Visiting Armando and Adele

We went to Allen to visit Will's best friend Armando and his sister Adele.  They leave the country for the summer - spending June in Kazakhstan and July and part of August in Sicily - so this was our last visit until August or September!  (To see how Will has grown, here are some pictures of the day after the Ioppolos left last year.)

Will and Armando have been best friends for over 2 years now.  They just get along so well.  We stayed for 4 or 5 hours and the kids never fought! No arguments, no needing us to help them negotiate.  They just seem to get each other.  Katie and Adele also play really well together and they LOVED jumping on the trampoline.  We always have a great time visiting the Ioppolos! 

Armando and Merkie, his new guinea pig

Looking for rolly pollies

 

The kids hit the rolly polly jackpot!  It was amazing.  Armando and Will collected as many as they could find!

Armando was so proud to hold his first rolly polly!

Showing off their bellys!

Katie gets some air

The Pool is Open!

It's been a year since the pool opened last year, and what a difference a year makes!  I love looking back at Katie a year ago.  I thought she had tons of hair then!  She has really grown up so much in a year.

I just love going to the pool with these two.  Will and Chad spend most of the time in the big pool while Katie and I hang out in the baby pool and splash park area.  She has a blast and they never want to go home when it's time.  I think we were the last people there on Monday evening...  even in the pictures there are many empty chairs and no people around! 

Dinner Time!

First Pacifier Purchase

I took Katie shopping with me one day.  We popped into a kid's clothing store, and before I knew it Katie had opened a Wubanub pacifier and had it in her mouth.  Neither Katie nor Will ever took a pacifier, so this was a first!  So, we are now the new owners of a pacifier.

After Will and Katie thoroughly enjoyed crawling around the house acting like babies with pacifiers, Katie decided the paci was for her baby.  It now resides in her diaper bag, so when we take baby for walks, we stop often to feed/change/shush/sing to/snuggle/ and now offer a pacifier to baby.  It is so sweet to see these natural maternal instincts.

Teaching baby to walk

Giving the baby the paci

Poor baby had a terrible case of diaper rash - on her head.  Katie applied enough diaper rash cream to last this baby a life time!

 

Kerr Visit

My parents came to town for a visit, and we all had a fantastic time.  We went to one of the parks for most of Sunday morning.  Will asked Granddad to go with him while he rode his big wheel all around, so I'm pretty sure my dad got a workout.  The kids had a great time climbing, playing, running, sliding and playing with a bunch of balls that someone brought to the big field. 

My sweet smiling nephew Andrew

 

Trying on Chad's shoes

On the run

Lovey and Katie feeding the fish

Katie loves to slide with Chad

She loves to kick and play catch

Andrew just loved these balls!  He played and rolled in them for forever... smiling and laughing the whole time!

 

Saturdays at the Park

We spend a lot of time at the nearby parks.  I mean, a lot of time.  Sometimes two trips a day!  There are so many parks to try, so we love going to different ones all the time.  Will usually needs to bring his Big Wheel (which is has actually worn out the literal big wheel - it has a big hole!) and Katie brings her tricycle, scooter or a stroller for her babies.  It is always fun to see their imaginations at work.  Will showed me his garden where he is growing strawberries, the forest where the wild animals live, and his "house" for when they play house with his friends.  It's amazing what all he can invent!