Playing in the Sandbox

I looked out the window Saturday evening, and saw what appeared to be a fat man laying in our sandbox.  Ha ha!

All of the kids were incredibly filthy by the time they came in, but especially Brig.

Our Exchange Journey Begins

Our first exchange student is here!!  We will be hosting two high school exchange students this school year, and we are so excited!  We are already loving our time with Tamuna, and can't wait until Majdouline arrives next month.

Tamuna is from the Republic of Georgia.  She arrived almost two weeks ago and already feels like part of the family.  Within the first day, I felt a such a good connection with her.  It was similar to the feeling I had when each of my children were born.  I'm so glad we can welcome her into our family this year!

Since it's the end of summer, and since we want to give Tamuna all sorts of experiences we've been cramming as many activities as possible into our days before we get busy with our school year schedule.

We went to a minor league baseball game.  Brig had no fear on the bounce houses!

It's becoming a tradition to attend one game each year.  I once talked my dad into leaving a MLB game because I was so bored, so I find it highly amusing that I enjoy this now.

The kids had all sorts of fun between the bounce houses, face painting, running around on the grass next to us, and trying to catch foul balls.

Tamuna got to experience a very American activity.

Abby (age 6) actually caught a foul ball!!  We were shocked.  Brig later stole it from her and made us crazy by throwing it under the seats in front of us.

On another day, we went to our favorite park where we waded in the water, played on the bridge, and, of course, played on the playground.

Pizza is always exciting at our house.

Tamuna's first family home evening with us!

We went to A&W for free root beer floats.

Tamuna though the flavor of root beer was strange, but good.

We went to our local history and science museums.

We've done several other things in the last two weeks including a water ski show, lots of shopping and showing Tamuna the city, swimming, and socializing.

Laurel's 4th Birthday

Laurel turned four!  She is such a sweet little girl who brings so much joy and love to our family.

She had been talking about her birthday and birthday party for almost a year!  It was her first friend party and she could hardly wait.

Annie made and decorated her cake.

We celebrated later that evening as a family with our usual traditions of presents, a meal chosen by the birthday girl, dessert, and a family activity.  She chose a movie night with the projector.

Her favorite gift was this Anna dress.  She has been wearing it constantly.

July

Book club is my favorite evening every month!

Cute Abby.

Brig was eagerly waiting to go to the pool one day.

We went to Nauvoo.

 We love Cow Appreciation Day!

I found Laurel asleep at the top of the stairs when I went to bed one night.

I've been doing a different regimen with my hair lately to see if I can encourage better curls.  This is day 1 and what my curls typically looked like.

These are one month in.  Overall, my curls seem to be getting better.

We found free books!

After digging for a couple hours, we went home with two large boxes full.

We went to the Como Zoo in Minneapolis.  Our friend, Tiona, came with us.

We went back for a second round of looking through the free books.

We went to the county fair.

We accidentally discovered some objects that refract light in the little girls' room.  They had so much fun with it.

Abby lost her first tooth!