fun at the fair

Before the craziness of the past weeks began to unfold, we managed to spend some time at the fair. Jennifer was beyond excited to get to go the fair. In the days leading up to us going it was all that Jennifer talked about. It was slightly hot while we were there but the girls did great and we had a great time!

More that anything Jennifer just wanted to ride a horse at the fair. Every time we saw a horse she would look at Bill and I and tell us she needed to ride the horse. Here she is telling this horse to "come here horse". We ended up watching a horse show Thursday evening and when it was done Jennifer got lots of people to stop so she could pet their horses, very sweet.If there was just a horse attached to this saddle life would be great!Finally, she got to ride a horse. Ok, really it is a pony and it just went in a small circle, four times. Yes the guy made sure not to break the rules and go around more than four times. I think Jennifer was thinking that really wasn't a horse ride.Jen rode the little pony Thursday night and Friday afternoon she got to do what she came to the fair to do, she got to ride a real horse! This sweet girl, we have no idea what her name is, stopped while she was practicing for a horse later in the evening and gave Jen a ride on her horse. The horses name is Sally and this made Jennifer's day! This girl was so sweet to take Jen on a ride, it makes me smile just thinking about it. Jennifer's fair trip was complete after this.Love this! Jennifer is talking to the lamb.
Jennifer and dad going down the big slide. I would have taken Mikayla but she was sleeping.


Had to take this picture for my grandma and grandpa!
Jennifer was very excited to visit Clifford, that is until he was actually close to her! Mikayla looks a little interested in him though.
Getting ready to do "Little Hands on the Farm".

At the end each kid gets a dollar for "farming" and they get to spend their dollar at a store. Of course there was no questions what Jennifer was going to pick, a popsicle!Mikayla taking a little snooze late in the evening.

Her snooze didn't last long and she woke up in time to share a little ice cream with grandma. This girl loves ice cream!

I must admit I have more fair pictures! However, blogger was being a bit funny tonight so this was all that I could upload for now...

start over?

Bill said to me yesterday afternoon that maybe we could start the summer over. As everyone always says it went entirely too fast and there was entirely too much going on. What was suppose to be a relaxing last week of summer turned into quite the opposite. Last week we were suppose to be spending time at home, getting ready for school start, enjoying our last days at home before school and other activities had us on the go.
Instead we spent the week with Bill's family. Last Sunday night Bill's grandpa had a stroke and so we spent two days in the hospital with his family. A week from tomorrow Bill's family gathered in his grandpa's hospital room and watched him take his final breathes. Such a sweet, sweet man who we will all dearly miss. Bill's grandparents were married for sixty-three years. I find myself hoping that I get to be married to Bill for six-three years and that after six-thirty years I will not only love Bill like I do today but even more. Bill's grandma was loving her husband to the very last second, something I think I will never forget. What an example of true love we all were able to witness that day. As hard as it was to watch grandpa take his last breathes I will forever remember and be grateful for the love I saw in that room on that day. A love that challenges and reminds me to love my husband with all that I have.
To top a long week off Jennifer literally burned her eyes last night. We were making popcorn last night, as we do on most Sunday nights. Bill, Jennifer and I were in the kitchen together. We are not really sure what happened but Jennifer was standing on a little chair and unplugged the popcorn popper. I reminded her that she cannot do that and noticed that she was having trouble with her eyes. She was blinking them a lot and then wouldn't open them at all. Bill and I tried to flush them out with some water and tried to get her to open them. She never really cried and didn't seem that annoyed with it at the time. She was exhausted from a long week so we just snuggled with her and she seemed to doze off. I am oh so thankful that our eye doctor is also a friend so we called him and told him that we thought she got steam in her eyes. He thought as long as she was sleeping and didn't seem bothered she would be ok. After about an hour that quickly changed. The poor girl was just comfortable. We once again called our friend who meet Bill and Jennifer at his office to look at her eyes. She did indeed burn her little eyes. He put some stuff in her eyes and then put patches over them. Now it had been a long week and we were all already exhausted so when Jennifer came home with patches on her eyes it was enough to make me just want to bawl. We were in for a long night. The poor girl just couldn't get comfortable to sleep. This morning we took the patches off but she still wouldn't open her eyes. She went back to see the doctor and he said her eyes were not healed up just yet. So Jen spent much of the day sleeping. If you know Jen well you know that is so not like her. Tonight we finally got to see her sweet eyes for a little bit on a couple of occasions, not for long but at least we got to see them. We praying for a better nights rest and tomorrow hopefully she will be back to normal.
So this morning Bill looked at me again and said that maybe we could at least start the past two weeks over, if we couldn't do the whole summer over. Our lives have been full the past weeks and months but then again I suppose so many other lives are full as well. So we get up and press on. I read this verse while we were in Michigan sixteen months ago and it seems I have needed it many times since then ( I know I have posted it here before). Once again I find myself reading it and clinging to the words.
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 2:19

