Wendy's graduation

Aunt Wendy graduated with her license as an aesthetician (That's a skin care specialist--think facials-- for those who are like "a what?"). We had her party the night before the ceremony. Muddy decorated.

Aunt Kim and Uncle Tom came down for the festivities.

Aunt Amanda and Addie got to bond some too. I'm pretty sure this picture will be posted several places.

Onkteb and Guppy chose to color coordinate too.

Guppy was happy to enjoy the delicious barbecue, with Brian in the background.

Aunt Kim and Aunt Wendy

Graduation day! Aunt Wendy in her beautiful dress.

At the ceremony.

That's Wendy marching in!

When it was Wendy's turn to be called, Addie was so excited to wave to her as she crossed the stage.

Benjamin couldn't contain his excitement and decided to take a snooze on Aunt Amanda's arm. Meanwhile, Uncle Jeremy looks on, while Bub was deep in thought.

After she's a graduate!

Jeremy got to carry the dead-weight out.

Holding her diploma!

Bub and LouLou came down to celebrate Wendy's accomplishment too.

After the ceremony, we came back to our house for dessert.

Congrats to Wendy!! And if anyone needs waxing or a facial, give her a call!

Just to make you smile

"Addie feels like she's 7..."

when she dresses herself like this. I guess it's an accessory thing?
Thanks to Muddy for emailing me this. It made my day.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's

It's Addie and Ben at Winterthur's* Enchanted Garden.

They have several houses set up for fairies and gnomes and mini furniture.

And they have a gigantic birds nest.

Muddy took them there for the first time this week. They loved it. I think they'll be back in the near future.

*For anyone who is a Bachelorette fan, Ames took Ashley to Winterthur on his hometown date in last week's episode. It's about 10 minutes from our house.

That little businesswoman...

You know the one? The adorable six year old who happily sells snowcones and lemonade to all who are thirsty and hot? Yup that one. Well, with her new-found windfall of cash, she's taken to paying her brother to get her things. Imagine this, "Ben, if you get me chocolate milk, I'll give you a dollar." And then she does!! I'm pretty sure Brian and I have been getting her drinks her whole life and she's never once offered to pay us for them...although before she didn't necessarily have access to her hard-earned profits....

You know someone is tired when....

It looks like it's almost physically impossible to 1.)fall asleep this way and 2.) stay asleep in this position. But, fear not, Ben pulled it off last night successfully.

Look at the angle of his toes!! And the sign of a great day outside is filthy feet, right?

July is the time to start a business....

Two weekends ago, Addie decided it was time to start a fresh squeezed lemonade stand outside of our house. Over those two days, she did really well for herself and netted a little less than $20.

This past weekend we decided to step up our game, and sell not only lemonade but also snowcones. We have the ice shaving machine and bought four flavors of syrup. Well, this turned out to be the next best idea since sliced bread. People are so nostalgic about eating a snowcone! Most commented they haven't had one since they were really little. Some customers even asked if she would be open during the weekdays. We had to tell them it's a weekend gig only.

Addie and Ben had their fair share of snowcones too. You know, it's important to quality test the merchandise.

This is the morning of the 4th of July, clearly.

Just a cute one of our saleslady. She's really a great salesperson. People can't resist her. Her recommendation is the "American flag, which is blue raspberry and you can choose your red--either strawberry or cherry."

It was actually amusing because after the first day, people actually sought us out looking for them! We had one police officer stop the first day and get a snowcone. Then on Sunday we had another police officer stop and get one. Next thing we know two more officers show up asking for Addie, because the other one had radioed that Addie was selling snowcones! Too funny.

It's also been a great lesson in business for her. At first she wasn't so thrilled with the idea that she had to reimburse us for the initial goods. Now, she seems ok with the concept.

Oh and through this all, Ben is quite happy to sample the goods, but he tells us "come get me when there's a customer."