My favorite quote

"I just wanted to tell you that your kids are the ONLY reason I will have kids when I'm older..."
Helen. 7/24/09

Words to live by

If it is to be, it is up to me.

Swim lessons

Jack & Wyatt have been taking swim lessons all summer. It turns out a few of their friends and classmates have been in the same time slot (though different class levels) as the boys. They have had such fun being boys before and after lessons.
Swim lessons are divided into Waves. Once you complete all the objectives in Wave 1, you can move on to Wave 2 etc. The boys have been in Wave 1 for all of their sessions but I have been told this is quite normal from new swimmers - especially if a kiddo is nervous about having their face in the water which applies to both Jack & Wy. They have made progress is each session though. I'm sure we will start off in Wave 1 again next summer and see where it goes from there.
 

Tropical Sno

A friend of mine runs a Tropical Sno operation in Martin City. It is the BEST shaved ice!
 
 
This was the first time we took Stephen with us. Coincidentally it was also John's first time to join us for the shaved ice and he selected Bubble gum. We picked watermelon for Stephen because he is a watermelon-head. Don't let that child see a watermelon unless you plan on cutting it up RIGHT THEN and giving him his body weight in watermelon.
 
 
 
 
Jack didn't care what flavor he got as long as it was the same flavor I picked so he wound up with Pina Colada. Wyatt didn't care what flavor he got as long as it was green. He had a great conversation with my friend (who was running the counter that day) about the green flavors and decided on Green Apple & Kiwi.

 
Everyone took turns sharing their ices with Stephen who appreciated all the love and deliciousness.
 

 
The other thing the boys loved is that the spoons are heat/cold sensitive and change color accordingly. The spoons are yellow until they are exposed to cold. The cold areas turn green. Jack & Wyatt made sure we kept the spoons so they can use them with ice cream at home.
 
 
Me and my Pina Colada ice! Can't wait to go back!

 

My My Mah

Stephen could live his entire life outside. He begs to go outside each day and he cries when it is time to come in - no matter how long he has been out. I had been riding my bike with Jack and Wyatt a bit this summer and felt bad that Stephen couldn't join us so I picked up one of those bicycle car seats and a helmet for him. I did not take J & W with me on our maiden voyage as I was not sure how it would go (balance, stamina etc) but it went well enough that we will be able to get in some family rides. I had no idea how hard it would be to find and maintain my balance with shorty on the bike. I also had no idea how much harder it would be to ride with him on the bike. It. Was. Hard. But, we shall manage.


These guys love to wrastle. Jack will get Stephen all wound up by chasing him through the dining room, kitchen and living room. Jack will suddenly decide the game is over and sit down only to be tackled by Stephen who thinks the game is still afoot. Jack looked at me and said "I think he won that round."

Stephen is working on his vocabulary. He is behind other 18 month olds but we believe it is due to the ear infections he suffered until having tubes put in earlier this spring. We are slowly adding syllables to his collection. He LOVES Spiderman and recently pointed to something Spiderman in a store and said to me "My-My-Mah!" Without even seeing what he was looking at I knew what he had said.

J & W came to pick me up from work the other weekend. We made a pit stop across the street to watch the fountains. It plays a choreographed display every 30 minutes or so and the kids love to watch. I think Jack was conducting the music.

Brousins.

Brousins

 
 Recently Jack referred to Stephen as his "Brousin" (Brother/Cousin). We have been using that term ever since.
I don't know what we were doing this day or where we were going but when I opened the door to help Stephen get out of the car they were all just smiling at me like they had planned to make me laugh.

 
Just so you know, I would love to share more with you about Stephen but there is a lot of information that is not mine to share and many times I do not know what would be crossing the line. Please pray for Stephen and for us.

Visiting

Shorty spent an afternoon with me at the theatre. (Look at those eyebrows!)
 

 
He had fun making messes. 
 
 

July 4, 2013

John and I took Jack & Wyatt to see The Lone Ranger and we got a family shadow shot after the movie. Jack was not interested in seeing said flick but once the movie started he was on the edge of his seat the entire time!


Then we went to Beth's house to hang out with family. My cousin Tommy spent some time teaching Jack how to throw a football. Jack was doing a really great job!


After that we went over to Corporate Woods for their display.
 
Gratuitous fireworks shot.
On the way home the boys got a little creative in finding ways to get comfortable.
 

To the Zoo

I decided to spend my day off taking the boys to the zoo instead of running all my 'day off' errands. Both boys got to invite a friend. We packed a lunch and off we went. First we stopped by the Polar Bear - Wyatt suddenly became camera shy but Jack decided it was time to kick it up a notch.


 

Here we are on our way to Africa. The boys loved the giraffe, elephants and zebras.

Then we went to Australia. Look, I found a couple of kangaroo.

Then it was over to the kid's place for some welcome air conditioning before heading out to RIDE A CAMEL.


Of course we had to ride the carousel.
 


 
And then it was Dippin' Dots (that weird ice cream formed into pellets which is RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE!)
 
 
before getting our friends home, grabbing French fries, heading to piano lessons and then swim lessons. The boys were asleep the second their heads hit their pillows.