August

August startd out with Kayla's swim lessons. She loved every minute of it and never wanted to get out of the water. She had no fear of anything. The first time she jumped off the diving board I did not have my camera and she did it with out a life vest, the next time she had the life vest on since the other kids had one on.

Graice and Paisley watching Kayla. Gracie wasen't old enough for the level 1 class and she did not want to take the mom/tot class. So next year she will take swim lessons.

Gracie loves to take pictures so while we were watching Kayla Gracie decided to pose her dragon and Paisley's baby and take pictures of them. Here is one of each from the many she took.

Also, in August our beautiful blondie Paisley turned 2. I can't believe how fast then grow. She keeps me so busy. She gets into everything all the time and if I block her from getting into something she will find a way, just like opening the dishwasher and climbing on it to get to the counter and get a cookie. She climbs everything!!!!! She goes up and down the stairs without even holding onto anything. She climbs up our slide and thinks she can walk down it. She will climb a gate no matter how high it is. One day she tried to go across a high beam at Gracie's gymnastics. She has no fear of anything and tries to do everything her sisters do. She is very loving and sweet. She is so fun to watch when she tries to copy Kayla dance or Gracie tumble. She is always singing, sometimes we can't understand the words but we can always pick up on the tune of the song she is singing. She is also, the biggest mommas girl I know, sometimes to much. She is a delight to have in our family and we are so blessed that we have her forever!

Opening presents.

The cake that Kayla and Gracie made for Paisley.

Then came Hurricane Irene. We did not get hit to bad just alot of rain, wind and lost power for a day. Not bad at all compared to other areas around us. During our power outage we played monoply with the kids and then Kayla and Gracie dressed up and had me take pictures of them.

Here are some pictures from the storm. The first one is part of a park by our house where the water flooded almost all of the park. The second is of a different part of that park and the pavillion that is under water. The third is the power lines that were down by our house. And the last 2 are of the creek that runs through our back yard. It continued to rise for a few days after the storm taking up a portion of our yard.

July

July brought lots of activities for us starting with the 4th of July. We tied dyed shirts for the celebration and went down town to the fireworks show. The kids got to ride on a train, play some games, play at the park, eat dinner at the park,and last enjoy a great firwork show.

Next, was Gracie's 4th birthday. I can't believe how big she is getting. She is a very sweet, sassy, funny, beautiful girl. One minute she is giving me a run for my money and then the next minute she is cracking me up. She keeps life interesting and our family would be lost if she was not part of it. I am gso blessed to have her for my daughter. On her birthday we went to McDonalds for dinner and then came home so she could open presents from us and have the cake that Kayla made for her. It was a great day.

A few weeks later we celebrated her birthday with her friends. We had her party at her gymnastics studio and it was alot of fun. (Love the part of not having to clean up afterwards or entertain the kids:) I made her a gymnastics cake that had 5 gymnasts on it in various poses.

Grandma and Grandpa Zumwalt came to visit us. We met them in NYC for a weekend of activities. Friday we went to the Empire State Building, ground zero, and a little of central park. Friday did not go according to plan since most of the day we spent riding the subway trying to figure our way around. (Did have it planned out but, certain route were closed so we had to find new ways and it's not easy when you have four adults giving input and three very hot and tired kids, not to mention that this was the hottest weekend of the summer.)

Saturday went much more smoothly. Friday night I figured out what we needed to take and to where. We first started off with going to see the Statue of Liberty and elis Island. I did not get very many pictures of our day because of not having a charged camera battery, I know duh! Anyway, after that we went to lunch and the to the Harry Potter Expo. which was really cool. After the expo. we went to M&M World where grandma and grandpa bought the girls some M&M's of any color they wanted. Then, we headed back to Central Park since we really didn't get to see anything the night before just to get there and find out that the main thing we were going there for was closed. So, the girls played in a big splash park which was really fun for them. After a very hot long day we headed home.

Durning the week grandma and grandpa was able to go to watch Kayla's dance class and Gracie's gymnastics. Kayla and Gracie went to see Zookeeper and Smurfs with G&G durning the week. Matt and I had date night and got to go see Harry Potter in 3D.

On Wed. we drove to CT to go play at the beach, where the girls collected lots of seashells, played in the sand, and water.

We also, had one big birthday party for all the girls. We had pizza, cake, ice cream, and they opened up presents from their cousins. G&G gave the girls a big joint gift, anew swingset!!! The girls have had so much fun with it throughtout the summer.

We also, went bowling!

After a fun filled week of having grandma and grandpa Zumwalt here it's time to say goodbye.

Also, durning July we found out that we are having another girl, and couldn't be more thrilled:)