Summer Fun!

Summer always seems to fly by and this year is no exception!  We have been so busy that July is almost over and it will be August soon.  Hard to believe that in just a few short weeks our baby girl will be 3!  It really seems like just yesterday she came into this world.  Time sure does go by fast!!

Some of our summer highlights so far have been the flood in our area, 4th of July, preschool field trips with Brody's friends, playing at different parks, going on picnics, strawberry picking, going to the movies, swimming, our first ferris wheel ride and going to a River Bandits game.  The kids were very interested in the flood we had this past month and we went down to look at the water a few times to check it out.  We went strawberry picking this year in Alpha, IL.  Our super cold winter really effected the plants this year and there were no where near the amount of strawberries that we had found last year.  It was still fun and the new place we went to this year had a petting zoo which the kids loved. For the 4th of July this year we went to the parade in Bettendorf in the morning and then went and saw fireworks in Grand Mound and the kids loved it.  We had fun guessing what color firework would come next.  We went to see a River Bandits game last week at our local ballpark.  The flood was still pretty high at that point so we had to take a bridge to get into the stadium.  At the game the kids were able to take their first ride on a ferris wheel.  It was neat to ride and see all of the flooding from a higher view.

Brody is attending preschool two mornings this summer.  It is great to keep the consistency for him and he loves to go.  Most of the kids from his class have stayed over the summer as well so he gets to hang out with his friends.  They have been taking various field trips each week so Briana and I have tagged along with them.  Brody has become very curious about the weather with all of the major storms we have had this summer so he has started to like to watch the weather channel.  He is very into writing and drawing at the moment and often asks how to spell certain things to make words.  He loves to be outside and enjoys riding his big wheel.  He loves super heroes and really likes a new show called "Paw Patrol".  When he is pretending things are often about "battles to protect people". He loves to play hide and seek with his sister and this is definitely his favorite game at the moment.

Briana is growing right before our eyes and is definitely transforming from a 2 year old to a 3 year old.  She is extremely independent and continues to literally blow us away with her speech.  She is talking non stop and talks in very clear, full sentences.  It is so crazy the things she picks up!  The funniest part of her personality right now is she makes up songs about everything!  And she has the most dramatic voice when she sings them that just make us crack up all the time!  She tells me the songs are on "her phone" and she will pretend like she is pushing a button to play them.  She only has certain songs on certain days.  She follows everything her brother does from actions to words, no matter what she has to do what he is doing.  She definitely hangs on his every word!  They are partners in crime to say the least!  I do really love their relationship and could not be happier by how well they get along (despite their occasional sibling rivalry). Briana also loves to be outside and is not afraid to get dirty.  She does very well riding her bike and also enjoys swinging and going down the slide.  She is very adventurous and has no fear!!

This is Tim's very busy time of year with travel so he has been gone quite a bit these past few months. Things are going well for him at work and as usual he is keeping himself busy.  We have a few fun things planned for the rest of our summer so we are looking forward to those and of course celebrating our sweet girls upcoming birthday!!