what to do?

So the question of the day was... What to do when the temperature in your house reads this?Just in case you think your eyes are playing tricks on you that really is a nine followed by a two. It really was 92 degrees in our house today. Now you maybe wondering if we did this on purpose. No way!! I would never do that do my girls! Yes our air is broken. Bill and my dad worked on it for a while and could not figure out what was wrong. We also had a friend call someone who came over and well the issue is bigger than originally thought.

So here is what we do when it is 92 degrees in our house...

We play in a tub full of ice cold water!!
We also get the slip-n-slide out to cool off!
We're felling cooler already!
Maybe drinking some of the water would help us cool off too.
More water is always good. It is good to be hydrated in the heat.
Or just soaking in the water and chewing on a toy may make things better.
Really this may have been the best idea, dumping a bowl full of water over your sister's head! Jennifer thought it was a great idea, Mikayla on the other hand thought maybe not.
More slip-n-slide fun.

The cold water feels really nice!
More water to drink is always good!
And finally enjoying a Popsicle while sitting in cold water. Ah, yes now maybe we could go back in the house, just maybe.

We will all be sleeping in the much cooler basement tonight (again). Hopefully tomorrow the temperature will be reading much cooler!

same birthday

Yesterday was Bill's birthday. If you were to ask him about it there would not have been much excitement, in fact it was just another day. However, to Jennifer, her daddy's birthday is a big deal. Really any one's birthday is a big deal but being the daddy's girl that she is it was pretty great that it was dad's birthday. While Bill was gone yesterday morning we made him brownies, he would much rather have birthday brownies than cake. Our plan all day yesterday was to put candles in the brownies and sing happy birthday, Jennifer really, really wanted to do that. However, we were busy outside and then had to get ready for a wedding so it just didn't happen. Today as soon as we got home from church Jennifer was insistent that we have brownies and sing. Here is what Jennifer told Bill at one point: "Dad, same birthday, me and you. Lucky." She wanted us to sing to her too so she was trying to convince us that she shared a birthday with dad. It was really cute. Oh the excitement when it was finally time to light the candles and sing! I love enjoying the littlest of moments that make our girls so very excited!

Blowing the candles out! (It was Bill's golden birthday yesterday, if you were wondering how old he is.)

Yeah, the candles are blown out!

Jennifer has it figured out with cake that when you take the candles out there is frosting on them, not quite the same with brownies, but it was worth a try.

A birthday kiss for dad and Mikayla is going to check out the brownies while no one is looking.

This sweet girl has been a ham lately. She wrinkles up her nose, it is really too cute!

After some brownies and ice cream the girls and dad had some fun in the pool.

Jennifer loves the spotlight, if you didn't know already. Yesterday evening we went to a wedding and after the ceremony Jennifer was quick to find where the pastor had been standing with the bride and groom and was going to give her own little ceremony.

I also had to include this picture. Friday afternoon we were going to go for a walk and run some errands while out. Bill told Jennifer she needed some shoes on, this what she came out of her room wearing! She had gotten in her "dress-up" clothes and picked out two night gowns (on backwards) and this hat. Public speaking or a career in fashion the choice is going to be hard for her!

busy days

Summer is going by quickly and our days have been full. It is hard to stay on top of getting pictures posted I must admit. Or maybe at the end of the day I'm just a little lazy, ok that that is probably it.

