DuBar Dolls 5K

Yesterday was the DuBar Dolls 5K Walk/Run, and boy was it fun (and tiring)! It was so great to see so many people there, and lots of Lindells and their relatives. It was a beautiful day for the 5K. I walked it with Val, Noah (in stroller), Dawn, Sophie, Abby, Mira, and Amelia. We came in about 2nd to last, but really enjoyed ourselves. Took us about an hour to walk it. Here are a few of the photos I took. Add more if you have some!

Dawn is pinning Ryan's number to his shirt:

Michelle, Mira, and Amelia, ready for the race!

Mark and Glenda before the race. Mark was a great intersection marshall!:

Noah was ready to get the race going!

Mira and Abby managed to make friends with a dog during the race:

Here we are, nearly finished with the race. Just a couple more blocks to go!

Dawn and Nick after the race:

The kids had a great time after the race:

Looking forward to this race next year too!

Fun before bed

The other night, the girls were having fun hiding under their blanket before bed. Let's just say they got the crazy hair!


It's fun to see them having so much fun together. Of course, Amelia is still "the little sister" to Mira and tends to get in Mira's way more often than Mira likes, but I think they both like having a sister to play with all the time. I hope they are as close as my sister and I are!

And, believe it or not, I'm really happy to announce that both Mira and Amelia will eat broccoli! I'm thrilled since it's my favorite vegetable and we serve it a couple times a week. Glad Mira and Amelia take a little after me!


Hope you all are enjoying your summer so far. We have a busy Saturday with a 5k walk with lots of family to raise money for the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk, and then we are headed to Pine Island's Cheese Fest to spend the day with my brother and his family, and with other family members. Should be a fun day!

On Sunday, we might look for some bushes to plant around the house. The ones we bought from Walmart 3 years ago have all died. Hopefully we'll have better luck with Lowe's. I'll post photos of the lovely flowering bushes around our yard soon. My Tiger Lillies are about to bloom. They are gorgeous every year!

Lurking? Come out!

Recently I put a counter on my blog because I suspect people are reading it, even if they aren't posting. If you are one of those people, let me know! I have over 500 hits in a week, so I know there are people reading it (or at least checking often). If you read my blog, just post a comment this once so I know who you are. That is, if you want.

Mira's friend birthday party

This afternoon, Mira had her birthday party with her friends over today. She invited 6 friends and had a wonderful time! We played games, decorated their own cupcakes, and opened presents. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Mira, Amelia, neighbor Kelly:

Playing "musical dress-up". We put three items from Mira's dress-up trunk in the circle and played some music. The kids passed the items around the circle until the music stopped. If someone was holding an item when the music stopped, she had to put it on. Then we added three more items and started the music again. Isaac (wearing the red Arial wig in photo) ended up wearing quite a few items. The game was a hit!

They all had fun dancing to music:

They had a race with a cotton ball on a spoon:

One game that didn't work out: Keeping balloons up in the air. Balloons + popcorn ceiling = no good.

The kids all decorated their own cupcakes, and everyone got a candle to blow out!


Here are some of the girls decorating a school bag that Mira got. It had a side you color with markers on. It was special that all the party guests got to have a part in decorating it.

Sweet girls

We had photos taken of the girls last weekend. Here is one of the photos. They are growing so fast!

Hope you all are having a great summer!

First swim of the season

We pulled out Mira and Amelia's pool today and filled that up. Despite the cold water, it didn't stop Mira from splashing around in it. A few neighbor kids came over and enjoyed the morning at our house too! It was a wonderful Sunday.

Amelia, on the other hand, opted to clean the deck!


And I cleaned out my front flower bed this weekend, pulled some old bushes, and replaced them with a couple new bushes and some geraniums, plus new red mulch. Looks really nice!


And Mira got some spending money for losing her tooth. Apparently $5.00 is NOT the going rate, so I think the tooth fairy might have to reconsider her payout for lost teeth.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Mira lost a tooth!

With a loose tooth for a few weeks, we knew the day Mira wiggled it out was coming soon. Tonight, we were enjoying a dinner at Noodles when Mira announced her tooth had just come out! She was excited to have made it through an important rite of childhood. It's a little soon for us, since it means she's growing so fast!

We took Mira and Amelia to Chuck E. Cheese tonight to play the games and ride the rides (as part of Mira's birthday celebration). She and Amelia had a blast, all for just $5.00!

Mira whacked many a mole:

Another party and a loose tooth

Mira had another birthday party today at daycare. She got some pizza and cupcakes, and a present! Here are a couple photos from daycare today. The party kid gets a bouquet of balloons and the birthday flag hung outside.

This is Isaac. He's going to marry Mira, I guess. Hello, Son-in-law!

Mira has had a loose tooth for a few weeks now. It's getting much looser lately. It's her top center tooth on the left. We don't think it got loose on its own and that Mira might have bumped it somehow, so we are waiting for it to come out. Hello, Tooth Fairy!

Happy birthday, Mira!

Happy, happy birthday to Mira today! I can't believe my baby is 5 years old already. She's such a wonderful little girl and I can't get enough of her. Love her stories, love her sass, love her hugs. I love you so much, Mira. Happy day!

Mira enjoyed cupcakes at her grandma's today, and MORE cupcakes when she got home. She chose McDonald's for her birthday dinner, so we headed over there to eat Happy Meals. Then Mira had her last gymnastics class of the season. It was a busy evening!

Here's Mira blowing out the candles on her five mini-cupcakes.



Here are a couple of gymnastics photos too! She did such a great job!

New trees, new pool

Chris worked hard this weekend (with a little help from me and a neighbor) to plant our new evergreen trees. He put 13 new trees in along the fence line, and they look so nice! We are looking forward to when they grow together and give us a little privacy on that side. I love the color of the mulch.

And Mira had a blast this afternoon in her new pool. She bought it with the birthday money she got. Amelia didn't want to go near it yet, so we'll keep trying!

Amelia making her usual getaway:

Mira and Chris:

Another perfect day!

We have had the most beautiful weather this Memorial Day weekend. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. We are getting spoiled with this perfect weather. Today we went to Chris's dad's house in the later afternoon for dinner and a pontoon boat ride. Thanks for having us over, Randy and Terrie! Here are some photos of the day:

Mira showing off her new life jacket!



Amelia loved "driving" the pontoon with Poppa Randy:


Mira and Randy on the pontoon:


My girls on the boat (don't worry, we are still docked, so they don't have their life jackets on yet):


Chris on the pontoon:


Amelia in the convertible:

Mira in the convertible:

On the tree swing:

Sharing a moment with Poppa Randy:

Funny story:
Someone brought mini-cupcakes to the party and Mira had 3 right away. I told her she couldn't have any more, and then caught her with one later, and with another one after that! So 5 mini-cupcakes later, I told Mira she absolutely couldn't have any more that day. Later in the car on the way home, Mira said, "Mom, I just wanted you to know that I ate all those cupcakes because I was doing a taste test to see which one I liked the best." Smart girl. I could tell she had been working on an excuse in her mind. I asked her which one she liked best from her taste test and Mira said, "All of them!"

Hope you all have a fun and safe Memorial Day tomorrow!