Can you say HUMIDITY?!?

Sometimes, when I'm at work and am feeling discouraged or frustrated or just want to go home ... I need to be reminded of what I get to come home to....

... and I love this girl more than ever and am so glad I get to come home to her!

Mischievous Girl....

We've had a busy full week with the Springer's visiting and before I even get into the crazy rides at Mall of America, or my sister flat ironing my hair, or Hope's amazing somersaults... I thought I'd post a quick couple of pictures of our mischievous girl.

On Tuesday nights, when Steve's at grad school, Amaya and I usually watch "Losing it with Jillian." During the season finale last week, I thought I'd walk on the treadmill while Amaya colored with her markers. She colored the entire hour!

Guess what she colored....

Silly girl.... Good thing they're washable markers!

All clean! (after quite a bit of scrubbing)

Springer's Here!!

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! My sister and her family are visiting us from Nebraska and I'm so excited that they are here. They arrived yesterday evening and plan to be here for the next week.

It's amazing how quickly our nephews and nieces grow up! Both Joshua and Jordan are getting close to passing me in height! Hannah is turning into a little lady and Hope is running/toddling around! How does this happen?!?

Last night, we played a game of "baseball" - kids against the adults (Mike, Dan, my Mom, and I). We had to leave during the second inning - but the adults were massively ahead! ;-)

We're looking forward to a busy week - Mall of America on Wednesday to go on the rides and shop, swimming, more baseball! Should be a fun week!

Wordless Wednesday

Sidewalk Chalk meets Popsicle

Silver Lake Playground

Last week, we were finally able to go to the Silver Lake Playground and Amaya was so excited. I told her it was big, but when she saw how big it really was, she was even more excited! We have three parks within walking distance from our house, so it was a special treat to go to Silver Lake. Here's a picture of her in the car on the way - all "sun-screamed" up!

So many decisions... which slide do I go on...

Amaya is a 2 1/2 year old with a 5 year old mind-set. For some reason, she thinks she can do all the big kid scary stuff. She attempted to go down this ladder by herself before Steve helped her.

On the train - being the conductor - like "Poppa!"

Going through the tunnel... it took a little convincing to get her out... she thought it was a cave

Here Amaya is pretending to serve up ice cream!

Love this picture! It wasn't a very scary or exciting slide, but you would've never guessed from Amaya's expression.

And back to the train again... "All Aboard!"

One of the last things Amaya wanted to do was go on the balance beam with a little help from Daddy.


Look at that concentration and determination!

"Ta-Da!"

As we were leaving the park, she saw the Canadian geese. While Daddy was doing homework this morning, Amaya and I went back to Silver Lake to see the geese. They were very hungry, but we didn't have any food to give them. Amaya's "why" question for the day - "Why do the geese poop on the grass and not in the potty?"

Running through the Sprinkler

On a nice hot day this past week ... Amaya wanted to get out the sprinkler! We tried the sprinkler last year, but she was more interested in drinking it than running through it.

She absolutely loves it and asks almost every day if we can get the sprinkler out.


Ah... Summer.... this is what it's all about!

If Amaya had an iPod....

... the following songs would be on her playlist (all sung by me of course)

1. Mary Had a Little Lamb
2. ABCs
3. Ring Around the Rosie
4. Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart
5. Row, Row, Row Your Boat
6. Hickory, Dickory, Dock
7. The B-I-B-L-E
8. Jesus Loves Me
9. Fishers of Men
10. Deep and Wide

4th of July Pictures

Hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July! I certainly did!

Mommy started out the day by making homemade waffles with blueberries and strawberry syrup. She forgot to get whipped cream to make the waffles red, white, and blue, but I still think they were beautiful!


Here's a picture of our flag - we have it up all the time, except if it's winter.


After church, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Gustafson's house to celebrate.

Mommy took a whole bunch of pictures outside while we were waiting for Daddy and Grandpa to come back with the pizza. We thought about doing a picnic, but the weather wasn't the greatest.

Me and my Grandma


Here's a sampling of Mommy's pictures of me with Grandma's flags.


Since it had been raining off and on for most of the day, they had to postpone the fireworks until the following evening. I was a little disappointed.

But, then Grandma said we could watch some fireworks on TV! I was pretty excited and liked to dance to the music. On the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's house, we were able to see some fireworks in the neighborhood. Maybe it was a good thing the fireworks were canceled, because I thought they were too loud! We'll try it next year!

Happy 4th of July!

Swimming and Picnic with the Hulls

I begged and pleaded with Mommy to let me tell you all about our 4th of July weekend! There's so much to tell! First, on Saturday we decided to go on a trip to Lanesboro to have lunch and do a little shopping. Grandma and Grandpa Horning couldn't go with us and I was a little disappointed. BUT - while we were eating lunch, Mommy spotted my other Grandma and Grandpa Gustafson coming into the restaurant! I was so excited!! We ended up getting to spend the rest of the afternoon with them shopping and getting ICE CREAM! What a fun surprise running into my grandparents!!

Our evening was spent with my friends Cooper and Tess! The weather was warm and sunny, so Cooper's mommy told me to bring my swimsuit! Cooper loves the water as much as I do!

Aren't I cute?

