June Phone Pics

Let's keep moving right along and talk about what happened in June.  The first two weeks of the month, Katie Wynn had her first ever swim lessons!  They were from 3 to 4pm, Monday through Thursday for two weeks in a row.  My mom graciously took her to them since we were at work.  The first day, I sat at my desk at 2:45 and just prayed that Mom would be able to pry Katie Wynn off of her and be able to get away (parents/grandparents can not stay for the lessons).  I waited until 3:05 before sending a text to ask if it was a successful drop off.  I honestly thought it would be a screaming cry fest and that her lessons would last one day.  

To my surprise, my Mom said that she was able to easily leave her.  And later that afternoon, she couldn't stop talking about the fun she had!  If you read my last post about us being at the lake, these lessons are why she was so brave jumping off the boat.  She absolutely LOVED getting to go to lessons and was so sad when they were over.  I was able to pick her up a couple of times so I could see her and after the last lesson, parents were invited to see their new skills.  I am so PROUD at how well she did and how brave she has been jumping in and swimming with her head under.  I watched with my own eyes her wanting to be first in line to do each skill - going down the slide, jumping off the diving board, and swimming to the teacher.

Now, she wasn't brave for EVERYthing in June.  We tried to participate in our town's Small Fry Tri (a "triathlon" for kids) and even after we talked it up all week, she and Thomas both said no way to actually doing it.  The triathlon was a short run, and then a bike ride, and then another short run through the firemen's water hoses.  Sounds so fun, right?  The races went by ages so Thomas and the other 2 year olds were first.

When it came time to start, I think there were 6 two-year-olds at the starting line but Thomas wouldn't even let Matt put him down.  After all the others took off, Matt put him down and tried to run off, but you can see below how well that went.

Katie Wynn didn't even make it that far with her group.  So we stood there and held our kids while all the others had fun doing the race.  After all the age groups were done, Katie Wynn said she'd try it.  Her sweet friend, Addi Clare, lined up on the course with her and they rode their bikes together.  I also caught this sweet hug between her and Thomas - I'm sure one of them was being forced to apologize to the other one but it's still a sweet moment, right?

During Katie Wynn's second week of swim lessons, we also had our church's Vacation Bible School at night.  Just like her lessons, it was Monday through Thursday.  It was in the evening from 5 to 7 so I was able to volunteer and help with the first graders while KW and Thomas went to their own classes.  I'll be honest - school/work, swimming lessons, and VBS all in one week was tough.  By the end of it, we all felt a little like this:

That picture above is a good segue to what I'm realizing from scrolling through my June pictures: a lot of the month was spent naked.  

When my kids are grown up they will no doubt hate me for these pictures, but these below are some of my favorites.  After an evening of playing in the dirt pile, we stripped them down to get ready for a bath.  Which one teeteed in the grass?  Not the one you'd think.  :)

We went swimming one Saturday morning so that Katie Wynn could practice all her new skills, but the sun was just too bright for pictures.

Katie Wynn and I spent some time playing on Mimi and Poppy's playground.

And, because my cute kiddos are a part of Mint Tulip's marketing, the rest of the month was spent posing in clothes that Mom and I had done for them.  :)

It's a bonus when your clothes match your toys.  :)

Getting ready for the fourth of July!

Here's one last picture that Thomas will eventually hate me for...he just loves wearing his sister's shoes!

The biggest event in the month of June was Thomas's second birthday party!  I'll be back with pictures from it next.

A Weekend at the Lake

There is a big, beautiful lake about three-ish hours from where we live and it's THE place to go in the summertime.  Lots of people in our area have lake houses near it and call it their second home.  We don't have a house there but everyone in my family has visited it with friends at some point...except me.  Yep, I've lived here and heard about this lake and fun boating stories my whole life and have never even been!

Until now.

Two weeks ago the friends that went to the beach with us invited our family and two other families to join them at the lake for the weekend.  To most people, one house full of 8 adults and seven kids aged three and under would sound like a nightmare, but we had SO much fun!  And it helped that it was an enormous, 8-bedroom house.  :)

One of the homeowners, Laura, had to work late on Friday so she couldn't leave as early as everyone else.  I volunteered to hang back and wait for her while Matt went ahead with her husband, Justin, and three of our four kids.  (Their baby, Reed, rode with Laura and me.)  The other families went early too.  Laura and I didn't arrive until almost 10pm that night so we missed out on dinner and that night's festivities.  This picture that was texted to us, though, shows that the kids made quick work of messing up the playroom!

