Singing for the sun

Ava had a ton of fun playing on the hammock.

 The twins came up to spend the day with us since Kelly was having a garage sale.  They were really good, little fighting and a lot of sharing and great manners.  Our only problem was when Rielee came over after volleyball camp, Ava wasn't ready to wake up from her nap, yet she heard Rielee and wanted to wake up and play, but was crabby for awhile.  All she wanted was oatmeal for lunch, so Papa gave in and made her oatmeal, the rest of us were having pizza.  Then Rielee asked for oatmeal, too, and Harper decided it looked good, so it was a weird lunch of oatmeal, toast and pizza. 
We had fun with them outside after lunch.  The sun kept going behind the clouds, so they took turns singing, in their little opera voices, their "I love the sun, come back sun" song.  When it came back out they would cheer and squeal!

Harper with her chalk rainbow.

Harper loved her hairdo this morning.  It was straightened from being in a ponytail yesterday and she thought she looked just like Rielee. 

Pool and water slide

 The girls slept in until almost 9 and woke up rested and ready to play.  They took a bath, played with Play-Doh, changed their clothes about 5 times and we made brownies.  The sun came out earlier so we went to the pool at noon.  Harper was ready to get in and try swimming around but the water was a little cold for her so she just played on the pool ladder instead.  Ava watched her having fun and had to try that, too.

 Headed to the play fort, being wrapped up in their towels seemed to be their favorite part of going swimming.

 They had a tea party and I caught Harper drinking right out of the pot!  Rielee put their "Gourde girl" stickers on again.

They made their own water slide with the hose.  Harper did some cool little jumps at the bottom.

We took the girls back in the evening and went to Luke's last All-Star game, which they won 13-6. 

 

Luke's game/girls overnight

 We went to Luke's All-Star game this morning, unfortunately his team had trouble getting their bats going and lost 7-1,  Luke made a couple great plays though.  After the game we brought Ava and Harper home with us to spend the night.  The first thing they did was to pick some flowers, the second was to call Rielee to come over and play.  Once the sun came out we headed to the pool. 

Ava and Harper were hesitant to get in the water but they did float around on the air mattresses and in the raft.

Rielee said the stickers on their foreheads signify that they are "Gourde girls".

 Back in the house to play some more with Rielee, they made cards, pictures and cookies to take to Laury's birthday.  She celebrated it early since everyone is busy on Tuesday.  Emmy and Auna had made her a very cute flower pot cake.

The little girls got to help her open presents and blow out the candles to practice for their own upcoming birthday. 

Jackie and J.P.

 We had a visit from Alan, Jackie and J.P. this afternoon.  J.P. was a little serious around us at first, but after awhile he relaxed.

Great-grandpa making sure J.P. is content.

 It was nice to see Jackie and we enjoyed watching J.P. crawl around and pull himself up on the furniture.  He is one busy little guy, he has to be getting another tooth, #8, because he was chewing on everything.

I got a little grin from him when I hid behind the camera to take his picture with Momma.

4th of July

"Someone light my punk for me!"

 Gabe and Des had their 4th of July party again after taking a break from it last year.  There was lots of great food and we played "31" while we waited for it to get dark, but actually the kids started lighting stuff off right away.

 

 James and Parker took turns setting off the mortars and big stuff.  They put on quite a good show

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Rielee and the other  girls were content to stay with the roman candles, bottle rockets, snakes, sparklers and other small stuff.

Kiss and a hug

This is how Harper and Ava say good-bye on the phone and then give a kiss and hug. http://youtu.be/aZsn4oI6fTY 

Rielee and Maggie

Rielee was thrilled to be reunited today with Maggie, the puppy she gave away 3 years ago.   They played and ran around together, and Rielee gave Maggie and her brother dog "Chip" some toys we had bought for them.  We were both glad to see that Maggie is a happy little dog living with a great family who love her a lot.   Rielee thought she maybe should have her hair trimmed a little though!