Kaitlynn Jane ... precious Kaity-Girl

Friday, June 29:  It's Kaity's birthday today. She is SIX. I love her so much. She is a delightful, precious little person. I am so thankful she was born and that she is MY granddaughter. I love her to pieces.

We celebrated Kaity's birthday over at the Beach House last weekend with gifts and fun crafts. I enjoyed every minute of it. Kaity's parents threw her an outside party tonight with a bounce house and grilled hot dogs AND the girls from her Readiness K class were all invited. How fun to meet these sweet little girls who are my Kaity's friends!

I love your smile, Kaity-Jane!

I took a few pictures at Kaity's party, but haven't downloaded them off my phone yet ... I will do that soon ...

So I found the pictures (in my phone) that I took the night of Kaity's party. Most of the party took place outside with a bouncy house, a slip 'n slide, hot dogs, etc.

These are just pictures of the gift opening. Kaity invited all 18 of the children in her Readiness Kindergarten class. Quite a few of them were able to come!

They brought such nice gifts for Kaity too! Plus, her Grandma and Grandpa Hand were there lending a hand as well.

 These little girls were so darling all gathered around to look at the gifts.

And I am not sure I have ever seen Diana look this happy ... at least not in a very long time. I was so glad to see it!

 Kaity was delighted with the whole thing!

 The party was a 100% success. Good job, Jes and Di. 

Good memories made for Kaitlynn Jane ... one very special and precious person.

These TWO at the ZOO

Thursday, June 28:  This was the first time I have taken baby Aidan to the zoo! I took big brother Brendan too, because Brendan LOVES the zoo ... and it was Thursday, our usual date night. Baby Aidan is 15 months now. He is SO adorable. Look how tiny he is! 

Tiny elfish Aidan ... and those shoes! Yikes. I could eat him alive.

Here we are in the penguin enclosure/house. Strollers are not allowed inside, so we set Aidan "free" to wander around.

He enjoyed himself very much! The penguins were a big hit, and so were the fish!

Look at his little body ... SO sweet.

It's "odd" to have both Aidan and Brendan together. I am so used to having Brendan one-on-one, and we always have a good time together. But now that baby Erin is here, and the parents need some rest, I have offered to take Aidan along on our adventures. I think this might only be temporary, until Brendan goes back to school. THEN I will have one-on-one separately with them, and sometimes together!

Here we are visiting the BUDGIES--one of Brendan's favorites. Aidan watched from afar ... not sure what to think! Fascinated but cautious ...

A pretty hen walked by and Aidan got to visit with her for awhile.

We finally went inside the bird house, me holding Aidan, so that he would not get into trouble in there with all the bird droppings, etc.

Here is Aidan trying to grab my camera ...

And here Aidan is KNOWING he is having his image snapped ...

There was one time when I had a bird on MY head and TWO on my back. Aidan was oblivious to the bird on his head!

I love these pictures! Good times!

Thank you for our zoo, Lord! Thank you for a grandma membership there!

Another sleepover with Brendan ...

Sunday into Monday, June 24/25:  I picked Brendan up at about 4pm Sunday afternoon. We just did quiet stuff at my house for a few hours on Sunday. Brendan brought his scooter, so we rode around my neighborhood for a little while, taking "Circle Dr." (which delights Brendan because it goes in a circle).

 We did sticker pictures ...

 We watched "Mickey and the Beanstalk" and ate popcorn in our new popcorn bowls (not pictured). We read some good stories at bedtime and we soundly sleeping by 10pm.

 Brendan slept in until 8:30 AM Monday morning! Good job, Brendan!

 I "found" an old drawing/sketch book I had about how to draw dinosaurs. Brendan and I decided to give it a try.

 Brendan wanted to connect our pictures together to make a poster, which we did (it is now hanging on my front door via dinosaur magnets).

 We had a really good time doing this together. I was very pleased to see how much Brendan enjoyed the drawing and coloring he was doing.

 Brendan built a nice layout with my wooden tracks ...

 And we also scootered around my neighborhood for awhile again ... Monday was a gorgeous day.

 It was so wonderful to have Brendan over, one on one. I so enjoy this beautiful boy!