July 2014

July.
We had softball and t-ball, cold weather, play dates.
Mom turned 26 AGAIN!
Fairy's, photo shoots and big girl room.
Date night, hard work and fair fun!
School Started :)

Day 182 of 365. Grace had her first coach pitch game today! She has been wanting to do this for two years now! So proud of her hard work and absolute determination :D

Day 183 of 365. Today we had a play date at our house with Michelle and her daughter :) Lego's, what else do they do these days ;)

 Day 184 of 365. A Tabbarienie play date! :D

 Day 185 of 365. A cousin's sleepover!?!? Yes Please!!! :)

 Day 186 of 365. "Can I get a group hug?" ~Uncle Buck

Day 187 of 365. My view for the day. Chapter 35 is appropriate for the day :)

Day 188 of 365. Due to me turning 26 for the 10th time today, I thought I should be in the photo :) I got the spend the whole day with these crazies, it was totally perfect :D
 

Day 189 of 365. Yes, that is Grace's tooth in my hand. She lost it while playing short shop at her game today :)

Day 190 of 365. We went to the library today (one of our favorite spots) where we learned about fossils, dinosaurs, earthquakes and volcano's!

Day 191 of 365. Team Rockies, where Jennifer is the only girl! :) *she is located second from the right ;)

Day 192 of 365. Not one argument while building their fairy garden! I think the fairies will love the new digs :)

 

Day 193 of 365. This morning we went on a photo walk with some of my photo friends. They each had their own cameras and Grace discovered she likes taking photos of flowers, Jenni likes looking at the flowers ;)

Day 194 of 365. When you turn five in our house you get a big girl room and you get to help peel and scrape wallpaper ;)

Day 195 of 365. The room is painted and put back together, we just have a few last minute touches to get done. For now, she is loving it :)

Day 196 of 365. WORST PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS EVER!! On a shoot this morning and they said they wanted to help me......then we got to the beach :/ Love em anyway!
 

Day 197 of 365. Grace is making a magazine :) When is the last time you wore long sleeves in July (damn cold weather) ;)?! 

Day 198 of 365. Today the girls got to meet the beautiful Joycelynn! I think they are smitten and ready for babysitting duty ;)

Day 199 of 365. Because playing catch requires a fancy dress! :)

 

Day 200 of 365. We are on a date night to celebrate the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Radant :) Congrats Steph and Kevin, can't wait to watch your love grow more and more every day :)

Day 201 of 365. Today the girls asked for Lego's (surprise, surprise!) So we thought earning them would be a great lesson :)

Day 202 of 365. I missed the step off of the deck and SLICED my pinky toe wide open with a waterfall of blood to follow :( Happy Monday! *Hey, this is a good beer drinking situation :)

Day 203 365. A hot day needs a fun way to cool off tandem style! :)

Day 204 of 365. Rides. Food. Face Paint. Ice Cream. Rides. Food. Rides. I think they had a great day :)

 

Day 205 of 365. Her last game. "I like hitting, and running, getting the ball and running, and um.......playing all of it, that's it." ~Jenni

Day 206 of 365. Her last game. "I like softball, um, because my team makes me play better so I can learn more" ~Grace

 Day 207 of 365. Grace wins big sister of the year! Grace rode rides that she didn't want to only because her little sister was to scared to go it alone. So proud of her for being amazing :)

 Day 208 of 365. Stopping fill up on gas (thankful this one's free!) and air in the tires!

Day 209 of 365. The first day of school! Check it out here if you want to read all about it :)

Day 210 of 365. "Mom, I learned to read this book today!!"

Day 211 of 365. Lazy or Genius?

Day 212 of 365. I don't remember why she is mad at me, but she is pissed! At least she is cute ;)

BONUS PHOTOS!

This beauty came rolling by our house over the weekend of July 13th! It's a steam engine train that runs from Fort Wayne, In to Allen Park, MI. Who wants to ride it with me next year Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.  

Grace playing catcher!  My favorite when I played in high school :)

Picking out those Lego's that they earned from their hard work in the yard :)

Jenni, she is tiny, yet a mighty mighty girl! 

The girls played softball and t-ball this month and they both did FANTASTIC!  They made new friends, learned teamwork, and did their best every game.  Sports were so very important to me growing up and taught me a lot, I love that my girls are learning some of those same things and they really seem to love it!

  

After seven months into my 365 project, I am proud of myself for doing this FINALLY!  I am having an amazing time catching some great days and a few not so great.  My girls are at such an amazing age of wonder and imagination,  I am LOVING watching them grow up and I don't think I could be any prouder of them :)  They finally found out I am taking photos of them and they call it the "photo of the day", which is fine with me and they don't seem to care or they are just really really used to me already ;)

  

Have an AH-MAZING Day :)

 

Back To School

The girls started school today!

What? It's July!

Yes, well our school offered a new Balanced School Year (BSY) option.

We went to the parent info meeting, I did a lot of research and we thought

that BSY was right for our family and our girls :) 

Both girls were soooooo excited to go back and they love school so it's a win-win really!

 Jenni started Kindergarten today!!!!

