Flushing, OH

The whole clan
Uncle Richard gave a family home evening lesson
Nana provided hats to decorate
It took a lot of food to feed this bunch

Every year the my husband's side of our family gets together for a week at a rental home for a vacation/reunion. We were only able to be there Saturday through Monday since Don started his new position in Netjets on Tuesday. I was worried how Alexis would do with her cast in keeping up with her cousins, but she had no problem at all. She could crawl almost as fast as they could run. :) We had a great time being with everyone!
P.S. Thanks for the group picture I borrowed from your site, Denise. :) I was waiting for a copy so I could post so that worked out perfect.

Children's Museum

Alexis at the art center
Emily at the pretend store
They were both exhasted after playing

sand table
gardening area
Alexis looking through the microscope
Emily exploring X-Rays
Daddy and Emily at the art center

We took the girls, along with some friend's of ours, to a children's museum in Lancaster. It was really cute. It was basically two really big rooms filled with fun things for little ones to explore and play with. There was a garden area, dress up, art area, doctor area, a lego table, a sand table, water table, a house to build, honey combs to climb through, face painting table, etc. They had a great time and we ended up getting a membership. It's something fun we figure we can take them to on rainy days and cold days this winter.

American Idol

Netjets Aviation, (where Don works), has special events for it's employees and families every so often. This July it had an American Idol night. They fly the top 10 American Idols around and so when they flew them to Columbus to do a concert they had them do a special night for the employees where they signed autographs and answered questions. They also had food and games. We took the girls and got to say hi to the Idols and David Archeleta even signed Alexis's cast, as you can see in the last photograph. :)

Blessing Day

Ashley Sierra was blessed July 13th. She was given the blessing by her Daddy and Uncle Doug, Grandpa, and Pa Paw were in the circle. Ashley wore a beautiful gown that her Grandma Lee made for her.

Sleepy Time

Alexis was so proud that she put Ashley to sleep all by herself. And I guess Ashley was pretty satisfied she could put Emily to sleep. :) Actually what happened was Emily couldn't fall asleep one night so she came downstairs and we let her lay on the sofa and we layed Ashley next to her because Emily wanted to cuddle her. Within a minute or 2 Emily was sound asleep. :)

Sweet Baby Smiles

Here's a picture of Ashley at 5 weeks old. I just love baby smiles, don't you? :) She almost sounded like she was trying to laugh. I think she was looking at the girls at the time. That's the first thing she does every morning. The girls crawl over to her on the bed as soon as she wakes up and she gives them huge smiles and coos.

Zoo With Cousins

A couple of weeks ago Aunt Cyndi and Uncle Doug invited us and the Pyes to come along with them to the zoo since we live nearby. Daddy was out of town and Mommy was still recuperating so Aunt Becca volunteered to take them. It was very hot that day, but everyone still had a great time. Unfortunately every group picture we got looks like the ones above - not one with every child facing the same direction. :) Alexis mentioned the zoo a couple of days ago and made the comment, "That was back before I was broken."

Fishing

Don bought the girls little fishing poles and took them fishing for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I think Emily gave up after a few minutes saying, "I don't think it's time for the fishes lunch, yet, Mommy". They didn't end up catching anything, but they did have a lot of fun walking around the pond with Daddy.

Fish Hatchery

Don took Alexis and Emily to a nearby fish hatchery a couple of weeks ago. They got to see different fish, tadpoles, and frogs and learn a bit about them and their habitat. Afterwards they played at the park and got ice cream.

Blackberry picking

Last Tuesday we took the girls blackberry picking. They used their little watering cans to put the berries in. We got quite a bit and they both helped Mommy make a blackberry cobbler the next day. Yum!

Fireflies

Last week we took the girls out back to catch fireflies. There weren't too many out but we did catch a couple.

Baby Pictures

Here are a few pictures of Ashley. She's doing great. She's growing well, smiling, cooing a little, and loves her family. We're very blessed to have her and really enjoy her. :)

Sisterly Love

Alexis showing Ashley some toys while Emily holds her
Emily and Ashley
Alexis and Emily pushing Ashley in their doll stroller
Emily, Alexis, and Ashley
Ashley listening to Alexis telling her a story

The girls LOVE their new sister.They are always asking to hold her multiple times a day. Here are just a few pictures we have.

Butterfly Morning

Look carefully on the window behind the girls

Daddy helping Alexis hold the butterfly on her hand

The week after Ashley was born Emily came upstairs after I had just woke up and announced that Daddy had caught a big butterfly and had it in the house. I asked her if he had used the butterfly house we had from our butterflies earlier and she said, "No, it's just flying around the house." Sure enough I came downstairs and it was. It really prefered this one window, though. We let it go back outside soon after.