Mo Strikes Again

To make a long story short, Mo sent gifts for the girls for Bri's birthday in July. However, Bri's mommy after peeking in the box couldn't wait till then.

Could you have waited if you had opened the box and seen these adorable babies wrapped in cellophane and tied with a bow?

She made these dolls for the girls. Are they not amazing. Mia's doll has brown eyes and Bri and Hadley's blue. Talk about an act of love. We are just so honored by the time and love that went into making these.

We had a party opening up all the gifts from Mo. And with Brianna around a party has to include dancing. Here are the girls dancing in one of their new dresses from Mo. Does Mo have style or what?

Lastly, if you have young kids you have to check out our new favorite children's books that Mo sent: "Knuffle Bunny" and "Knuffle Bunny Too". The cutest part is that the girls have started fake laughing in the same spots that Dan laughs when he reads them. They are great.

Mo, thanks again for all the love and spoiling.

Return Trip to Murray's Ice Cream

For Father's Day, Dan wanted to take a family trip to Murray's Ice Cream. It is only the best ice cream in town.

June 2009 - Father's Day

Remember this shot from 9 months ago - September 2008
Back to More Fun Pics from Today of the Girls Enjoying Their Ice Cream

Happy Father's Day

This is Dan's version of watching the girls. :)

Hadley's New Face

So Proud of Herself

Notice that everytime she makes it up one more step she looks at her daddy to see if he saw her. So cute!

More Fun Outside

Mei Mei's Here!!!

So Mei Mei came for a short visit last night. The girls as always were thrilled to see her.

Mia Splashing

Little Long Beach

Since the girls live in the middle of the country and have yet to see the beach, we thought we would bring a little bit of Long Beach to Kansas.

Butde and Papa just came for a little visit while on there way to a family reunion in Mississippi. So I (Elise) had the thought that while Papa was here of giving him a project. Afterall, I didn't want him to get bored. :)

I had been debating putting a sandbox in the backyard for about a month. I have tons of fond memories of playing in the sandbox with my sister Amaris. (I don't know where my sister Jaira was in those memories. But I digress. )

The reason for the debate, of course, is the mess of sand. How would I get three girls cleaned up and into the house without getting sand in the house. But the supporting argument was that there is no way I can take the girls to the park or the pool by myself so I need to make the backyard as fun as possible. Otherwise we all start to go stir crazy by being in the house all the time. And pushing the girls on the swing set is fun only so long.

Well, the sandbox started out simple. Just a litle 5'x5' box 12" inches deep with a bit of sand. That was the sandbox that Papa signed up to do before leaving California. By the time Papa arrived in Kansas the box was 8'Lx8'Wx18"H with a water feature. He took the news really really well though when I broke it to him.

I bought and modified a plan from off of the internet. Let me tell you this thing is built like Fort Knox. After numerous trips to home depot and Schutte's lumber yard, 3 days of carpentry work, digging twelve 18" post holes, transplanting 64 square feet of grass, burrying 100 feet of underground hose, shoveling and wheelbarrowing 4 tons of sand, lots of tylenol, and lots of stressing about how big and how much it cost, the sand box is done.

Was it worth the week of back breaking work and second mortgage on our house you might ask? Let me just answer it this way. I got to play outside in the yard for two hours this morning while the girls completely entertained themselves and Hadley napped. We only had 1 time out the entire time. WORTH EVERY PENNY!

Construction Photos:

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Butde and Papa's gift to Bri for her 2nd birthday (next month) was a special trip to Build-a-Bear. Bri was amazing. She walked right up to the bear she wanted, grabbed it off the shelf, and then pranced around the store looking for accessories. I'm afraid that I saw my future pass right before my eyes.

Mia wasn't quite as sure about the whole thing - other than the computer station. This was the second time Butde and Papa have taken her and she's yet to pick out a bear. We then took her to the Disney Store and she wanted nothing to do with that either. Oh well. We'll keep trying. She has, however, been fascinated with Bri's bear box. She can break it down and build it back together - our little mechanical genius. One day she'll proudly walk out of that store with her own....

Bri was "miss in charge" and might as well have been carrying a Gap bag behind her.

Butde and Papa are here!

Butde and Papa are here....which means:

• Elise has her project buddy (Papa) around. They're building a backyard sandbox fit for a queen. It may just bankrupt us. People will ask, "When did you build that beautiful sandbox?" And I will say, "Oh, during the depression."
• We get to eat at Mi Ranchito - a Deeble famfav.
• I may just have to wash a few less bibs.

It's been really fun to see the girls just love on them and figure out how to say their names ("Bu-ee" and "Papu").

my wife

So I have this friend. Let's call him "Frank." And "Frank" is a good man. He's an honorable man and kind. He's just not mechanical. Like me. This is why we're friends.

So "Frank" and I were talking on the phone Monday night. His daughter's birthday party is this Saturday, he said. All the 'n-laws were coming in for a party. And he was in charge of putting together his daughter's miniature kitchen set.


He was nervous about it and I was nervous for him. (I got even more nervous when my wife later showed me the online reviews for this play set - click here to sample a few.)


That's when the thought came to me: I should send my wife to take over the project. It could be our birthday gift to them and it could save their marriage.*** At dinner, I pitched the idea to Elise. She began to nod her head contemplatively and rocked one leg over the other. She was thinking and I could tell they were good thoughts.


This is who my wife is and it amazes me. Some Moms need to shop. Others need to have "girl time." My wife? She needs a project and power tools. Nothing brings her more alive. We finished dinner. She gave Hadley her bottle. We bathed the girls and put them down. She raced downstairs, hopped online and began to research the scope of the project.


Then, like my superhero, she opened her jumbo-sized diaper bag and tossed in her 18v DeWalt cordless drill and an assortment of other tools. She slung it over her shoulder, gave me a distracted kiss, and sped away in her minivan.



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Postscript: Just a few minutes ago, the phone rang. It was "Frank." I was surprised to hear from him because I thought he was "helping" Elise. I said, "What are you doing 'Frank?'
He said, "Well, your wife just told me that the job would go better if I actually didn't help."

I love my wife.













***I write this line for comedic purposes only and it is not meant to be taken literally (of course).