As Laura and I were getting close, we were sent this picture of the Daddies reading bedtime stories.  So sweet!  And we were excited about the kids already being in bed when we arrived, ha!  :)

My excitement was premature because it ended up being the worst night of sleep for Matt and me!  More so him than me.  Our kids just would NOT go. to. sleep.  We ended up splitting them up with me being with Katie Wynn in one room and Matt and Thomas sleeping in another.  Matt said Thomas didn't fall asleep until close to midnight and even then, it wasn't good sleep.  I think they were just too excited about spending a weekend with their buddies.

A bad night of sleep didn't keep the kids from waking up in the 6 o'clock hour!  Poor Matt - even when he feels like a zombie, the kids still flock to him.  They surrounded him for breakfast that morning.  :)

The plan for Saturday was to spend the whole day out on the water, and that's exactly what we did!  I'll be honest, I was a little unsure how having 15 people together on one boat all day long could be fun, but my worries were for nothing.  The boat was plenty big enough for all of us and everyone - the kids especially - had a great time out on the water.  

Here we are pulling out of the boat slip.  We had barely even been on the boat for five minutes and you can see my child has already pulled out the first bag of snacks.  The treats they got to eat may have been one reason they thought boating was so much fun...

These four are partners in crime!  They have all been in daycare and Sunday School together for the last couple of years and will start preschool together this fall.  From left to right - Katie Wynn, Levi, Addi Clare, and Mason.  

After riding around to find the perfect spot, we finally anchored down so the kids could jump out and swim.  Can you believe my child - the shy, clingy one that is timid about everything and had never even seen a lake before - was the first one to jump into the water!?  I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes.

And again!

She was so brave.  I have just been blown away over and over with how much she loves jumping into the water.  Her favorite part is going under!  I think she would've jumped and jumped and jumped all day until she absolutely had no energy left to do it anymore.  In fact, this love of jumping off the boat caused a teeny, tiny bit of a meltdown (read: it was the worst meltdown to date...nonstop screaming and crying because she couldn't be the "first" to jump off every single time and had to wait her turn...we had to swim way out into the water to get her loud screams away from the group...it was epic...and embarrassing....and it's a wonder our friends even still talk to us).  So we're embracing her love of the water while also now working on taking turns with our friends.  

This guy?  Not jumping off the boat.  And not handing over that paci.

Once  we made it past the meltdown of all meltdowns, all the kids and Dads had fun swimming in the lake and jumping off the boat!

Thomas finally made it in with a little prodding.  No jumping, though.  He was carefully handed down to his daddy!

Here's proof that even Mama got in the water!  (I mean, everyone's gotta have a potty break at some point, right?)

On-board was a real snoozefest.  ;)

After lunch on the boat, Mr. Justin blew up the big raft so we could go tubing!  He was nice enough to let Katie Wynn and Addi Clare go first.  Good call on his part so we could avoid another meltdown - especially since at this point, we were officially skipping nap time.

Again, I'm blown away that she did it, let alone went first!  Who is this child?!

The boys watched and patiently waited their turn.

Mr. Justin, Levi, and Mason were more daring and went fast!

Poor Thomas is stuck in the middle of all the kids.  He's a year behind the "big" kids and two years older than the babies.  He tried hard to hang all day with the three-year-olds but just couldn't keep up.  The afternoon caught up with him and he finally fell asleep in my lap.  And he cracked me up the whole time.

Before calling it day on the lake, we tried for a picture of all seven kids together.  (By the way, in one more week it will be EIGHT kids instead of 7...Addi Clare's little brother is almost here!)

Levi and baby Reed win the award for cutest pictures of the day!

I didn't take a single picture the rest of Saturday.  We got back to the lake house and bathed the kids before having a huge feast for dinner!  Cheese and sausage plate, grilled chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers, baked beans, corn on the cob, and on and on.  Oh, and Paula Deen's banana pudding.  Our kids made up for their horrible night of sleep the previous night by crashing early and sleeping soundly all night.  I accidentally fell asleep while putting Katie Wynn to bed so if anything fun happened later that night, I missed it.  :)

The swimsuits went back on Sunday morning.  And some upside down sunglasses for Thomas.

This picture of Katie Wynn (at right) is probably my favorite one from the trip.  When I look at it, I can almost hear her belly laugh.  She was laughing at Thomas and his silliness and was just in the best mood.  This is what joy looks like to me. 

