Precious Moments....

Grammie came to our house for a week long visit! It was so wonderful with her and Britni here, we really soaked up all of those precious moments. She arrived on the Friday before the 4Th of July and came bearing gifts for the kids! Dylan was SO excited to dig in and help his sister out!

Danielle loves her little Dora doll so much. I really think she loves the hair on her the most, she loves to play with her own hair and now she likes to play with Dora's!!

We had lots of pool time and time in the sun with Grammie and Britni! Grammie was also here for her 35 year class reunion, this afternoon she was off to a picnic, but not before getting some snuggles from the kids!

Dylan was very excited to have Aunt Britni in the water with him. She dug right in and played with his water toys and let him do what he wanted. He threw water on her, she laughed, he threw toys she went and got it for him. We love Aunt Britni so much and Dylan loved having lots of play time with her!

Our water baby little girl! She is so smiley and relaxed when she is laying in the sun, a girl after her mommy's heart!

And after the day in the sunshine, means tired eyes at night time! Ahhh, we love relaxing summer days!

For the 4th of July we had our annual get together with the Hahn and Eddins family! Dylan loves so much when Lila and Henley come to visit. He always keeps a watchful eye on his little sis Danielle, and very much a watchful eye for these little girls too. Here he isn't letting Henley get to far out of his sight.

Danielle was all decked out in her 4th of July gear! Play time with great friends are those precious moments that we remember forever!

The daddy's kicked back and relaxed and cooked us a delicious dinner!

The two boy sparklers in my life!

And then the rain came, the terenchal downpour! Mike was quick on his feet and grabbed the umbrella to put over the grill to try and save the fire. Well we didn't realize that there were mist holes in the umbrella, it made for 3 soaked guys!

Auntie Monica came bearing super fun glow sticks! We had our very own light show, perfect for this 4th of July celebration!

It has been a great tradition to have our 4th of July festivities with great friends. And to think that now we add the sweetest kids ever to the mix, each of us have our own babes to join in the fun!

The next morning Mommy and Daddy both had off work. It was very nice to sit back and enjoy the morning after a late night the night before. We awoke and Danielle had some play time with Daddy and Grammie.

And Grammie brought a few of my childhood memories back for Dylan to embark on. Hopscotch!! And the super funny thing was that Dylan knew exactly what it was. We had never done hopscotch here before, not sure where he did it, but he was super excited to color with chalk in the driveway and play hopscotch with Grammie!

We laughed and laughed and laughed!

And Dylan just had the best time ever!

Grammie got Danielle this super fun playtime piggy bank. Danielle frequently uses this toy at therapy and we were SO excited when Grammie got it for her to practice and play with at home! She loves it..clink...clink...clink, in goes the coins!

While having one of our afternoons in the pool we were curious how tall Danielle was actually standing next to her brother. So Britni held her up and mommy snapped the picture. WOW, she is just a hair under being up to his shoulders! Good for her and those long leggies!

Dylan still asks weekly to go out and ride his 4wheeler. This is a toy that he doesn't ever put aside and forget about, it is truly one of his favorites! Taking after his Daddy!

While venturing to the Farmers Market Britni picked up this super cute tie dye dress! I had totally forgot that Danielle also had one very similar just a tad bit different color. It was perfect to have them match for a quick Kodak Moment!

Brad has been trying to keep up mowing at the lot! Every time we venture out there it is so serene and we both try and picture our perfect home built in amongst the tree's! We aren't quite ready to build yet, but it is really fun taking a drive and just knowing that the spot has already been decided. The wonderful things our future holds!

Right in the middle of the summer it sure looks like a forest, Brad has his work cut out for him every time he goes to mow. But that is his little getaway spot, a place to relieve a little bit of stress from ordinary life and he really enjoys his time spent there, soaking it all in!

We were very excited to take Grammie and Britni to the big Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market. We love to venture there on Saturday's as a family, Dylan begs to attend the Market! We usually have to remind him to hold on tight to his balloon, after a few got away I think he is finally getting it!

And walking around listening to the music, smelling the fresh produce and grills going cooking up breakfast and even lunch...all of that is hard work for a little man. Dylan fell asleep in the stroller at Market this day!

Seeing thousands of people come out and support the Downtown District and local vendors is such a wonderful sight. So much goes into putting this market on 2 times per month. We look forward to every single one we can attend.

We had such a wonderful time visiting with my mom and sister for the week they were here. As always time goes all too fast and we wish there were more minutes in the day. We cherish those precious moments together with family. The kids love, love, love the snuggles and play time and we all love sitting back and giggling at the kids being kids also. Thank you Mom and Britni for coming to stay and we are literally counting down the time until your next visit. We don't take any day for granted, having loved ones be miles and miles away is very difficult on some days, thank goodness for technology to keep us in touch! We made a lot of memories this visit and for those we are oh, so, thankful.~