Games and pool time

Harper was so happy with the way her picture of Papa turned out this morning.  She taped it on his wall for him.

The girls had fun playing games in the morning, Rielee again attempted to teach the twins to play Monopoly, when that didn't work they played Tumblin' Monkeys.  They were busy at the play fort and in the pool in the afternoon, even though the water was a little chilly. 

Somersaults

This was different, right at bedtime, they decide to do somersaults everywhere.  Somersault into the playroom, somersault in to brush their teeth, somersault in to have Papa read books, somersault back to tell me about it...so much for them settling down for sleep...

We had a mostly quiet day at home.  The girls went to play with Rielee in the afternoon and then she came back with them and they all played some wild hammock games since it was nice out by then. 

Fair crafts

The girls went to bed last night, just jumped right in, talked and giggled for about an hour and then konked out.  Rielee is spending the night tonight so they will be camping out on the floor. 

This afternoon they made a craft to enter in the fair-painted picture frames decorated with shells.  I was surprised at how long they worked on them.  Harper picked hers up to show Rielee and dropped it, losing half her shells so she had to start over again but she handled it quite well.

Harper was Ava's "baby" today and she curled up in their baby pack n' play with the new Tiana doll she found at a garage sale.  She also came home with a big frog, Ava found a new wallet and an ice cream maker, and they both got necklaces, bracelets, a jewelry box and a movie. Best part- we only spent $5.

We also went to the pet store and let them each pick out 2 goldfish to replace the ones that disappeared from the pond.  Harper wanted to get one that looked like Nemo.

Ours for the week

 Lucky us, we get to spoil the girls for a whole week, and if today is any indication, it's going to be a busy one!  They came up at noon, then played with Bridget, Jillian and Tor at Aunt Cathy's for awhile. When they got back they played with PlayDoh, played restaurant, Barbies, ponies, babies, delivered cinnamon rolls to Alan and Vera, then played at the play fort, and lastly played with Legos. 

Harper tried to learn to cross her eyes, but only one was working.

My goal is for them to go to sleep in their beds every night while they are here.  Harper asked to put their beds together so they could hold hands when they fall asleep, so we are going to try that again.  They promised they would go to sleep without any fussing or crying, and they sound very sincere-but it's nowhere near bedtime so we'll see how it goes. 

Last day of swim lessons

The girls made some good progress in this session.  Harper is comfortable with her goggles and will dunk completely underwater now and Ava is much less nervous in general.  Their teacher had them racing across the pool the past couple days and they really loved that. 

Macee & Rielee's birthdays

Macee and Rielee celebrated their birthdays Sunday night, lots of yummy cake and nice gifts.

This morning Ava and Harper decorated a cake for Rielee and she opened a few more presents.  Don't tell their Moms but they had cake for breakfast, bad Grandma...

One of the presents was a boat which they had to try out immediately.

After we got home from swim lessons, they played with it in the pool.  Harper was nervous and wanted out because Rielee couldn't figure out how to row.

I thought Ava looked so cute lying on her towel in head to toe pink.

Celebrating Grandpa Dan

At the Celebration today, while her Dad and Uncle Gabe were speaking, Harper sat down beside me and picked up a picture of Grandpa with Rielee.  She studied it for awhile, then showed it to me and smiled.  Later she, Rielee and Ava came home with us to spend the night.  While they were doing a craft at the table, they talked about how Grandpa Dan was in Heaven and he was probably talking to Grandma Barb and smiling down at them. 

Tuckered out swimmers

 Their 4th swim lesson of the week did them in today.  Harper woke up when we got home but Ava slept almost 5 hours, missing a visit from Emily and her Aunt Doni. 

Harper had a tea party with Emily and Auna, then she and Emily played on the swings and in the sandbox.  When Ava finally woke up she was in a great mood and starving, she ate every bite of her very late lunch.

Auna summer league basketball, goggle girls

Sunday we went to Ilwaco and Long Beach to watch Auna play some Rocket summer league basketball.  She played in 4 games on both JV and Varsity, she said she was really tired afterwards. 

The girls started another session of swim lessons at the Y today.  They've never liked wearing goggles there so we bought them their own and they practiced wearing them in the tub.  They still didn't like them much.

Little entertainers

 We found the girls a couple of play dresses at a garage sale this morning which inspired them to put on several shows for us this afternoon.  One would sing and play the ukulele while the other danced, they are so serious, it's really cute.

