Pictures Galore

It turns out that I haven't shared pictures on the blog since April so there's a lot to look at.  See the post below for Chicago pictures. This blog post is a random journey of pictures.  And when I say random, I mean random!  I could tell you the story behind the picture below, but I think it's more fun to just show it to you and have you wonder.

 We had a fun night with friends a while back. Jon snapped a picture of the twins - Charlotte and her buddy have the same 'do!

Mina came home with a sword, which she spent some time decorating the next morning.  It's the prettiest sword ever!  Mina has really been into coloring this summer.

 We had a robin's nest to peek at for a while.  It was pretty neat when one of the eggs hatched.

 We've spent a lot of time playing outside at various parks and in our backyard.

We celebrated Frontier Days on the first weekend of June. Our family went to the fort on Friday night and then did the parade on Saturday morning.  Jon decorated his jeep to make everyone happy in MOMs group.

 Now that it's hot outside, we've been going to the pool.  I discovered that Charlotte's new swim bottoms are a little large for her.  At one point her entire bottom was revealed to the world.

Charlotte is now wearing a one-piece!  Mina has started to swim under water and isn't being such a chicken with water.  It's making supervision even more important.

 Jon made the mistake of sending me this picture when he was away for work and I was home alone with the kids.  I had macaroni and cheese that night.  Apparently he did too...with ahi tuna and his macaroni was a little more gourmet.  He won't be making that mistake again!  He's away for work again as I type this. I asked him about his dinner when he called and he didn't say much.  Smart(er) man!

 My pregnancy has been going really well lately. I'm not feeling sick at all and I'm feeling pretty good physically, except for some back pain on the days I work out.  Here's my number one craving.

The girls have been Cute.  They love to snuggle me and they love to hug each other. Charlotte is always asking me to sit on the couch with her for a snuggle.  Mina is always helping Charlotte and loving on her.

 We've really slacked off with taking official belly pictures, but a couple have been snapped recently.  I'm starting to round out a bit. I've gained 16 pounds from my lowest weight during this pregnancy.

 I snapped this one at the gym last week.  My cardio class just about did me in so I thought I'd better get one last picture in.  Seriously. You should have seen me sprinting and jumping around. It was ridiculous.

I really wish my kickboxing class was held during the summer.  I miss hitting the standing bag hard enough (with gloves on) to do this to my hands. It beat running stairs!

 Mina and Charlotte played with Hailey while Jon and I went for dinner on my 33rd birthday. Mina's hair looked like this when we got home. It was her first braid. Pretty!

 We went to Market on Central and Blanden's 80th Anniversary Party this past weekend. It rained, but we were still able to make the most of it.  Both girls had their faces painted. Charlotte stayed amazingly still.

 Mina's rainbow was so gorgeous!  The girls did spin art, tie-dye, paint wash, and decorative pin making also.  Their favorite part was getting to see the puppet show. This year it was Hansel and Gretel.

 Jon bought a cheesecake for our anniversary. Charlotte kind of liked it.

We spent our tenth wedding anniversary in Iowa City.

 T

The girls stayed at my parents' house and they sent me this picture.  They didn't have any fun at all.  Mina told on them when she got home though and said that she stayed up past her bed time.  She's just not very sneaky.  She always tells on herself.

 And if you need a laugh, check out Charlotte's faces.  She makes me smile every day!

Chicago Trip

We went on a family vacation a couple of weeks ago. Jon wanted to go to a Radiohead concert near Chicago so we planned a trip around that. We took a few pictures while we were there. 

In case you hadn't heard, we got rid of the Pacifica and bought a brand new swagger wagon AKA minivan.  The girls enjoyed their first car movie experience on the way (Barbie Rapunzel - ACK!)

We went to the Children's Museum at Navy Pier on our first full day.  Lots to see and do there!

Charlotte enjoyed the circus room.

Mina loved the pirate ship and rigging.  Charlotte wanted to climb it, but she wasn't old enough.

We went on the ferris wheel. It was obviously hot outside.

 We had a great view from our hotel room. Jon took this panorama with his cool phone (although his phone isn't as cool as mine, just to keep the facts straight).  

 We spent the next morning at Shedd's Aquarium where we apparently didn't take any pictures. Maybe that was for the best. Charlotte slapped me on the face hard enough for strangers to groan. She went into time out for that one!  Don't ever let Charlotte get hungry because she gets mean.  We did have a fun time there. Mina's favorite part was the dolphin show and Charlotte's favorite part was the yogurt parfait.

Charlotte is an awesome bus rider.  How cute is she hanging on?  Mina was an ambassador for Iowa State on the bus and sang a rousing rendition of the fight song along with "I am your robot friend. I'm here to help you..."

Jon and I enjoyed the concert.  Kelsey watched the girls while we were out and they all got to experience fancy room service for the first time ever.  I haven't even experienced room service before!

The kids slept so well during our vacation that we're feeling a little more confident about the switch to them sharing a room.  I have a bunk bed picked out, but haven't pulled the trigger on that one quite yet.  I'm not ready for my baby to be out of her crib.

We fully enjoyed our long weekend in Chicago with the girls.  It turns out that they're incredibly good travelers.  I wonder where we'll go for our next adventure?  Mina wants to go on a cruise.