Life's Little Blessings

So today I took Eva to the library again for a presentation that they were having on Predators of North America.  The place that came in was called Big Run Wolf Ranch.  They are a non-profit organization that is licensed through the federal government to have wild and domestic animals that are found only in North America.  Most of the animals that they have were rescues.  Once a month they do a family day/open house, were they are open to the public and you can go and see all the animals that they have on the ranch.  They also have other people come in that focus on other animals that the ranch doesn't have.  To find out more information go to there website at http://www.bigrunwoldranch.org/ . The pictures below are of the animals the they brought in to show the children, I took them with my camera. They also have a black bear named Kuma, a fawn named Chance, a cougar named Charlie, a lynx, twelve wolfs and more on the ranch Kirby the Skunk Wilson the Woodchuck Eva being goofy Sh

* Loves being outside playing * Loves going swimming and will throw a fit if she has to get out before she is ready * Always smiling and laughing * Shows a zest for life * Stilling working on the potty training but isn't showing that much interest in it * Loves looking at books and being read too *Loves coloring *Her vocabulary continues to grow and expand daily *Loves playing and being with her big sister Eva * Has her "Terrible Two" moments but doesn't like to be sent to bed when she starts carrying on I am so amazed how much Maggie is growing and becoming an individual.  She is very different than Eva and I am glad that she will be her own person.  Jim and I will be in big trouble when the girls get older and become interested in boys.

I took Eva to the pool while Maggie was taking her afternoon nap.  We met up with her friend Katie and a couple of Katie's friends and they had so much fun in the pool together.  They were playing tag in the pool and were letting Eva get them.  It was nice to see 3 10 year old girls play so fairly and nicely with a 4 year old girl.

Today I took Eva to the library because they were having a marionette company come and perform for the children preschool age and up.  I thought that it might be something fun for her and a break from her normal routine.  They performed a shorten version of Beauty and the Beast and it was fantastic.  Eva really enjoyed it, so next year we will be going to see it again.  I think next year they will be doing Rumpstillskin.  One thing I really enjoyed was at the end the puppeteer showed everyone how he changed the costume on the puppets and his vioce for the characters.  It was great.

Our 4th of July started off with Uncle Bob, Eva and Maggie all playing Disney Princess Memory.  It was hilerous and cute to watch Bob playing with his nieces and I couldn't resist taking some pictures of them. Our Independence Day BBQ was a huge success.  We had so much food and had a lot of leftovers.  We also had a great time with family and friends. Eva snuggling her Uncle Bob After all the festivies had mostly winded down, it was time for the 4th of July firework display.  I was so looking forward to this and was getting excited to see both the girls reactions to them. I knew Eva was going to be okay but wasn't sure how Maggie was going to take to them.  This was her 3rd July 4th but hasn't seen the fireworks yet.  Her first 4th of July, she was only 2 1/2 months old and last year she had slept through them, so this year I was even more determined to get her to seem them.  So when it was time to watch the fireworks, I went upstairs to get both the girls and only found

Yestreday the girls and I picked up Bob from his friend Ray's house and we really didn't have much planned because Bob had plans to go out with his wife, Karen and some of her friends.  Eva and Maggie both enjoyed goofing around with Bob and showing off their dress-up clothes to him.  They haven't seen Bob and Karen since Christmas so it was going to be a fun filled weekend.   The start of 3-day firework display in Lisle So today I took the girls to a new park called the Kingston park, while we waiting for Uncle Bob to come back to the house.  They both really enjoyed because there was 2 different playgrounds.  One for older kids and one for younger ones.  The had both regular and infant swings but the highlight for the girls was that there was a sandbox.  Was very surprised that Maggie loved playing in the sand. So around mid afternoon we went to Lisle's Eyes to the Skies Carnival and Festival.  It was so much fun, and the girls had a blast.  We were able to get the