June

 I always am amazed at how much we get done in a month when I look through pictures for the blog...I also always think we should spend more time doing nothing next month...it doesn't usually happen, and that's ok too ;)

Justin and I celebrated 16 years of marriage this month and it was only fitting that I dusted off my tools and joined him for a day at work...how it all began :)

We've done a lot in 16 years of marriage...the best thing: ROSE :)

She graduated from elementary school and is now off to middle school. We've all come a long way from kindergarten drop-offs and I can't wait to see what she does in middle school. 

In the afternoon the 4th graders had a party including a dunk tank for the principal who was an awesome sport as every kid dunked him :)

    

We kept the party spirit going with a trip to Rita's to celebrate cousin Ellie's 5th birthday!

Rose made it to a WWII weekend and we might go again in another 15 years :) It was fun to be with friends and we all got a lot of steps in!

Rose actually had a few more days of school after her graduation, so here is her official last day of elementary picture and chalk board:

AND we celebrated with a BIG surprise: Rose got an Apple Watch :) Rose loves having her own number and we love being able to call her to bring us things :)

Then we started summer break. I haven't had a summer home with Rose since maternity leave, so it is very special to have this time with her between years of my nursing program. One of the things I hope to do with Rose this summer is some cooking/baking. Rose was a good sport and dug right into making homemade tortillas.

And we also made her favorite: cupcakes:

We had our first camping trip and went back to Ricketts Glen to hike more falls. We went down another trail and also went down to the bottom of the falls. We still have a couple more to see when we make it back. 

This captures how Rose feels about taking pictures with mom:

VS. how she takes pictures with dad:

We had the best site with lake access to take out the paddle boards. 

And we had lots of visitors including this pair of mallards. Pretty sure they are the first ever ducks we had visit us while camping. 

Rose asked to go to IKEA, so we did, and Rose loved the fridges that were shorter than her :)

AND it was the end of an era...Rose has outgrown *literally* her playhouse. Justin and I loved building this for her and we have so many memories of fun times, but it no longer gets used, so Rose helped take it down. 

Another summer fun plan Rose wanted to do was: Taco Tuesday at a local ice cream parlor. I will always say 'yes' to ice cream and they were just as yummy as they look.

Rose and I also have to do the regular stuff like grocery shopping, but with Rose even groceries are fun :)

A BIG summer bucket list goal for Rose was going to Hershey Park...and we did!!

Justin and Rose found the airplanes for the first ride. 

And we got on lots more! Some we loved like the water rides and others we will not repeat like the roller coasters. 

We even made it to the water park which Rose loved and was pretty fun. 

Rose loved the cheesesteaks at Chickie and Pete's so much for lunch that we had then again for dinner.

 

We went from opening to closing and were exhausted, but happy!

Justin and I made it through the day with the promise of a stop at Troegs on the way home ;)

We didn't rest long and the next morning headed out for a creek walk with the nature center. 

Rose has been helping Justin in the shop on some projects. 

We did get some relaxing in with a paddle and float. 

AND then off to another party. Those twins are now 3!! Babies grown up so fast, but lucky for Rose her aunts keep her in babies with two new little dudes arriving in a few months!

We also got another batch of foster kittens!! These 4 cuties came without names so Rose calls them: Midnight, Moon, Star, and Galaxy :)

And we ended the month with another cousin playdate at a favorite park with a stream.

Rose even caught a fish!!

May 2022

 

We started off the month with a trip to a local camp where Rose will go for a week this summer. She got to tour the camp and try out some of the activities she can do during her week of camp. 

With the weather warming up Rose is ready to get in any water possible. 

Rose loves taking Lily for walks in the local creek at a park

She loves it so much we did it again :)

Rose came home from school in February and asked if she could join Girls on the Run. She trained for a couple months with classmates and coaches along with learning about teamwork and leadership. 

Rose is the only one in this house to complete a 5k, we are so proud of her determination!

Afterwards she had to cool off!  

No worries, her grandparents will open their pool and she'll have plenty of water!

We've been enjoying nice evenings out on the deck playing Old Maid...when you play with Rose be aware cards may go missing!

Look at these faces....this captures them perfectly! But the memory I was trying to capture was a full week of Rose making us waffles for breakfast, YUM

My favorite people took me to my favorite brewery for Mother's Day :)

 Troegs! It was waaaaay busy, but we know to get there right when they open and get right in the food line ;)

We also had a furry houseguest for most of the month. While Justin's brother and family are in the process of moving we are helping out by cat sitting. Pippi is a a little shy and very hairy, but very sweet. 

Don't worry, our cats are still getting lots of snuggles and cuddles too...sometimes they even like them :)

We've made it to several other breweries too this month. Now that I'm done with school for the summer, we have our weekends back for fun :)

Rose doesn't mind breweries as long as Lego's are involved :)

After flights at the brewery we walked down the block for flights of ice cream :)

AND just the parents got to enjoy beer on another Sunday while Rose had some Nana time. 

Rose had also been learning the violin this year and played in the 4th grade orchestra. 

She received an award for her dedication to learning music. She plans to keep playing next year and also join band!

We ended the month with a trip to Virginia to visit cousins.

We always stop at this great park on the way with a zip line...

And a rest stop that has Caribou coffee for mom and a coin pusher for Rose :)

We spent Saturday on the lake and had an amazing time! We all fell off that float at some point :)

A highlight was meeting this new cutie! Rose's first cousin once removed...I had to google it! Whatever the connection, family is who you love and we love Paisley!