Donut Falls

On sunday we went for a short haike up to donut falls. It was quite cool at first but so beautiful and peaceful. The girls did GREAT and I think daddy is a REAL HERO for carrying them both across the river and up to the falls.

a little lunch

daddy and avery throwing rocks into the river

the last two photos are just me messing around with the sunshine.

Running Clothes

As I was headed out on my run this past Saturday, Alexandra said that she wanted to go running too. So I told her to hurry up and put some clothes on as she was still in her jammies. This is what she came up with.....she said all of the colors help her run very fast. Maybe I should trade my navy shorts and white t-shirt in for something a bit more flashy?

the WEDDING!

My younger brother, Jason, got married this past weekend to a lovely girl named Meghan. They were married in Milwaukee and the weather and everything about the day was just PERFECT. I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked, nor did they turn out great, but this should give you an idea. Alexandra was a flower girl with her cousin, Caitlin, and they were just so cute and sweet together. When it came time to walk down the aisle they did it so sweetly....they walked slowly and held hands. It was adorable!

Here are the girls "practicing" walking down the aisle. They would run to the back of the church, grab hands, and walk down the aisle.

Here are the lovely ladies of the wedding party.
Aunt Meghan with Alexandra and Caitlin.
This is our nephew Cory....handsome and about the nicest boy you will ever meet.
This is my brother Jason before the wedding. He was nervous but everything went so well and I will say the tear he shed when he saw Meghan for the first time was about the sweetest thing ever.
Our nephew Connor. Very cute and quite a ham!
My sister Julie and her daughter Caitlin.
Grandma Groothousen and Alexandra. All of the grandkids adore her.

Avery after the service. She wore a dress made by her Grandma Georgene. Everyone did so well and sat quietly for the entire hour of the traditional Catholic service that they earned suckers at the end.

My parents with the new couple.

Jason and Alexandra.
Our little family....suckers and all.
Me and my mom. I am about 7 inches taller than she is but in this picture I am wearing heels and she is wearing flats so it makes the difference appear even more drastic.
Mommy, Avery and the little blue sucker.
The end of the day for a worn out flower girl. Alexandra was already in bed at this point.

now....and then

My mom made this dress for me when I was young. She also made a matching one for my doll Betsy. She passed this along to me when I was pregnant and I put it on Avery the other day. The dress is very well worn but it was fun to see Avery in it. Enjoy mom!


Here is a picture of me wearing the same dress at the Milwaukee Zoo. That is my mom in the back rockin' the big white hat and pushing the 70s version of a stroller with my older brother in it. My mom and dad say I was always very independent and had to walk way out front.

Here is another dress flashback. This is Alexandra circa May 2006 wearing another one of the dresses my mom gave me when I was pregnant, though I don't think she made this one. I wore this one a TON when I was a toddler and also enjoyed seeing it on one of my girls.


This is me in the same dress. I am guessing I am about 4 or 5 years old. My mom made the Ragedy Ann birthday cake for me. That was a big hit! Every year for our birthday we got to choose a cake from the cake book and she would make it for us....so much easier to go to the bakery now but a great memory for me!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The girls had a good time getting ready for daddy's birthday. They both made him a gift (see previous post) and were so excited to watch him open his presents. Alexandra helped me wrap everything so she was busy telling daddy what we picked out for him days in advance. Each time she handed him a wrapped gift she would say "now here is your coffee mug", "here is your shirt", etc.

The cakes. Yes, that is a cake shaped like a banana. You see, Alexandra HATES bananas. Whenever Avery eats one she will pick up her plate and move to the far end of the kitchen table just to be away from the banana. So, for her birthday this past month, we were always teasing her about making her a banana cake for her birthday. When I asked her what kind of cake we should make for daddy she said "a banana cake!". She talked about it for about a week so I thought we just might as well make one. The girls love frosting things so while I worked on the bunch of bananas, Alexandra made a sparkly fish using an ENTIRE jar of sprinkles and Avery smeared a bit of green frosting on a square remnant.
Daddy got a new outdoor fireplace so Alexandra was busy helping him put it together. You can see her "party decorations" on the side of the house.

Daddy and Avery during the singing of Happy Birthday. Daddy had two cakes - a banana cake and also a motorcycle cake provided by our friends, the Shinalls! Thanks guys.

Cookie Cutters

Avery had her frist haircut this past Saturday. She was so good and especially enjoyed the sucker and balloon at the end of the cut! Here is her first haircut certificate! Alexandra also had a haircut and a "princess-updo". This isn't the best picture but it was so cute on her - Matt paid close attention to how they did it so he is in charge of re-creating this if we ever need it.

Random....

So last week was a blur as both girls were sick for a good portion of the week, the truck broke, the washing machine broke and both Matt and I were swamped at work. So, I didn't get to post and frankly there wasn't much to post about but here are a few things that we did....

Took a walk. Avery really loved using her new stroller to walk her Glow Baby and her little blankie that goes with her everywhere.

Watched TV. Yes, exciting isn't it? Well, it was so cute and neither one of them felt too good so they hunkered down on Alexandra's bed together.

Went to the pottery store. We went to a shop called Color Me Mine and made a couple of birthday gifts for daddy. Alexandra painted a coffee mug because her daddy loves coffee and Avery chose a spoon rest - not sure why but that is what she picked.

Just a cute bath photo of Avery in her elephant towel.