happy daddy day...

Jared,
I love watching you be such a patient, loving daddy to our princesses. Thank you for realizing that there is no greater gift you can give to your daughters than loving God first, loving me, and loving them and being so actively involved in our lives. I love that my best friend became the BEST daddy. I never dreamed of having such a wonderful marriage first then the perfect daddy next! We are SO SO blessed that you get every summer with them...something they will NEVER forget and will FOREVER cherish. The girls love and adore you SO much and I do too. Oh and one more thing...thank you for learning how to get excited about pink, purses and make-up! You do a wonderful job at that too.

Off to Grandma and Papa's house they go...

Ellie & Edyn got to spend a few days with Grandma Jan & Papa shorty and I don't know the whole story behind these pictures but it sure looks like they had a lot of fun! Thanks for having them...they are still talking about it.

Nesting...

Sometimes when you want something done, you just gotta do it yourself!

Planting with Papa Tom...

The girls are so intrigued with Papa Tom's garden and because we haven't been able to go help him plant, he brought them their own garden to plant and grow. The girls had fun planting radishes, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. We have already picked and ate a cucumber and some radishes...they are so proud of their plants and can't wait to go spend 5 days with Grandma Deb and Papa Tom next week to help him with his garden!

Swim Team...

Emma LOVES to swim so much and daddy was just adamant that Emma "choose a sport". Emma tried T-ball last year and did NOT like it one bit so Jared was excited when he discovered that Tonganoxie had a swim team. Emma has practiced SO HARD every morning from 8-10am and has competed in 2 swim meets and has placed 4th in the backstroke and freestyle and 1st in the freestyle relay! She was such a trooper...her first meet was in a lake which was REALLY intimidating for her but she did great! She even made the newspaper...you can check it out here.

An "E" for baby...

We have had the hardest time deciding what to call our newest princess. We decided a while ago that it should start with an "E" but that's as far as we got. The girls were anxious to name her and I really wanted to buy the letters of her name for her room but we couldn't decide so I bought an "E" which the girls and I had fun decorating! In fact, Ellie was signing a card and I told her to sign it for her sisters and she signed it, Love, Emma, Ellie, Edyn and E.


This was a while ago and we have since given her a name. We are anxiously awaiting her arrival in hopefully about 6 weeks or LESS (note the emphasis on the LESS part). We feel completely and totally blessed and I am thankful for this new life and the chance to assist God in a miracle, however, I am large, hot and uncomfortable and just very READY for the newest member of our family to get here. My days off consist of either staying inside in the air or being in the pool with the girls. Most of the time we are in the pool which I am SO THANKFUL for! When I start to turn into a prune, I waddle out to work on my tan and this has allowed me to be able to empathize with a beached whale.
At my last appointment she was breech so I'm REALLY hoping she flips. She is VERY active so I'm hopeful she will cooperate because I REALLY REALLY do not want a C-section (insert prayers here!) The girls are SO excited and LOVE to go in her room and help me get it ready. They pull the clothes out of her drawers and hold them up to my belly. We washed all the bottles yesterday and they were so excited at the thought of getting to help take care of their sister. Emma said, "I'm just the luckiest girl in the whole world because I am getting a new baby sister." They are all going to be GREAT big sisters and wonderful helpers. Our new baby will definitely have 4 moms. Please pray for our last few weeks as the Jackson 5, for new baby "E" to "flip" and get here safely and for our adjustment to being a family of 6. Thank you in advance!

Our silly clown...

This girl is a product of 2 older sisters...the things that come out of her mouth keep us constantly laughing.
This was her prayer one night before going to bed..."Dear Jesus, Thank you for mom, dad, sisters and Taylor Sliff (Swift)...she wears short kirts (skirts), I wear sneakers, she's keer (cheer) cap'n and I on bleachers. ok, A-MINT!"

Recital...

Emma and Ellie had their recital for their tumbling/dance class on Saturday June 12th. They had a wonderful time getting dressed up and "strutting their stuff". Emma was especially proud because she got to stand on her head at the very end of one of the dances they did. They had such a wonderful experience this year at dance and they were so excited to be in the same class with several of their friends. And of course, they LOVED posing in their outfits...








...and of course, Edyn did not want to be left out!

Field Trip to Deanna Rose

Emma's Kindergarten class went on a field trip to Deanna Rose Farmstead and it was dampered a little bit by the pouring rain! We had a lot of fun visiting the old school, learning about cows and the native American Indians. The class took a quiz and it was cute when 75% of them guessed that chocolate milk came from brown cows!
Emma then had a "scrapbook party" at the school and Emma gave us a scrapbook that she had been working on all year filled with projects and pictures...such a wonderful memory of her first year of school. We were SO THANKFUL for the WONDERFUL teacher that Emma had! She put together a really special video of all the kids. Emma said she didn't want a different teacher even if that meant staying in Kindergarten forever! She learned SO MUCH this year and did so well. She was so proud of herself for getting a "green card" every day of the school year. (The behavior system they follow is a green card for good days, yellow for misbehaving a little and a red for misbehaving a lot.) She gently reminded her teacher the last day that maybe she should get a prize for getting "green" all year, so her teacher put a "prize" together for her which was so special to Emma. Thank you Mrs. Budimlija for making Emma's first year such a great one! We appreciate all you did for her!

Minnesota fun...

The Mall of America and IKEA were just a few of the things that were on our list to do while in Minnesota. The girls had a blast on all the rides at Mall of America...Ellie & Edyn are quite fearless for their ages. They had a REALLY great time at the American Girl doll store...I'm pretty sure their daddy got a few more gray hairs by the time we left that place.

A Trip to the Salon...

So we thought we were set with the $2 foot spa (see previous post). We went to Minnesota for my cousin's graduation and my aunt Loretta wanted to treat the girls to a day out at the spa and they were THRILLED!! They had a blast getting their toes and fingernails done. It is going to be a sad day when the flowers on their toes come off
Ellie later told Jared, "Daddy, I really wish my mom painted toenails for her job, so she could paint flowers on my toes all the time."
Thanks Aunt Loretta for doing this...it was so special for them!

Birthday Party Fun!

The girls were so excited when they got invited to a birthday party at the "Pink Zebra" which is a boutique with all things girly!! They had a blast getting their hair and nails done by "the older girls" and they got to decorate a purse and take home lip gloss and jewelry. Thank you Teigan and Jodi for SUCH a FUN party!