This Tuesday's "Ten".

1. Our new addition to the family has been quite successful so far. Both girls just go nuts whenever they are around him. The only real problem we have been having is that he thinks Dylan is one of his littermates. He wants to roll around on the ground with her and paw her and snip at her. Other than that, he is pretty mellow as far as puppies go. He likes to sleep a lot. He found this little area under our back steps, and has claimed it for his humble abode. It's actually a perfect spot for him, and how we don't need a doghouse!

2. We have had a super busy last week or two. It seems like we have been going nonstop, and our summer is just zipping by. We went to Kennewick, Wenatchee, Lake Chelan, Silver Mountain, and back home again over the course of 4 days! For those non-Washatonians, that's a lot of driving! We had a ton of fun at each visit - wish we could do more driving and visiting all summer long!

3. On Thursday, my friend Mary and her son Koren, came over from Wenatchee and we all participated in the Cherry Pickers Trot and Pit Spit. This is an annual event that I have always wanted to do with the idea of making a family tradition out of it. They host a "Tot Trot" for kids 5 and under and they each receive a ribbon at the finish line. I love the idea of introducing Holland to fun family events that includes good physical activity - like running! The course was a pretty hard little course -four hilly miles through the orchards and countryside. Good job, Mary!

4. The following morning, my same friend, Mary did a family photo shoot for us out in Jonathan's grandma's wheat fields, near Spangle, Washington. It was so much fun. You can click here to see some of our shots. I can't wait to blow some of them up and hang them on our walls!

5. My crazy relay race is coming right up, and I am still stressing out about it. So much that I had a dream about it last night. I dreamt that I went to the place where the race was to have a meeting with my team, and it turned out to be the actual race instead. I had the dates wrong in my calendar! I was not prepared at all. I didn't even have running clothes. I didn't have my change of clothes for each legs I am to run. I forgot my costume that I was suppose to wear, and I had my stroller with my purse and camera in it. No kids though - just the stroller. All of my teammates were there and they were very familiar with the course because they had been training on it. I was in tears, but the gun went off and I had to run - prepared or not!

6. Little Miss Dylan is starting to stand up by herself and take a few independent steps. (FINALLY). This only happens though when she is totally unaware of what she is doing! As soon as she looks around and figures out what just happened, she drops to all fours! I am thinking any, any day now!

7. Holland is very into sounding out words and writing them down. She will often label her pictures with the names of the objects. She is actually pretty good at it. Be on the lookout for some uploaded examples, and a funny story of her writing the f-word. (yikes)

8. Dylan is at that stage that if you say "no-no" to her, she will immediately stick out that bottom lip, make it quiver, and then she bursts into tears as if you just did the most terrible thing in the whole world!

9. Holland, my mom, and I are going to put a little fairy garden in our yard today. We have been going on walks each night with our doggie, and one of our neighbors has a fairy garden in their front yard. It is so cute. We'll share our pictures when we finish it.

10. My mom is here for about 4-5 weeks this summer. She is house sitting for a friend of ours. She just came over for coffee, and I have been ignoring her while I post this so I better go for now. Thank goodness I made it to ten!

Happy Tuesday!