signs of summer...

it's here...Summer has arrived! Here are a few photos to PROVE that summer is FINALLY here! 

 teacher gifts...end of school signals the beginning of summer!

 our summer bucket list (second annual...)

 arts and crafts hour at the withers household

 water carnival grande day parade...this year i was on the "past royalty" float

 my view from the float (i love my family!)

 father's day/grande day parade :)

 our first "official" bucket list item was the minnesota zoo... 

 how cute is this baby prairie dog?

 sophia and bobby with the giraffes...we were going to try and feed them, but they were "stuffed" by the time we arrived!

 at the farm - farm babies is a sign of summer

(right after this picture, we LOST sophia for about 15 minutes at the zoo...if you want to hear the entire full panicked-filled story, be sure to inquire. i do not believe we will forget those details EVER!)

 all is well again...phew!

bobby and i celebrating our anniversary...11 balloons for 11 years of marriage 

let the summer continue!

go, go, go jo!

wow! these past 2 weeks have definitely been a whirlwind! Between the end of the school year for Livia and me, a birthday, and a party to plan, we were BUSY. Livia had such a lovely birthday. Bobby and I surprised her with tickets to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and they surprised us with casting her in the play for the night! It was such a magical and memorable evening for all of us :)

 she had an eight crepe :)

 that's her "i'm so excited" face!

 wearing the traditional birthday hat

 it was a reading celebration day at school, so we all wore our red, white, and blue shirts for the occasion...even sophia!

 a little cake before the show!

 

 

while waiting for our food, we surprised livia with a gift - EARRINGS! livia had been asking if she could get her ears pierced for like EVER, and she finally proved to us that she could be responsible enough to do it. She was over the moon excited!

 as we waited for the show to begin, a crew member came to our table and presented us with a star, which means, livia was cast in the production for the evening. how exciting!

 intermission dessert

 livia's words when she arrived back after the play was, "I'm exhausted"...the measure of a great day!

next year will be hard to top!

she had a ball...

 livia celebrated her birthday with friends on sunday. She decided to have a soccer birthday party, since she loves playing soccer! She had a ball - pun intended ;) ...

 

ready to kick up some fun! 

 each friend left with a water bottle containing soccer momentos-

 (tatoos, pencil, eraser, soccer whistle, and SKOR bar) 

  

 livia's outside decorations also doubled as a pinata later  

 livia's friends: haley, avery, skylyn, piper, allison, and jillian

 

 one of the games we played was "name that jelly belly flavor"

 can you see them tasting each one and thinking about it...it was a fun activity! 

 writing down their answers

 ready for presents!

  

  the last good "whack" before everything came tumbling out

 haley

 allison

 piper

 skylyn

 avery

jillian

it was definitely a winning day!