Grammer's Birthday!

This weekend was my mom’s 70^th birthday!  My sister and her family were in town to celebrate, and we had a lot of fun celebrating our Crabi! 

The birthday girl!

My sister (the hard working one) came up with several fun games that we all played together.  The kids had a lot of fun participating, and so did the adults!

Transferring eggs using a spoon and no hands.
This will surely prepare them for the struggles of adulthood.

Such focus

Moving M&M's with straw suction

Who doesn't love throwing marmallows?

Have you ever tried to get a cookie from your forehead to your mouth using only your face muscles?  Oh you have? Nevermind.

Jody also created a little scavenger hunt throughout the house to find Mom’s presents, and the kids “helped” her with all the clues.

Clue in the pantry

For she's a jolly good fellow!

Being a cutie

Somehow my girls, Claire and Jody all ended up matching

Cuddles with Aunt Jody

Pretending to nap

Earlier in the week, we got together with the Polons for some pizza and ice cream!

Had to stop at the bumblebees, of course

All the love

Smiles with Alex!

Artsy selfie by my niece

Darling

 

Uncle Ed being Uncle Ed

Training for the rodeo

Girl time!

Jamie is teaching basketball at a daycamp this summer, just three half-days a week.  Maggie gets to tag along while Evie stays at Grandma's house.  Jamie had to stay later last Friday, and so Maggie was hanging out with the bigger kids doing Olympic games in the afternoon... all the kids and counselors would let Maggie have a turn at the end of each competition, and would cheer her on while she "crushed" her competition!

A very sweet counselor who just couldn't outdo Maggie

Big Bingo winner!

Giant field hockey?

 A few others:

Visiting her buddy

We went to see Fr. Brian preach this weekend, so good
to see him!

Birthday party burger

Those dang bumblebees again

Joy

That's a keeper

Snow White doesn't put up with no sass.
And she won't do your housework either.

Relaxing at Grandma and Grandpa's

Smush face

Went to a beer-tasting event at the Roostertail!

You've probably heard the girls sing this before, but have you heard them with electric guitars?

Eaux Claires

Jamie and I went to Eaux Claires music festival in Wisconsin this past weekend, and the girls stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.  We had a lot of fun, and it was great to have some couple-time too!

  

Walking to the festival

One of many cool art exhibits

Sometimes you need to lay on the ground

I see you, Paul Simon

An art exhibit with crowd participation...  Jamie had to contribute

Francis and the Lights!

We had a couple down-pours, thank goodness for ponchos!

No filter

Artsy

We got back into town late Sunday evening, and got to have a quick dinner for father's day with the Donoghues.  

Working hard on something... not sure what

Little cowgirl

I took Monday off to spend some time with my babies and to get our life back in order.  We also agreed to chop off their hair for summer!  Maggie is a pro at getting her hair cut, Evie is still pretty scared and has to sit on my lap.

Long hair... mom kind of cares

Maggie asked me to teach her how to peel an orange this week… how have I not done this yet?  She is very proud of herself!

Short hair and juicy orange slices

Before we left, Jamie finished re-doing the deck (with the assistance of a contractor) - love it!  We have to wait to stain it until at least the fall... fine by me, I'm ready to stop working on this thing!

My hero!

Rockin the bandana

Time to relax, see ya!

Fun times

This weekend was Foley Fest at Bishop Foley, so we took the girls to play in the family tent and to tire them out for bedtime!

Evie's favorite seat

Tough girl

Thrilled with her horse decal... later she sobbed
for five minutes in the bathtub when it got washed off

Cousin Will came to play for a bit! 

Love her humidity curls

She dragged this guitar around the entire night,
riding it like a horse most of the time

Sunday the girls went to a birthday party for a couple friends at a Nature Center - very cool idea for a party!  I had to play piano that morning, so Jamie ran himself ragged keeping up with them both.

Maggie loves to carry Evie around

Moments before she toppled backward

Caterpillar cuddles

Thinking deep thoughts

Mountain climbers

Maggie got a fossil kit to take home after the party;
Daddy loved excavating with her

We are replacing the deck boards on our deck, and needed to place some dirt underneath to make sure water drains away from the house.  We got 5 cubic yards of dirt delivered... turns out, that's an insane amount of dirt!  We had help from our buddy Mike, Jamie's brother Jason and Jamie's dad (who worked harder than all of us combined I think!).  Five hours, buckets of sweat, and several blisters later, this pile was reduced to dust.  So grateful for the help!!

Look at it.  Just mocking us with its weight.

A few others:

Hugs on the playground

 

My fearless one

Meijer shopping buddy

Here's Maggie and Evie performing a duet for me... who says lyrics are important?