A Big Accomplishment and Visitors Galore

The proud reader

We did it!  We did it!  Yippeee!  Last October Oliver joined the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten reading program at the library and at the end of June we read our 1000th book!  For eight months we wrote down the titles of all of the books we read together.  It didn't take as long as I though it would, but then again a typical day around here is full of reading. At a minimum we have two books before nap and two books before bedtime, and there are usually books sprinkled in throughout the day.  Oliver loves being read to and now loves to retell, or 'read', some of his favorite stories to us.  He was so excited to reach this goal, and so were we!  Henry is starting to get into the action too.  He'll sit and page through books and study the pictures, and occasionally taste them too.

July has started out to be full of fun visits from family and friends. We had a short but totally fun visit from Melissa and Mikayla and Aunt Gail and Uncle Bert.  The kids got busy playing right away and the time flew by too quickly.

Ollie and Mikayla

A few hours after they left our super duper friends Lisa and Vilas arrived to stay for a few days.  We got to show them around La Crosse and they got to spend some quality play time with the boys.  After Ollie and Henry went down at night we revived the ol' board game and video game tradition.  It was so fun having them here and we're happy they both made the journey.

Lisa and Vilas overlook the city

Play time with Henry

The day after Lisa and Vilas departed Jenny and Breanna arrived for a visit.  Bre and the boys played their hearts out and beat the heat with some sprinkler and pool time.  They were here for the Fourth of July holiday and we had some good friends over for a cookout to celebrate.  The heat drove us to eat inside but that didn't stop the menfolk from doing some serious grilling.  We usually love doing sparklers on the Fourth but this year we didn't want to chance starting a grass fire (see our very brown yard below).

Brian and David grill it up

Bre and Oliver cooling off

What a fun whirlwind week of guests it has been!  The days flew by and now we've arrived at a quiet weekend.  I couldn't help but share one last photo.  It won't be long and our boys may be taking their show on the road.  Look for them at a music venue near you! That's Mr. O on keyboard and Mr. H on vocals.  LOVE this brotherly jam session.

Making music together