HEAT Wave!

I'm thankful for...
1) Curious Penny (sometimes more than curious, sometimes grabby but in a cute way! Whenever we sit down to read a book with the girls, Penny has to grab at the pages--it makes it pretty hard to read. Also she is always grabbing at our food these days--now that she knows how amazing food is! She's also still a jumping maniac.)

2) spin, spin, spin again! (we got a Jim Gill CD from the library and are loving the silly songs. Nora especially loves this song "Spin Again" which is pretty much what it sounds like. She gets dizzy pretty fast though!)

3) teaching Nora her colors (I found a blog that I really like that talks about how to teach your toddlers. It is best to do for short time periods and with lots of play. I've been wanting to do colors with Nora. We've been doing some--I try to mention colors of things that we see or talk about. Friday morning, we sat down and read 3 books on colors and also did a puzzle. I'm hoping some of it stuck and to continue!)

4) watching Nora run the bases (we got to go as a family to the Tin Caps stadium to watch 2 AAA teams play. Sauder Feeds--plus our friends, the Affholters--had a section and also dinner as a group there. It was a very hot evening and we were in the sun for awhile but we had a great time. The kids got balloon animals--Nora got a hat :) After the game, the kids could come down to the field to run the bases. Hannah and Daniel ran fast but Nora did her usual slow run--and got passed up by several kids--but she did it all by herself! After the run was the Three Rivers Festival fireworks display. This was P.J.'s first experience with fireworks and they didn't faze her at all--I think she liked them!)

5) visiting Farwell Lake (after church we headed up to Michigan for a nice day on the lake. It was a warm day so we all enjoyed time out in the water--Nora most of all. I tell you, that little girl is really a fish!! We had a nice dinner and ride on the pontoon. The cottage is very nearly finished and looks awesome. Josh and I got a little alone time--we took a kayak ride out to the sand bar. Josh (and Samson) had to go back home Sunday night but Nora, Penny and I got to stay until Wednesday afternoon when Meredith and Bryan brought us home. We had a nice relaxing time)

6) adorable family pix (we got the proofs of the photos we had taken a week ago. They all turned out great so now we just have to figure out which ones we want to order!)