Nice Long Update!

Did everyone have a great 4th of July weekend? We absolutely did with a good ol' fashioned cabin trip. We went to Dan's side of the family's cabin on a lively lake. The family did a lot of tubing, water skiing, and wake boarding (and I got a couple runs in). We all had a lot of fun... Then my brother Andy and his wife Aimee stopped by on Tuesday for a quick visit. The girls thought it was funny when Andy put sunglasses on them.

Josie trying on the sunglasses

Madeline, Sofia, and Josie showing off their new patriotic outfits and new picnic table!

 Madeline is doing very well- she was the biggest fish at the cabin! After she went in the lake once, she would NOT want to get out. We really have to watch her around water because once we caught her about to back off the dock to get in the water. Maybe she'll be the next female Michael Phelps!  What a cutie. Another tidbit I thought was fun: we saw her pick up a bottle of sun lotion and pretend to put it all over her body! The girls have imitated us before with combs, phones, etc, but this caught our attention! Smarty pants!

Madeline with a watermelon.... YUMMY!

Josephine has been cracking me up lately. I have noticed she is really independent and can stay focused for longer than the other two. She will collect books or toys and place them in a box or on a chair (or ottoman). All the while she contemplates where the best spot for a particular toy would be (and if it looks like it might tip she would secure it better). Outside she loves to sit by the rocks and carefully place each one on the grass in a pile. It is so stinkin' cute! From what I hear from Dan's mom, Debbie, this would reflect how Dan was when he was little- focused on a particular task for a good chunk of time (while the siblings are darting around the room).

Josie working on a pile of rocks.

I would still call Sofia our little ham- soaking up attention and making people smile. She and her sisters are getting good at pointing out their noses, eyes, ears, heads, hair, etc. One thing I love about Sofia is that she gives me the best hugs. When I get them out of their cribs, the other two are antsy to get on the floor, but Sofia will wrap her arms around me so tightly! What a great feeling! One other funny thing they do- Sofia the most- is point to just about everything and say "dat" or "izit". They love for me to say what each thing is over and over again!

Sofia walking up from the lake.

Here are some more cabin pics, plus some pics from a Duluth trip early June that I stole from my friend Leah.

Mommy with the little fish, Madeline

Dad with Josie and Sofia

Family pic- I'm so lucky!

Love snuggling with Sofia! She looks ready to take a nap.

Cousins! (l to r: Madeline, Sofia, Peter, Dane, and Josie)

Uncle Pete with the girls! No easy task to hold all three like that!

Grandpa (bumpa!) walking Josie and Madeline down the hill.

Thanks for the shirts, uncle Dave! (Sofia, Madeline, Josephine)

The girls thought Anna was the coolest!

Wow, what a great picture! How in the world did we get 5 babies/toddlers to look at the camera?? (PS isn't it weird that both Leah and I had three older brothers and NO sisters- and now we are making up for it!)

 So a little side story... I was outside with the girls and they were so cute sitting close together right at the side of the house. I thought it would be a cute photo so I ran inside to get the camera. By the time I got back out (probably 20 seconds) they were nowhere! I immediately looked under the sunroom porch and saw all three! Josie realized quickly it was a little scary and started crying. I pleaded for them to come out because it would be pretty hard to crawl under, and they came out right away. Phew!!! Dan and I had talked about the possibility of them crawling under but I didn't realize how quickly they would try that out.

You can make out two of the girls under the porch :/

This video is so cute- Leah's girls and my girls thought Leah's parent's dog was hilarious. Hehe.

 

Have a great rest of this short work week! This weekend we are staying in town which is relaxing. Until later!