Talk Like a Pirate Day

 So I'm pretty sure mine is the only family that celebrates this, but we sure do love it! 

It gets bigger and better each year!

I think the first year we celebrated a few years ago, the only pirate-related items we had were my dad's skull and crossbones bowtie and a hook from Cory's old Halloween costume.

But now we each have hats, the girls have swords and hooks and bandannas and patches, and Grandpa has a pirate shirt!  

So much fun!

 My mom even found this awesome crocodile cake!

Aargh!!!

Can't wait till next year!

Kaylie

 Kaylie has really liked playing with her babies lately.

She's been doing it here for a couple of weeks, and then yesterday, 

Oma said she was carrying around a baby at the daycare too.

It's so sweet- especially when she gives it kisses!!!

 Giving her baby one of her famous kisses!

 I've been teaching her parts of the face, so she was pointing to the baby's eyes.

 She's very protective of her baby!

 She's all smiles- I love her four teeth- even though she had just taken a tumble off the front steps and scratched up her face by her eye.  Ouch!

 And she likes to take notes!

 I had just taken the laundry out of the dryer and she grabbed a washcloth and started cleaning the kitchen- such a good little helper!!!

I love her so, so much!!

She has quite the personality- she's so much fun!

She wants to do everything the big girls do!

First Day of First Grade

 Well, this was actually Sunday night when Rylee pulled her own tooth for the first time!

She did it so fast, I couldn't believe it!  

When that girl decides to do something, she does it!

 Showing where it was- her permanent tooth was actually growing over it so it had to come out!

 Showing off her new puppy backpack!

 She had to wear a puppy shirt to go with her backpack!

She just asked me before she went to bed when she could have a dog.  

Oh, I hope this is just a phase!

I don't know how many times I can bear to tell this poor child she can't have a dog!

Rylee and her teacher, Mrs. Lawson

I'm so glad Rylee gets to go to my school- Edgemont has the best teachers! 

She even gets to be in my old classroom!

The Fair

 We went to the fair on Saturday.

First stop- lunch.

 Kaylie gives the best kisses!

 Then the big girls got their faces painted.

 Rylee wanted me to take a picture with her eye closed so she could see the whole effect.

 Kaylie loved the horses- she said "Wow!" a lot!

 We were just in time for the monkey show.

I guess this monkey is famous and has been a lot of tv shows and movies.

It did some tricks- flips and stuff.

But it was so hot that I couldn't stand it- we were right in the sun.  

So Kaylie and I found some shade while Matt, Rylee, and Ashlyn watched the show.

 Kaylie sat on the tractors- she seemed to know just what to do!

 She was crazy happy!

 At the end, you could pay to get your picture taken with the monkey.

When the girls saw other people getting theirs taken and they saw it actually touched them, 

they wanted to make sure that didn't happen!

They all sat on Matt's lap.

So it only touched Matt.

There could only be four people per picture, so I didn't mind not being in it.

 Cute little pigs in the petting zoo.

 I think Kaylie likes to pet the little animals better than the big horses!

 Rylee found her puppies!

They had them a couple of years ago, 

but then they didn't have them last year and she was so disappointed.  

So she was so happy to see them this year!

 I didn't get a very good picture of Ashlyn's face painting at the fair, so I took one at home.

I don't know why they like it so much. 

Especially Rylee thinks getting her face painted is the best thing ever.

But then we just take a bath and wash it off the same night!

 Rylee is riding her big bike now and loving it!

Our new patio- it's kind of a mess still, but you can see how big it is!

I don't know if we'll get to it this year, but we will definitely eat out here a lot next summer!