Have I mentioned on here how much Thomas loves Levi?  Like, he kinda idolizes him.  Ever since "my Levi" (as he's called by Thomas) went to the beach with us, we've been able to use Levi as a way to get Thomas to do things.  "Well, Levi wears sunscreen so you better put yours on too."  "Levi wears a hat on his head, don't you want to wear yours?"  It's pretty cute to watch Thomas watch Levi and also quite handy to use when he doesn't want to do something. :)  Of course I loved it that they were dressed similarly on Sunday.  And who knew wearing a cap backwards could make Thomas look like he's ready for college??

Instead of going back out on the boat, we took the kids over to the swimming area to wear them out before the drive back home that afternoon.  

As I posted on Instagram that day, "You know your Mom owns an embroidery machine when, even at the lake, you're rocking three different monograms."  No such thing as too many monograms, right?

We let the kids swim and play for a couple hours before returning to the house for baths, lunch, and packing up.  Our ride home was pretty smooth sailing since three of the four of us took awesome naps.  Thank goodness Matt stayed awake behind the wheel!

HUGE thank you to Laura and Justin for inviting us to the lake for such a fun weekend!  You were awesome hosts and we had such a wonderful time!  Now that my first trip to the lake is in the books, I'm ready to do it again.  Maybe we need a lake house of our own......

May Phone Pics

How am I supposed to remember what we did in May?  That was months ago!  I think this is officially the latest I've been on posting my monthly phone pictures.  Hopefully the pictures themselves will jog my memory on what we did.

Early in the month, the kids got a new-to-them playhouse.  Some friends of ours from church were ready to get rid of it and graciously gave it to us for free!  Thomas and Katie Wynn love playing in it.  The first day we had it, Katie Wynn wanted to know if we could put a fridge in it for them.  :)

I had help in the kitchen making a caramel cake.  Mostly my help just wanted to lick the beaters.  (These pictures remind me that I need to make this cake again...it was super yummy!)

Beautiful weather plus a new dress called for some early evening twirls.

Mother's Day was in May and it was a great weekend!  I can't remember all the details but I do know that Matt spoiled me with breakfast in bed and lots of "me" time to sit and read my book.  My kiddos were pretty good to me too, even if they weren't the most cooperative for pictures after church.

This was my view that afternoon after we'd all had a nice little nap.  All my favorite people in sight just past my book, and what you can't see is that Lolli was curled up in my lap too.

So many of Katie Wynn's buddies from school have gotten new baby siblings this spring so we have tried to be helpful by making dinners for their families or entertaining the bigger siblings. One of her best friends (and the cutest little guy!), Steele, came with us out to the golf course one day to play and eat dinner.  

Sitting on top of the plaque that's in honor of my grandfather.

I like this picture of Thomas because it looks like the flag from the background is in his hand too.  :)

But I like this one even more cause you can see his sweet face.

Here is Thomas loving on one of those new baby siblings.  This one is our friend Mason's baby brother, William.  We had dinner with them one night and Thomas looooved getting to pet William's head and hold his hands while Matt held him.

When we came home from the beach, Katie Wynn had a mean fever virus.  Her temperature would spike to 104 but, thankfully, would go down with ibuprofen.  We made a trip to the weekend clinic that Saturday morning and all her vitals checked out fine.  Poor girl spent most of that day sound asleep.  Here she is passed out after the doctor visit.  Notice her sucker down on the floor...I know she doesn't feel well when she doesn't even have the energy to eat candy!

Thomas gave me sweet smiles after church.  His sister was in a cute matching dress but she was being a bullfrog and wouldn't take a picture.  The plants behind him have really grown since that picture was taken!

Matt traveled for most of one week during May so we spent a couple of nights over at my parents' house.  The kids love to play on Mimi's and Poppy's bed after bath time.  On this night, they hid in the pillows and Katie Wynn told me that that was their kingdom and she was the King and Thomas was the Queen.  :)

Thomas got another haircut in May.  He's had quite a few trims but this was just his second time going to a hair salon to get it done.  Here's the funny thing about Thomas - he will freak out if you try to sit him up on a booster seat.  He will freak out if you try to put a hair cape on him.  He will freak out if you try to wear a hair cape while holding him.  But, if you just sit in the chair and hold him in your lap, he'll be quiet as a mouse and still as a rock for his haircut.  You just get covered in hair in the process. 

Katie Wynn and Elmo helped in the Mint Tulip sewing room one afternoon.  They had front row seats to all the embroidery action.

One afternoon the power in our neighborhood went out so we met up with our friend Addi Clare at a neighborhood park.  We tried to get milkshakes from Sonic but their power was out too.  That's when we learned the whole town was without it!  That wouldn't have been too bad if it hadn't been SO hot outside and we got even sweatier running around on the playground.  The power ended up being out for 8 hours - well past bedtime - so it was a long evening of hot, still air.  

