July (Part 1)

Here it is the last day in July and I realize I haven't gotten anything up here from this month! We've had a fun and friendly month, with lots of visits from our Illini friends and family. So, lots more pics to come, but we'll go back to the beginning of the month and pick some favorites...

Matt and Melanie came down to visit us for the 4th of July (and what good hosts we were... sorry guys!) Camden LOVED having both of them here, as you can see here:

Camden eating dinner with Mel: (Camden has decided she loves corn so much that she eats it raw, before it is cooked! She'll just grab an ear and start chomping!)
This is us (Ben & Katie, Camden & Matt) trying to decide what to do after we found out the Lookouts game was sold out for July 3. Normally any other time in the season you can just walk up and sit anywhere... now we now - July 3 & 4th is a VERY popular game to go to! Next year we'll get tickets early...
That didn't stop Katie from being excited about the 4th!

And Camden's so excited because she's started to use the big girl potty! Her first time was on July 4th. We make a big deal out of it for her and she's excited to "be like Katie".


This is downtown Chattanooga on July 3. The girls ran around on the riverfront while we chased Camden and made sure she didn't run into the river or the traffic. Because that's something she might do!
Camden and Katie hanging out together, dressed patriotically!
And there's lots more to come from this month... hopefully I'll get it up before August is over! Happy rest of summer to you all...

Shake Your Booty!

Special times with special friends

We have been lucky enough to see our good friends the Burdens a few times during the last few weeks. They came up to see us one day and we got to go out on the boat with the kids. They all did a great job and had lots of fun hanging out together and swimming in the lake!


One of the kids' favorite things to do: have snacks on the boat!
Katie & Zander enjoying yummy goodies!
Camden, Zander, and Kaya: chillaxin! (Thanks for the great word, Duane!)
Camden and Kaya reading together in Camden's bed...
Then we got to go to their house and have fun in Atlanta!
Here are the kids (well, Camden, Zander & Kaya) playing in the backyard while Katie was out on her special date with Aunt Korisa.
Ben got a little bit of "son" time playing football with Zander!

But the most special treat for anyone was Katie's special date with Aunt Korisa. Here is their "before" shot... all Katie was told was that she was going to get to pick the colors for both of them!
Korisa took Katie to get manicures AND pedicures... and then went shoe shopping to show off their lovely toes! Here is their "after" picture:
And a close up of the finished polished nails and pretty shoes!
It was SUCH a special treat for Katie. She recently got a kids scrapbook that she was filling out, and one of the pages had a prompt like "what would be your perfect day" and she said quickly, "My day with Korisa!" She couldn't think of a better time. And, she's worn these shoes every day since she got them! Thank you for a wonderful time!