Rough week for this little chick. A week ago she got a mosquito bit right on her eye lid which looked like this the next morning...

 From my angle I had to look twice to see is she was even awake, her eye was swollen shut. She looked pretty goofy. We kept telling her she had a droopy eye, but when she told others about it she would say, "I have a drippy eye!" It was pretty cute. All back to normal after about 3-4 days. Then this happened...

Exactly one week after the mosquito bite, she gets stung in the lip by a HUGE bumble bee! Poor thing. We didn't even know those fuzzy things could sting, but now we know! It started off just with her lip being swollen, but after a few minutes the whole side of her face was swollen & she looked pretty goofy. Fortunately, she only cried for a short time & then we were able to distract her with ice cubes for the next 2 hours! Poor girl, the insects really seem to like her these days. Who wouldn't... she's super sweet right??!! Hopefully that's the end of our bug bites this year! xoxo

We had three dentist appointments all in one day this week! Marin has been having normal appointments {which include cleaning/x-rays/etc.} for quite some time now, but has never had Katie as her hygienist. It was a fun morning for her. She even got some new sealants on her big back molars! We thought there may have been a chance that they'd want to "wiggle" {pull} out a few of her teeth due to over crowding, but that discussion will come next appt. in February. Thank god, I hate the thought of it!!! She did great though, she's a perfect little patient!

 Margaux got to experience x-rays for the first time at this appointment. It was also her first official cleaning & the first time she walked away with they hygienist w/o mommy at her side!

Jen, her hygienist said she got a little teary as they walked away so when I went to check on her Jen suggested I stay back a bit & not let her know I was there. Here was my view from behind...

She did a great job for it being her first time, we were all so proud of her. She never did cry, but she definitely is our sensitive child {smile}. No cavities & afterwards she told me all about her x-rays and that the bubblegum "sparkles" aka fluoride that they put on her teeth didn't taste so good! She's too funny. We decided to take a photo after her appointment was finished... With balloon & treat bag in hand!

 Maeve had her first appointment without tears!! Yipeeee! Makes the entire dental appt. much less stressful when I don't have to hold down a crying child while they count/check out her teeth. She's become such a big girl. Although, our normally chatty little 2 year old did not say A WORD the entire time! haha She was absolutely silent, but very well behaved & cooperative which is what counts..right??!! Here is a {blurry iphone} photo of her with her balloon standing in front of Marin getting her teeth cleaned.

 One last goofy shot of Marin while still in her glasses in the chair! Look at those crooked bottom teeth. Hard to imagine her without her two middle top teeth. They are starting to wiggle, won't be long until she's missing those!!!

xoxo

SUPER fun day for the Brown's on Sunday. We shot our first commercial...with Aaron Rodgers!!!!
Well, Gary & the girls did the commercial...I was photographing a wedding & joined them later in the day for the photo shoot portion of the day. Our good friend Greg was producing the commercial {he has also become friends with Aaron over the past year or so} & asked our family to be a part of it. Little Maeve stayed with Grandma Jean for the day. Six hours of filming & picture taking would have been far too long for her!
Here is 3/5 of our family with with Aaron Rodgers...

The commercial & print ads were for Associated Bank. We are really excited to see the actual commercial on t.v. in the next few months & to start looking for our pics in print ads around the area. They may even be used for billboards! Gary & the girls {along with about 20 others} filmed the commercial and even had lunch with Aaron. Greg {the producer/friend} had us get a group of friends together as well, so we had lots of friends there with us posing as extras. Including my good friend Ashley posing with the girls here...

She said the girls were so well behaved during the commercial filming. I am proud of them. Ashley also took one last photo of Aaron & I once the filming/photos were all completed...

During the shoot he played catch with a bunch of the guys. Gary missed his catch & tipped the ball over the fence! lol He was that guy! He managed to jump the fence, get the ball & toss it back to Aaron. It was funny! The girls did great & I'm sure they will look adorable in the pics/commercial. Margaux did get to the point of tears during the commercial filming. Poor thing was just too hot. She {along with Gary & Marin} was posed amongst a group of people... they were all very close together in the blaring sun. She just got too hot & couldn't handle it. Hopefully they use one of the takes from earlier in the session while she & Gary were still in the scene!!! We'll all have to wait and see!
Such a fun experience for our family! I will definitely share any images I get from the session in the next few weeks! Go Pack Go!!!

