Grammy & the kids

Grammy came over to play - J got a new Doctor kit so he was checking on H.

Filling our Days

Now that summer is here and Rick is currently working in the AM, I am trying to fill our days with fun. J is harder to entertain than H. H just goes with the flow- J has more of an agenda. H looks just like me, but has the personality of Rick- laid back and passive. J looks like Rick, but has my personality- busy and nonstop!

Pretend Play

J is really into pretend play- which is really cool to see it evolve. So in this pic- J is driving me and H to "Ole' McDonald's" for a "nila" milkshake!

Story time really means playtime

I've always wanted to participate in a story time at the Rowlett Library, but since I've always worked summer school this has never happened- until now. H & J both have their own times / days. We did H's so far and she loved it! Actually J loved her story time too. The story time consisted of books, puppets, bubbles, music and movement and ending with the parachute. It was fun and we're excited about going back. H's story time is on Monday and J's is on Friday- so needless to say going to hers is much easier as our Fridays are currently spent traveling somewhere. And J really liked "checking out" books- he got 3 books: Dinosaurs, Curious George, and Trucks!

"Let's do cars" ~ Harper wants to do cars

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the race tracks~ we play them all the time! J will always want to play and then creatively tell us Harper wants to do cars too (since he knows H goes wherever we play).

Mrs. Julie's (Jonah's school)

Jonah & Mrs. Julie then (summer 2009) and now (summer 2011)

Wow- 2 years went so fast! Jonah went to Mrs. Julie's right at 1 years old. What a wonderful and loving place she provided so we could go off to school without a worry. Mrs. Julie helped J in so many ways-- she taught him lots of songs, giving praise to God, sharing, some Spanish, hugging him all the time, pushing him to do things out of his comfort zone (like shaving cream), holding him when he didn't feel good, praising him when he did oh so good and lots more. We are very proud parents to share that the 2 years J was there---- he NEVER had a color change! WOW!!! He stayed on 'green' the entire time. That means his behavior was good all the time (or not so bad that he needed to have his color move to 'yellow' or 'red'). Rick says-- "well if we had color changes at home, he'd never be on 'green' color." So at least he's good for others and out in public!!!

So we celebrated J last day at 'Old McDonald's' and said good bye to all our friends (at least we'll still see some of them) and looking forward to a fun summer at home with Mommy, Daddy and Harper. Both J & H will start a new school come August 1st, but until then it's at home. We haven't told J about his new school and won't do so until late July. He will just ask 20 questions everyday about it and well the 'good parents' we are just want to enjoy playing all day with thing 1 and thing 2! So come late July, we will spot visit our new school for J & H and really sell it to him that he has to help H at her new school and hopefully it will be a smooth transition.

Junk is Up

Funny how no matter your age, you still sleep with your butt in the air!

"now we go swimming"

This is what we hear everyday from the time Jonah wakes up until he goes to sleep. He loves swimming and so does Harper. She likes to splash the water with hands and get her face all wet.

Another Memorial Day Par-tay

As if we didn't have enough swimming at our party- we always spend the next day at the Flemings for more fun, food, and friendship!

Our annual Memorial Day Par-tay

Love us some good times with friends, family, food honoring all the war heroes who are passed!

Our one night stay-cation

We had a free one night stay at Great Wolfe Lodge in Grapevine and took advantage of it this past week. It was real cool, lots to do, awesome slides and a great toddler area. It was way expensive ( so thank goodness for free)! Jonah took awhile to get adjusted to the loudness, the tall play areas, etc. Rick liked the slides- such a kid!

Harps first sitting up in highchair

Rick and I had a date lunch during the work week and we went to get Harper and make it a semi-family affair. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and Harper did well sitting up and watching the many tv screens. As typical she dropped many toys on the floor, but held up strong most of the time.

My handsome boy

Harps "other side"

Playtime for Harper

7 months

• eating stage 2 veggies and fruits, cereal
• laying on her tummy with arms and legs moving like she's going somewhere, but doesn't move
• sitting in her new bucket seat in the big tub
• drinks water all the time from sippee cup
• really likes sweet potatoes and squash
• drinking 4-5 oz of formula
• sleeping from 7:15ish until 6:45ish when Daddy wakes you up
• laugh at Jonah all the time
• follows Jonah with your eyes- wherever he goes, your eyes follow
• tired little pieces of watermelon and liked it
• weighs 19.3 oz (95th percentile)
• 28.5 inches long (95th percentile)
• has 2 bottom teeth
• if you want to reach something- you will just roll around and all over until you get it
• have no interest in crawling
• loves to listen to "wheels on the bus" and "patty cake"
• will watch everything while at the park
• when you're hungry- you don't cry- you just make moaning sounds until we feed you
• like to suck on your taggies blanket

Jonah's bday party with friends and more family

This was the first "friends" party we've had for Jonah. In years past, we had a small celebration of close friends and family, we'd send cupcakes to his daycare and be done. This year was different. He is leaving Mrs. Julie's when our school is out June 3rd- so he won't see many of his friends there. This was the first year where Jonah REALLY got that it was HIS day! And we felt bad that he's never had a BIG party - so we did it.

