Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to one of the best Daddies I know!  We are lucky to have you!

Kassidy and Kayden Come to Play

My friend Erin had a fundraiser for Team in Training today, so I offered to watch her kiddos, Kassidy and Kayden.  We told he girls when they got here we would walk down to Pied Piper for ice cream.  Little did we know it was going to be raining.  The girls didn't care about the rain, they wanted to go get ice cream.

Kayden didn't mind a little rain.

 Lyric and Kassidy were ready for ice cream rain or no rain.

 Lyric, Kayden and Cadence decided on a cone.

Pied Piper has lots of yummy flavors, but all five of these guys wanted chocolate.  Not what I would have picked had I been having some.

 They all enjoyed their chocolate and being silly for the camera!

 Surprisingly, all five were willing to pose for a picture before we headed back home in the rain.

 Devon and I had a leisurely walk in mind, but the kiddos wanted to RUN!

 We finally made it without getting too wet.

Later in the afternoon, Story, Kayden, Cadence and I baked cookies.

 Kayden liked using the mixer, but he didn't really get the concept of keeping it down in the bowl.

 In the evening, the girls decided to head outside and ride bikes.  Kassidy can't ride without training wheels yet, so Devon gave her some lessons. 

We all had a great time!

Big Day for Story Bell!

Today was Story's last day for Cyclosporine, her yucky medicine.  So, she got her NG tube out.  This morning she practiced taking her other meds in her mouth.  It has been a long time since she has done that!

Daddy gave her the last dose before we headed to clinic.

 Lyric wanted to be in the picture, but she forgot to look at the camera:-)

 We were all excited about the big day.

 This picture may show little more than you wanted to see, but I thinks it's good for us to remember what this sweet girl has been through.  It didn't really hurt when they took it out, but it did feel pretty weird.

 We got Ms Dara, our favorite clinic nurse, to pose for a picture after she took the tube out.

 Yea, no more tubie!

We were also able to drop two more meds today!  Story came home on 12 meds in December and now she is down to 1 during the week and 2 on the weekends!  AmAzInG!!!

Cadence - The Deep Thinker

Lyric and Cadence were playing a game on the computer today.  Devon and I were both watching them.  The premise of the game is to take your time machine to different time periods of a state park and see how life was lived at the time.  They decided to go to the pioneer era.  When they arrived something was flashing on their time machine.  When they clicked to find out what it was they were told the engine on their time machine was overheated and they would have to spend the winter in the pioneer era.  Cadence became really excited, "We are there for the winter!"  We all just looked at her, like 'So.'  She said, "If we are there for the winter it will be cold and snow and our engine can cool down!"  That girl is one smart cookie!

Member Night at the Zoo

The zoo had member night tonight, so we decided to check it out.  The girls rode the carousel.  Devon decided he wanted to go and tour the old house they have there and Lyric went with him.  I took Story and Cadence over to the jumpy houses they had set up.

For some reason, my camera was fogged up, but I had to include this picture because those two are just so sweet!

 The jumpy house was a huge obstacle course.

They did the obstacle course over and over again!

There was a big slide at the end that Cadence didn't do, but Story did it head first every time.

 

After the jumpy house the girls had a snack in the wagon while we waited on Daddy and Lyric to finish their tour.

 

Daddy took Story and Cadence to the playground while Lyric and I went to an animal show.  The show was all about ways the zoo enriches the lives of the animals by giving them things to play with and offering them special food.  Did you know opossums don't eat squash?

This bird could dance and

say 'hello', along with many other things.

Lyric and I both enjoyed the show and the whole family enjoyed member's night.

Music Lessons

We have all kinds of instruments around here for the girls to play.  We have guitars, a mandolin, a banjo, a violin, a trombone, a keyboard, harmonicas...  I'm sure I am missing something.  The girls play around with them often, but Devon and I decided it was time he started giving them lessons.

Lyric decided she wanted to play guitar.  So, I took the little girls to the library for story time while she had her first lesson with Daddy.

 They drew a diagram and talked about the different parts of the guitar.

 She seemed to enjoy her first lesson and she learned a lot!

 

Devon was going to do Story and Cadence separately, but they both decided they wanted to play the keyboard, so they are having their lesson together.

 For the first lesson they did some coloring and clapping while they talked about the notes.

 They did really well together.

We plan to do their lessons every week.  Hopefully, I will be able to report lots of progress!