This crazy little child is starting to take after her mommy! She LOVES to take pictures with her new camera from Aunt Katie. This particular night she got her baby all posed on the little couch {that I use for photos} and started snapping away. The whole time saying things like "Oh, that's a good one," "Say Cheese!" or "That picture is beautiful!" Just so funny!

I love that she's using a plastic storage container for a stool as well! Maybe there is some photography in her future!

 Not only does she love to take pictures, she also love to pose for pictures these days as well. Whenever she sees me with my camera she says, "You take a picture of me mommy?"

This is what I get when I start snapping...

She's definitely the crazy one around here these days & we LOVE it! Constant laughs to brighten our days! xoxo

You know the summer is flying by when you have to say goodbye to soccer already!! Last night both big girls had their last games. Such an awesome night for 3 hours of soccer. 70 and sunny!

Margaux played first... still has yet to score her first goal but she sure has fun running around the field with her great friends & daddy as the coach! Her favorite warm-up game is the one pictured at the bottom where all the girls hang in the goal while the coaches scatter the balls around the field...when they say "go" the girls turn around & run to find their ball to bring it back to the goal.

She's very proud of her first trophy too!

 Maeve just runs around for hours while we're at the soccer fields. She's got her little friends as well & she definitely knows who to find that usually carries the snacks! Go figure.. she's our little eater!

I took this photo right before Marin pulled the ball out from underneath Maeve & she fell to the ground laughing! Maeve can not wait to be able to play soccer as well, she loves to run around on the field and play with daddy & the girls.

 Marin's team had a later game which is perfect because then we get to watch them all play. {It's not as easy to run back & forth trying to balance time when both teams play at the same time!}

She's become much better at soccer this year, although she's still so timid. Hopefully we can teach her some aggression for next season!!! Here she is with her bff Isabelle who plays on a different team. They make a point to find each other every Tues/Thurs. to get some silly time in before or after their games. Isabelle just broke her elbow a week ago, so she's become team cheerleader!

Here are the girls again, along with Marin & her friend Addie with their trophies as well.

Marin's favorite game is soccer "tag" when the "it" person gets the ball away from another player they become frozen. To unfreeze a player, another player must dribble their ball through the frozen players legs. It's fun to watch them all wait to be unfrozen & yell "come get me!"

Although soccer has made our summer nights a bit hectic at times, the girls will miss it. I am selfishly glad it's over so we can have some down time during the week & get some other things in before school starts in just over a month!!! Starting tonight.... Farmers Market!

4th of July photos....finally! It's been a busy week. We left the cottage on Saturday after being there the entire week. The weather was perfect & we had an amazingly fun time...although Marin woke Sunday morning with a fever & has had a fever ever since!!! 11 days now. Today has been her best day, but she's still running a low-grade fever. Hot little lady who has been 100% normal the entire time. So odd!

But we had yet another great 4th of July with family. Here are the girls on my cousin Addy's little Razor bike. They each took a turn sitting on the bike for a photo. At one point Marin was sitting on it & pressed something and she took off! Gary just happened to see her & got there just as she was crashing into a big rock. Geez!

 Family photo in our red, white & blue.

 On the boat with the ladies...smile Maeve!!

 I love any shots of the girls from behind. They are just so cute from every angle!! Here they are taking in the scenery on the pontoon ride.

 The big girls even got to spend a night with their good friends Karis & Karina. They were thrilled to spend the night in their large camper. Their cottage is just a mile away so we spent lots of time going back & forth to see them. Makes the week a bit easier when they can sneak in friend time too!!