It was a sports theme- is there anything else? We asked all his friends to wear a sports shirt/jersey to his party and we played games, lots of games. We had a relay race, pop the balloon with our bootie, limbo, stations (soccer kick, football toss, basketball hoop), and the most popular a shoe toss (with their own shoe). Then time for the pinata- Jonah actually hit it and the older kids (Mason, Eli and Jhett) broke it open.

Finally, for some cake and ice cream. Since I was determined to make this simple- we had cupcakes and little containers of ice cream for the kids. And I had the kids make the cupcakes themselves (they got to put all kinds of icing, candy, etc) all over their cupcakes! Kids loved it and it saved me tons of time not having to ice all of them beforehand.

We sang happy birthday to Jonah as he had a big smile on his face! And during his party-- two times I realized this was all worth it--- One- when Jonah came up to me and said "mommy, it's my birthday and all my friends are at my house" and Two- when I heard Jonah tell Rick "daddy, this is so fun." Of course, seeing all the kids smile was worth it too, but seeing my little handsome 3 year old boy have a good time where an entire day was about him-- that is more than enough to make me so happy!

Harper first bath in "real" bathtub

Not even 7 months and it's getting a little tight in the kitchen sink! So we moved Harper over to the big tub in her bucket and she did ok. She didn't know what to think of the water on her head, but she let me put it on over and over. She tried to pick up all of Jonah's toys in the water and she kept on moving her feet around in the water. Yea Harper - what a big girl doing so good. Jonah was excited for you even if it meant he couldn't do colors or bubbles in his bath that night.

Mommy's Day

How lucky I am to have 2 wonderful babies who call me mommy and an awesome husband who loves me so much! I got breakfast in bed (made by my boys)- eggs and english muffins. Then we headed to a park for some playtime. We met up with Justine and mom for late lunch and had a good time while all the boys cooked appetizers, dinner, dessert and even cleaned up! WOW--

Jonah's BIRTH DAYS

Age 3

Age 2

Age 1 years old

Age 1 month

• is fully potty trained daytime and nighttime!
• Currently goes to Mrs. Julie's daycare
• knows colors, shapes, numbers to 20
• understands prepositions
• loves to listen to his music CD in the car
• can get us home from Firewheel Mall
• wants to be outside playing, riding, etc all the time
• has tons of fun with his cousin Mason
• can make Harper laugh and smile with simple funny things he does
• likes to play with our phones and ipad
• enjoys his racetrack / cars, playing kitchen, buzzlight year
• helps in the kitchen making pancakes, waffles or cupcakes
• can sing many nursery rhymes and even some of "our" songs from the radio
• loves to pretend play with space ships, animals
• bath time can never be long enough- loves to put coloring and bubbles in his bath
• likes to kick the soccer ball and throw the football
• favorite foods: peanut butter sandwich, donuts, pudding
• will eat yougurt and cereal for breakfast
• eats tons of veggies and loves fruit - especially watermelon
• vanilla ice is the best
• likes to play with Eli, Peyton and Emma at daycare

Jonah's birthday

Since Jonah's bday was on a Saturday we took advantage of it and spent it just the 4 of us all day long and saved his friends / family party for the following weekend. Jonah woke up to presents, went to the Dallas Zoo (rode the merry go round, the monorail), went to Chuck E Cheese pizza just for games (and not to see that Mouse) and then ate at Old McDonald's with some good ice cream. The day was all about him and this was the first year he "got" that it was his birthday! When the phone rang- he would ask- "is it for me?" because he would know people were calling to wish him a happy birthday-- and the best part is that he did!

Mary Poopins

We are very lucky to have our own Mary Poppins who lives down the street and just adores / loves our kids. Really- she will call down to see if they can come over for a playdate. We are very thankful to a wonderful friend who enjoys to spend her free time with thing 1 and thing 2!

We don't do snakes at this house

This was the 2nd snake we have found in our backyard. Last year we found one in our pool- Rick killed it as it was a smaller one. This year- we had to call in back up- there was a long and mean and fightsy snake in our yard so Rick, our neighbor Roland and his brother in law all took it down. The snake hissed and snapped. But many yard tools later, that sucker was a goner with his head cut off and his tail chopped off too. We think it was a rat snake- not sure why our yard- but as long as his friends got the message- come over here and your dead!