Family Time

We had some visitors from Nebraska last weekend.  My dad, mom, grams and niece made the trip and stayed for a few days.  It's always nice to catch up and spend time just hanging out.  The kids loved having their cousin here and they played from sun up to sun down.  Where they get the energy, we'll never know!

Hanging out in the kitchen.

Playing Uno and messin' on the computer.  Grams likes to watch.

These two are so ornery together!!

Chloe and Maddie are painting in their dresses.  (They spend the majority of the weekend playing dress-up)  Love it!!

It's a serious game of Uno.

Grams keeps everyone in line. 

Lock and Load

Definitely exercising our Second Amendment rights with Cody's new birthday gift from Grandpa.

Of course, the girls had to give a go too.

Chloe, in typical Chloe fashion, got off ten shots in about 5 seconds. 

Minnesota Nice

Shortly after arriving in Nebraska for our short vacation, we headed north to Minnesota.  My dad, Cody, Samantha, Chloe and I were going to visit my grandparents.  It was wonderful to see them!!  They enjoyed seeing how much the kids have grown and we had a good time catching up.

On the way back to the motel, we stopped by Lake Benton to skip some rocks.  Something so simple can be a memory that lasts for years!

Grandpa showing them how to skip rocks.

Looking for the perfect rocks.

Cody giving it a try.

Girls are looking them over.

It was windy, but a good picture anyway.

They loved seeing all of the windmills.

Hundreds of them for as far as we could see.

Loose Tooth Whisperer

This morning as Samantha is getting ready for school she comes to me and tells me her tooth is bleeding.  She opens her mouth and sure enough...one of her loose teeth is really hanging and in desperate need of being pulled.  I know that she can't go to school like this.  It needs to be pulled, NOW!  I share the news with Samantha and she asks, "Mom, have you ever done this before?"  Reluctantly, I tell her that I haven't.  The pulling of teeth makes me feel sick to my stomach.  And, now I have to be the one to pull it!  She then says exactly what I was thinking, "Mom, I really wish Grandpa was here!"  Me too, kiddo!!!  Grandpa Sillman loves pulling the kids' teeth when they are flipping in the wind.  He is the Loose Tooth Whisperer!
We both took a deep breath and I plucked it right out.  I think we were both surprised at how simple it was.  However, it is something that I will never enjoy and I am going to desperately try to time our Nebraska visits around these loose teeth pullings. :)