Summer FUN

The girls enjoyed a fun summer adventure with Grammy & Papa! Have I mentioned that I love SUMMER!? So much to do and see!

My Girlies!

Some cute photos Grammy took of the girls!!

7.16.11

Claire was born on July 16, 2006 at 3:40 am. So at 3:40 am on her birthday, I snuck in and got a photo of her. Of course, she was sound asleep, but I just love this tradition I started with Anna. Her birthday fell on a Saturday this year so we had a Luau/Pool party for her that evening (I'll post pics later). Such a fun day celebrating my girl!

7.16.11 @ 0340

We let her open her gifts from us after she woke up!

So excited about her gifts!

Sleep Over

This past week we had a terrible storm with winds so strong they knocked down trees. We lost several large limbs and lost power. Since we had no power for 24+ hours, we made sleeping arrangements elsewhere. Claire spent the night with Uncle Shawn & Aunt Kristen and Anna spent the night with Grammy & Papa. This was Anna's first time sleeping away from home. Grammy captured a couple sweet photos of her over night adventure!

She was so excited to sleep at Grammy & Papa's!

Grammy said she slept great!

Grammy read Bread and Jam for Frances and then let Anna make toast and spread jam on it!

Sleeping Beauty

In honor of Claire's 5th birthday tomorrow, we went to go see The Sleeping Beauty at La Comedia. Princess Aurora is her favorite princess, so she was very excited to go! Both grandmothers were able to come with us to help celebrate. What a fun time!!

The almost FIVE year old!

We had a table right by the stage... so neat!

Such a cute production! The girls were enthralled!

We got the birthday package that included a cake and a balloon!

I love celebrating my girl!

Daddy Time

I love that Ben does everything with our girls that he'd do with boys! He takes the girls fishing every week, usually while I work on Sunday evenings. The girls really enjoy this activity with their Daddy and I am pretty sure he enjoys it just as much as they do!

4th of July Party

Another year, another party on the 4th! We enjoy hosting our annual Independence Day party. We had fun eating, chatting and fireworks! Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be born in America!

Shawn and Ben bought some fireworks for a private show before the big fireworks at the park! Connor is learning how to be a pyromaniac at a young age!

Not too bad for amateurs!

The adults (above) and kids (below) awaiting the fireworks display, which was amazing this year!

Americana Festival

Grammy & Papa took the girls to a 4th of July parade so Ben and I could get things done before our annual party on the 4th. They, of course, had a fun time and we appreciated having some kid-free work time!

What a fun day!

American Girls!

I love the 4th of July and celebrating our country's independence. We've been trying to explain what Independence Day is to our girls and Ben has a children's book that he reads to them. On our way to fireworks last night Claire said, "We get to watch fireworks because we fought the redcoats and won"! Yep!! That is true and we are very thankful for all those soldiers who fought, and fight today for our freedom!

Anna chillin' with Buddy Boy!!

Happy 4th!

Swim Meet

The girls and I spent the day swimming at Shawn & Kristen's house on Thursday and then went to Jillian's swim meet that evening. It was a fun filled day of SWIMMING! One of my favorite activities. I'd like to think that I encouraged Jillian's love of swimming and even got to help her with her turns and some of the strokes. Way to go, Jill Bug!

The girls loved watching their cousin compete and were great cheerleaders!

Jillian on the starting blocks! She did great and even won a race and placed in a couple others!

The back stroke (my favorite!).

Another McDowell swimmer!

Fun Day!

The last several months have been very stressful for my mom as she's been dealing with my elderly grandmother. So, yesterday we decided to have a "fun day" with her! The girls and I took her out to lunch at The Greene. It was such a pretty summer day so we ate outside on the patio and the girls played in the fountains while we finished up our lunch and chatted. It was so relaxing and peaceful and just what the doctor ordered!

I love this picture!

The mime at The Greene. We had so much fun watching him all afternoon!

Haha! Claire loved interacting with him. Anna kept her distance!!

Cuddle time... so sweet!