Quick 5

You know who loves all this rain (besides me)?  My zucchini plant.

1.  Last Friday was Cow Appreciation Day, and the Kimbles celebrated in full blown cow style.  We even invited Apple Ben to come along, and it was a great night.  It was also the first night we took advantage of the Trade The Toy For Ice Cream deal.  Apparently you can take the toy from the kids meal and turn it in for ice cream.  The toy has to be unwrapped, and even on a busy night like Cow Appreciation Day they were happy to oblige.  So the girls ate ice cream, which was a special treat all it's own.

Apple Ben went as a cow dressed as a banana. 

 2.  We actually had two different birthday parties last weekend.  One was a surprise half-birthday celebration for my aunt that Alaina, Joya and I went to.  Lee had to be at church early Saturday afternoon and Bria had to nap so they couldn't come with us.  But the girls and I had fun.  My cousins had even set up a bouncy house for the kids, and I thought Alaina's mind was going to explode.  Joya had tons of fun playing with my cousin's daughter Lyla, and mourned the fact that she didn't get to properly say goodbye after we had left.  Then Sunday we went to Colorado Springs to celebrate my niece Elisabeth's first birthday.  The girls loved every second of it.  There were tons of kids there and there is not much more that Alaina likes than a whole passel of kids playing in the same yard.

Aunt Jamie had a craft/snack for the kids.  The birthday girl is the one hanging on her back.

 3.  The highlight of our week has definitely been swimming lessons.  Joya has mixed feelings about going each day, but always enjoys it when she gets there.  Lee has been working from home most of the week, so I've actually been able to take just the two swimmers, which has been delightful.  Bria gets her full morning nap AND I don't have to manage her during the 40 minutes we're there.  We missed yesterday's lesson because it was 59 degrees and cloudy at lesson time.  I just couldn't bring myself to make the girls get into an outdoor pool with those conditions.  I scheduled the lessons for this part of July because I thought we'd be out of the danger zone of something like that happening.  Oh well.  Next week is supposed to be in the upper 90s, so we'll be golden.

 I'll try to get some better pictures of Alaina next week.

 4.  This is how Bria rolls:

Stethoscope. Cell phone on the ear.  Lately she's busting out the two-word phrases.  Most popular are "Thank you, Mommy" and "Uh oh Mommy."  I guess those are three-word phrases.  Anyway, she's saying phrases, which cracks me up.

 5.  Joya, apparently, was not made for summer.  Oh she likes dressing in shorts and tank tops just fine.  But she absolutely rejects watermelon, lemonade and Popsicles.  Does this have to do with the fact that she was born in October?  Are fall babies predisposed to be complete weirdos when it comes to the essentials of summer?  I'm having a hard time understanding it.

I feel like the start of school is going to creep up on us, but there is still much more summer fun to be had. Catch you next week!