up to our ears in corn!

I decided to put up some corn this year. I've never attempted to do it before, but I ended up creaming nearly 200 ears of corn. We will enjoy delicious creamed corn all year long!

Here is Mary Helen enjoying an ice cream sundae that Joel brought his hard workin' girls :)

We found a couple of worms that the girls thought were fascinating!

Being silly. . .

Daniel is 3 months already!!

Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?! I can't believe Daniel is 3 months old already. He is such a joy to our lives, and I can't imagine how it was before he was here (okay, so may be I can fantasize about those nights that I got 8 straight hours. . . ).

Daniel seems to be so much stronger than I remember the girls being at the same ages. Even at a day or two old, he was lifting his head off my chest to look at me(*swoon*). He is already enjoying his exersaucer and johnny jumper. He loves to "talk" to us and I think he is going to be a people person!

At his 2 month check up, he was 75th percentile in all 3 categories (height, weight, and head circumference), so I suppose Joel and I are averaging him out somewhere in there :)

Daniel's sisters are crazy about him, and Mary Helen especially wants to hold him every morning when she wakes up. She loves to be a little mommy until he starts to cry, then she's ready to pass him on! Mary Helen rides next to him in the back seat of the car, and she keeps him happy by talking to him, making his car seat toy make noise, and reading books to him. The other day she wanted to help Joel out on the farm, and I secretly didn't want to let her because she is so good at keeping him entertained!

Anna likes to talk and play with him as long as he is happy as well. When he starts to cry, she gets a couple of notches louder than him to let me know that, "He's too WOUD!!!"

Vacation Bible School Time!

This year our church's VBS theme is Saddle Ridge Ranch. The girls were very much in the spirit of things this morning, and I got some cute (in my not so humble mommy opinion!) pictures of them this morning before they left!

Mary Helen pulled out their little stick horse for the photo-op :)

The girls are both so excited to have Grandma helping out at VBS this year (and mommy is so excited that grandma is playing taxi this week and I get to stay in my pajamas and wave them off for a few hours!).

Beach Week 2010

Every year, Joel's family goes to the beach. The only year that it hasn't happened since Joel and I have been married is the year that his sister got married. The first year I went along, just a couple of months after we were married, we all stayed in a condo. There were 10 adults on that trip - Joel's parents, his 3 siblings, 2 in-laws and his sisters boyfriend (who is now part of our family). The next year, we stayed in the same condo, with the same number of adults, only then 2 of us were pregnant. Very pregnant. This year, only 7 years after my first trip, there were 10 adults and 9 kids! Mary Helen is the oldest of those nine, and Daniel is the youngest (by just 3 weeks) of those. This year, Joel's brother and his family left the day we came so we weren't all there at the same time. Instead of a condo, however, his parents got a GREAT house where there were nooks and crannies for pack and plays and sleeping bags. It was a great time! Here are a few pictures from our time. . .

Daniel's first dip in the pool. . . I think he liked it :)

Daddy's big girl headed to the beach down (greased down with the sunblock!)

Mary Helen was reading bedtime stories to her cousins.

Joel and Daniel with Joel's dad.

Cousins. . .

Anna was giving her uncle a new hair do - curling iron, straightener, the works :)

Doll Review

Recently, I was asked to test a product for ebeanstalk. I'm not allowed to talk about it because it's not out on the market yet; but they sent me a toy as a thank you for testing the product for them. The product was for baby Daniel, so the toy was to be an age-appropriate toy for him.

Here's what they sent us (modeled by my beautiful oldest daughter)

It's a plush baby doll. It'd have been nice for it to have atleast been blue for our little fella, but we do have some people in our house who like pink :)

He's not old enough to play with any toys other than looking at things that are hanging over him and he's beginning to swat at things. However, here's what I think about the doll from what I can tell. . .

~I really like having toys that don't have a lot of bells and whistles. This one certainly doesn't have any. That's a good thing for using our imaginations, which is a very important skill in my opion!

~I like that it's plush, so it can be one of the first toys that Daniel plays with.

~While this was sent as age appropriate for our baby, our big girls have adopted her into their family of babies and she has enjoyed the stroller rides up and down our street!

~I probably would not have bought this for Daniel (being pink and all as well as having a supply of babies here already!), but our family is taking good care of her and enjoying her!

Ebeanstalk is a toy website dedicated to selecting the best toys by age and kids toys. The in-home feedback of bloggers and moms like me around the country help to make sure ebeanstalk continues to provide the best educational toys for your child. Check it out for yourself!

disclaimer: I was given this doll in exchange for product testing and for agreeing to review it on my blog. All opions are mine. I recieved no other compensation for this review.

Baking Time

A couple of weeks ago, Mary Helen had a playdate, so Anna and I decided to do some baking together. We made a most delicious recipe. Yellow Cake Mix with a tub of chocolate frosting :) Here are a couple of pictures of my little helper.

Fun in the Sun!

We pulled out the kiddie pool the other day. I think it's time for an upgrade :) They had fun just getting wet though!