Here are some more pictures from our Father's Day fishing trip. Mike and I enjoyed a peaceful day of fishing while the girls enjoyed dipping their toes in the stream.

That is Megan pretending to fall in the stream (above). As Paige would say "she's so dramatic!"













The girls entertained themselves for quite a while by launching leaf boats and having races.




Mike and I were fishing and we watched as this big beaver swam to shore. He surprised us by getting out of the pond on the other side of the creek. We watched him walk along the path and go into the Big Darby.

The last picture of the day...Paige and Megan striking a pose on the first day of summer...6-21-09 (Father's day).

Summer time in the Midwest means.....BIG thunderstorms, hot humid days and chasing fire flies after dark...



When I got home from work last night I took the dogs out back. The soy bean field out beyond the backyards were all lit up with fire flies. So I told Megan to grab her fire fly catcher (it looks like a Coleman lantern, got them at Big Lots a few years ago). So she went for a walk (in her p.j.s) with me and the dogs. Paige was at a birthday-sleepover so it was just me, Megan and the dogs. We didn't catch any fire flies but we did save this little fellow from Baileys curious nose.
After Megan went in to show her dad the little toad we set him free in the backyard flower bed.


By the way do you have a favorite story from "Frog and Toad"? I do it's called.....

"Cookies"

Toad baked some cookies. "These cookies smell very good," said Toad. He ate one. "And they taste even better," he said. Toad ran to Frog's house. "Frog, Frog," cried Toad, "taste these cookies that I have made."

Frog ate one of the cookies, "These are the best cookies I have ever eaten!" said Frog.

Frog and Toad ate many cookies, one after another. "You know, Toad," said Frog, with his mouth full, "I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick."

"You are right," said Toad. "Let us eat one last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one last cookie. There were many cookies left in the bowl.

"Frog," said Toad, "let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie.

"We must stop eating!" cried Toad as he ate another.

"Yes," said Frog, reaching for a cookie, "we need willpower."

"What is willpower?" asked Toad.

"Willpower is trying hard not to do something you really want to do," said Frog.

"You mean like trying hard not to eat all these cookies?" asked Toad.

"Right," said Frog.

Frog put the cookies in a box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."

"But we can open the box," said Toad.

"That is true," said Frog.

Frog tied some string around the box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."

"But we can cut the string and open the box." said Toad.

"That is true," said Frog. Frog got a ladder. He put the box up on a high shelf.

"There," said Frog. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."

"But we can climb the ladder and take the box down from the shelf and cut the string and open the box," said Toad.

"That is true," said Frog.

Frog climbed the ladder and took the box down from the shelf. He cut the string and opened the box. Frog took the box outside. He shouted in a loud voice. "Hey, birds, here are cookies!" Birds came from everywhere. They picked up all the cookies in their beaks and flew away.

"Now we have no more cookies to eat," said Toad sadly.

"Not even one."

"Yes," said Frog, "but we have lots and lots of willpower."

"You may keep it all, Frog," said Toad. "I am going home now to bake a cake."

God Bless Arnold Lobel and his beautiful sense of humor!

Hey Auntie....Paige's gifts got here today....and she loves them!

I already took down one of her pictures in her room and replaced it with the adorable "Horsin Around" sign and photos.

The shirts fit perfectly and she made a saddle and bridal out of the ribbons and bows for her little horse.

Joe Boxer is hanging out with us today while Aunt Deb goes on an out of town meeting. Paige, Megan and Rebel were so excited when Joe came over this morning.

Have you ever tried to take a group shot and no matter how hard you try the subjects won't all look the same direction at once? Well I was having that trouble when all of a sudden...they all looked the same direction...not towards the camera but at least they were all looking the same direction. This cracks me up...hope it does the same for you ;)

These are some pictures of Megan and her b.f.f. Cameron that I took in May and never got around to posting. Megan is a monkey bar master now, you can tell by looking at her callus covered palms.

Hey it's only been over a week but better late than never....here are some of the pictures from the dress rehearsal of "The Castle on Blue Hill" that was performed by C.D.A. on May 24. The costumes looked lovely and all of the dancers were delightful.

Paige's ballet class danced as "humming birds".

Both Paige and Megan's ballet classes were in scene two and Paige's class danced right before Megan's class, so that was fun and exciting to see them on stage together.

Megan's ballet class were "Waterfalls", their costumes were very shimmery.

Paige's tap class danced to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" performed by The Brian Setzer Orchestra. It was a lively-lovely dance.

Megan's jazz class character was lightning and they danced to "Ray of Light" by Madonna. They did a great job, considering it was their first year of jazz. The move above was kind of tricky they all raised one leg at a time and held the pose....and no one fell over!

Here is Megan and her buddy Lily, they were in both jazz and ballet class together and they danced together last year too.