July!

neal and i came to grandma val and grandpa don's for the 4th of July weekend. we were excited to reunite with the kids!!! they made a secret special 4th of july shirts for all of us! so cute!! we had a party with family and then were in bed before fireworks! maybe next year we can go see them! 

rex decorated the entire cake while malloy ate chips and taco dip

 we stayed with grandpa gary and grandma tappy for a few days. malloy went to bed late and needed a nap on saturday! rex helped daddy wash the car while malloy napped and then she joined in the fun halfway through.

we had a fun afternoon on sunday with brady, nathan, and bella!  the kids played on the super fun slide, trampoline, and swing set and then we had some pizza for dinner. the kids weer wiped out at the end of the day!

on monday 7/7, daddy went back to buffalo and i stayed with the kids at grandma val's. we hung out at roro and  papa's for the afternoon and had dinner with them. malloy played go fish with me and roro and rex played on the deck with papa. they were making up songs about the guys that rex was playing with - it was great! 

papa found a bird's nest and gave it to malloy

she got to take the nest to grandma's house and make it into a bed for the fairies.

 wednesday 7/9, we went to roro and papa's for dinner with aunt amy and kassie and then to the ice cream social at the endwell fire station. the kids were excited to see big tom and the fire trucks!!! they had ENORMOUS bowls of ice cream, toured the trucks, and got some fun new hats!

when we got home, malloy and i chased fireflies for a while. it was such a fun time! malloy's face was priceless when she finally caught one and watched it blink and crawl on her. the joys of living in the country!

 thursday 7/10 - we got up and made some banana muffins. we took them to their new school and gave them to the principal and secretaries. they were a hit! we got to tour the school and see a kindergarten classroom, a pre-k classroom, the gym, cafeteria, and library. it made the kids more at ease to see the school they're going to in the fall! we had dinner and then went to the playground at main memorial to play and then had ice cream. we played outside a little more and then it was dark enough to run around and chase some fireflies again!

chasing fireflies again!

eating nachos at 10pm after chasing fireflies

 friday 7/11: we went swimming at aunt amy's before lunch then we went to a playdate with fiona and brenna at the playground in the afternoon. it was HOT so we decided to stop for ice cream. the kids had a hot dog before ice cream and then got to play on the little playground at the ice cream place for a bit.

the kids spent saturday with grandma val and grandpa don while neal and i went to a wine festival. they went to a petting zoo and got to feed camels, get their face painted, got stuffed animals - the works! they went to visit great grandpa everett and had lunch and ice cream. then it was off to roro and papa's for a visit and dinner. 

on sunday, we met up with grandma val and grandpa don in ithaca, had some breakfast and then headed back to buffalo!!! everyone was excited to be home!!! 

monday 7/14: we had a relaxed day. the kids went to wkids while i did some grocery shopping. they played outside in the sprinkler after dinner. so happy to be home!

 tuesday 7/15: neal got up with the kids this morning. when i came down, they were dressed up and reading christmas books! they're always keeping me on my toes! neal went to a phish concert tonight, so i took the kids to get a happy meal and then we came back and had movie night! i blew up the air mattress and we all cuddled up and watched rio 2.  when i was tucking malloy in, she told me that i was finally being a fun mommy. HA!

the happy meal prize were teeny beenie boos! score! this is rex's turtle. his name is snake.