Park-playing and cookie-making last weekend. What could be better? (Yes, EATING the cookies is better. That's right!)

There's a great regional park just across the street from our subdivision and we took a "nature walk" through it a couple of weeks ago. The girls had tons of fun picking up leaves and acorns and looking at bugs. They especially liked the black and brown fuzzy caterpillar in the picture above.

KINDERGARTEN!!!!!

Getting on the bus for the first time!
Here's the slightly weepy crowd (with Daddy taking the picture) that was assembled to see her off on her first day! She is SO grown-up now. She definitely loves school and talks about it constantly. She has already memorized what bus each kid in her class rides. That's our Alissa . . .

This is the sun setting over the path in our backyard. Despite all of the construction still going on, it's really pretty peaceful here.

Scott took the day off on his birthday. The girls and I went to Party America and bought "fun stuff" to celebrate! You can't let the big 3-5 go by without celebrating big time!

The Laurienzo cousins at Scott's birthday celebration. The girls adore babies. Ellie thinks she is SO big now. "I'm not a baby. I'm a BIG girl."

I love this picture of the girls and their cousin Michael. If you look closely you can see that Ellie's feet aren't touching the ground! The kids had so much fun playing together at Grandma Barb's house!

We just got back from one of our very few family vacations - a mini-trip to a lake cabin fairly nearby with our good friends, the Lundes. We had a super time as you can see from the pictures!

More pictures from our mini-vacation.

Papa Mickey's (Scott's Dad's) Retirement Party. We had a BLAST!!!

The Guest of Honor and his grandkids.

Alissa, the dancing machine (along with some other random little girl who ended up in all of our pictures).

Ellie "dancing" - running crazy really.

Ahhhh . . . .

Sleepy sisters in the hotel room hide-a-bed after the party. Yes, we let the girls stay up until 11:00 pm that night! Oh boy . . . But it was FUN!

I love this picture of Ellie. She just HAD to have a ponytail because her sister did. Look at how teeny tiny her little ponytail is! Can you even see it?

Look at us patriotic Laurienzos!

Nothing better than sitting on your new front porch in your jammies!

Or relaxing with your sister after a bath!

Cute little bikini sisters at Cleary Lake. This little beach is just a 10-minute bike ride from our new house!

Some fun pictures from Father's Day brunch.
Ellie has learned from her sister how to put olives on her fingers.
Ellie and Cousin Vinny.
The Laurienzo Cousins.
Daddy and his girls . . . well two of them anyway!

Here we are with our beautiful new goddaughter (and niece) Talia Grace Laurienzo.

This is Ellie enjoying the heck out of the Merry-Go-Round at the Mall of America. She throws SUCH a stink when it's time to get off.

Mom, Dad and Alissa at Preschool Graduation!! It'll be Kindergarten time in just 6 weeks . . .

Our baby is 2!!!! . . . . And she knows it!

Cousins and friends at the birthday party!

And . . . the Cake. (I should say, "And . . . the MESS!" We had to throw the outfit away!)