Short and sweet - always the best strategy, right?
Powers' Family July Highlights:
4th of July/Boat ride with friends/Realtor BBQ/Friends turning 30/Breaking in the new digs - kids & all/Claire turning 5 months/LP bouncing back

                           

Since it was our first 4th of July in the new neighborhood, we thought we'd stick around and keep it low key.  We ended up walking down to the public boat launch to see what we could see - turns out it wasn't too much, but definitely enough for our 2 little ones this year. 

It actually worked out nicely to see the fireworks from a bit of a distance without all of the noise (Adi is really NOT into loud noises lately). 

 I think it's safe to say that our girls are becoming amazing beach bums! With a quiet beach only blocks away - we've been taking advantage as much as possible. 

Adi isn't quite diving in to the water this year - but definitely builds her fair share of sand castles and pushes her board around (while directing Dad on what to do) 

Adi (AKA Minnie Mouse) at a lovely 1st Annual Kerby & Cristina BBQ (our Realtors & good friends, hosted a fun celebratory event for clients past & present) 

smiling through the heat!

I'm normally not one to post a picture of food - on our family blog - but this paella is a bit of a legend.  Dan has perfected this meal and we LOVE creating excuses to make it.  We hosted one of our first big shindigs at the new house with a few close friends from Church and their kiddos.  The house was officially 'broken in' while the Dads enjoyed refreshments outside (and kids had a LOT of fun inside and outside). 

We've also recently done some more exploring of our new surroundings

 {watching the boats and trains pass by at Wayzata Bay after enjoying some ice cream} 

checked out the noteworthy YUMI Sushi Bar in downtown Excelsior 

Claire is getting ready to start eating with us! 

enjoying our eclectic 'to go' meal in Excelsior (YUMI Sushi and some street tacos) 

then a little exploring after we ate 

wherever there's water - you can find Adi (usually getting pretty wet) 

but nothing tops these moments - Daddy reading the girls a story after a fun filled night in Excelsior

oh, and don't worry - Cade is still around.  We took him dock jumping at the mouth of Minnehaha Creek and everyone loved it!

oh and our monthly picture of Claire was a bit of a battle this time around - between Adi wanting to be a part of it and Claire's almost instantaneous need to roll to her stomach, this is the best we got. :) No Dr. appointment to get the latest stats at 5 months - but judging by my back and arms, Claire is growing just fine :)

mis-placed teddy

In all of the chaos of purging, organizing, and packing for the move I have identified 2 things that were mis-placed (or at least not with the rest of the things one would logically think they should be with).  Since identifying the missing objects, one has since been found - Claire's teddy bear (that Dad & Adi picked out before she was born). The other object remains at large, so until then Adi won't be able to check out books from the library with her official card. 
Why share such a random, and seemingly unimportant detail? Well - there are probably 2 reasons:
1. I pride myself on my organizational skills and logic in such processes
2. I recently wanted to take Claire's 4 month photo and realized I could not find her teddy bear for size comparison - so this month, we went without.

As you can see - Claire is a VERY happy baby.  Well, she's really either VERY happy or VERY upset - not much in between.  We had her 4 month Dr. visit and all looks well.  Claire is starting to level off on her massive growth spurts to date - a result of what the Dr. believes are her "genetics kicking in".  Even though her step changes in growth aren't as significant - she is still towards the mid to top of the charts (which is still new for us compared to Big Sis).

Height: 25" (50-75%)

Weight: 13 lbs 7 oz (~50%)

Both girls are definitely keeping us busy these days - as the summer days seem to have pushed bedtime a little later than we're used to.  It's been fun watching Claire spend more time on her tummy and/or propped up in the exersaucer playing.  She is still absolutley fascinated with whatever big sister, Adi is doing or saying and I just LOVE watching them 'play' together on their own as I try not to ruin the moment while observing. 

Claire is becoming much more of a chatterbox already (probably taking after her sister) and still definitely loves being held more than not.  She has also become somewhat of an expert in rolling (at least back to front) - so the days of leisurely diaper changes are over. 

                           

Here's a little peek at the past couple of weeks...

With less than a week in our new home, we experienced some pretty crazy weather and lost power.

Thursday night, some storms rolled through the metro and we lost power until Friday around noon (we also had one tree fall down and another tip over).  Friday night another wave of storms came through and we lost power again - this time, until Sunday evening.  There were a LOT of people without power throughout the metro and thankfully we weren't among the group that didn't get theirs back until Wednesday of that week! While it wasn't ideal - and definitely was a little sticky - we managed through pretty well, enjoying our time outside and without technology at our fingertips.  While it was kind of nice, I am definitely not sad to have some of those amenities back!  

Auntie Lola came to visit the new house (and cuddle) 

Adi hard at work with G+G Powers 

...me hard at work for our Department offsite cruise around Lake Minnetonka (this is the exception people - not the norm)

for now - we will do our best to enjoy the retreat that is our deck

Hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July!