To Good Friends and Neighbors

I'm so greatful for all the good people in my life. We've had such a funny summer so far and the weather has NOT made if fun, but the people we've shared it with have. Thank you to so many of you who have taken time to swap kids, stories, fireworks, home grown produce and unknowingly lightened my load. The people in our lives really are what make it great.

Especially when they are pirate friends!

On a side note, I'm also very greatful for our family and look
forward to spending time with them very soon.

Brothers

These days one boy can't do much of anything without brother wanting to be involved.

This day there was only one box so I had to go find another so they could both have a train.

This day I had turned around because there was some heated debate going on,

they were fighting about who got to drive the "space ship." Too funny.

Luckily there was no need for sharing this day, although it was

hard to get them to stop at just one cupcake.
I forget how literally children take you when you say "go get in the tub."
Now I'm a little more careful about specifying apropriate atire (or the lack thereof).

Field Trip

We had a Pre-school field trip to a Park with animals. The kids

got to pet several and we took a wagon ride.

These were the wildest animals we saw there. :)

The kids were looking through the fence at the chickens.
The highlight of the trip was this awesome tree thats roots sprung up into other trees.
It gave a whole new meaning to "family tree."

Another Home Video Creation

This is the first home movie compilation of both the boys. We haven't taken much video lately but we sure do enjoy what Matt comes up with when he puts these together.

Pay attention to the background music, it's silly and fun. Enjoy.

Caution

I try to live my life with an appropiate amount of caution and teach my children to do the same. It's always funny to me how much time and money protecting our children from things like the possiblity of a car accident and yet fail to see the simple things that endanger them every day.

I'm having a really hard time with the dangerous things they do every day like using the cupboard knobs to climb up on the sink or the dresser and wrestling with each other which leads to someone in tears about half the time.

I am learning that I cannot protect my children from everything. They will always find something that can hurt them and some of the time you just have to let them fall or crash so they can learn (even if the screaming when it happens breaks your heart.)

So here's to all the moms out there trying to keep their children safe. Hang in there Mom, they know you love them and they'll know that even when you're not there to pick them up, brush them off and send them on their way.

Family Night Treasure Hunt

I decided this year we wanted to keep our Easter Sunday more focused on the Resurrection. My solution to this is to participate in an egg hunt the week before and save the treats for a Family Night treasure hunt (and it gave me an extra day to get it ready.)

I used clues with pictures since the boys are too young to read and they each had about five clues before finding their treasure trove which were in dollar store buckets that are great for afternoons at the lake digging in the sand.
It was a fun family night activity. I need to do activities like that more often.

I Can Do It

This baby is thrilled at all the new things he can do on his own. Slides are one of his favorites. I thought it would be fun to do a play by play to show you how he gets the job done.

Climbing up is the easy part.

Then you have to get into the sitting position, it's a little tricky.

Then, just to be safe he lays on his belly. This allows for better speed control on the descent.

Now the only thing left is the dismount.

And that is how it's done!