Rielee's piano recital

Rielee looked very serious at her recital.  She played "Chimichanga Cha Cha" and did a great job.  After the recital we watched Parker's summer league team easily beat R.A. Long.

In loving memory of Grandpa Dan

Sadly, Grandpa Dan passed away tonight.  He will be greatly missed.  He was a good man who possessed a deep love for his family, for Ann, his sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren and was proud of them all beyond measure.  While in college at LCC he was studying the Lewis and Clark Expedition when he read about Sacagawea and her husband Jean Babtiste Charbonneau and decided Charbonneau would be a good name for his son, for it was unique and French.  He was the first in his family to graduate from college, a huge accomplishment for him.  He believed in hard work, was a hard worker himself and taught Charb and Gabe how to hunt and fish, work on cars, chop firewood and many other things.  He wanted them to be strong and self-sufficient, and they are.  He taught Parker, too, and I know Parker will always cherish the many long talks he had over lunch with Grandpa.  He loved going out to Grandpa's house to work for him and told me how smart his Grandpa was.  They had a very special bond.  Grandpa Dan enjoyed watching Macee, Lexi, Parker, Luke and Rielee participate in sports.  He got close to Rielee by taking her to school every week last year, often sharing stories of his childhood with her on the way, and he gushed over the pictures that Ava and Harper would draw and give to him when he picked her up.  I think being a Grandparent was his best role in life, as it is for most of us, and I wish he would have lived longer so that his little granddaughters, so that all his grandchildren, could have known him better.   I will be forever grateful for the two wonderful sons we had together and our 7 beautiful grandchildren. 
Rest in peace, Grandpa Dan.

Rock message

I was sick yesterday so we didn't have the twins, but Papa took Rielee to school.  When I got up later I found this message she had left for me.

Ashli's graduation

 Ashli graduated from Kingston High School today.  The ceremony was at N. Kitsap H.S. in Poulsbo. It was short for such a large school, fun, and upbeat, the band played a rendition of the Lady GaGa song " Applause".  

 Ashli graduated with a 3.97 GPA, she's unsure about college right now and is working at Safeway.

 Ashli with Jineen, Mom and Von

Hayden with Great-Grandpa

We all went to Jill's house afterwards for a fire pit party.

Bridget play date, Ann's birthday

 

Bridget got to come up and play today, the girls were so excited.  They had a great time, played with every toy they have and outside, too.  They got along great.

Tonight was a surprise 60th birthday party for Ann at the Mansion.  Dan had planned it for weeks, but just didn't feel well enough today to come to it.  That was very disappointing to everyone, but we all had a nice time.

Dan's sister Pat, (in yellow) was there, too.

I took this picture this morning.  Ava woke up early and Harper slept in.  Ava was so happy when Harper finally got up that she gave her blanket to her, and Harper hugged it.  That was huge because usually they don't even want to touch each other's blankets.  This also makes me feel bad because we forgot to transfer their bag and blankets when we left the party.  Kelly said they cried and cried and acted like their lives were over!  Daddy will come and get the blankets tomorrow morning.

Luke's baseball, cold swimming

Last night we watched Luke play baseball.  His team won and he hit a single, stole 2nd and scored.  He made some nice plays in the outfield, too.

Harper asked if they could check the water in Rielee's pool this afternoon to see if it was warm yet.  Of course, they determined that it was warm enough for them.   They ran and got their swimsuits on and spent about 15 minutes splashing around and playing.  Rielee showed them how to do a cannon ball and then Harper surprised me by jumping in a couple of times.  Ava braved the shark but fell off it and went underwater.  She was upset but got over quickly and went back in.  Harper was out of the pool when it happened, she jumped up so fast and ran to the side to try to help.  She was upset, too,  until Ava calmed down.

Barbie haircuts

 I decided to organize the playroom closet and toys this morning.  It didn't go very well, since my "helpers" kept playing with everything that I had just sorted.  I found Harper sitting in one of the Barbie drawers and she had dumped all three into a big pile. 

Ava was having just as much fun, she's looking a little sheepish here because she had just finished giving that blonde Barbie in the chair a haircut.  No more scissors within reach of these two!  They had a whole wastebasket full of hair, thankfully it was only Barbie hair!