A few random shots of us all. Gary was so proud to wear his "This Guy Loves America" shirt on the 4th. Along with my aunt/uncle/cousins who's place we crashed for the week, Katie & Mike were there and so were my mom & dad. Lots of good quality family time spend relaxing in the sun, boating & EATING like crazy!!!

 On Saturday morning we packed up & drove home for a few hours before Gary and I re-packed and went back up north {to a new location} with our friends for a night without our kids. Such a fun time! Shanna, Mick & Brody have already headed back to Australia which always is hard. We had such a great visit with them for 2.5 weeks!

Now we're just trying to stay cool, it's going to be pretty hot this week. Swim lessons, art projects & lots of photo sessions. Hopefully we'll find time to make it back up north before fall arrives!

.

Our Australian friends are here visiting. We love seeing them during their twice a year visits. This time the visit is a bit shorter than their usual month long visits, but we're getting lots of time with them. Maeve especially loves her little pal Brody. They are SO cute together. Exactly one month apart & definitely two peas in a pod. How cute are they??!!

 Marin is obsessed with Shanna's parents pool. It's a super nice in-ground pool with a diving board which makes is THE.BEST.EVER in Marin's mind. Shan's husband Mick is always willing to play cool water games in the pool with her which also makes it super fun. She's been begging me to go to their pool every day since they arrived. She dives off the diving board, swims the pool to the edge & gets out to do it again for hours!!! Here she is about to dive through the noodle...

Margaux isn't quite the fish Marin is but she's also a big fan of the pool. She's been working on blowing bubbles & her kicks that her swim teachers have taught her. She only lasts so long before she's hungry & freezing :)

 Marin with Brody's goggles on about to dive under to fetch the cars for Brody. She's gotten pretty good!

 Out of the pool & having some ipad time at our house. We wish they could stay forever...and will be sad when they leave as usual. For now we'll continue to enjoy them for one more week!!

 We've been counting the sleeps until our annual 4th of July week up north. The girls are so excited...LOTS of photos to come once we return!! xoxo

Finally, a week and a half late...here are Maeve's birthday pictures. Here is how her day started...It's my party & I'll cry...

 She was so sad that she couldn't go outside that she dropped down right in front of the door & threw this massive fit! Welcome to the terrible 2's!!! haha

And here are her birthday treats. Elmo fruit tray, Elmo cake/cupcakes & LOTS of Elmo decorations too! I love her cute face in the picture where she's trying to look like Elmo! So cute!

 And here she is with some presents that she got from Great Grandma. An Elmo roll-along luggage bag & a ladybug rain coat that she absolutely loved! She also got a Fisher Price grill, some Minnie Mouse Bow-tique toys, a camera, a bubble machine & much more! So many presents as always.

 Birthday girl with mommy & daddy...

Still can't believe she's TWO! She's finally responding correctly when people ask her how old she is...she responds "two-ah." Pretty cute! She's also still talking about her birthday a week & a half later, she had so much fun! We're counting down the sleeps until next week & the 4th of July already! The summer is 1/3 over??!!! Looking forward to some time up north with the kiddos! xoxo

Happy Belated Father's Day to the best man on earth!

I can't believe I let this one slide for this long! Such a crazy weekend with Maeve's {multiple} birthday celebrations & what not. Better late than never, right??!!

We love him so very much & our girls are beyond lucky to have him as their daddy! I think we made him feel pretty darn special...cards, daddy surveys, award ribbons {pictured below} and fantastic presents. Happy Father's day to you GB! We love you!!!!! oh, and Maeve loves you too, even though it may not look like it in the photo above! haha

Happy Birthday to our tiny little chick Maevey!!!

How can these kids keep growing sooooo fast? They need to slow it down for mommy's sake. Where are my babies???  We are so excited to celebrate with her {elmo style} all weekend. Her excitement this morning is just adorable. She's been singing Happy Birthday to herself all morning & is just bouncing off the walls! Here she is in a few shots wearing her birthday dress...

It was so fun to capture her in the dress. She's been asking about her birthday since we celebrated Marin's two weeks ago. I have so many fun shots of her in this adorable dress. How can you not smile when you see this cute face??!!

