Is a picture worth a thousand words? Yes. And in this case it's worth at least 2!

♥ I'm pregnant ♥

Independence Celebration

(This last picture was one I took last Sunday that I thought turned out cute and wanted to share- no connection with the Fourth.) :)
We enjoyed a VERY roasty, toasty HOT parade this year where the kids gathered just enough candy to enjoy for a couple of days, but not so much that it lasts 'til Halloween, thank goodness! We made sure to take a much needed cool dip in G-ma and G-pa's pool after lunch. Night brought the usual fantastic display by our small little town. They really are impressive and I think part of what makes them so great is that the *BOOM* of each explosion rattles off the hillside making each one echo and bounce back to shake us! :) Minus the mosquitoes and the fact that we were missing Gene, Steve, Pat and Diana, it was a great holiday!

Pehrson's

My mom, dad, sister and niece got to come out and spend about a week with us. It usually ends up being a once a year kind of thing, (they come here or we go there, which is much to far in between visits for me and the kids, but Jeff manages fine). :) This visit, the weather was terrible. Cold and nearly nonstop rain! We did some fun and memorable things nonetheless. Mom made some pretty flower planters for me, Dad read the rest of Will's chapter book out loud to him which completely melted my heart-so sweet!-, we played in the humongous rain puddles, made jewelry with "Grandma", made a shopping trip to Green Bay that resulted in Grandma buying each girl a Bath and Body lotion and Will made out with a new pair of flip flops and a set of chop sticks. (He had a conversation all about chop sticks with my dad one night at dinner. Dad served his mission in Taiwan and has some experience with them. :) ) We played some Just Dance 2, went to Manitowoc one day, ate at the Woodland and just enjoyed being with each other. My mom and brother get to come out again briefly in August to bring my niece back, so I look forward to another visit from part of my family! Yeah!