Family Fun-part 2

Here are the rest of the photos from the weekend!

Grandma with Ryan and Matthew

Jacob-that tractor is still going!

The gang-Matthew, Madelyn, Jacob, Emma and Ryan

Matthew

Ryan and Matthew

Dad and Matthew

Kick ball fun! Get it!

Fun times...part 1

This last weekend was the annual G. family reunion. We went to mom and dad's house on Saturday for some fun times with the family. Grandpa and Uncle Mark built a fire with the kid's help. We then had a hot dog/marshmellow party! There is absolutely nothing better in the summer than a perfectly roasted marshmellow...browned and bubbly gooey goodness! I have too many pictures I want to share so expect more later! Thank you for a great weekend!

Jacob's baby blues and his John Deere

Madie playing kickball. She took time to smile for me!

Ryan loves his fingers! What a sweet boy!

Jacob played in the crack in the sidewalk all night with his John Deere. Can you see his dirty face?

Emma, my little firebug. Everytime you turned around she was throwing another stick into the fire!

Ryan, Grandpa and Matthew

Sweet Boy!

What will you do for a dollar?

Proud Madie!

"Look Mom, two wheels!"

Grandma paid Madie $1 for riding her bike without training wheels around the cul-de-sac! She did it and then didn't stop all night!

My Little Helper

Matthew likes to help me with dishes...

I have found him precariously perched on the door of the dishwasher.

What are the chances this continues as he gets older?

Peek-A-Boo Baby!

The kids made a tent out of chairs and blankets yesterday. It was still up this morning when Matthew found it. He thought he was something in there. I was able to snap these pics.

Camera-Must get Camera!

My son has found his voice..."AAAHHHH"

Madie and Matthew playing in the tent. Don't you love the assortment of blankets?

Just stuff...

I have been a bit lazy with the camera this week so here is "stuff" that has happened this week:

• The girls started swimming lessons this week and are loving it. We even got to visit the pool twice in between. Daddy came with us yesterday. Overheard in the car from Madelyn: "Dad, drive faster, you're wasting my time!"
• Lots of playing. We have new neighbors who have 3 girls ages 5, 4 and 1. Emma and Madie were busy with them quite a bit this week.
• My garden succombed to hail this week. Slowly it is perking back up. The girls are loving watching everything grow.
• Today was my nephew, Ryan's 1st birthday party! Happy Birthday Ryan! Thank you to Mark and Betsy for throwing a great party!
• We celebrated Father's Day today. Happy Day to all you dad's and a big thank you to Brandon for all he does.
• Otherwise, another busy week of summer has passed us by. Where does the time go? There is no way time goes this fast during the winter!

Strokes and folks...

Another week of summer vacation is quickly coming to a close...I can't believe how fast 2 weeks can actually fly by! We are having fun though and keeping quite busy!

Miss Em actually agreed to smile pretty for the camera. Can you believe it?!

Here are the many faces of Matthew. He has lots of expressions for someone so little.
Here is sober Matthew.

What 'cha got mom?

Crabby Matthew...he wants the camera and I won't let him have it!

Watching big sisters.


Madie and Emma started swimming lessons today. Thanks goodness for indoor pools. It has been so cold and rainy lately in the morning that I don't know that they would get anything out of outdoor lessons. They had a blast!

Emma only has 2 in her "moonfish" class. They got to jump into the deep end...seen here.

Madie is a "Guppy 1" and is learning the basics. She did much better on day 1 than she did last year. A little less nervous.

Of course, I didn't get the pics uploaded right...can't you see the excitement and anticipation is killing them?

A new toy, a dead fish, and some rides...

We have had a very busy week. We started off by heading to Grandma and Grandpa G.'s house for a couple days. We had great fun while we were there! We got home on Wednesday. When we arrived, we realized someone (Dad) forgot to feed the fish and he went belly up the next morning...so...we now have 2 new goldfish in the tank. Emma picked them out herself and has been sitting and watching for 20 minutes now. I think their names are Rose and Spot.

Today, Brandon took the day off of work and we took the girls to Adventureland for the day. Madie's favorite ride was the Frog Hopper and Emma has taken a liking to roller coasters. She did all three today, even the Dragon which goes upside-down...twice! She was hilarious to watch, she doesn't want to see what is coming so she buries her head and closes her eyes. But we have to sit close to the front! Brandon and I are absolutely exhausted. We had tons of fun...lots of smiles for the day. Matthew spent the day with Kelly and played with Jackson.

Matthew and Brandon in the new toy...

We brought home a new Chevy Colorado yesterday. We wanted to do our part to help stimulate the economy not to mention a little CPR for GM...
We were supposed to go pick it up that night and Brandon called on his way home from work...his car wouldn't start. Luckily it was just a wiggle of the cables that fixed it but still...her time is running out. Brandon thinks she was just mad...

Fun on the Farm

The kids and I traveled north to Mom and Dad's house for a couple of days. We are having lots of fun! We had a bonfire yesterday and grilled hotdogs and marshmellows on the fire. The girls had a blast and fell asleep in minutes last night! Matthew was content to watch the fire from a distance.

Today Matthew got his first tractor ride, of course we didn't have the camera but he fussed when we tried to get out...I think he liked it! The girls rode in the tractor, helped Grandpa outside, made cookies with Grandma and just had a good time.

After supper we went out and rode the 4 wheeler...another favorite activity!

Grandpa and Matthew - Matthew LOVED the ride. He was all smiles and waved as he went by.

The girls and Grandpa...Emma was saying go faster and Madie was saying go slow...never fails.

Matthew had a lot of fun climbing on the little chair. He climed up all by himself and was pretty proud.

Big Boy!

Dance and Play

Last night, the girls had their tumbling recital. We went to Aunt Betsy's house to play for the afternoon and she braided the girls' hair for me. They did really well.

Emma all dolled up

The girls in their tumbling outfits. The show lasted 4 hours. The girls were on stage 10 minutes. They had fun though.

Madie and Jacob playing at the park.

Matthew swinging

The other day the girls took Matthew for a ride in the wagon. He laid back and enjoyed the ride.

We planted trees in the front yard.

Madie pulling Matthew in the wagon.

the clan!

The computer guy is king!!!

The guy that came to fix my computer reigns supreme! He took our old hard drive and tried to run diagnostics on it. Come to find out he could get to our pictures! So he is sending me a disc with all our stuff on it! Hallelujah! Let this be a lesson to all you out there~back up your stuff! He was a classic computer nerd (don't mean to offend ~very nice guy and very brilliant). He said that for some reason the hard drive heated to over 160 degrees Celcius - oops! I don't think I had anything covering the vents but you never know. I had been working and throwing papers everywhere! ~Whew~

The great crash of '09

Well, we survived the great hard drive crash of '09. Unfortunately the tech guy said our old hard drive was "inaccessible" which means we have lost everything. So, if you don't mind sending an e-mail of any sort to reed@iowatelecom.net, I will add your address back into our address book. *sigh*