Mikayla has accomplished something new. She is officially mobile!! A few weeks ago she started crawling. She is not your typical crawler on hands and knees. Rather she pulls herself around by reaching with one arm and pulling with the other, her stomach does not leave the floor. She gets where she wants to go and she is quick!! It is fun to watch her go. The sweetest part about the way she crawls, is that it is the exact same way Jennifer crawled! Here she is exploring in the kitchen. This was also one of Jennifer's favorite cupboards to play in.

I have mentioned before that Jennifer loves to cook. In this particular picture Jennifer is helping Bill make some pancakes. She just missed her mark a little!

A few weeks ago we went camping with Grandma and Grandpa McLeland. One of the days we went to the zoo. It was a fun afternoon visiting the animals.

Just a cute picture of Mikayla while we were camping.

This is something that doesn't happen often, so when it does it really needs to be recorded. After a fun few days of camping and then a birthday party for cousins Ben and Conner this little girl was tired. I love this too because there is an open book on her lap, she couldn't even finish the book, she was so exhausted.

she rides again!

After months of asking and telling us that she needed to ride a horse Jennifer rode again! I didn't tell Jennifer that we were going to ride horses until a few minutes before we left and when I did tell her, she jumped up and down and shouted, "Yea, I ride a horse!!"

Of course she had to wear her Jessie boots! I got one picture of her with the Jessie hat on too, but she didn't want to wear her hat out to ride the horse because she needed a helmet.

To make the trip even better, our friend Rylee was there to ride too! Rylee was fearless on the horses, she was hopping on and off and wanting the horse to go just a little faster, it was great to watch!

Jennifer loves Breuklyn! And Breuklyn does amazing job with Jennifer while riding the horses, she is a sweet girl and we are so thankful she shares her horses with us.
Poor Mikayla Jo is once again too little to do the same thing Jen gets to do. She sat in her stroller watching all the horse fun. She was checking out the horse that wasn't being rode this morning, the funny was that the horse was checking Mikayla out too. At one point the horse stretched out towards Mikayla and she started petting his nose, it was too cute, and of course I didn't have my camera ready. Mikayla is looking at the horse thinking, "In a few years..."

If Jennifer has her way it will not be months before she rides again, hopefully it will just be a few days!

red, white and boots?

Today as we got ready to leave our house for the parade Bill told Jennifer to get some shoes on. Jennifer's response, "Oh, ok, I need my Jessie boots!" They were by the back door because she has wanted to wear them the past several days when we have had to go anywhere. So Bill decided this morning, why not let her wear them. She needed a little something red on today anyway, so why not Jessie boots?!

The girls ready to go to the parade.

I must admit I am a little sad that I didn't get a better picture of Jennifer in her shorts and boots. She was being a little bit silly with the pictures this morning and only wanted her picture taken with other people, so I had to snap a few in action.
There are a few families that Jennifer would join if given the chance. On most days if you ask you if she wants to go to any of these families houses she would jump at the chance. Today we sat by one of the families at the parade and afterwards we were hanging out them with for a few minutes. I was trying to get Jennifer's picture before we took her boots off but when she heard picture she sat down and was insistent that these boys sit down and take a picture with her. "Come on, come on, sit, sit", she repeated until all three of them sat down. So I had to include a picture with Jen and three of her extended siblings.Yesterday afternoon was kids day in the park. There was a kiddie parade in the morning, that we just watched, we figured Jennifer would be too busy waving at everyone to make it the whole way, so yes we just watched. After we played a few games we got to have lunch with two of Jennifer's favorite people, Chris and Rylee. After a little break at home we headed back up town for some inflatable fun. It was money well spent to watch Jennifer having a great time. The best part for her was getting to enjoy the fun with some friends.

Here is how Mikayla spent part of the afternoon in the park. She loved watching all the people but she could really care less about all that was happening around her so she just decided to take a little nap.