Summer Camp

This week the girls started their summer camps.  It's at the preschool they went to this past school year.  They had a good time and it allowed me to work.  We went to the pool and Emily has gotten so much better at going under water.  She now goes under for several seconds and even started putting her head under water and swimming some.  She took her arm floaties off to do that and it's been so fun watching her push herself to do more.

On Saturday I cleaned the house and Emily laid out her stuffed animals and for each one she chose some fabric from her fabric box and made dresses for each one by tying the fabric to the animal with ribbon.  She is so creative:

 We also spent this week playing lots of games.  One afternoon we played several rounds of Uno, 2 games of Sorry, 1 round of Yahtzee and that evening we taught her how to play Phase 10.  Each night we would play several rounds of Phase 10 and Emily would keep a card of what phase we were on at the end of the night.  She beat us Sunday night by finishing Phase 10.

Abigail has gotten more attached to her stuffed animals.  She carries this puppy with her everywhere and he has to be in the bed with her too.  This was a puppy my dad got her for Christmas one year:

 We've also enjoyed eating lots of fruits this summer season:

 And the pot where we planted our seeds a couple of months ago, finally produced a flower:

On Saturday evening we went to dinner with some friends while all the kids stayed at our house with the babysitter.  It was an enjoyable evening!

Crazy at the Zoo

Saturday night was Members Only night at the zoo.  It felt like everyone in the Atlanta area is a member because the zoo was more crowded than it normally is on a busy Saturday.  Maybe everybody had the same idea we had for a fun summer evening.  The girls still had fun though:

 Joe and Emily waited in line to get on a jump house.  They were playing music really loud so the two of them danced away.

 Abigail wasn't interested in the jump house so we walked around and did the other activities under the tent:

 On Sunday we drove to Grandma's house to spend the day with her.  This was the first time she thought it would be okay to let her dog hang out with the girls.  Of course they thought it was the best idea ever . . . not so sure what Lobo thought about it though.  He kept hiding under the table and Abigail kept seeking him out : )

Water Park

We went on our first trip to the water park on Thursday. 

 The first thing Emily wanted to do was conquer the slides she was too afraid to go down last year.  You have to climb up to the slides on the below picture.  Water dumps out from the big bucket at the top every few minutes.  So last year Emily wouldn't even consider going up because of all the water.  But this year she put her head down and took off running.  Normally adults can't go down these slides but the life guard let Joe go down with her once and then she was hooked:

 Here she is going down all by herself:

 

We were so proud!  So then we tried to see if there was a bigger slide she could go down that wasn't in the kids section.  The only one Joe could go down with her was the big innertube ride where you sit in a big innertube with 5 other people and it goes down a big slide.  Like this one:

Emily went down this slide 3 times with Joe and once with me.  She loved it!  It's amazing what a difference a year can make.

Here are the girls waiting for Joe to come down a slide:

 

 

 We always get hungry at the water park:

 We had a great day!  Emily took this picture of us: )

 

Since Abigail didn't have a nap yesterday, she was pretty tired today.  This morning while Emily and I were cleaning up her room, Abigail climbed into her own bed.  I'm pretty sure she used the grocery cart to climb up:

 

Recital

After rehearsal day we were finally able to make it to our pool for the first time this year:

Emily jumped off the side of the pool several times all by herself without me being near her.  Abigail took a few minutes to get used to being in the water and then she was swimming around too.  It's fun to see them swim.

On Saturday Emily had her recital.  She did a great job!  It was so fun to be able to just sit and watch her perform without worrying about getting pictures or videos (since it wasn't allowed).  The girls also enjoyed seeing the older kids perform their dances.

Afterwards, Emily chose Wendy's for supper : )  I asked her if she wanted to dance again next year and she said nope.  School might be just enough for us next year . . .

Dance Rehearsal

On Wednesday, Emily had her dance rehearsal.  The girls got ready:

 Waiting for their turn on stage:

 Practicing:

Hugging good friends:

Birthday weekend

This weekend we celebrated my 40TH BIRTHDAY!  I can't believe I'm 40 . . . I did have a fun time celebrating. 

 Emily picked this cake out for us to share:

 Then Joe cooked steaks and shrimp for our dinner:

 

I also caved and bought the girls D|sney toys at the mall : )  Abigail got some "sparkly" shoes and Emily got a set of 4 dolls:

 

My mom made this beautiful quilt for my birthday:

My brother and sister had balloons delivered to the house : )

 On my actual birthday, we went to the GA aquarium.  You can get in free on your birthday.  We asked our friends Rachel, Julia, and Liliana to join us:

 

 

 They have a dolphin show now that is included in your ticket.  We had a great time watching them perform:

 They also let you see the 4D movie now with your ticket instead of paying extra.  I think my favorite part of the day was watching the girls enjoy the dolphin show and watching their first 3D movie.  They kept putting their hands up in the air to try to touch whatever was in front of them.  It was neat to watch them:

 

We enjoyed a picnic lunch outside:

They also have a frog exhibit you can see:

I had a great celebration for turning 40!!!