More State Fair

Here's one of Olivia on a trampolene at the state fair. - She had a tough time keeping her balance without her braces on her feet. :)

State fair

We all went to the state fair on Tuesday. The girls had a great time. (We did, too.) Here are a couple shots. One is on the carousel and the other is Mike and Olivia at the end of the giant slide. Both she and Isabelle giggled the entire way down. :)

More swimming

Here's another cute one from swimming on Sunday.

Swimming

My parents were in town this weekend, so we took the girls swimming at the pool in their hotel on Sunday.

Supper fun

We went to Chuck E. Cheeze last night for supper. Olivia was so proud that she could climb up into this overhead climber all by herself. Isabelle just loved all the rides, evern if they weren't going.

Puppy love

Here are a couple cute ones of Mandy and Isabelle.

God's creatures

The other day while Mike was landscaping outside, he came across a worm. The girls thought it was pretty neat. So neat, in fact, that the next day while I was with them. Isabelle picked up a dried worm and tore it in half. Ick!

Landscaping

Mike has been working hard on the backyard this summer again. He tore off our old deck and built a smaller one to give us more yard room. Now he's working on the landscaping around the deck, and this fall we'll either seed or sod.

Dolls

I went to my grandma's yesterday to help clean out the house and get it ready to sell. The girls got some dolls that they are having a blast with!

Ponytail

I was finally able to get Isabelle's hair into a Ponytail on Friday. I think she looks adorable, but she had her own opinions about it. :)

Monosomy 1p36

I found a web site that is dedicated to children who have Momosomy 1p36. (The chromosome deletion that Olivia has.) It's nice to read about other kids who have it, while keeping in mind that Olivia's deletion is smaller than most of the deletions on the web site. But it gives you an idea of what we have recently learned about Olivia. The web page address is www.1p36.com

Sunday fun

We woke up to what we thought was a very faint gas smell today, so went outside to play while waiting for the gas man. Turns out he couldn't smell anything or get any type of reading on his meter. Thank goodness! The girls had fun playing outside before church.

Love for the dog

Both of the girls really love Mandy! (Especially Olivia.) Sorry you can't see their faces in these pictures.

Messy

We had Spaghettio's yesterday for the first time. Olivia hated them - her exact words were "blugh!" Isabelle only liked the meatballs, but had a grand time playing with the sauce. :)

Two Princess girls

We found a fun dress-up outfit at Target today! :)

VBS

In June, Olivia attended her first vacation Bible school. She had a lot of fun! She really loves being around other kids. And she made it through the entire 30 minute program at the end of the week! Here are a couple shots of her in the program. Sorry one is blurry.

Silly girl

Isabelle has been really interested in dressing and undressing herself and playing with her clothes lately. In the picture with the hat, she found it on her own and put it on, as well as took off her shorts. Then proudly came over to me to show me her accomplishments. In the other one, she put on a dress over her shirt, and proceeded to play peek-a-boo with it.

18 months already!

We picked up Isabelle's 18-month pictures today. Here are a couple of them. I'm such a sucker - I ended up buying the extra ones the company always sends. They were just too cute, I couldn't resist!

Friends are the best!

My best friend, Lisa, has been Olivia's PCA since we started using the program. This summer, she's been working about18 hours a week with us. Both the girls adore her! I'm not sure what we'll do when she has to start teaching again. - Time to look for a new PCA. :) Her husband, Jesse, owns his own painting business, and has done a couple projects for us lately. Here he is painting our office. Thanks, Lisa and Jesse. You are blessing to us in so many ways! We love you!

Shoes off!

It's a chore to keep the girls' shoes on them when we're outside playing. Some days I just give up, like today. :)