family time

we drove up north to birchwood, for a super quick, and super fun weekend with family and friends.

cousin lani, aunt tessa, and quinny!

watch out....we're coming through!! quinn had so much fun playing with all the girls!!! she LOVES her girl time:)

ryder and cohen, acting like a couple of crazy monkeys! ha.....such a difference between genders sometimes, huh:)

breakfast...in the backyard!

happy 4th of july (ha! i'm sooo far behind)

chillin at james madison park, on lake mendota, waiting for the big show:)

it seems like the skies were gorgeous everywhere on the 4th......i was content with just the view!

birthday wish list

although we've been super busy these last few weeks, ryder was not going to miss out on making his annual birthday video....enjoy;)

childrens' deep thoughts....

sitting at the dinner table the other night, with food on her fork, quinn looks at me at says, very quietly with her inquiring little voice "mom, are going to be an old lady?", i was a bit caught off guard, but replied, "well, yes, i will, but not for a long time". then ryder chimes in "well, i will be an old man", then giggles, and then quinn says, very seriously, "and, i will be an old princess". we all started laughing so hard, ha! she's something else!

duet

so after watching tessa and i preform "rupert and mcgee", the kids were inspired to put on a show of their own. listen to ryder's voice, it cracks me up (when we did our skit our voices were different, so this must be his own "chin persons" voice). good stuff, good good stuff!

tessa poppins

aunt tessa surprised the kids and i, on my 33rd birthday, wow!! what an absolute, hands down, best present ever!!! we were all so excited to see her, and our house was filled with laughter, singing, a few tears (can't spend time with tessa without a tearful "ah, i just love you" moment), swimming, biking (in the rain), and lots and lots of skits! yes, tessa and i broke out the good ole' skits that we did when we were little, like the chin people, prisilla, 6 days later.....oh, they are all so funny!! the kids were so impressed, and i saw them watch us with bewildered eyes, and thought, what a great thing to show my kids; i was a super silly kid once!