Sparks in the Park

I have no idea how these pictures missed my 4th of July blog, but there they were sitting on my memory card waiting to be blogged about.  Rochester's Sparks in the Park is becoming a tradition for our family and the kids always have a great time.  This year, the weather was HOT, HOT, HOT!!!  But, that didn't stop the girls from enjoying the rides. 

Ok, next year, if there is a picture of me on this stupid slide, I give you permission to slap me!!  I don't use the word hate very often, but I HATE this slide!  The real "giant slide" at the state fair, I can handle.  This rickity pop up slide, I CAN NOT!! I don't even know why I try.  Do you remember the incident with Hadley, Devin and I last year at the County Fair?  Remember me telling you about poor Hadley being drug down the slide?   Well, this wasn't much better.  I don't know why this slide goes so much faster than the sweet yellow slide at the fair, but I swear we almost flew off!  That is after I about puked standing at the top.  I here by declare that I will not take any of my girls down this slide next year!

Poor Kami on the slide with Brian.  I don't know who told him to take her up there (ok it was me, but that was before I had gone down and she wanted to), but she ended up hating it too!  Click on the picture and look at her poor face in these next two pictures.  

So, even though it's almost September, it's as hot as the 4th of July, so why not talk about it?

Our Grandma's In Jail!

Every year, the MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) does a fundraiser where "local celebrities" are sent to "jail".  They get their bail and try to raise that amount of money before they can go free.  Grandma Patti was nominated to get locked up this year, so we went to visit her and help bail her out of jail.  The girls were a little confused about the whole jail thing.  I tried to help them understand that it wasn't real jail and that Grandma would be able to get out, but they just didn't quite get it.  As we were driving downtown to the hotel where the fundraiser was, they were full of some pretty funny questions.  At one point Brooke said "but I'm going to miss Grandma." 

As we walked in, they had a set of fake jail bars and handcuffs that you could have your picture taken with.  They wanted NOTHING to do with that. 

 The girls each brought their own money to help with bail.  By money I mean a bag full of coins that probably totaled $2.00.  Hey, every little bit helps!

Nana met us for lunch and Grandma made her bail, so it was a great day!

Dress Up Fun With Ellie... and Ryker :)

A few weeks ago, the big girls and I went over to Ellie and Ryker's house.  We decided to let the girls have a dress-up/make-up play date.  Devin had the make-up and clothes all set up.  After they did their own make-up, I painted Ellie and Brooke's toenails.  Hadley was "too busy" for her pedicure.  Brian and Brad had a party to go to and Brad made it very clear that he didn't want to get a picture of Ryker "playing dress-up" too.  Well, he did get dressed up, but we made him a police officer, NOT a princess :)

 Brooke LOVES the eyeshadow and Ellie LOVES the lip gloss.  They were quite a pair!

The Babes of Soccer

The girls started soccer this week.  They both practice on Monday nights, which is great.  Hadley will play her games on Friday night and Brooke will play on Thursdays.  Brooke and Ellie are on the same team, which could be good or very interesting:)  Monday night at practice, they were pretty entertaining.  The coach actually asked if they would separate to play different positions because they made sure they stood together for most drills.  I forgot how funny three year olds can be when they are learning to play soccer.  Let's just say, the games won't be boring that's for sure!

Here is Brooke before we left for practice.  This was the first picture I took.  Normally I have to take a bunch before I get her looking and smiling at the same time.

Then there's Hads.  She decided she didn't want to hold her ball, she wanted to put it on the ground and balance her foot on it....

And, we finally got it :)

Hadley before we left for practice

 Ellie and Brooke before practice started

Brooke and Ellie's coach is Jamie.  She and I were in the same class together in school.  Her little boy Holden is on the team.  

Stretching before practice... When Coach Jamie said they were going to do Jumping Jacks next, Brooke told her she didn't know how to do jumping jacks.  Well it turns out, not many of them knew how to do jumping jacks.  Too funny!

Taking a hug break!

 And, now they're taking a "pull the grass and throw it up in the air!" break!  We had to re-focus the girls a few times but other than that, they did a great job at their first practice.  I can't wait for their games!

 And, another hug!

 Ellie practicing her dribbling.  Notice Brooke in the background... she will move the ball with her hands until it's in the right position.  We need to work on this.

I feel bad that I didn't get many shots of Hadley practicing.  She was a little farther away and I'll admit I was busy with Brooke.  Brian is the assistant coach for Hadley's team again.  Hadley's coach is Coach Pete.  He has been her coach before and he just assigned the position to Brian without asking, but he couldn't say no.  I know he was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to watch Brooke more. 

Tweryon Family Pictures 2011

A couple weeks ago we took family pictures for the Tweryon family.  We got a good shot for the entire family but didn't get great singles of the kids, so the next week we made them put their outfits back on and tried it again. :)  We still didn't get a great one of all five kids so we might just be trying for take three.  It's hard to get all five kids looking at the camera at once!

Brad, Devin, Ellie and Ryker

Grandma, Grandpa and the kids

Granny and the kids