and then she packed up my heart and headed back to arizona

my sister was here for the month of july. she drove all the way from tucson, az with four kids, one of them nursing...yeah.

with the exception of the week they stayed with us, the kids and i all but moved into my mom's house. we spent as much time as we could with them. i only have one sister and we're 17 months apart. she is my favorite and i couldn't get enough of her and those sweet kids. aren't sisters the best?!

they were here for: 
the fourth of july and papa's annual water fight
lots of swimming and runs to the snow cone shack
pedicures
popsicles
picnics at the park
slip-n-slide
stinkin' hot sunday walks by the river
the wastewater treatment plant. uh. it's actually cool, and only mildly smelly.
a backyard movie night and my 30th birthday
lots of tinker toy and lego-ing
sooo much pretend school. that ella is a dream with the younger kids.
hand made ice cream in a bag
feathers and hairdos
the zoo and carousel
a couple trips to the mcdonalds play land. 6 and sometimes 8 kids most of which were 3 and under...duh. mama needs a break sometimes.
family pictures
and a sweet baby blessing

they were here just long enough for me to forget what my days were like before them...
and i cried when the van drove away.

i hate it. it's the worst. it can shove it.
but at least we have july 2012, we'll always have july 2012.

waiting for the peterson van

alisa, ella, owen and liam

the newest grand baby-lila jane

pizza at the park

this family and their eyelashes...i die.

water fighting

serious about popsicles around here.

lots of late nights and short naps taking their toll.

slippin- n-slidin

andrew came the last week and we took some pretty cute family pictures

my brother nate and his family moved here the last week the petersons were here. with popsicles as bribery we got a photo of all the grandkids in one place at the same time. if you only knew the victory that is this picture.