Colleen's special trip with Aunt LaLa and Kiely

Colleen and Kiely working on their project

Josie and Haley - almost 9 months old

Aunt LaLa called yesterday morning and asked if she could pick up Colleen from daycare and take her, along with Kiely, to Barnes and Noble Bookstore to hear a reading of "Fancy Nancy". I agreed knowing that Colleen would be so excited to spend some time with her Aunt and cousin.


I have never heard of the book, Fancy Nancy, but Laura said Kiely loves it and Colleen would probably enjoy it too.


Colleen must have been very surprised to see her Aunt and cousin at her school. She loved the special trip and really loved the butterfly coloring activity they did after the story was finished.


Above is a picture Laura sent out today from the trip. Looks like both girls are very involved in their work.


Aunt LaLa and Kiely also stopped by to see Kellen. He didn't recognize them (from what I was told) but Kellen's teachers really enjoyed meeting them and commented how wonderful Kiely interacted with Kellen - giving lots of kisses.


I also attached a picture of Josie and Haley. I can't believe they are going to be 9 months old! The picture is so cute, I couldn't resist putting it up!

Truck!

"Look, truck"
"Don't worry Emily, it won't scoop us up"
Jeff carrying the girls home

Sunday afternoon, we took the kids to the school so they could play at the playground. When we got there we found some huge construction trucks there and Kellen LOVED them.

We took a few pictures of the kids with the trucks.

The girls were so tired after playing at the playground, that they both said they couldn't walk home and Jeff ended up carrying them both!

The Colleen and Emily Puppet Show!

"We are ready to begin"
"Look at our beautiful puppets"
"Show's over"
"Can I go now?"
"Here is my puppet"

Cousin Emily came over for a play date last Sunday and we decided it would be a fun activity to do a puppet show.

First the girls got paper bags and they decorated them. (I just put on the faces per their instructions)

Then we went downstairs to the puppet theater where they put on their performance.

It was pretty funny to watch and the whole thing lasted about 2 minutes, but they had a good time.

Kellen then took a turn after the girls were done, but that lasted about 10 seconds

Kellen's New Hair Cut

Kellen got a new hair cut tonight - so I had to share the pictures with everyone.

Jeff said the barber stated there were two options with Kellen's hair because of his cowlicks.

Option 1 - let it grow out so it would be long enough to lay down

Option 2 - cut it really short

Jeff told the barber, just make it look good and you can see from the pictures it does!

Kids in the Paper!

Colleen's picture in the paper.

The caption says "Above, Colleen Pumphrey (mispelled in paper) 4, of Ellicott City, MD Kept dry from the early rain."

Yes, that is her with her Dora umbrella!

Here is Kellen's picture.

His caption says "Left, this little 2048 presidential hopeful blew kisses to the crowd on his ride down Central Avenue."

Colleen and Kellen made it into the Ocean City, NJ paper for the 4th of July parade!

They had a picture of Colleen with her umbrella up and then they had a picture of Kellen blowing kisses to the crowd. So cute!

I will try and scan the pictures in later so everyone can see!

Happy 1st Birthday, Lucy!

Happy Birthday Lucy!

Lucy celebrated her 1st birthday last week and today we went to her birthday party.

It was great to see the family - it has been a while - and the kids seemed to have a great time playing at the playground and throwing rocks in the water.

Thanks to Landon and Katie for the cookout.

PS - We missed out on pictures since we forgot our camera! Sorry!

How does he sleep like that?

Jeff went in to check on Kellen the other night and was amazed to see the position Kellen was sleeping in.

I know I couldn't sleep like that, but it didn't seem to bother Kellen.

Grandmommies trip to the ER

On our last full day at the beach, we had a very exciting evening.

On the way back from the beach that afternoon, my Mom had taken the steps down from the bathhouse at the beach and landed on her knee funny and thought she her something pop. As the night wore on, the pain she felt got worse and worse.

Finally, her and Mr. Lou headed to the emergency room. A few hours later, she came back and had a huge leg brace on. They won't know until tomorrow what actually caused her pain - but she doesn't mind now.....she is on some good drugs, so she isn't feeling a thing!

When my Mom got back, Colleen did ask "Why does Grandmommy have on the biggest band-aid ever?"

Forget the Family Picture

I had really wanted to get a new family picture at the beach to update the one in the living room, but due to some unforeseen events - it wasn't going to happen.

So instead, we decided to take a few pictures on the back deck

Pizza Time

Kellen waiting for our order
"Is that really all for me?"
Colleen digging in to her slice
Kellen upset because Jeff is cutting up his piece
Kellen taking a big boy bite

While on the boardwalk, we stopped at our favorite pizza place for dinner. You can see from the pictures that the kids LOVED having their own huge slices!

Amusement Fun at the Boardwalk!

Colleen ready for her ride
Riding the antique cars

I'm all ready for the ride!

Colleen loving when the balloon starts to go up....
....at that same time, Kellen starts crying!
I am trying to comfort Kellen and prevent us from spinning anymore

Colleen going down the Pelican flume

She loved going on the ride all by herself



Kids riding in the boat


Jeff and Colleen riding in the Crazy Submarine

Kellen LOVES driving the fire truck

Because we participated in the 4th of July parade, we got a bunch of free tickets to the amusement park rides at the boardwalk. (Thank you Mr. Police Officer - Colleen was happy he didn't give us real tickets!)

The kids had such a great time on the rides! They enjoyed everyone that they rode - except for Kellen. He didn't like the balloon ride that went up in the air and spun around. I didn't like it either and felt sick the rest of the night. I was trying my best to comfort Kellen - as he was crying - and trying to hold the wheel, so it would stop spinning.

Colleen enjoyed every ride and wanted to keep going on more - but our parking meter was running out of time and we had to go!