Busy Week and Fairly Chill Weekend

It was a busy full week of fun and friends for the kiddos.  We had a play date at the bounce house.  Thomas and his buddy Tripp ran around doing their own thing and not one time did Thomas get nervous about playing in the bounce houses.  I was super impressed with Elin and her no fear attitude when it came to scaling the ladders and heading down the slides.  She had a hard time keeping up with the boys, but she sure tried her best! 

We also had a play date at our house and the boys ran around being firemen and it was too cute to watch their dramatic play and how concerned they were with rescuing the ladies and babies.The play date rolled into Thomas and his buddy Tripp watching an afternoon movie while the little ones slept.  When everyone was awake we headed outside for some sprinkler, pool and summer fun.  It has been so nice and so far the 85-90 degree days have been easily managed by us with water play and lots of frozen treats.

 

That night Mike decided he would take the kiddos to t-ball by himself so I could get some stuff done around the house.  Practice was at 6:30 and about 6:25 I got a phone call from Mike letting me know T was going to have a pretty hard time practicing because he had fallen asleep. Mike tried to wake him up but was unsuccessful so they came back home and that sleepy little guy went to bed.  It had been a big big day!  That gave Mike and Elin some alone time and they went on a bike ride together.  Then the 3 of us played together in the sandbox before T woke up with a nightmare and upset that he missed T ball. 

By Friday both kids were exhausted and they both took afternoon naps.  When Mike got home from work we packed a picnic and headed to the pool for a few hours.  It was so much fun and Thomas and Elin both made huge progress in their swimming skills.

 

Our garden is rocking and the tomatoes are growing like weeds.  We have had a few strawberries, some cherry tomatoes and now some green beans, but everything else is still growing.  I went to water on Saturday morning and found a pile of grass in the bed…when I investigated it moved and I found 4 little baby bunnies.  Exciting and we can’t wait to watch them grow, but now we need to figure out a solution to keeping them happy and my garden alive!  The bunnies eyes are still closed and their ears are down so they are less than a week old.  Their nest is in the middle of the corn and up against the boards.   Mike and I are going to coral them in and under the corn and hopefully this helps the little bunnies grow and also keeps the rest of my garden alive!  I also harvested the onions and the potatoes that we were growing. I had 5 onions that I planted as starts that survived the cold freezes we had in March and April.  I am really excited as these are the first onions I have really had success with,can’t wait to try again this fall.  The potatoes were a flop as they were not ready to harvest but something ate all their leaves and they needed to be harvested.  We got a handful of small purple potatoes and a few small russet potatoes.

Sunday we got a bunch of odds and ends done around home.  Thomas even lended his helping hands to the neighbor guys and helped them plant a crape merle tree in their front yard.  Elin had her closet changed around and is now getting more ownership of her clothes.  This is a particular disaster, as she typically throws all her clothes out to figure out which outfit to wear.  We are putting a few shirts or dresses within her reach and then she now can get her own underware, socks, and pants from her drawers.  This along with her own personal sized mirror makes the girl happy!

 

Smorgous Board of Our Lives

Itzy getting some afternoon kicks from the baby

Stella and Zug Zug doing what they do best…playing and destroying toys!

A sunny afternoon of fun in the backyard. 

Thomas and Tripp warming up in the tub and playing Octonauts

Elin Reading her baby books after her nap

Thomas and his Daddy before Daddy headed to work

Messy Mess after practicing writing

Bathtime Bubbles

Elin wanted her hat and mittens, it was 85 degrees outside and she asked “Mommy can I go to the mountains??”

Our tomatoes, the cherry variety at least have started to change

The kids love to be buried in the sand…it is an immediate bath time after this happens!

Elin continues to be the messiest eater…it is so annoying!  Especially when our dog doesn’t clean up anything but meat and cheese…and even that isn’t a great cleanup like most dogs!

Thomas and Elin got to go pick out a toy at Target for being good listeners.  Thomas picked out an Octonaut toy and Elin picked out a baby.  Later that night Thomas told Mike that he needed to find and rescue the “Slime Carrot” or Sea cucumber…we all got the giggles!

Thomas and Stella during an afternoon nap.  Stella is reluctantly letting Thomas sleep on “her bed.”  For a long time as no one used that bed Stella claimed it as her own.  We throw her blanket down on top of his quilt and she snuggles in.  She normally sleeps where Thomas is, but she is doing a good job sharing!  Thomas also likes that he knows Stella is in there protecting him.  Most nights he is still falling asleep in his bedroom and then coming into ours in the early morning sometime.  When he naps it is always in his room. 

 

Thomas really wanted a place for his bubble gun on his new policeman vest.  Mike thought I could sew something in, I thought duct tape sounded way easier.  After making Thomas one, Elin quickly wanted to join in the fun. 

Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday morning we all slept in a bit after being out late on Friday night.  Then it was time to head to Thomas’ T Ball Game. The big guy was feeling a little shy at the start of the warm ups, so after a pep talk from Mike he asked if I could stand close to him while he warmed up.  After about 5 minutes he was all in and happy to start the game with his teammates.  T had 2 at bats and a couple great fielding plays.  Their coach has all the infielders take turns getting the other teams grounders and throwing them to first.  It is a huge improvement from last year (and most of our opposing teams) and all the kids running into one another to try to get the ball. 

