Our Little Gymnast

Trampoline

Obstacle Course - Straddle Jump

Low Beam - Jump and Balance

Bars - Pike Swing

Bear Crawl

Backward Roll - Hands in the ovenCome on toesand roll!

It's Soccer Time

We recently enrolled E in a soccer camp. It fell at just the right time with Women's World Cup so E was inundated with soccer. She was watching it on tv, mommy was talking about it regularly and to top it off she was getting to play soccer. We still have two more sessions and I know E is looking forward to them.

Oops, false start! Wait for the whistle.

Run, run , run as fast as you can!
Trapping the ballDribbleHeaded towards goal
GOOOAAALLLLL!

Splish Splash

Today was full of water fun. First we headed to the neighborhood sprinkler park with our buddies Charlie and Ben and then this afternoon E played with Isabella in the pool. I am worn out from all the time in the sun but as I am working on this post E is outside riding her bike while daddy is grilling dinner. Gotta love summer!

Jones Island

Yesterday we headed to Jones Island to swim and picnic with some friends. I am not a big fan of lake swimming but it was a tolerable experience. Eleanor loved her new floaties and the freedom they provided. The water only got about 4 feet deep and she floated and swam all over the place. I have a feeling we will be doing a little more lake swimming in the coming weeks so I am going to need to get over my fear.

Floating
Our sweet friends - Ryan, Amy and John
The lighting is terrible in this picture but I love it just the same
My little fish

I Like to Move it Move it

The park districts in the area where we live are wonderful. They offer tons of stuff for families to do for a small fee but a lot of times for free. One of the free summer activities are concerts in the park. This week we met our friends John, Ryan and Amy for a concert and some playtime. Eleanor, John and Ryan enjoyed dancing and running around.

Things I Do Not Want to Forget

Eleanor says some of the cutest things and I do not want to forget them.

* a skunk is a stunk
* a sucker is a stucker
* she likes to do nastics (gymnastics)
* she likes to refer to things as huge
* fireworks are those lights in the sky
* we take daddy's clothes to the drive-cleaner (dry cleaner)
* cheeseburgers are still burger cheese
* dokie dokie - okie dokie
* Walking Zoo (Milwaukee Zoo)
* Lincoln Parking Zoo (Lincoln Park Zoo)
* Guino - Penguino (Spanish for Penguin)

Deep in the Heart of TX

This past weekend Daniel and I traveled to Austin to attend a wedding. It was also the weekend of our 5th Anniversary. We enjoyed a weekend away while E stayed in Illinois with a dear friend and had the time of her life. Here are just a few of the things she did while we were gone...ate McDonald's twice in one day, spent multiple hours at a splash park, went to the Children's museum, had lunch at a certain restaurant that has a scary looking mouse, awful pizza and money stealing games (this was definitely a treat as I try to avoid this place at all costs). While E was enjoying all of these fun activities Daniel and I were enjoying the 107 degree temperatures of Austin, TX. We visited the UT campus, the State Capitol and Star Hill Ranch.

Door Hinges on Capitol Building

Capitol
Rotunda

Longhorn Stadium

Puddle Jumper

Wordless

Flutter by Butterfly

Yellow Bear of the Week

Each week in Eleanor's class at school they recognize a student to be the "Yellow Bear of the Week." Eleanor was the YBOTW the first week of May. They hang up scrapbook pages with pictures of your child and at the end of the week you get to take them home. E was so proud to be YBOTW. Here are pictures of the pages that were hung up in her classroom.

Dr. Cooley

It looks like we may have a doctor in the family and I am not talking about the PhD type of doctor. For months now Eleanor has loved playing doctor. She received a doctor kit from Christmas and can be found wearing a stethoscope around her neck numerous times a day. When we have playdates with our friends she always asks her friends to play doctor. Each Sunday night after our small group meets, Eleanor and her buddy Seth play doctor with Christine and Reiner, a young married couple from our group. She absolutely loves to play doctor and I am glad to know we may have a doctor in the family to take care of me in my old age!

Big Trucks

A couple of weekends ago we headed out with our friends to a Big Truck exhibit in a nearby village. Here are a few pictures of the fun we had.

Ethan taking Eleanor for a spin

E driving fire rescue truck
Checking out the ambulance
Driving a school bus

Favorites

Today in the car I was looking for something to keep Eleanor busy. I decided to "interview" her. I asked her about her favorite things. These are her responses:

Favorite......

Color: Blue, Red and Yellow like the flowers
Show: Shrek
Song: Old MacDonald
Food: Her first answer was "azert" (dessert) but then she said broccoli (truth is she LOVES broccoli)
Bible Story: Mary and Jofef (Joseph) and Snow White (I think that story was left out of my Bible)


I plan to ask her these questions periodically just to see how her answers change.