All the Rage

Let me just say that I LOVE Pinterest!?!?! It is so addicting and has such unique and crafty ideas. The only problem is that I get all these ideas and then never get a chance to put them into use! So, over the last couple of weeks I've started to try to do something with it!

I've done patriotic strawberries, M's father's day gift (which I think I forgot to do a Father's Day post so let this be it... Happy Father's Day!), C's birthday cake and a few painting crafts! I think S loves the fact that art time has gotten a bit more interesting around here than just water colors and crayons - HA!

My creativity level has been raised a notch thanks to all the rage of Pinterest!

Watching Airplanes!

Is this a cool concept or what?? A restaurant right next to the runway:)

We had lunch here today and both kids thought it was awesome!! We saw 2 planes take off, 2 planes land and a helicopter take off all in about 45 minutes. Each time we saw some action out on the runway, we'd jump up out of our seats and head outside to get a better look. So much fun!
Then, as if that weren't enough excitement, S found a "stage" in the restaurant and proceeded to give all dining patrons a ballet performance! Such a show star:)

We'll most definitely be heading back here again in the near future!

My Boy

This guy keeps me B.U.S.Y!! He is into absolutely everything! He also has his mommy's love of pizza as you can see from his face as he is watching it cook. Never a dull moment in our house these days:)

Neighbors

We have awesome neighbors!! I've talked about our neighbors up the street with two boys before and how awesome they are and now we have awesome neighbors across the street too with a girl S's age! Doesn't get much better than our street:)

Zoo Playdate

We LOVE the zoo and today's playdate was awesome!! So many people were able to come which made it that much better:) S and her friends were so good and had such a good time! C was there too but unfortunately I don't have any pics of him, but just know that he had a good time too:)

Colton's 1st Birthday Party

Today we celebrated my little guy's first birthday!!!!

It was so nice to have our family here to help us celebrate such a big day for a special, special boy! I did a choo-choo theme which included invites and cupcake toppers from etsy.com, a train cake, and a choo-choo train banner with pictures of the birthday boy each month of his first year (I can't take it down quite yet and it just might become a permanent fixture in my kitchen - HA!). C had a fun time with everyone doting on him, enjoyed the hot dog and fruit dinner and of course chowed down on some cake!!

He is such a happy, wonderful little boy and we are so thankful to be able to raise him and have parties like this to celebrate his birth!!

Family BBQ

M's aunt and uncle had us over for a picnic with the whole family and what a great time we had with perfect (actually cooler) weather!! We ate awesome food and S and her cousin Will played and played and played a little more! I'm thinking this should become a summer tradition:)

Gymnastics

I signed S up for a few weeks of gymnastics at the church this summer to see what she thought about it (she is also signed up for a dance camp next month so she can determine which one she likes better although I had a pretty good idea it is going to be dance). She really had a great time!! She is SO FLEXIBLE that I think it makes it easier for her to get going with it. I mean, ask the kid to do a split and point toes and she's on it. It was so fun to watch her learn something that was so fun! And, oh how well she listened to her teachers. I was very proud of her!! It should be great experience for her:)

Clapping

C started clapping his little hands today! SO CUTE!!!

Summer Reading Program

Each summer our library system sponsors a summer reading program. The kids get to fill in little ovals on their reading log for every book read(or read to them in our case) and at the end of the summer they get a surprise for completing it! Very good deal for the kids! Not to mention that throughout the summer there are tons of special programs that are only open to summer reading participants and they are so well done. It is a nice break from the summer heat to spend some time inside and both of the kids definitely enjoyed the first event. And, S gets so excited about reading and filling in her reading log - and she doesn't even know that she gets a surprise yet!

A Little Surprise!

My father in law's dog had to be put to sleep several months ago and since then M has been talking about getting him a new puppy. Well, this weekend he found one and we went to pick her up. S named her Talley and she is absolutely adorable! She loves to be petted and rubbed and just follows you around where ever you go! On the way home she had a little accident and needed a bath before we took her to her new home. At first she did not like Abby but soon they were hanging out together and Abby even shared her house with the new puppy! M and S took Talley over to surprise his dad with Talley! We left Abby over there too for the first night to try to make Talley's transition a bit easier. What a sweet puppy!!

Summer Spectacular

This year the kids at Summer Spectacular (aka VBS) took a trip to the Big Apple NYC! It was so much fun (although completely exhausting) and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves!

Neither of my kids are old enough to actually participate, but there is child care provided if a volunteer has kids younger than k3. So, that is where they both went. S's class did some stuff so it wasn't completely like babysitting and she learned about Jesus throughout the week and made new friends along the way. That works for me! C had some of the same teachers that he has on Sundays so they knew him and his schedule and even got him to nap a couple of days - unbelievable!!

I was a color group leader (meaning I kept track of the kiddos, made sure they were where they were suppose to be, met parents and even had the privilege of calling the mom of one girl who made the decision to be baptized during the week, and got to know the kids in my group on a more personal level) along with two others for a group of 18 rising 3rd graders. They were a very "spirited" bunch this year and kept me on my toes at all times, much more so than in the past! Between that and my own kids being on opposite nap schedules during the afternoon for the week, I was WIPED OUT!!! It was a very rewarding week and I'll most definitely do it again next year, but I'll probably need until then to fully recover:)

Favs

I've recently pulled some of S's old toys down from the attic for C-man such as the laugh and learn chair, the ball popper and the little table. He has fun with them, but really, S is more into them than he is!!! It's funny how the big kids kinda regress when there is a baby around. It is nice though to have her show him how to use the toys and then play "with" him on the floor with them.

Another recent favorite is FOOD for C!! The boy can seriously put away some food! His absolute favorites at this point are hot dogs and mac & cheese. He has such a healthy pallet:) He has also eaten, and liked, zucchini casserole, black eyed beans, baked beans and broccoli so he doesn't eat all bad food. Honestly, I think he just likes food in general!

Sad, Sad Reality

Well, the sad reality of it is that I will not have pictures from C's first swim:( It is just too much to do with one Mommy and two little ones!!

He experienced the baby pool and water table for the first time over the weekend and even though we didn't have a swimsuit for him to wear, he got right in that pool, slid down the little side(with a bit of assistance from Mommy) and splashed as if it was the greatest thing ever. And... no pictures! BOO!!

Then, today, we had our first big pool day! He L.O.V.E.D it!! As soon as his little toes hit the water he was smiling and laughing and having a great time. Again... no pictures! I am so disappointed!:(

I brought one of these to put him in. He wasn't having it(glad it was a consignment sale purchase)! He was crawling right out of it which I totally thought would happen because when does this guy ever sit content and still? Oh, right, that would be never!:) I also had with me S's puddle jumper from 2 summers ago. He was cool with it and enjoyed floating around while I steadied him, but the lower weight limit is 30lb and he is 22lb so you can imagine that it didn't exactly have a snug fit to it not to mention the puddle jumper is made to get the kid to lean forward as if he was swimming and C is still too young for that.


So the mission this weekend is to find something for this little fish to use in the pool this summer!!