weekend with the cousins...

it's always so much fun to get together with my sister's family. we spent the night at their house and the cousins of course stayed up ways too late and woke up way too early. the next day we took the kids to the free family arts day at the museum. the kids loved the painting! avery didn't want to leave.

we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and playing in the ochoa's beautiful backyard.

brian treated us to some delicious bbq burgers. and the kids loved snacking on the yellow watermelon. i had no idea there was such a thing!

i love ava's sweet smiling face looking up at "unca dan" and baby evan.

the cousins. thanks for having us over emily and brian. we need to do it more often!

toes

baby brother loves to grab his toes...

...and then shove them in his mouth to suck on them. yep, he's a toe sucker.

he is 5 months old today! i can hardly believe it.

i love summer evenings

eating popsicles in the backyard. watching the girls play on the swingset. my favorite time of the day.

red popsicle stained lips

fun with pipe cleaners

we have loads of pipe cleaners in the craft box and the girls are always making things out of them. elayna made these glasses and avery wore them half the day. of course we had to try them on baby brother.

currently reading...

elayna just finished reading the lion the witch and the wardrobe. she loved it. thanks grandma D. i'm currently reading a series by shannon hale. i finished the goose girl and now i'm reading enna burning. the goose girl is a beautiful retelling of the grimm brother's fairy tale. i really enjoyed it!

red, white and blue

we had such a wonderful 4th of july weekend filled with family, yummy food, and fireworks. next year i will have to remember to bring a tripod to the fireworks. my photos turned out kind of blurry.

4 months

baby brother turned four months old last week. at his 4 month check-up he weighed 14 lbs. and was 25 in. we sure do love this little guy. he is just the sweetest baby!

baby in a cup

these photos are for aunt jessica. i finally used your tea cup. baby brother wasn't too sure about it, but he cooperated for a few shots :)

new colored pencils =

hours of enjoyment for avery. this girl loves to draw!

happy father's day

i feel so blessed to have such an amazing husband who is such an awesome daddy! we love you so much.

and i am so thankful for my wonderful daddy! it was so nice to celebrate father's day with him. love you dad.

fun weekend!

on saturday we went to emily and brian's for a birthday celebration. aiden turned five! it was a blast. there were water balloons, slip-n-slide, swimming, delicious barbeque, a pinata and lots of trampoline jumping. could it be any more fun? here's a few of the pictures i took that day

water balloon fun

mark and courtney's dog akira joining in on the fun

evan's first time swimming. he loved it!

playing outside after the delicious bbq dinner.

cute little ava on the trampoline

pinata time. check out aiden's face. he was really into it.

grandpa with laila and evan

grandpa making evan laugh

my mom and dad with all nine of their grandkids

colby

my nephew is such a cutie! we sure will miss this little guy (and his mommy and daddy) when they move far away to minnesota.

beach day

we've been having lots of fun with my brother mark and his family who are in town this week. we went swimming, played lots of wii, and took the kids to see the movie Up. such a cute movie! and both of the babies were so good during the movie. we also went to the beach. this was evan's first time at the beach and this is what he did the whole three hours. sleep!

he was soon joined by his sister and cousin.

aunt jessica came along too.

colby loved the beach. i wish i took a picture of him shoveling all the muddy sand into his mouth. it was so funny.

colby having fun with his mommy

elayna enjoyed catching all the tons of little shrimp and crabs and "gooey guys" washing onto shore. there were so many of them!

the seagulls were really feasting! i had never seen so many of them lined up along the beach

we had a great time at the beach. very relaxing. maybe next time baby brother will be awake for the fun.

tulips

...making me happy today :)