrrrrilliant! 

We were also excited to see that they still carry the dishes that Louisa got as a gift from her Aunt Beth, Uncle Greg and AZ cousins. We bought another set because they are simply our favorite! 

Louisa wanted to go "nigh nigh" in all of the display beds and Charlie was happy to oblige when she invited him to her slumber party. Yes, we are tacky.

Lulu meets igloo

Louisa hits the Arctic Circle

It's Charlie's Birthday!

Today is Charlie's birthday. Doesn't he look so young? He still gets carded when buying beer! We'll be celebrating at home tonight with his choice of dinner (Tracee's pork tenderloin recipe from Soulard's), presents and then a trip to Cold Stone Creamery. Yum!

Enjoy your day, Charlie!

Summer Flashbacks

It's been gloomy and raining here for two days straight, so I thought I'd post some photos from earlier this summer. You know, sunnier days.

For Avery's birthday party this year, she asked that her guests bring small gifts for animals at the zoo instead of gifts for her. If you know Avery, you know she is crazy about animals, especially hippos. The people at the zoo were so delighted with her big box of gifts for the animals, they gave her and her cousins a VIP tour of the private cheetah enclosures. It was so fun! We brought a soccer ball (a gift from Avery's friend, Elaina) and got to watch as the zoo keeper threw it out to one of the cheetahs. So cool!

Behind the scenes at the cheetah enclosures.

Can you see him?  

When we were done, Avery (who was carrying a stuffed hippo toy and wearing a hippo necklace, as well as a dress with a BIG hippo on the front) says, "You know, hippos are my favorite animal." So subtle! The zoo keeper was more than happy to take us to the hippos and radioed to the head hippo keeper to come out and meet us. She thanked Avery for the animal gifts and even brought some melon to show us how much the hippos love snack time. It was quite a show watching these huge and graceful animals jump and dive to get a bite. The folks at the zoo were so appreciative and kind, it was a real treat. And we're so proud of Avery for thinking of the animals instead of herself. She got so much back in return!

One hippo was running laps when we arrived. 

Then the other three came out to play too!

How cool is this picture?

The Hippo Keeper, The Cheetah Keeper, Peyton, Avery, Paige and Talbot

See you next summer, hippos!

Terrific Twos

9am. Ballet tutu. Sprawled across the kitchen table.

You betcha! Because I am two, this is what I do. 

xoxo

Louisa

Where the Wild Things Are

Box of paper animal masks = weeks of fun. 

Possibly the best $10 ever spent.

Just hand over the crackers, lady...

and nobody gets hurt.

Happy Birthday, Tal!

We love you and hope you had a great time at your birthday party!

Avery has a new love

No, it's not John Stamos (anyone else remember him as "Blackie"?). She's really into the show "Full House" now. She LOVES it and thinks it's hysterical. The first two weeks in our new house, we didn't have any television or internet, so we let her pick out some new DVDs. She knew exactly what she wanted and made a beeline for it. You gotta love those Tanners. Good clean fun, life lessons and mullets, too!

Friday Night Pool Party

That was fun, Daddy!

What? It's time to go home?

Just one more time...please, Daddy?

We decided to take the girls to the pool last Friday night for a picnic dinner and swimming. Avery has become a really good swimmer and Louisa shows absolutely no fear of the water. They both love the water slide and wanted to go again and again and again...  

Ice Cream!

The weekend before school started, we had our First Annual "Ice Cream for Dinner Night".  As you can imagine, it was a HUGE hit with the girls, especially Avery. I actually stole the idea from one of my favorite shows, Jon and Kate Plus Eight. I figured if they could manage eight kids though a sugar rush, we could certainly handle two!

The First Day of School

Watch out, 2nd grade...

Here she comes!

We finally have a blog and I feel like this...

Happy!

Smart! 

Totally pumped!

All it took was a solid uninterrupted hour of computer time and I was able to put together a blog. Who knew it was so easy? Actually, the blog part was super easy. Finding an hour in the day... almost impossible.