"Hers" instead of "she's"

Okay, yes I know you can't understand her.  Don't worry, she's in speech therapy.  But, her imability to speak clearly makes her story even funnier I think? 

Teddy Bear Tea Party

 

I took Marie to a Teddy Bear Tea Party today.  So weird how girls from the same house and same family and same gene pool can like such different things?  Although, Eva spent most of her toddler/preschool years watching me sleep 12 hours/day, lay on the couch, eat, eat and eat while I was baking her siblings.  I'm not sure she saw me use make-up or dress up more than once a year?  Marie has seen that happen much more and she is very into it.  

 She loves it when I do my hair and put on make-up and jewelry... I even wore a dress for this girl!

This picture makes me laugh; the mix of cars with horsies.  I've said it before; If I was going to recommend ONE TOY to buy out of all the toys in our house, it would be these blocks.  Universally used by boys and girls and for many years and activities.  

 

 

Something I have definitely gotten better at in Eva's ten years of life: Baking!  Red-velvet cake for this girl.  Appropriate that basketball is on in the background since that's how Chris spent his "paternity leave" when she was born.  

They all slept over.  So well-behaved were all!  (Madeline, Lauren K, Miranda, Eva, Maggie, Liv, Lauren L, and Emma L.)

 This was Eva's first party out of the house.  Last year, the party was in our garage and we chalked and rode bikes and scooters.  This year, we drove through a blizzard at 20 mph to get to Casselton to swim.  They didn't seem to notice that it does not normally take 45 minutes to get to Casselton.  I did!

 

"Healthy because" says Luke

I have to put this on here so I remember the story.  I came home and Luke was eating these right before dinner.  I said "Who said you could have these?"  He said "well, it's okay becuase they are healthy.  See, there are ZERO GERMS in them."  Funny kid.  

Jamaica

Chris and I went to the Iberostar Grand Hotel in Montego Bay Jamaica for 7 nights with some friends: Todd, his girlfriend, Kylie, and Todd's cousin Tom and wife Teresa.  We had never met Tom and Teresa, but felt like we had known them forever and had a great time with all!  Grandma Tree and Grandpa Gerry, along with some help from Allison, "got" to take care of the kids all week.  Thanks Grandma!

We really had only one bad part of the trip; this bus.  It sat in the parking lot for about 40 minutes before leaving.  A 10 minute ride from the airport took at least 30. 

This is what Todd thought of the bus situation...

The view from our balcony and...

 a fridge filled with these, helped us quickly forget about the bus ride.  

Mornings started with breakfast served on the balcony.  

And the busy, hot day began!

Chris soaked up the rays and listened to his new Bruno Mars album...

The rest of us who can read books did so.

The view from my "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" reading post was fantastic.  

When the heat got to us, it was time for the swim-up bar.

I played some volleyball.  Guess which guy we referred to as "schlong" all week?  

Tower building with beer cans.

They did zumba everyday right in front of the pool.  Here are the boys looking at everything but the girl in the pink bottoms I'm sure.  

We got all dressed up for fancy dinner and drinks each night.  

The Girls.  

The Boys.

I love him more than 10 years ago.  Chris, not Leo.  

The discussion was if Todd could learn to catch the egg on the side of the spatula like the chef did in less than 10 tries.  Tommy and Chris said no.  I said less than 7 because Todd had already told me he had a gift for throwing small things into small cups, so I thought this may require similar ability.  See video below to see what happened.

Pirate beach party.  

Marie has been dressing up in the flower girl dress and sparkly red shoes each day since we've been home, so it's kind of like the evenings in Jamaica.  Kinda not.  

The crazy evenings made for some sleepy days...and snoring.  But, I'm nice enough to not put that video on here.  

It rained only on the day we arrived and late afternoon of our last day.  I had decided to ignore the slight pain I was having in my knee the days before and play with the other volleyball obsessed in the rain.  

Which meant I spent the next morning laying in bed with ice.  Buckhouse + sport= injury.  

The Many Talents of Todd