Tales of this, bliss, and that...

Ella ready to dig into the sundae during our lunch date at Red Robin last Friday!

I found this in Owen's backpack a few weeks back. Looks like I'll be spending some quality time learning how to play Lego Universe! :)

Ella recieved some Easy Bake mix for her birthday in November, so I agreed to help her bake some cakes one afternoon when she drug the oven out of the play room. Turns out...the Easy Bake Oven is not so easy. Not to mention it makes a not too great tasting cake in not so friendly portions. They each took approximately fifteen minutes to bake thanks to the trusty lightbulb inside the oven. Honestly, I am impressed a lightbulb can bake an entire bite sized cake, but I have officially retired my taste buds to any other food that is cooked by such a source. Cooking in style! Sliding it in to be cooked by the lightbulb... ...with a little help from brother, Owen. And a little doctoring up from me- Just call me Julia.

Just a few pictures from one of our summer walks. The girls love flowers, and I spent a good portion of our walks attempting to keep them from picking flowers in all the yards we passed! Precious Zab and her flower! Stelly smelling her flowers! Zoey and her plant :)

I began this post when I was watching my favorite little Foxlettes...but it's worth finishing so ignore the present tense. Everyday, shortly after lunch, the girls lie down to rest. And most everyday they ask me to rest with them. And I do most days if Baby Rowan isn't in need of my services. Some days they sleep and some days they don't. Most days when I rest with them they usually fall asleep for at least a half hour, which is just enough time for me to get things cleaned up from lunch. But my favorite part of rest time is right before they fall asleep. This is generally the time they strike up some of our most interesting conversations or do the things that I might not necessarily notice when all four of them are awake. And when I think they are sleeping too long and I need someone to play with I will creep in the room, open their blinds, and occasionally make an accidental cough. :) (And here is where I turn to present tense...) I certainly will not forget the conversat...

My cousin, Katy, and her twin boys, Dawson and Porter, were back in Iowa for a week this summer so they came over for a play date with the girls! The boys will be two and a half later this month and the girls are now four...by looking at the pictures you really can't tell they are that far apart in age but fun was had by all during the few hours they spent with us. The day consisted of playing, reading books, playing, jumping with Rowan, playing, eating lunch, playing, and finally goodbye hugs. My camera was capturing exceptionally blurry pictures that day, but I managed to capture a couple decent memories! Porter playing with the trains! The girls love being read to...therefore, they LOVED Katy! Dr. Seuss has them hooked! Baby Row chillin' :) Where's Port? "Aw man! She caught me!" A crazy large group of PB&J eaters! The trio, duo, and Cousin Katy! Lady's Man! Dawson finally warmed up in time to give goodbye hugs... Attacking Zoe with some more goodbye hug...

Sometimes in life we learn to do things the "hard way." I am one of those people who makes it a habit... My most recent encounter involving a horse. (You see where this is going, right?) In the last month I've spent a couple of my weekends out west with Drew's family camping and riding horses. Other than the thirty-some bug bites I managed to have all over my legs, I absolutely loved spending my time outdoors roasting marshmallows, riding Marshmallow, paddle boating, fishing (for thirty minutes at a time), and swimming with Anna E! Our final trip this summer ended with a bang (or a lope, rather!) Yes, for the first time in my life I was able to experience my hair blowing in the wind while riding on a horse. I was on my final ride with Shelly and Alice and managed to open my mouth before the end of the trail. At the time, I actually thought it would be funny to rub dirt all over me and say that I had fallen off of Marsh...but then Alice began to lope with Sandy. And ap...