Catching Up On June

June has flown by. I have a feeling that the rest of the summer will follow in its footsteps.

So what have we been up to? I had to get my calendar to refresh my memory. Lack of sleep, you know. Even with my calendar in front of me, I'm sure I'll forget lots.

The second week in June we got to visit with some old friends (our former pastor and his family) who were back in the area. When we first met Phil and Val they had one child, Andrew, who was 6 or so months old, and I was pregnant with Gracie. Now, we both have 3! It was so fun to see them again, and to see Gracie and Andrew together. They spent many a day playing together, and I think it's safe to say that Andrew was one of her first "friends."

The 13th was Promotion Sunday at church. All the kids who are going into kindergarten are now moving up into the elementary Sunday School class, and were presented with Bibles during the church service. The parents got to write a special note to their child in the front of the Bible, and help present them.

The 14th found Gracie at her very first day camp, Cottontail Day Camp at Swan Lake Christian Camp, through our church's summer program. They left the church at 8:30 and weren't back until 5 pm. Her day at camp included a Bible lesson, singing, a craft project (they made sheep out of cans and cotton balls), a hay rack ride, and even canoeing! When I asked her if she liked the canoeing, she said yes, but she was worried about tipping over. I don't think she was really worried about tipping over, rather just wanted to add some drama to the day. They have also done a class about butterflies, and have several others they're going to through out the rest of the summer.

On the 16th we spent several hours at a friend's swim meet. Eating Subway, picnic style, hanging out under the shade tent, chatting and cheering on Emma, another one of Gracie's life-long friends. Daddy decided to surprise us and walked down to the pool to say hello.

On the 17th, Gracie, Ella and I went to the dentist.

Ahhhh, the dentist.

The last time we went to the dentist, Gracie did great but Ella cried through the whole thing, and wouldn't let anyone lay a finger on her. This time, Ella did great, and Gracie cried. I couldn't believe that Ella did so well. She let them brush her teeth, count them, examine them with their tools, and even paint vitamins on them! Gracie fought everything they wanted to do, especially the x-rays. With lots of encouragement, we finally got her to cooperate. Then, after all of that, it was my turn. I'd almost forgotten I was seeing the dentist too, since it takes so much effort to get the kids done. Fortunately, I didn't have Irelynn with me, so that somewhat reduced my stress level. Irelynn stayed with our sweet babysitter, who I'm so thankful for.

The girls and I aren't used to being Iree-free at all. She's kind of like an appendage. About half way to Wagner Gracie cried out from the backseat, "Mom!!!! Where's Irelynn?!?!?" There was genuine panic and concern in her voice. "Gracie, she's with Mallory, remember, did you think we left her at home?" It was so cute. I'm glad they love her, although, it did take her 8 miles to notice she wasn't in the van with us.

It rained... A LOT. We had water in our basement again. It's been three years since that's happened. It's annoying to clean up water in the basement, and it's still a work in progress.

The 19th found my husband cutting out a chunk of our living room carpet.

See...

I can't spend much time on this story, because I'm still fuming. The short version is that the dog left a smelly secretion on the carpet that NOTHING under the sun would remove. Our house smelled, so Mark cut the smelly piece of carpet out and patched it with left over carpet from the basement. He still has to duct tape it down. Yes, I'm serious. My husband is patching our carpet with duct tape. But someday we're getting new flooring, so it's okay right? It does smell better in here though. Enough said.

While Mark was cutting out our carpet, I took Irelynn to convenient care in Yankton. Every time I'd try to lay her down, she'd cry, she was pulling on her left ear, and didn't really like nursing or her nukie as much as she usually does. Yep, that's right, little Iree has her first ear infection.

The 20th, Father's Day, bittersweet. Happy Father's Day to my hubby, Mark's dad, Al, and my step-dad, Art! Of course, I was missing my dad.

Here's Mark opening his Father's Day gift before church...

He got new white undershirts. I know, exciting, huh. In my defense, he wears them under his uniform everyday, though, so it was a very practical gift. And my husband is very practical. So he was totally cool with it. His old dingy ones are getting a new life as flags for flag football. My husband likes to take things I would throw away, and do crazy, strange things with them.

Daddy with his girls (Ella wasn't in a taking pictures kind of mood)...

After church we headed to Sioux Falls to Mark's sister's house. We had lunch with Mark's dad and hung out for a while before heading to Target to buy the girls' school supplies. A little early to be buying school supplies? Not in my world. I seriously couldn't believe I was standing there with a supply list in my hand, buying stuff for my first born who will heading off to kindergarten! And I'm not just sending my first born off to kindergarten, I'm also sending my second born off to pre-school.

This is what Gracie made for her daddy at Children's church...

Iree hangin' out with daddy...

A Father's Day group picture...

I also sent out invites for Ella's third birthday party, only to find out that the location I listed on the invites has already been reserved by another group. Ha! Nothing like doing things in reverse order to teach a girl a lesson. Still figuring that whole thing out...

This morning I needed to carry a laundry basket and Iree up the stairs at the same time, because I'm too lazy to make two separate trips. Sadly, I only have two hands.

So this is how I did it...

Yep, Irelynn took her first ride in a laundry basket today! She was all smiles about it.

Today, Gracie asked me to tie a ribbon in her hair like Cinderella.

Soon we'll say farewell to June, and hello to July! Maybe I'll be a better blogger in July?