July!

I am on a roll! I would like to be caught up and ready to go for August...since it's currently August. Our July 4th was great. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday, hands down. We began our morning with a pancake breakfast at the church; we gathered together with friends for a fun afternoon of laughing and eating; we headed downtown once again for fireworks! The Washington Monument is still under construction because of the 2011 earthquake (hence the scaffolding).

The fireworks were amazing, just like last year.

We spent much needed time at the pool.

And when you go to the pool in the morning, this is what happens around 3-4pm.

We met up with the Good family in Gettysburg for some sightseeing. MAN that day was hot! But Gettysburg is always fun.

We had the Wangberg kids over our house so Heather could continue packing. The girls liked having some "older brothers"!

We went to Chick-fil-a for Cow Appreciation Day. I was so surprised by how many people, including adults, dressed up for the occasion! We'll go back next year for sure.

After a delicious lunch, we headed over to the library.

We went to our first Lowe's building day (thanks Lois!) and it was a success. The girls were so proud of themselves for building their Pizza Planet cars. I thought they turned out pretty well ;)

The biggest and most exciting part of July was Uncle John and Aunt Hillary coming to visit us. We did A TON during the week they were here. First stop from the airport was a Café Rio dinner, followed by dessert from Georgetown Cupcakes. A-mazing doesn't even begin to describe these desserts...

The next full day was DC day--we walked all over the National Mall. Of course it was ridiculously hot that day, but we survived! Prepare yourself for plenty of pictures :) Washington Monument

White House

National Archives

Sculpture Gardens and fountain

Capitol Building

Air and Space Museum. Here we went to the Lockheed Martin IMAX theater and watched a movie about the Hubble telescope. Fascinating stuff.

Smithsonian Castle

WWII Memorial

Lincoln Memorial. We took a break from the heat here; there was even a sprinkler which the girls ran through.

MLK Memorial

Jefferson Memorial. If we weren't so exhausted, we would've checked it out. (It's my favorite monument!)

We wanted John and Hillary to have the Jersey experience, so we headed up to North Wildwood for the weekend. First was breakfast at Duffer's, followed by some games at the arcade.

Of course the beach was a must!

Springer's was also another must on our list. Aunt Katie had a "sprinkle cake" made especially for Miss Cate's birthday and it was incredible. Strawberry and blueberry cheesecake in the middle--Cate loved it!

Although it was a tad overcast, we were back at the beach after a Beach Slam breakfast at Pompeo's.

It's a good thing we did come back, because Santa was at the beach for a Christmas in July celebration!

I think of the girls' favorite parts of the weekend was the boardwalk. We took them on the rides for the first time before dinner at the Ravioli House. They. Were. In. Heaven. It was so much fun to watch them light up with excitement.

Their faces were priceless. They were fearless. They could do anything!

Later that night, the boys had fun with a 3-point shooting contest on the Wild Wheels Pier.

Thank goodness for Sunday (a day of rest ;D). On Monday, their last day with us, we stopped for some South Street steaks in Bethesda and then we went to the temple visitor's center. After that, we drove to Arundel Mills near the airport and walked around for a bit, with stops at the Disney store and the Lego store.

It was so sad to say goodbye to John and Hillary. We loved having them visit us and we miss them terribly. Can't wait to see them in March AT THEIR WEDDING! :D We got back into our regular routine with a Family Fun Day at the Montgomery Mall. The chocolate store had a deal going on for that day--decorate a chocolate lollipop for free! Can't pass that up!

We went to another Lowe's building day and met up with the Heit's. This time the project was R.C., the car from the first Toy Story movie.

Here are the girls on a little train ride at the mall, which we rode while we waited for Dad to finish his eye exam.

On the last night of the month, we went bowling with the missionaries and a couple who they are teaching, Mack and Linda. It was a lot of fun. The girls want to go bowling again "tomorrow," says Cate. :)

Whew! There is the Killion July for you. :)

June!

June is always a fun month because it's our anniversary month and Cate's birthday month. We celebrated six years of marriage on June 2. It feels surreal but it's true! ;) We began our June with a birthday party for Cate's good friend, Andelyne. It was a beautiful day for some splashing and sunshine.

Happy Birthday, Andelyne!

One of the girls' favorite activities is collage making. It gives me a chance to sort through old magazines to find some fun pictures for them to use, and I find recipes for me to make!

One day we packed a lunch and met some of our friends at the temple. We took a tour of the Visitor Center, which the kids loved. And we had a picnic by the baptistry because it was drizzling a bit. It was a great outing!

June brought National Doughnut Day, so we had to meet up with our friends at Krispy Kreme for some free doughnuts. SO delicious!

Lizzie's friend Mia was in a talent show for her school and her family invited us to see her perform. Mia was fabulous!

Lizzie was very excited to watch Mia sing.

Here is a picture from one of our weekly trips to Target. The girls love stopping by the jewelry and sunglasses section and they thought these sunglasses were hilarious!

June was also an important month because baby Rhett arrived! Jeff and Lois welcomed their third boy, Rhett William, on June 13. He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz. We visited Mom and baby in the hospital--Lizzie and Cate were on cloud nine!

Reed and Blake even spent a night with us, and the girls were on cloud nine about that too.

Chris got an email from Dogfish Head (a restaurant) saying that they were going to have a carnival of sorts, so we had to check that out. It was pretty fun!

We continued our June festivities with a trip to Jersey. We went to the beach, of course.

We went strawberry picking in West Cape May with Aunt Katie, Aunt Alex and cousin Bentley, and Auntie April ;) Very fun excursion with plenty of treats to be used in jam, cookies, etc.

Katie and Julia tried taking us clamming...but it was not successful. The girls were seriously freaked out by the squishy mud and sand crabs. Better luck next time, I hope! haha

We lounged by the pool...ahhh so relaxing!

We rode the tram car with Mimi. What a nice way to end a hot summer day.

Katie and Julia took the girls to the zoo. Mimi and I drove the sister missionaries to Vineland and Linwood, so on our way home we met up with the girls. Apparently Tina Fey was at the zoo too, so that was exciting!

When we returned to Maryland, Dad treated us to some Brewster's ice cream.

The end of the month brought us to ONE DIRECTION! Julia loves 1D, so when Chris was offered tickets through work, he had to accept (or else Julia would have probably lost her mind). It was an exciting night to say the least!

On June 30, sweet Catherine Michelle turned three. She wanted a Monsters University-themed party and we had a good time with that! Cate was so excited to have a party with some of her nursery friends from church.

June was a terrific month and we had a blast throughout it all. July's summary will be coming soon! ;)