A Parade

My town does a celebration every September called "Popcorn Day".  They have a kiddie parade and this year I decided to do it with my kids.  The theme was "Hats off to Hamburg".  So with my mom I came up with the idea of  "You don't have to go to Disneyland to have fun...Hats off to Hamburg".  The kids wore their Mickey and Minnie Mouse sweatshirts we got from Disneyland and we filled the wagon with Disney stuffed animals.  It was fun.  And the kids won first prize in the costume section winning $5 a piece.  Nice for their piggy banks.

 Lincoln loves riding his bike and was good most of the time at staying close to me.  Good thing there weren't many kids in this little parade.

 I got to pull Mercedes in the wagon.

 Waving was not her strong point.  We had been waiting for 30 minutes at this point because of judging and check-in, so she was ready to get out.  Luckily Mimi and Papa got her to wave.

Fun With Cousins

 Megan and Alyvia came out in August for a quick trip for my Grandpa's funeral.  When they were here Mercedes and Alyvia played together a lot.  They are 6 months apart in age and are really starting to play well together.  

 They had a lot of fun in Mimi and Papa's yard playing with all of the toys.

I really wish I would have gotten pictures of Lincoln and Porter from when Porter was out here at the end of July.  When we lived in Utah Lincoln and Porter didn't play together very much.  Lincoln loved McKenna and would always play with her.  Well when she comes here she likes to play with the girls and so Lincoln gets a chance to play with Porter.  And he has gotten the chance to become great friends with Porter.  It is so fun to see them together.  They are crazy and silly together.

Reading

We love books at our house.  And we have a lot of books to read.  It helps that because of my teaching experience I already had a pretty nice library before I even got married, let alone had kids.  But I also love to find new books - if only I had the money to just buy and buy and buy.  Well maybe that wouldn't be a good thing.  So if you ever need a good idea for a present for me, I really like children's books.  Though you probably should give me a gift receipt in case I already have it;)

 Mercedes will come into the office sometimes and grab about 20 books off of the shelf.  Then she will look through them.  Things have to be done in this order for her.  She will not look at one book and then get another book, that is just not for her.

 Lincoln will look at books at night after Mercedes is in bed.

 They both love having a story at night.  I try to read a few books with them during the day too.