What We've Been Up To...

I'm not sure where our summer has gone- I am finally done with work for the summer, and just like that it's almost July, and we are only two short days away from having official 2 and 1/2 year olds living in our house (1/2 birthday post to come soon).

I haven't posted since we got back from Thrall, so I have quite a few pictures to document our summer thus far. We haven't done anything monumental, but we have had lots of fun...

Uncle Tanner stopped by to see us before he headed back to his new apartment and new job in the "real world". I was so glad Tanner came by, and I know the kids were excited to see him too. They're already talking about getting on a big plane to go visit their uncle soon.

Last weekend the kids and I were feeling a little under the weather with a summer cold (I was so sick last Saturday that I could hardly move off of the couch and slept for 2 hours in the middle of the day). Tony was the only who was feeling more or less 100%, so he took on the lion's share of caring for the kids (even giving them a bath after swim lessons). The kids had Tony doing all sorts of things to entertain them, but I know they were happy to spend time with their daddy...and to spend time with each other.

I am beyond thankful for Tony, and I am so thankful that after 24 hours of rest, I felt like a new person on Sunday. While I was sick, we decided to let the kids watch their first movie- Toy Story (the original). Harper watched about 30 minutes of the movie and then spent the rest of the time playing, but Jack sat glued to the tv pretty much the whole time. Jack announced today that he's going to ask Santa to bring him a Woody doll and a Buzz doll for Christmas (where does he come up with this stuff, and does he know Christmas is a long way off!?)

Harper has busied herself doing a variety of things. She helped me style my hair (a ponytail, of course), helped me make some homemade granola, and threw a tea party for Abby.

Jack has been into sports lately and spent his time golfing and playing baseball- I'm not sure how much longer these will be indoor activities because he's starting to really whack the ball.  Jack also helped me make some cookies for the neighbors who were nice enough to give the kids some hand-me-down toys and a sandbox, and Jack got some new Spider-Man pjs (he's been singing "radio active Spider-Man" and running through the house all night).

The other thing that has kept us busy has been our trips to the park. Durinda was taking the kids to the park most days, and since I was officially done with work on Friday, we went to the park to celebrate. These kids played hard for an hour and had a blast. They are climbing all over the platforms and going down all the slides now. The park is close to a golf course and Jack would yell "hit that ball, golfers, please!" when he saw them driving by in the golf carts. I can't wait to spend some more time at the park this summer.

We took a little trip on Friday after naps to check out a new store in town- a little shop that offers farm fresh goods. Harper was excited to shop, and she even brought her purse for the occasion. We didn't buy anything, but we did have a snack at their snack counter and the kids got their first taste of snickerdoodle cookies (they were a hit).

Saturday morning Harper and Jack finished up their swim lessons. We just did a three class session, so they're not actually swimming yet, but I think they do feel a little more comfortable in the water. Harper, who loves the bathtub and getting her face wet, didn't really like the swim lessons. She was okay the first class, more scared the second class, and spent a good majority of the third class screaming. Harper does like to blow bubbles, "monkey crawl" on the side of the pool, and climb out and "jump" back in. Jack, on the other hand, does not like getting his face wet (cries when washing hair in the tub) and he did not like the first swim lesson, if you'll recall. But, by the last swim lesson on Saturday, Jack was really enjoying himself. He went underwater twice (during "ring around the rosy") and came up saying "that's blastastic!" (a tag line from one of his favorite cartoons), and then Jack asked Tony to dunk him underwater one more time. Jack got great at kicking and floating, and was starting to work on pulling with his arms. Tonight at dinner, Jack asked if we could go swimming "right now, please!" I think that he's going to be a water boy, and I'm sure Harper will come around to like the water too. Here's a shot of them right after the swim lesson- they were both chattering their teeth and talking about how cold it was.

This afternoon Tony and I decided that needs to venture out to the mall. So, we loaded up the kids and the stroller and walked around trying to make decisions. We were at the mall long enough to need a pit spot for lunch; once we got the kids out of the stroller, they were not excited about going back in. We hit up one more store after lunch- with the kids in tow- and then headed out. The good news is, Harper and Jack did just fine walking through the mall...the bad news- poor Tony had to push the empty double stroller while the kids and I walked.

On the way out, Harper decided she needed to look at some shoes...

Our weekend was capped off with some outside playtime outside in the backyard. Harper walked around picking grass and requesting Abby to come to her by yelling, "Abby- woot woot- Abby!" and patting her leg.  Meanwhile, Jack played in the new sandbox (minus the sand for the moment) with Tony. I love our little family and I love all the time we get to spend together in the summer.