Happy 4th of July and 100th Birthday!

Matt had to work so Kaitlynn and I drove up to St. Joe to meet Ry and Sarah for the 4th of July. We all drove up to Mt. Ayr, Iowa to celebrate my Great Grandad and Kaitlynn's Great Great Grandad Loren's 100th Birthday! I spent the entire time chasing her around and it was raining so we couldn't go outside but it was nice to see everyone.
She wanted to try on her patriotic headband before we left that morning but this picture was about as long as it lasted!
Here's my mom, Grandma and Grandad Clouse, Aunt Diane and Uncle Steve. They were missing Penny who lives in New York.
All of the festivities happened to fall right during Kaitlynn's nap time. She was exhausted but with all of the people she just fought off sleep for about 2 hours. I tried, Grandma and Papa tried and even Sarah and Ryan gave it there best shot. Nothing worked until we were in the truck and driving home!
Her car seat was sitting very upright in Uncle Ryan's new truck so her poor little head kept flopping straight forward. Aunt Sarah tried really hard to prop it up using anything she could find, including diapers, burp rags, her hand, etc. Unfortunately, we just had to let it flop. She slept fine so I don't think she cared!

The next day Grandpa Ken surprised us by driving down to deliver a new laptop to us. We were completely shocked and very grateful for their generous gift! The best gift of all was having Grandpa here for 2 days!
Helping Miss Kaitlynn get her shoes on. She wanted to take Grandpa out for a steak dinner to thank him!

My first slumber party!

Last weekend Courtney invited Kaitlynn (and her mommy!) over for their first sleep over. We had a great time and lots of first activities for Kaitlynn! She had her first trip to the zoo, first sleep over, first bath with a friend, and first time swimming in a real pool.

She watched this bird forever!
After we ate dinner we let the girls get out and venture around a bit. Let's just say...there was lots of rock eating!

"Aunt" Lindsey came over to visit for a while.Bath time!

Good morning!Dana made us yummy blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

Here are the girls chattering on the car ride home from the zoo. So cute!

The next morning we went to their neighborhood pool for a little swim. This was Kaitlynn's first time in a "real" pool and she loved it!

Father's Day Weekend

Last weekend we went up to Ryan and Sarah's house for Father's Day. Mark, Diane, Spencer, Grandma, Grandad and my parent's were all able to come, too. We had a great time hanging out together! Of course, Kaitlynn was the center of attention most of the time.
Blowing "bye bye" kisses to Great Grandma and Grandad
Oh...did you want to share that snack with me Grandma?? Check out her adorable hat and dress that my mom made her! She has an orange one with matching hat, too!
"Smelling" the flowers with Daddy and Jersie (Ry and Sarah's dog)
This girl loves her phones!
Playing Peek-a-Boo with Grandma!
Let's see if I can help you boys with your game...
Wow Uncle Ryan!Grandma gave her this purse and she carried it all over the place that weekend. She's becoming such a little lady!
Happy Father's Day Daddy! Kaitlynn drew him a picture which he hung up in his locker at work. Matt is an amazing Daddy and is even going to get to start watching her once a week again this Fall when I go back to school. She's so lucky to get that extra time with him!
She has recently discovered the oars (sp?) that had been leaning up against the tv stand in the guest bedroom as a decoration. She is now carrying them all over the house!
Here's another purse she was carrying our at our house last week.

Quick Pool Adventures

Last week I got out Kaitlynn's little pool from Grandma and Grandpa Hardie. The water was still pretty cold so she didn't really care to be in it for long. In fact, I had time to take these 3 pictures very quickly and then she spent the rest of the time trying to escape to walk up the deck steps! You would think she would like to wander around the yard freely but all she wants to do is climb up the steps.

And...there she goes!I also wanted to share some pictures of our new fence and decorations from my parents on top of our kitchen cabinets. The kitchen pictures didn't turn out too great but you get the idea! We absolutely LOVE having our fence. It was the best investment we've ever made. Tucker is such a better dog now that he can run freely and it's just nice feeling like it's our own space to hang out in.
He has a new job which is to chase the squirrels away from the bird feeder. He's getting really good at it!
Here's a view of the deck. We have been hanging out just about every evening. It's just so quiet and relaxing. I hope when we move someday we can find another house with woods behind us.
Here's the kitchen...sorry they're really dark!