Starbucks and Target with JieJie!

Elli had fun going to Target with JieJie, especially since they stopped at the Starbucks inside and got Elli's favorite Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino.  Oh JieJie.

Elli loves helping others and being a little nurse, so she was excited when she found this Disney Princess first-aid kit at the store.  She takes it everywhere.  :)  

Playing Ladybug Tic-Tac-Toe Outside!

We had fun playing our painted ladybug rocks tic-tac-toe game outside on our bistro table!

Elli's Swimming Lessons ~ July 15

Elli had her first swimming lesson in July!    She was a little nervous and wasn't sure about having water on her face before lessons.  After the first lesson, she LOVED swimming! 

Elli's beginner "Pike Level" swimming session was a 30-minute weekly lesson for six weeks.

Working on back floating.

Jumping into the pool.  Elli was a little nervous. 

Starting to learn a front crawl.  Elli's teacher told her to pretend to scoop up big scoops of ice cream!  Elli loved that!  

Elli on Ice ~ Beginner 2 Class July 14 (Video!)

Elli ice skating during the second session of Beginner 2 level.

<3

Video ~

 An ice skating pose.  :)

Elli practiced her upcoming piano recital piece on one of the "Pianos on Parade" outdoors at the ice skating rink!  

So cute!

Watering the Flowers and Elli!

Sometimes Elli likes getting sprayed with the water hose when we water the flowers.

Doesn't everybody do that??

Cantaloupe Letter Kabob!

Elli had fun making a cantaloupe letter kabob again with alphabet cookie cutters!

4th "Gotcha Day" Anniversary!

July 11, 2015 marked our 4th "Gotcha Day" anniversary!!  We went to the water park again to celebrate!

Elli's "Gotcha Day" gift was a new "Frozen" swimsuit in her favorite color with matching flip flops and sunglasses!

Your smiles and laughter light up our days. <3

Batman Books & Froot Loops Necklace! (Videos!)

July 10, 2015 ~

Elli is quite the little reader now!  We have read her these Batman phonics books before, so I had her point to the words as she was reading to make sure it wasn't just memorized.  She did great and was able to sound out most of the words that she didn't know right away!

Video!

We also made a Froot Loop necklace and sang songs from "Frozen"!

Video!

Fun!

"Back to the Future"

Jeff and I went on our first "movie" date on this day in 1985 to see "Back to the Future".  We made it 30 years into the future!! <3  Now if we could only find a DeLorean to go back in time...  ;)

"Splish Splash!" (Video!)

Video ~ "Splish splash, we're takin' a bath!"

Drying off in the warm sun.  :)

Elli on Ice ~ Beginner 2 Class July 7 (Videos!)

Elli ice skating during the second session of Beginner 2 level.

Video ~ A heart and a wink.  ;)

Looking through the plexiglass at Kaitlyn, Brady, and Daddy.

Video ~ "Mom, how am I doing?" :)

Saved by the Training Wheels!

Miss Minnie!

4th of July ~ 2015 (Video!)

Here are some pictures from the 4th of July!

We gave Elli a little patriotic makeover with some cute stars and sparkles. ;)

A little patriotic manicure.

And pedicure. ;)

We made some patriotic confetti cupcakes with red and blue sugar sprinkles!

For some of the cupcakes, we sliced off the top, frosted and sprinkled underneath, then used a cookie cutter to cut out a little star shape and then replaced the top! (Pinterest idea!)

Our patriotic princess. <3

We decorated Elli's bicycle for a "4th of July" bicycle parade!

Daddy thought he could win first prize at the parade with the "red" big tires tricycle.  Umm... sorry, Daddy.

We also made grilled flag pizzas!

They turned out so cool!

We also did a few fireworks!

Video ~ Elli having fun with sparklers!