Bike a Thon

St. John Lutheran School and Little Lambs Preschool participates each year in the St. Jude Children's Hospital Bike A Thon. This is perfect for Allie, who loves to ride... so she raised some money, and then participated....

and they are off...

Shannon cheered sister on from the sidelines....

After all was done, Allie informed me that her Lauren (one of her besties) were the leaders.. and did more than 27 laps. They were little speedsters....

After the bike a thon, the kiddos went back to school. Look who is line leader? I was informed this morning it was her turn to be line leader. It was the highlight of her school year so far. Being line leader or helper is a BIG deal, you know....

Playing with my camera

So, I have been playing with my camera a lot lately, and while the girls are not real excited about it and do not generally cooperate the way I want them to, I have been able to capture a couple silly moments.

And then, Allie has decided she is old enough to use the phone to converse with friends....

And Shannon finds it necessary to give me this look multiple times a day.... Not sure I want to know what she is thinking...

Shannon is 2!!!

Hard to believe, but yes.... she is two!!

Happy Birthday little Sasquatch. For those of you who do not understand why we call her this, you need to do two things: 1. watch the messing with sasquatch jerky commercials, then 2. spend a day with shannon. it will be quite clear.

We celebrated her birthday with a small gathering of family (and close friends, who are like family now)...And now that she is two, she fully understands the concept of presents, but once she opened a couple, she was too busy playing with them to open any more....

Instead of cake, we decided to have Shannon's two favorite foods: Cookies and (homemade) Ice Cream....

Shannon enjoyed singing to herself along with the rest of us, though she was not happy there was "fire in her ice cream".

Say Cheese.. or Ice Cream and Cookies!!!

The girls tried to see if the balloons would carry them off... no such luck.

Not sure what this is about...she said she was hiding... uh, good job!

Jaya enjoyed playing too!!

The morning after.. fun with her new toys...

First Day of Preschool

Today was a big day for us.. Allie's first day of preschool. We spent the last two days doing our school shopping and talking non stop about it... so, FINALLY, the day arrived.

Allie woke up to a special breakfast....

After getting all dressed, it was time to go.... but first, Allie wanted to take a picture...

Then, of course, mom had to take over...

At Little Lambs Preschool

She went right inside and started writing her name....

Then decided to do the "sewing box".....

Luckily, she is not too big for hugs and kisses goodbye.

Three hours later, she was still excited to be at school and talked all through our celebratory lunch at Shari's about what she did and learned today...

Here is a to a good start to the whole school years ahead....

Texas

So, stop two on our vacation landed us in Dallas Texas, where we were able to spent time with Aunt Paula and family, and some were able to see the OSU Beavers play in Dallas Stadium (sadly they lost to TCU).

While in Texas, we visited the Ft. Worth Zoo, which was huge and amazing.

This lion seemed to be posing just for us.

Apparently, he is not the only poser.... ;)

Then it was on to Six Flags....I didn't get any pictures of the roller coasters somehow.. but those were the favorite!!

Six Flags was so much fun, it wore the kids out.. even Shannon took a nap while we were walking around......

Then there was the Beaver Game:

Ohio

We just returned from a long trip, where half was spent in Ohio and the other half in Texas (next post).

In Ohio, we spent time with Grandma Joy, Uncle Jerry, Cousins Hayden and CC, and other family members (like aunt terri and Gpa JR).

It was so hot there, we spent a lot of time in the pool, and took the girls bowling for the first time. Allie did great, and scored a 75... amazing for a first time.

We also braved outside to take the girls mini golfing. Allie was actually quite good, and at one point was giving Kyle pointers... :)

We also spent a lot of time in the hotel pool. Shannon looks a bit odd in her swim goggles, but she loves them. ;)

It was a great trip, and so good to be with family... there are too many pics to post, so check them out on Facebook. ;)