 

Grace started Second grade today!!!!

I know she is ready, but I just can't believe she is a second grader :)

Jenni wanted to show us to her classroom!

I know she is ready and prepared, but this is hard!

Here is the deal, when the girls were babies I always imagined them being in school together! I remember thinking how cool it will be and how much fun for them.  I imagined how the girls will grow up and have so many good memories of things they did at school.  Maybe I am crazy, but we even came up with a secret "code" on the off chance they see each other in the hall.

This was a little bit more difficult that I had thought it would be!  I am finding it terribly difficult that Grace is a second grader....hello, second grade already?  To boot she is brilliant and she LOVES school, she is an amazing sponge and just wants to learn about anything she can!

My Jenni is in kindergarten, KINDERGARTEN, my baby!  She was soooooooooo excited this morning!  She wants to be just like her big sister and she just wants to learn to read, like RIGHT NOW, wants to read anything and everything :)

Here is to a great school year with lots of fun breaks!

June 2014

June.
Ice cream, library, Daddy monster.
Yo-Yo, thrift store, last days of school.
Father's Day, independent breakfast, crafting up lanterns.
The Zoo, fireworks, camping and softball. 

Day 152 of 365. Grace plays pretty hard! Sometimes nap time is a necessity, so why not outside on the swing :)

Day 153 of 365. She said she had a bad day at school, so ice cream it is! :)

 Day 154 of 365. Another trip to the library The trivia question were all about kid inventors, the girls were all about guessing and writing their own answers! 

Day 155 of 365. Somehow a Daddy monster got in the house and was eating kids! Naturally I took a photo before saving their life ;)

Day 156 of 365. It has been three solid days and she finally got the hang of it!! DETERMINED! 

 Day 157 of 365. Charlie is helping the girls play with their legos.....or she was trying to eat them, you decide :) 

Day 158 of 365. For lunch we had some of the lettuce that the girls helped plant, water, care for and then cut. It was really delicious!

Day 159 of 365. Road trip to Ann Arbor.....just because, then finding a thrift shop and finding goodies :)

Day 160 of 365. Ryan has Monday's off, we usually both end up working from home anyway! Today, however, we went on Jenni's field trip to the farm, she was so excited to see both of us  :)

 Day 161 of 365. One of the MANY faces of my Jelly Bean :)

 

 Day 162 of 365. Today Jennifer graduated Preschool. Both girls had the same amazing teachers for the last four years. We really hit the preschool teacher jackpot!! 

 

 Day 163 of 365. "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never the same." For the last four years these amazing women have taught both girls, but more then that they have become a part of our family. 

 

Day 164 of 365. Our first day of summer vacation was BEAUTIFUL! So, we took a quick trip to the park :)

Day 165 of 365. If you ever happen to drive by our house you might see this flying Jelly Bean. Actually she was just practicing her "ginastics" :) I like the flying Jelly Bean better!

Day 166 of 365. Today was the 24th (holy cow!) Hellebuyck Hockey Party. It was also Father's Day :) I don't get to see my Dad a lot but for any time with him I am grateful!  <3

Day 167 of 365. This morning we headed over the the library and signed up for the summer reading program. The girls were the third and fourth ones to sign up and they are super excited!!!!

 

Day 168 of 365. We are going camping next week, so today we made jar lanterns to carry with us on our night walks through the campgrounds Testing them in the darkness is a must! 

Day 169 of 365. Spending a rainy afternoon in Grace's room watching a movie. 

Day 170 of 365. Uh, this is where I get to practice what I preach to the girls.........PATIENCE!

Day 171 of 365. My mornings are getting lazier and lazier I am kinda digging this independent thing! ;)

Day 172 of 365. This afternoon Grace decided we needed to take Jenni to check out the playground at school "so she won't be scared". What a great big sister :)

Day 173 of 365. We spent the day at the Detroit Zoo with a whole bunch of family. This guy just wanted to say hello to us all and thank us for coming :)
 

Day 174 of 365. We got to watch the Detroit Ford Fireworks last night. The Oooo's and Ahhh's were fantastic  :)

 

 Day 175 of 365. We are all tired from a long night of fireworks and a sleepover, so cuddles for everyone......even Charlie :)

Day 176 of 365. Uh, I do believe this is my most favorite picture of Grace EVER!!!!! It's just so her :)

Day 177 of 365. Day 1 of camping. The girls found Lake Michigan, I don't think they are ever coming home  :)

Day 178 of 365. Day 2 of camping. An amazingly beautiful Michigan sunset. 

Day 179 of 365. Day 3 (last day) of camping. More of that freezing cold Lake Michigan, these girls are crazy I tell you!!!!

Day 180 of 365. We got another loose one!

Day 181 of 365. Jenni's very first t-ball game and her very first at bat!!!! This sport loving Momma is so proud of her :)

BONUS PHOTOS:

 Jenni walking in to graduation with her class

Showing off her singing skills at graduation.

Ryan made me get in a photo, UGH!  I know I will love this when they are 15!

They played a slideshow of photos through the year, I cried!  DUH!

 Grace with her amazing first grade teacher Mrs. McVay!