Stephanie Comes For Dinner

We had a great visit with our good friend, Stephanie tonight! Laina loves her time with Steph so it was a real treat for her to spend time with her.

Happy 5th Birthday Kittyhugs!

Laina informed us this morning that kittyhugs is FIVE years old today! She had a very elaborate plan. Daddy had to dress up in a tie (which he did at 7am) and we were going to make a cake and it would be chocolate cake with brownies and ice cream. Wow wishful early morning thinking huh! Well as it turns out we went out to dinner today. We brought the birthday girl with us and celebrated with a brownie sundae for us all to share.

Kittyhugs is Laina's best buddy. I bought kittyhugs when I was about 5 months pregnant and had found out we were having a girl. Kittyhugs (or KH) was the very first thing I ever bought for my baby and so she holds a very special place in my heart.

When Laina was little I always presented her with kittyhugs in an effort to insure a special bond between the two. Joe says I was brainwashing our baby. I think I was just making sure Laina had a security blanket to make her days just a little big brighter ;)

When Laina began talking she couldn't pronounce kittyhugs. She called her Qui~Gong and Joe and I joked that she was a jedi kitty. We couldn't imagine a day when kittyhugs would ever be called kittyhugs because she had become Qui~Gong to us. Then one day it happened. Laina started calling her kittyhugs.

Laina can't go to sleep without her and I love that she is her best buddy ever. Maybe I had a hand in making that happen but hey, is that so wrong?

Happy 5th Birthday Qui~Gong!

Little Lady

Gardening

We have fallen behind on the planting this year! A busy June combined with window flower boxes that are falling apart and need to be replaced has resulted in delayed planting. We don't plant a whole lot but we enjoy the things we do plant. Here is Laina helping Joe finally get our watermelon plant in the ground. Now lets hope we get some yummy watermelon out of it!

4th of July Parade

We attended the local 4th of July parade that we attend every year. It's a little community parade and people can just show up and be a part of it, or show up and watch it. This parade results in more candy for Laina then she gets at Halloween. We have learned to bring a bag for her to gather her goodies. By no means does she keep or eat all of the candy but she sure has a great time snatching it all up and seeing how much she can get. A lot of the parade participants use local humor to make their floats - like the OP beach chair drill team and the folks who dress up as pier fries - both make perfect sense if you live nearby. I love the first two pictures with Laina checking out to see if they parade has made its way toward us yet. Happy Birthday America!

Good Clean Fun

Backyard sprinkler on a hot 4th of July weekend...need I say more?

Auntie Renee's House

We went to Auntie Renee's house for a 4th of July cookout. Look at these cutie pies in their matching dresses! Seriously, does it get ANY cuter then that? Me thinks not.

I love Laina's chalk art. The cat she drew came out so great!

Thanks Auntie Renee & Uncle Mike for having us over.