Manhappiness

During our trip to Kansas, Lilly asked to spend the night at K-State, so that is exactly what we did. How great it was to be back on campus- but how weird it was to be there with three kiddos. We cruised campus, the Union and even Aggieville for a bit of shopping and ice cream. Of course, as I said to Rob, it was quite obvious we were the only ones in Aggieville with a stroller.

Here are a few photos from our visit to Manhappiness...

Posing with a wildcat at the Alumni Center

We visited the Insect Zoo and K-State Gardens.

Maggie was a trooper the entire trip- so happy all of the time.

The K-State Gardens were beautiful, and the old green houses were exceptional. Rob thinks this photo looks like it should be straight out of a horror movie... old building, storm coming...

The fountain was beautiful, as are our girls, of course.

Three cheers for K-State!

Chocolate Class

Another tradition when visiting Wichita is attending candy class at the local chocolate shop. This year Lilly, Emma and Kate partook... next year Claire will be old enough. I arrived to take photos just as the class was ending. The food safety maniac in me was pleased to see the hair nets on the kiddos. Here's Kate and Lilly- surprised I had peeked in to take photos.

 The final result... a candy creation.

  Lilly already looks pumped up on sugar, doesn't she?

First swim

Maggie's first experience wearing a swimsuit was less than thrilling. Though she seemed to enjoy dipping her toes in the water, the excitement wasn't long lasting. This is how she spent most of her first swimming experience...

 asleep.

Fancy Tea Party

For the last two years, we have had the pleasure of attending a little girl tea party at Nana's house. Our friend Fancy Nancy is our guest of honor each year. Mom's dear friend Nancy diligently gathers dress-up goodies for the girls at various sales throughout the year. The girls have come to really look forward to seeing Nancy and trying on all her dress-up fare. This year, Fancy Nancy hit the big time with her blonde wigs. Claire's obsession with Rapunzel has reached a whole new level thanks to Fancy Nancy. And, of course, the other girls enjoyed the wigs and dress up goodies too.

Here's Lilly and Fancy Nancy- all smiles with the new wig.

Even little Caroline enjoyed the blonde locks.

 Here's Clairpunzel giving the hair a spin...

 Besides the little girl dress up fun, the adults enjoyed fancy hats and fancy cupcakes too. Here we are having some tea (pink lemonade) in Nana's dining room. Grammy looked especially dashing in her ruby red hat.

 Nana was happy to host this special event. 

 Cheers! Until next time...

 

June in review...

Summer is well underway, and we've been doing many things. I wanted to share some random moments from our summer so far. The girls are enjoying the variation in our days and looking forward to seeing family in the weeks to come.

Here's Claire playing play-doh. She was very pleased with her creation.

One afternoon, Lilly decided to play beauty shop with Maggie. When I'm unloading the dishwasher, Maggie will sit in her bumbo on the kitchen counter. In this instance, Lilly turned Maggie's blanket into a beauty cape. The good news is the hair cutting was only pretend, though Maggie probably does need one already!

Claire and Lilly played "Rapunzel" today. Since we don't have any extra long blonde wigs, they improvised.

Our little Maggie is all smiles most of the time... such a joy to all of us.

 One morning before swim lessons, Claire asked if she could play bubbles on the patio. I told her she could as long as she wore shoes. She chose her winter boots, of course.

 Then, last night, I got the bath ready and asked Claire to get in. When I walked in the bathroom, this is what I saw.... She and Lilly had been playing dress-up. She took off everything except her wings.

Life is full of super fun moments at our house. :)

From Swim Distress to Swim Success

I'm actually surprised everyone reading this blog couldn't hear the screams of terror coming from swim lessons on the first day. Until lately, Claire has been an observer, not a swimmer. So, when it came time to get serious about learning to swim, Claire was less than thrilled. Claire screamed so much during the first two days of swim lessons that I probably need to buy her instructor some kind of hearing aid device to compensate for hearing loss. There were times Claire escaped from the pool, but her instructor patiently chased her down and put her right back in. Then, a miracle happened on day 3 of swim lessons.... Claire ASKED to go to swim lessons. She ASKED to get in the pool... no more crying, no more fear.

As a result, the last two weeks have been rather pleasant for Maggie and me while we've watched the girls quietly gain confidence by advancing their swimming skills.

Here's Claire... all smiles for her new love of swimming. In this photo, she eagerly awaits her turn to swim with her instructor.

 Here she is learning to swim. She eventually got used to "getting my nose wet."

 This is Lilly's second year with the same swim instructors. She is now learning the correct format for using her arms and some early specifics on strokes. She can't wait to swim in Nana's pool; in fact, that's all she talks about, it seems.

 Lilly can swim the length of the pool unattended. Way to go, Lils!

 We'll be splishing and splashing in a pool near you!

Daddy Date Night

Every little girl deserves a date night with dad every once in awhile, right? Rob, being the great dad he is, took Lilly on such a date-to see Seussical the Musical, nonetheless. So, it was dinner and a show for the crazy Seuss duo. Lilly was excited for an entire week leading up to the event. Ever since my aunt Janet gave Lilly the Dr. Seuss collection of stories for Christmas, Lilly has been intrigued with all things Seuss. She can spend hours listening to the same Seuss stories over and over again.

And so, it's no surprise Lilly loved it. Rob said she clapped enthusiastically throughout the show until she began to get a little tired in the second half. They called at intermission and Lilly told me the show was "taking a break."Too cute! We have big plans to see Cinderella later in the summer.