Tessa loves the water too! Isn't she cute?

I had an accident and didn't quite make it to the bathroom, so Mommy stripped me down. Here's a picture of the three of us.

After we got worn out from swimming, we went down to Cooper's playground. It's super cool with so many things to do and it was HUGE! I really liked the monkey bars, but needed a little help from Daddy.

Tessa really liked to ride in the swing too!

Mommy thinks that maybe I'll be a rock climber someday... I think so too!

Cooper's playground even had a sandbox! I would have played with him, but I don't like getting sand in my sandals.

Back to the monkey bars! I love to swing from them!

Cooper's heading up to the slide... Mommy wasn't fast enough to get a picture of him going down!

This picture of Cooper cracks me up! The swing is just as much fun as it looks!

After we played, it was time to EAT! We were hungry! Cooper and Tessa's daddy made hot dogs on the grill and we had beans, fruit salad, and CHEETOS! I love CHEETOS!

Cooper learned how to pedal a couple of weeks ago, so he was going to teach me how to do it. I practiced and practiced, but still couldn't quite get it.

I'll keep trying....

After we played outside, Cooper and Tessa's mommy made this really yummy blueberry and walnut cake with ice cream. I might have to ask my mommy to make it for me soon! I really didn't want to leave because we were having so much fun, but Mommy said I needed to sleep good because we were going to see my Grandma and Grandpa Gustafson the next day.

Tomorrow, I'll get the pictures posted from our 4th of July celebration!

Tough Questions

We've finally hit the "WHY?" phase.

"Mama why do you have to go to the bathroom?'
"Why is the wind strong?"
"Why do I have to eat my veggies?"
"Why does the sun go down?"

And last night.... as I was reading a devotional...

Amaya: "Are you spending time with God?"
Me: "Yup."
Amaya: "Why are you spending time with God?"
Me: "Because it's important to listen and talk to God so we know Him better."
Amaya: "Can I see God?"
Me: "No, we can't see God."
Amaya: "Where is God?"
Me: "God is in heaven."
Amaya: "Can I go there, tonight?"
Me: "Ummm.... not until God wants us to go there."

I'm really not ready for all of these tough questions. Any advice?

Puzzles!

Amaya was bound to love puzzles - My mom, mother-in-law, grandma-in-law, and I LOVE doing puzzles. What I didn't realize was how quickly Amaya would catch on and need harder puzzles. Here she's doing one of her favorites: a 12 piece barn/farm animal puzzle.

Ta-da! Whenever she finishes a puzzle, she either shouts, "Ta-da" or has to give someone a high five!

Since this was getting pretty easy for her, a few months ago we moved her up to the 24-30 piece range, and now she's working on the 48 piece puzzles. These are a challenge for her, but with a little help and encouragement she's able to figure it out!

Almost there!

The other thing she likes to do when she's finished with a puzzle, is run her hands over the top to "smooth it out." I guess she's seen me do that a couple times and has picked up on that! :-)

Big Girl Bed On It's Way!

A week or two before Steve's surgery (mid-May), we anticipated that Steve would have a 10 pound weight restriction. Since Amaya was still sleeping in her crib at night and for naps, we figured it might be easier on all of us, if we took down the crib and had her sleep on the mattress on the floor that way Steve or I wouldn't have to lift her out the crib. (We probably should have gotten her out of the crib sooner because she's this little person now and not a baby!) It didn't take Steve very long to get the crib down and Amaya was jumping up and down with excitement to be sleeping in a "Big Girl Bed." She sees both Steve and me reading a lot in bed, so it just made sense to her to read in bed. :-)


This is her first night in bed. She went to sleep really fast and was thrilled to be in her "new bed."


We were a little worried about her falling out, so we checked on her a couple hours later and found.... a beautiful little girl sleeping peacefully.


Over the 4th of July weekend, there was an incredible sale at HOM Furniture and Steve and I were looking for a new mattress for us and a new bed for Amaya. Steve and I have been on his old bed - a full size - and although we still like to snuggle, Steve's feeling a little squished with me AND a big body pillow in the bed. So.... we upgraded to a queen - a king seemed gigantic to us and what's the point of sleeping with your spouse if you can't even feel them in bed? Anyway, we also found a beautiful bedroom set to go with our new mattress! We've been using our old childhood dressers and nightstands and figured it was time to get grown up furniture too! We had quite a bit of success with Amaya's bedroom furniture as well! We decided to give her our bed since the mattress is only 5 years old and still in great shape. We thought about a toddler bed or doing something really girlie, but thought that she'd grow out of it in a couple years and we really didn't want to shell out more money to eventually have to buy her a full size bed anyway. So, this just made sense for us and hopefully she'll be replacing this furniture when she's in her 30s! We ended up getting her a bed, nightstand, and dresser too, since she had been using my childhood dresser and was starting to fall apart. She's pretty excited to get her new bed, but she's almost more excited about getting DORA sheets and a comforter! The only condition is that she has to be fully potty trained (with the exception of night-time - although she's been waking up dry a few times). We're soooo close - it's just hard to rush and find a bathroom before she has an accident, but she's getting there. We won't have our furniture for another month or so, but I'll post pictures when we get everything all set up!