She is such a silly little girl...

 She started her day with a donut on the special plate & we'll continue celebrating @ my aunt & uncles tonight after a father's day mass for my grandpa. The big celebration happens tomorrow when we decorate with everything Elmo & have all our family over. I look forward to her face when she sees all the decorations. {Photos to come of course!}

We love you so much Maeve. You bring many laughs/smiles to us all each & every day. 

xoxo

Now the zoo pics from our trip to Michigan. Such an amazing time/experience. The animals are so close it's a bit scary, but still pretty amazing to see. Below the chicks & Gary are feeding/interacting with a baby baboon. I loved how Maeve kept looking at him saying "awww, baby is so cute!" She really enjoyed this part of the trip.

Marin loved the "zorse" half zebra, half horse. After all the horses in all the movies they watch, I think it was fun for them to see a horse so close. The next photos are Margaux when she fed the bears giant marshmallows. It was so funny because you had to throw them over a pretty tall fence to get it to the bears. She tried so many times but couldn't quite get it over the fence. She thought it was soooo funny! I think Margaux enjoyed the trip but she was by far the most hesitant of the three. It was cute to see her watch from a distance. I totally understood her feelings, the animals are HUGE and very close. We let her know that we wouldn't let any of them hurt her.

This was Marin's favorite by far, the baby wolf. She is so proud of this photo & could not wait to print it to share with her friends at school. He was such a fuzzy, soft little thing. Maeve kept calling it a puppy, which he did in fact seem like a nice little puppy. Marin got to hold this little guy twice!

Then there was Lewie the chimp. He is 3 years old and apparently VERY strong. The owner of the zoo says he can lift 200lbs already. Therefore, the girls were not able to get too close to him...only the adults. Gary & I had so much fun watching & interacting with him. {The girls stood back & laughed pretty hard!} He esp. liked Gary & had a great time giving him high-fives. I just love these photos!

Maeve is a lion fan. Must be all the Lion King she's been watching. In the hours before we got to the zoo, she kept saying that she wanted to see the "big lions." Here she is standing at the lion cage with the female in the background behind her.

Chimp Lewie & baby baboon pics that are too cute not to share!

Poor Maeve's little legs got oh so tired. Mike happily scooper her up & gave her a ride through the zoo. She was very happy for that!!!

And a few lion/tiger pics as well. I think we'll be visiting this zoo again next year. The kids and adults had a fun time. We look forward to seeing new babies next year too.

We had such a great week/weekend celebrating Marin's birthday with our family, friends, my sister & Mike. Here she is the morning of her birthday with her usual, a birthday cinnamon roll! Then also with her "It's My Party" birthday shirt. I couldn't help myself from singing "It's my party & I'll cry if I want to..." all day long. She had no idea what I was talking about but it was sure fun!

 Just before we left for soccer she got to open a present from her dear friend Keira. Totally made her day... high heeled shoes! She could not wait to put them on. She also wanted the Birthday Bear from her classroom in the photo. We got to keep him over night.

 Cake batter dip with animal crackers for her treat at school, then purple cupcakes with soccer balls on top for her soccer treat. Needless to say, we were all full of sugar by 7pm!

 This is her birthday poster that the students in her classroom made for her. I love that they described her as having sparkling eyes! So sweet! They apparently loved her birthday treat as well!

 After soccer she got to open some more presents from us. A bike/scooter helmet, tons of clothes, a parachute, new shoes & of course a new bikini that she HAD to put on right away. Along with the bikini came the new heeled shoes as well. We are in for it with this one in 10 years!

These last pics are of Marin with her Toy Story cookie cake. With all the treats we had on her actual birthday, we decided to bring this one up north for the weekend treat. We spent the weekend celebrating with my sister & Mike at his place. It was also his birthday. We had so much fun playing games, watching movies & we went to a new zoo as well. {Those pictures will come in the next post!} I would say Marin had a rather enjoyable birthday week/weekend. We have so many new family memories. I just can not believe she's SIX! Happy Birthday {again} Marin Jean. We love you!