Hanging at Mince's.

During the 4th of July weekend, we attended three BBQs including one at Grandma Mince's. It was a good night of first's for Mallory. Her first time in the canoe and her first time chasing and catching fireflies. I don't have any pictures of her chasing and catching them, but she loved it. Out in the middle of nowhere with all that space, the yard lights up with fireflies like crazy. Everywhere you look, there are little lights floating in mid air. It was a pretty sight. At first, Mallory was not very good at catching them and had trouble being "gentle." She would catch them with a clapping motion which would end in their demise. With some help of daddy she eventually caught them and put them in her little bug jar and watched them light up the entire car ride home.

Taking time to Stop and Smell the Flowers

Just some shots from a random afternoon after loosing interest in the water table. :)

EE's shower

I am really this behind? Wow. I blame the summer and the pregnancy. For example, this post is about Erin's Chicago Shower and she just had her baby last week. Sigh.

It took place the weekend of Father's day - We all jumped in the car and headed to Chicago for the couples baby shower for EE and Todd and had a great time. It was unlike any other baby shower I had attended, complete with corn-hole, adult beverages, and costumes. Mallory had a lot of fun with the many balloons and music.

The decor was beautiful and the food was delicious. It was so cool to have a backyard BBQ surrounded by the city scape of Chicago. I could see the Willis Tower [Sears Tower] from the backyard as I watched everyone play corn-hole and bocce ball. Since my sister has lived there, I have developed such a love for that city and enjoy every time we travel there. Mallory enjoys going to EE's house too, especially since it doesn't happen that often. On Sunday as we were finally pulling into the driveway at home, she looked at me and said "We at Mommy's house?" I replied, "yes, Mallory - we are home." Her response? "AWE....I want to go to EE's!!!"

Clowning Around

Painting on the Patio

I have been putting off introducing painting to Mallory for a very long time. I was terrified of the inevitable mess and stains it would create and just kept putting it off. Finally, I decided to give it a try. I bought the washable paints and set them up on the picnic table on the patio. Mallory was so excited and painted picture after picture after picture. There were so many pictures strewn all over the patio setting out to "dry," it looked like a tornado had gone through the backyard. Since this afternoon we have painted several more times and now we are out of paint! The best part about this new found artistic side of Mallory is that the mess isn't nearly as bad as I feared :)

Sprinkler Ring

$4.99 at Target and I get endless entertainment for Mallory. Well, maybe not endless, but long enough I could sit and put my feet up. It is just a ring that fills up with water and pushes out water. The height adjusts per the amount of pressure, so turn the water up and the fountains of water will rise and rise. At first she was a little scared of what was happening, but as soon as I lowered the water she was running through it over and over. Gotta love cheap entertainment.

Memorial Day Parade

As the title states, this post is about the Memorial Day Parade so it is quite apparent how behind I am on the blog. Catching up is always fun. In my defense, it is summer and we all know how the summers can fill up and run away with you. Not to mention I am entering my third trimester of pregnancy and tend to run out of gas a little quicker then normal. Okay, enough excuses. Here are some images from (mostly captured by Marc) of the parade and the kids watching it. This was Mallory's 1st parade and she really did enjoy it. Her favorite part was the marching band[s] and she proceeded to talk about them often after the parade. We will more then likely make this a tradition considering it was such a hit with her.

After the parade we headed to Nate and Jenny's and ate lunch. Mallory enjoyed playing in the water table and swinging with Sam. Which made for a very enjoyable nap afterwards. It ended up being a really nice day - one of those that although it is filled to the brim with plans, it is so relaxing and laid back. Can't wait until next year.