Prayers Needed

Hello everyone--A friend of mine Mandy and her family are in need of lots of prayers. She just delivered her cute bundle of joy at only 25 weeks gestation today. He's doing ok so far and is already a fighter! There older daughter Ellie was born at 28 weeks gestation and is now 3 so they have been down this road before and no how long of a journey it can be, so please send up a prayer or 2 today if you get the chance. Thanks so much!

Alaina is 1!!!

Alaina turned 1 last Wednesday and I can't believe it! She had a great bday on Saturday and thanks to everyone for making it a special day. The weather turned out beautiful and we got to spend most of it outside on the new swingset (thanks Gpa and Daddy for putting it together).

She dove right in to the cake, but much preferred the frosting to the cake.

Getting the hang of this!

I had a great bday party!

Thanks Gpa and Gma Small for being here.

Opening our new slide...she loves climbing on it already.

Cake was actually a bright purple and green (not blue). I have no idea why the camera did this....little irritating acutally. Made by Mom!

One day later and she no longer needs my help to get up and down the slide.

Thanks Aunt Shannon and Uncle Tom...we love the box the toy came in! :)

Thanks Aunt Rachel and Uncle Tyler!

Loving our new swingset!!

Great Visit

We were lucky enough to have Gpa and Gma Brinkman come out for a visit last week. We had a great time and a big Thanks to Gpa for helping Grant move the dirt in the backyard. :) The grass is coming in already, looks good. We had a fun trip up to Maine one day to the zoo/amusement park. Lily loved riding the rides with Grandpa and feeding the ducks with Grandma although there was NO WAY we were getting in the pen with the goats to feed them. We went and picked apples another day, went into Boston a day, and then just hung out at home. They both missed them on Friday when they left. Lily woke up and went into their room and said "Where's Gpa and Gma?" We all had a great time and here's lots of pics.

Lily loved playing in the dirt and helping Gpa spread it out. Grant and I both worked this day so Lily just loved getting dirty! Grant cut down a bunch of trees in the back to move our whole back yard back a good 10 feet. It already feels bigger and we're hoping to get a swing set up in the next week or so for Alaina's bday.

Oh Gma....why did you put white shorts on me??? :)

Girls favorite thing to do in Boston...play in the sprinklers.

At the zoo...first feeding the ducks. "I need more quarters Daddy for food."

Always smiling!

Can not believe she petted a snake as she is terrified of all animals. Pretty sure she had no clue is actually was an animal.

Paddle boat with gpa and gma

First Ride...the BIG slide. Got off and she said, "lets do that again!"

one of her favorite rides....laughed every time they bumped into Grant :)

Lily is in the front seat....was a pretty fast roller coaster and she did it twice in a row

Having a tea party with Gma

Happy Bday Grandma! Glad Lily could make a cake for you.

Thank you Gpa and Gma for the fun house. We love playing in it already!

See....the grass is growing!!

Week with mom

As you can see Alaina's nose is healing. Her forehead is mostly healed with the scab completely gone. She doesn't seem to mind it much.

Here's the girls surviving the Hurricane inside with Dad on Sunday. I had to work so got to drive in the downpour, but really it was just a big rainstorm with some wind. We were lucky not to lose power because some of our coworkers lost power for a couple days and are still out.

I am home from work with the girls this week because our daycare is closed. We've been finding lots of things to do. Spending lots of time outside, going to the library for story hour, got Lily's haircut (pics below, isn't she looking so old), grocery shopping, and of course just playing inside. The girls are really starting to play well with each other at least as long as Alaina doesn't take something that Lily has and run away with it. Pretty sure Alaina is going to be the stronger of the 2 because Lily has yet to learn that she can just take it back. :)

Lily protecting her block road she built from Alaina. :) Alaina thinking it's a fun game to climb on her sister.

First Big BooBoo

As you can see Alaina skinned up her nose and forehead and also her arms(even though you can't see that). She took a nosedive onto the pavement on Sunday. It actually looks worse today b/c the scab is already healing. Poor girl, she hasn't been feeling the greatest anyway because her first tooth is just coming in.

Smith's visit

We had just a great time with the Smith family and were SO happy they could come and visit us. We hope you had a great time as well and feel free to come back anytime. We went into Boston and visited some tourist sites, went to the aquarium, went blueberry picking and mini-golfing, and then I think the best part was going to the beach. The kids all had so much fun!

This pic is out of order....Kayla reading to all the little kids. :)

Eating breakfast outside.

Alaina standing on a buried Kayla.

Touching the sting rays. She loved it.

Huge sea turtle at the New England Aquarium

Karch and the shark

Walking part of the Freedom Trail

Family pic plus Lily