Happy Birthday, Alena!

The big girl turned 2 today! She spent a fun day hanging out with Daddy. When he asked if she felt older, she nodded. Now that she is two she is getting good at telling stories. Her stories are usually about falling down and getting band-aids, and they are mostly mimed with a few words thrown in.

So happy to be two!

Alena enjoys her free birthday meal from the Maid-Rite. That is bound to make Grandpa Steve proud.

Taking care of Jones

Owning kitties can be a lot of work. They need to be fed, brushed, and hugged often.

Bike ride

Alena has a new bike seat that sits on the back of Mom's bike. We have Daddy do the peddling because he is so good at it. We went shopping for helmets and got this cool one that has ducks on it. Alena gets fed up with the helmet pretty quickly, but tough luck kid--you are wearing it! Beside the injustice of the helmet, Alena loves riding in her seat--especially when Daddy goes fast!

Owls!

When Great-Grandpa Jensen found out how much Alena loves owls, he brought over three for her to have. Great-Grandma also loved owls!

This one is very wise

He eats rocks, even though most owls prefer mice

Alena cleared all of the other animals off of the bunk beds to make room for this little owl's nap. Apparently even the mattress took up too much space.

Out after dark

I heard on the news last night that the space station was going to be visible at 8:16. We told Alena that after her bath she would put on our pajamas and go outside to see it. She was very excited! We saw not only the space station, but also a bat. Unfortunately, we didn't hear any owls. Alena is obsessed with owls right now. She is always hooting and when she goes down for an afternoon nap she points out the window and says "shh" because she knows that owls sleep during the day. Where do they sleep? Trees.

Milk beard

Alena had a busy weekend! Thursday we went to a band in the park, Friday she played with Maren, Saturday she helped celebrate Mimi's 80th birthday with a surprise party, and Saturday night she stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. All of this left her so tired that she fell asleep in her stroller on the way to the park Sunday evening. Monday: she is taking an extended nap to recover.

Family time

Aunt Julianne came all of the way from Denver for a visit, leaving Uncle Sam safe at home to tend to the zucchini plants. Lily and Finn came down for a visit with their mom and dad as well. Alena worked hard on getting Finn to use proper tiptoe walking technique--he was doing pretty well by the end of the trip. Keep practicing, Finn!

Several of us took part in a Wiggles dance party

Cooking beans with Aunt Julie

Alena showing Grandma Dee how to play with shells

Lily flying a kite

Finn relaxing with Grandpa Ed

Corn on the cob

Alena has been enjoying corn on the cob this summer. She usually eats at least one ear while we are still shucking it and then another one after it is cooked. She eats every kernel off of the ear. She must take after Great Grandpa Harold.

She climbed the slide and went down it while eating an ear of corn

Kitty pillow

Alena and Jones relaxing while watching The Wiggles. I just bought a couple of Wiggles videos on ebay. As Ben would tell you, I was not cut out for it. Bidding is much too stressful for me! I will have to buy my dvds on Amazon in the future.

At the car wash

Alena even has her own special sponge for washing cars. She picked this orange one because it matched her swim suit.

Last day for swim lessons

Alena and Brielle had their last swim lesson today and they have the certificates to prove it! Their teacher even gave each of them a ball to take home and remember the fun that they had. We celebrated by having a picnic at the park and visiting the farm. Kaelyn even joined in on the fun at the park.

Chasing bubbles--they must have popped them all.

This is what happens when you put Brad in charge--dangerous tricks!

Balloon glow

The freedom festival balloon glow is held annually just across the street. I always wanted to go but every year there has been some reason that I couldn't. This was going to be the year, no matter what! As luck would have it, it was a perfect night to spend outside. Maren and her parents came out with us and even with the combination of the music, balloons, sugar and late hour both girls were very well-behaved.

The only picture I have of them looking the same direction! This is right when the first balloon went up.

Alena enjoyed a raspberry smoothie. She had to have gotten an ice cream headache at the pace she drank it, but she worked through the pain.

Down close to where all of the action was.

The balloons are glowing! The one in front was unfortunately the worst glower of all.

Yummy soup

Alena is known for using unconventional ingredients in her soup. Golf balls frequently are on the menu. No matter what, the soup is always hot.

Totally 80s

Off the shoulder shirts and teased hair is back according to "Baby Fashion" magazine.

Eating and cooking

Alena has been doing a lot of eating and cooking lately (as usual.) She is quite the foodie. Last night we went to an Indian restaurant and she had curry for the first time. She loved it--almost as much as the homemade ice cream with black raspberries that we ate on Saturday!

Preparing a soup in her kitchen. Watch out, it's hot!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

You are the best dad in the world! Let's play!

For Julianne

Ruby likes to take up as much room as possible when relaxing.

Playing in the rain

Alena loves playing with the hose and filling up the watering can so she can water the flowers. Monday night she wanted to water flowers but I told her it had been raining so much that the flowers didn't need water. We decided to go for a walk with Daddy instead. Two blocks from home it started raining. It was a warm night so we decided to play in the rain for awhile.

Taking shelter under the garage roof. See how well the grass has come in?

Swimming lessons

Alena had her first swimming lesson yesterday. They covered many topics on their first lesson: walking in water after a ball, splashing, kicking, blowing bubbles, floating, and putting their heads under water. Alena loved the pool! Her favorite part was chasing the ball and blowing bubbles (Daddy blowing bubbles, that is. She would blow, and when Daddy put her face towards the water she would open her mouth and take a drink.)

Lessons are over, but Alena heads back into the water.

Proper blowing technique

Brielle is taking lessons, too. Here they are discussing the mechanics of splashing.

So serious

Alena is pretty serious a lot of the time, but she also likes to laugh and have fun. She laughs the most when Daddy is doing silly things, when she is being chased around the yard, or when she is told to stop doing something dangerous or destructive. It is hard to get a picture of her smiling face during those times so I set the goal the other morning to get a picture of her looking at the camera and looking happy. Easier said than done. She played in this laundry basket for nearly an hour that morning with only a brush, a blanket, and a ball for toys.

So serious!

Hanging out with cousins

Everyone likes to go for rides in the side by side.

Cooling off with wacky wildflower

Playing in the new sandbox. It is Alena's new love.

Brushing Tillie's hair

Looking good!