Take me Out (to the Ball Game)

After work on Friday, we headed to the boat for a little buffet before going to Keaton's All-Star game in Harrison County. Libby thought that the wait in line was worth it once she saw the ice-cream bar!

So did her Poppa Ray!

At the game, Keaton slugged 2 home runs! Libby shared the blanket (and toys, suckers, popcorn and Grandma Jan's attention) with the Jewells. Mathew hit an awesome triple! Here Libby is cheering on her favorite All-Stars. Can you believe that her tank top from last year still fits? The boys went on the win the game and later, the tournament! Good Job FK!

We all scream for "ice-keem"

This evening, we decided to enjoy the beautiful evening and get some "choc-choc ice-keem" at Berry Twist. Gary rode his motorcycle and met us there after he had a short visit with his dad who was in town for a few days.

Check out those pig-tails! Doesn't she look like such a big girl?
Picking flowers for her momma & daddy. She was so proud of herself each time she brought one to us.

Ummm....all of that flower picking made Libby work up an appetite!

Momma's Little Helper

Over the past few weeks, Libby has picked up some great cooking skills! She has been helping Mema can and freeze strawberry & cherry jelly/jam! Mema said that she goes a great job helping "stir, stir, stir" while they wait for the jelly to thicken up. Mema got Libby a very cute baking set (complete with rolling pin and whisk to "stir, stir, stir") that she couldn't wait to test out as soon as we got home.

I enlisted her help to make our salads. I gave her two bowls and asked her to fill them up with the lettues...Done. I was trying so hard to act like I was doing something else and that I was not "micro-managing" her salad prepping skills. I only intervened once when I caught her pop a piece in her mouth, spit it out and then proceed to put it in a bowl. Look how hard she is thinking (with her tongue sticking out) as she counts out even amounts of croutons for Momma & Daddy.
After the sprinkle incident of '07 during Christmas Cookie Baking at Nonna's house, I decided not to let her have the bacon bits in the jar. I opted to put them in a cup and let her spoon them onto our salads.
Next came setting the table. After all of this work, I was sure she worked up quite an appetite. Libby ate only a few bites of her chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans....instead, she was too interested in eating our salads. I guess every chef needs to sample the dish! Perhaps next time she'll have to make herself one, too.

Finally, came the clean up. She was such a great helper this evening! I can only hope for many more evenings with an extra pair of hands in the kitchen and some of this Momma-Daughter bonding.

Water Bug

This weekend (even though I was on call), we decided to head on down to the lake for a little fun in the sun! This was only our second trip down this entire year, and the first time that we were able to get Libby out on the boat! What a difference a year makes! Wow...is this really the same little girl??
Libby loved everything about the boat! Helping her Daddy & Uunk-Kiss (Uncle Chris) drive, swimming, napping, riding, watching the boys, and of course eating.
Helping her Daddy drive this year...

Helping her Daddy drive last year...

Riding with Uncle Chris.

Swimming at the beach with Mommy & Daddy (it was just at the beach that the water was so muddy---all of the rest of the lake was beautiful this weekend...and the water was not too cold!)

What's Libby snacking on? Well, Gold Fish, of course!Snacking again! We had a great weekend! Maybe next time I won't have to spend most of it on the phone with the hospital!

Sliding into Summer

Gary was gone all weekend on a "guy's golf weekend" and I was on call, so Libby and I didn't get too far from home. Today, I filled up her pool while she was napping and as soon as she got up, we went outside to splash around. She is scared of the slide that came with the pool, but talked me into pulling her other plastic slide into it. She only went down it a few times before she decided it was too fast.
Momma is proud of Libby's little ponytail. Now if I could just talk her into leaving it alone...

Libby spent most of the pool-time climbing in and out and chasing after the dogs. She must have yelled, "Kee-yans, Meere!" (which translates to, "Killians, Come here") a thousand times. Finally I decided she just wanted a kiss!

There is no better way to end a hot afternoon in the pool than enjoying a Flavor-Ice watching Dora!

Dino-mite fun!

Our car said that it was 93 degrees when we got home this evening. Gary decided that there was not time like the present to pull out Libby's new dinosaur swimming pool. We got this awesome blow up pool last year at the end of the season at Target for $6.00. The best part is that we saw the exact same one at Target this year for $29.00. I love a good deal. Libby loved drinking the ice cold water from the hose. Does it get any better than that?
This pool has 2 big slides that goes into it (one is the dinosaur's head and other is the tail). We only inflated and installed one...and thought that Libby would love it! She went up and down it a few times with me helping her climb the stairs. I had Gary help her this time so I could take pictures. Let's just say that this time...
...was not as graceful as the other times. Like a good mother, I didn't try to save her from her head-first dive into the water. How could I pass up this prime Blog moment?
Welcome Summer!

Lindsay's Graduation

Lindsay (Gary's Cousin) graduated from FCHS on Sunday. She will be going to IU this fall, and we are so very proud of her! No matter where Mema is...Libby is not far behind! She got her chair and pulled it up close to her Mema! They are crazy about each other!All of the Banet second cousins (well, all except the newest tiny baby Ella who was not there). From left to right...Libby, Ally, Harrison, Will, Josie, Lindsay, Blane, Lauren & Evan. We took a million, and this is the best I could get--sorry that Will was not looking!

Mema with all of her babies. Josie's hair bow was a little too tall, but I didn't notice until after I took the picture. I am hoping that one of the other parents got a better angle!

Gary's sister, Angie, and I tried for about 5 minutes to get the little ones (Libby, Blane and Will) to sit still for long enough for one picture of all of them together...this was the best that I got! They are each just a few months apart...how on earth did you do it, Joni??

My baby girl.