Blakely's summer

Since I haven't been able to find the time to blog much (or to make it a priority) I am so behind.  I don't want to "catch up" but there are some things I want here.  So consider this a very large photo dump post!  

Blakely has had a very fun summer.  The summer started off with the obvious, Blakely becoming a big sister!  Once the craziness of the twins hospital stay settled down and we were all home together we tried to keep Blakely on her same routine for the most part.  She still went with my friend Juanet one day a week and then to MDO one day a week.  Normally she goes 2 but they were on a summer schedule and I was just happy they were open at all for the summer!  

Juanet keeps Blakely, another little boy and her granddaughter at the little boy's house.  Blakely loves it (and Juanet).  It might be because they have a trampoline.  

At the end of May we finished up dance.  Hallelujah.  I have a post written all about her recital but I CAN NOT seem to get the video to upload.  Surely soon I can get it to work.  Dance class was SO HARD to get to so I was happy for it to end.  But she always had a good time and she enjoyed the recital.  But mainly she was freaking adorable.  

She got to spend the night at Bob's house (my mother in law) by herself for the first time and she sent me this picture.  I love it.  

We took lots of walks at the beginning of the summer but then it got WAY to hot to take the babies outside.  

Blakely and I had a couple of special dates to get pedicures.  She is hooked!

We obviously threw in some baby snuggles :)

Lonnie and I took her to the local science museum.  They recently renovated for the first time since I was little so I was excited to go as well.  It was nice.  It's not large or anything but they do have some good exhibits.  Most of it she will like when she is a little older but she still had fun.  

We took a few days trips to Bob's house to swim in her pool.  

I signed her up for swim lessons.  Total freaking disaster.  Gah.  It was going so well but she accidentally stepped off the makeshift underwater "steps" during the 4th lesson and went right under.  She swam up and grabbed the ledge and didn't choke or anything but it scared the heck out of her and she wanted nothing to do with swim lessons after that.  I was mid dive when she popped back up and about to totally embarrass myself but seriously...whyyyy was the teacher not watching?  We kept going but ended up skipping the last one because I wasn't going to force her when she obviously wasn't ready.  She swims great with her puddle jumper on so we will just continue that until next year.  

Obviously before the incident...

Daddy brought home some surgery gear and Blakely thought it was so fun.  I thought I'd just get to throw it all away after an afternoon of fun but no.  That gown is still stuffed into her baskets in the living room.  

She wants to go to work with Lonnie so so bad.  I keep telling her that she has to be a little older and her response, "when I am four?"  Maybe a liiiiiitle bit older than that!

Blakely got to spend the night with my Dad for the first time.

We have eaten a lot of shaved ice!  Blakely would get a new flavor every time we went....I always stick with the same thing.  Piña colada with cream :)

We also watched a lot of movies.  Mary Poppins is my favorite movie of all time.  I love it.  I have been waiting for the day when Blakely and I can watch it together and it finally came.  She really enjoyed it and has asked to watch it again so I need to get on that.  

We kept her in gymnastics over the summer.  We go to the morning class and I love it but in the summer when all the kids are out of school it is a crazy place because they have a ton of cheer camps and competitive gymnastics teams that are practicing.  But she loves it so much and asks all the time if it is Thursday yet so she can go to gym so we continued going.  Thankfully I had Brenda on Thursday mornings to watch the babies so I got to take her by myself.  (Since then we have moved to a new gym and her class is at 4:00 so I have to take the babies...HARD)

About a month ago I found Blakely in the nursery doing this...

She always helps me take the monthly pictures of the babies and I just thought it was so cute that she set this up all by herself and got her little camera out to take pictures of the babies.  She even had a little toy in her other hand and was shaking it over Daisy and making funny baby noises!  It just shows how much she watches me and copies EVERYTHING that I do.  

Her cousins Collier and Syble came to town for a few days.  She LOVES them and I literally don't even have to parent when they are here.  Ha!  They all wanted to wear matching pajamas to bed and white t-shirts was all Lonnie and I could come up with!  

One day while they were here we (me and my mother in law) took all the kids (C, S, B and the twins) to ride go carts and bumper boats.  It was Blakely's first time for both and she had a good time.  She rode with Bob and I stayed with the babes.  It was HOTTTTT.  

Blakely and I went to the dentist.  I think this is her third time?  I can't really remember but she does really really good.  So proud of her for that.  I am sure there will be a time when she dreads it (I do) but for now it isn't a total disaster.  

Blakely got quite a bit of Sarah lovin'.  One day when she came over Blakely ran downstairs right before she got here to put on the dress she wore in Sarah's wedding in 2013.  It is obviously way too small but she wanted to wear it for her and it was really adorable.  

There has been a friend baby boom and Blakely came with us to the hospital to await one of the new babies and this is basically what happened the entire time.  Heart eyes.

Blakely sits in Lonnie's lap while he reads the newspaper every single day when he gets home from work.  She asks about different things in the paper and he shows her stuff, etc.  They also go get the newspaper off the driveway when he gets home unless Blakely brought it inside while he was at work.  Anyway, one day Lonnie was on the front page because they interviewed him about a new procedure at one of the local hospitals.  Blakely nearly FLIPPED when she saw his picture.  She was so excited!  She kept saying "they took a picture of Daddy and now it's on the paper!"  Ha!  He had no idea it was going to be on the front page so he was caught off guard by it and wasn't all that thrilled about it.  But seeing how excited Blakely was about it made him smile.  She could not wait until he got home so she could show him.  She jumped up and down and hugged him and just thought it was neat.  LOL.  

AAAAND we ended the summer by hitting the beach!  Since we couldn't do our yearly trip with my family in May we went in August.  I'll do a whole post on that soon but basically it was awesome.  

The main thread throughout the summer is that Blakely has become a HUGE Daddy's girl.  I mean she totally worships him.  She can't wait for him to get home every day and occasionally she cries when he leaves for work (I think we have that under control now...whew).  He is so good to her and they play and play and play.  They have always had a special bond but it seems to have grown even stronger since the twins were born.  I am so thankful to have a man that is such a good Daddy.  I knew he would be good but seeing it all happen now is just amazing and I am the luckiest.