After his game was over we headed home to load up our cabin gear and snacks and then we were off to an Oklahoma lake home.  Debbie, our friend and Mike’s Mom’s longtime friend had invited us up for the day to play.  The kiddos both napped so Mike and I took our time, we stopped at the grocery store and then at a farmers stand to pick up some fresh produce (YUM!  I have been craving fresh strawberries).  When we arrived at their home the kiddos were up and ready to go.  They had a blast running around, playing with all the older kids (Mike and I’s age) and the dogs that were at the cabin.  We had dinner there and then played some more.   Before we left Debbie asked to give the kiddos a bath so they would be ready for bed and they were happy to hop into her big ol tub.   When we were leaving the kiddos were both very generous with their “thank yous” and hugs and they even had a hard time saying goodbye to “Grandpa” Stewart and “Grandma” Debbie…it was very sweet.  They were both asleep about 5 minutes after we started to drive home.  

On Sunday we had a day at home getting things done around the house.  We all needed a semi chill day at home after a few days of chaos!  Mike got up early and headed for a bike ride with another dad from Thomas’ T Ball team.  The kids and I watched cartoons and I caught up on the blog.  After we had breakfast we got outside and did a few things in the yard/garden.  Then it was time for lunch and naps.  While the kiddos napped Mike finished up on the yard work and started to cut down more branches on our trees out front.  After Thomas woke up he and I helped take the branches to the back and we all finished just in time to watch a huge thunderstorm.  I do love the storms we have been having, and as long as they stay tornado free, I will continue to love them.  We then had our neighbor guys over for some Paseo sandwiches.  This is/was an old Seattle neighborhood favorite and since moving away Mike has been able to perfect his own version of the sandwich, which keeps us all really happy as they are soo yummy!  After dinner we headed over to the guys house so that the kiddos could swim for a few minutes before bedtime. 

Monday we met some friends at the park for a morning of T Ball/Baseball in the park.  Then we came home and worked around the house, had lunch, Elin took her nap and then we went over to the boys for a BBQ and some more swimming.  We had a great Memorial Day weekend and again we didn’t take for granted all that has been sacrificed by others for our freedom.  Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Memorial Day as well!

Celebrating 5 Years…at a Bike Race!

Mike and I threw out a few ideas to go and celebrate our anniversary.  Originally, we thought we were going to go to a baseball game.  Then Mike mentioned the Bike the Brick bike race in Downtown McKinney and asked if I wanted to check it out, I was game so off we went.  We thought if it was a bust we would still have time to make the 7 p.m. baseball game and all wouldn’t be lost.  We got to the race and immediately realized that the atmosphere and downtown McKinney were right up our alley.

 

We walked around for a bit watching the bikers race and then the kiddos got their turn racing.  Elin rode for the first time on a balance bike and Thomas got to ride a “tester” bike.   I love that my little guy requested wearing a helmet to be safe before he got on the bike!  Then it was time for more race watching for Daddy and Elin, while Thomas and I waited for him to get his face painted.  Once he had his face done, we switched and it was Elin’s turn.  Then we continued to explore and walk around until we stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant called Bien Salsa…where we ducked in to eat.  Yum Yum Yum, it was perfect…it wasn’t a chain restaurant and it was very yummy food!  Mike and I continued to fall in love with Downtown McKinney and it reminded us soo much of our old hot spots in Denver and Seattle, it was perfect!  After we got our drinks we toasted to a wonderfully adventurous 5 years and told the kiddos to enjoy because for our 10 year anniversary we wouldn’t be bringing them along, T didn’t like that idea too much!

After dinner we watched more bike racing and then walked around and explored.  Finally after some ice cream and our fill we headed back to the car about 9:30 we were all tired and ready for bed!  What a great night celebrating our marriage and our family, we really are extremely blessed!

5 Years of Marriage…

Today was Mike and I’s 5 year anniversary!   In the 5 short years we have been married we have lived in 3 states, bought 3 houses, sold 2, had 2 children with a 3rd on the way, laughed so hard our bellies hurt and cried together in pain.  It has been an adventure for sure and there have been some bumps, but isn’t that what marriage is?!

 

This man is my best friend and there is not anyone in this world that completes me like he does, I love him more than myself and the life we have created and our family are my ultimate pride and joy.  Just the other night we were talking about where we started, where we are and where we want our lives to be headed.  It is amazing all the memories we have shared together…our lives have been blessed thus far for sure.Before he started to work we took out our wedding album and flipped through the pictures.  There are so many great memories from that day, the most epic party of our lives and a day that will forever be engrained in our memories.  Aside from all the fluffy pretty stuff about our wedding day it was the day that joined us as one and the day we started our new lives together.  Enjoy a quick walk down memory lane in a few of our favorite pictures from that day.

Pictures are taken by Katie at Jenna Walker Photography

Swimming

We have been spending a lot of time at our community pool or our friends pool.  When we bought our house down here we knew that a pool in the yard was not going to work with the kiddos, but that we would need quick and easy water access.  I am so glad that we ended up close to 2 fantastic pools for the kiddos to cool off and burn energy in! 

Usually I don’t bring my fancy camera to the pool but I wanted to get a few pictures of the kiddos at the beginning of the summer swimming.  T and E are both still anti swimming without their water wings which I am ok with.  They love to “cannon ball” and jump into the water, swim for their floating toys, and bask in the sun like lizards to “warm up.” 

Thomas and his buddy Tripp also have their own thing going on in the pool and they have a blast together.  It is so much fun to watch the kiddos enjoying themselves and it also feels great to stick my feet in.  In a few more weeks when the water is warm I am going to hop in a lot more, especially with this growing baby belly!