Katie Wynn's teacher at school paints the cutest wooden door signs, so we bought a couple watermelons from her for Mimi's front door.  They make her house look perfect for summer!

Matt's parents arrived at the end of the month to help celebrate Thomas's birthday.  To welcome them, Katie Wynn painted a sign.  I lightly drew the star and letters with pencil and she did all the painting.  Not bad for a three year old, right?!

I'll be back with June phone pics soon!  (Hopefully.)

A Week at the Beach

Over a month ago, we took our annual pre-summer trip to our beach house!  This time, though, instead of having Mimi and Poppy (my parents) tag along, we invited some friends to join us.  Our kid to adult ratio was 1:1.  We had four adults, three active toddlers, and one new baby!  It was loud and chaotic and crazy and silly and stressful but also so, so, SO fun!  We really enjoyed having friends with us and both of my kids LOVED having their buddy Levi to play with.  Next time baby Reed will be able to play with them too!

I have finally gone through and whittled down my pictures, but I still have over 100 to go through!  I think for this update, instead of trying to chronological, I'm just going to group the pictures into categories.  And since it was a beach vacation, might as well start with pictures from the actual beach!

ON THE SANDY BEACH

The beach was so fun this year.  We had perfect weather every time we went down; it was warm, but not too hot and the sun was out but it wasn't blaring bright.  And there was a nice breeze off the water!  I was amazed at how brave Katie Wynn was in the water - especially compared to years past!  As you can see in the pictures below, she would stand out in it all by herself.  Huge improvement from us having to hold her to barely go in the water!  Thomas and I went head-to-head over his hat.  I'd put it on and he'd yank it off, all day long.  He loved filling up his shovel with sand and dumping it on me, my towel, and my beach chair.  It was slightly annoying but it kept him occupied!  Other highlights included finding a crab, catching small fish in the nets, smashing sand castles, and Katie Wynn tee-tee-ing all over Matt.  :)  (He was carrying her out into the water so she could go but she couldn't hold it long enough for them to get to deep waters!)

My kiddos loved crowding Mrs. Laura when Reed was awake so they could watch her.

It's a good thing the kids were willing to pull their weight since we hauled so much stuff down to the beach!

IN THE CRYSTAL CLEAR POOL WATER

The kids were lucky enough to get to swim in THREE different pools - the one at the hotel we stopped at midway, the tiny one at our beach house, and the big community pool just down the street!

Not top?  No problem.  (Someone wanted to be like the boys.)

Cutest picture ever of these two buddies!  Photo credit goes to Mrs. Laura.

Thomas is a pro at vacationing.  

The next Charlie's Angel.

Laura brought squirt guns and since they couldn't be pointed at people, the kids watered the plants with them! :)

AT THE SPLASH PAD AND GRASSY LAWN

One night we rented bike trailers and rode over to the splash pad.  Next to the splash pad is a big grassy lawn that they kids loved running around on.  And the parents loved that they wore themselves out!  

Pretending to be big bikers!

AROUND THE COZY BEACH HOUSE

Some of the most fun was had when we were just hanging around the house.  My kids loved that Levi and his family were there every morning and even all night!  They were sad when we returned home and Levi's family didn't "live" with us anymore.  One of our favorite places to hang out was on the upstairs balcony, but lots of time was also logged on the king-sized bed watching cartoons!

Matching outfits for the win!

When you have an outdoor shower, you might as well use it!

Mrs. Laura had LOTS of helpers for bathing Reed.

Post shower snuggle bunnies!

Levi says, "You can let me play in the sun all day, and you can give me a warm shower, and you can wrap me up tight and lay me on a big comfy bed, but you can't make me nap!"  :)

OUT AND ABOUT IN THE QUAINT LITTLE TOWN

We were brave enough to venture out with all the kiddos a couple of times!  We had donuts early in the morning, seafood at a restaurant, and danced in the town circle to live music.

Drinking the sweet milk from the bowl!

Early breakfast at the hotel before arriving at the beach.

We went to a casual church service - Thomas cried through it - and then to the local Farmer's Market afterwards.  We had a yummy crepe for a morning snack!

On our drive back to reality, we made the obligatory stop at Durbin's for lunch and the best homemade ice cream! 

On the last leg of the trip, when we were all getting a little restless, I glanced back into the backseat to check on the kids and did a double take...Thomas was standing up in his carseat!

Please note that all the buckles are still fastened and yes, his chest clip was pushed up.  We have quite the Houdini on our hands!  

It goes without saying that we are already itching to go back to the beach.  And everyone else's vacation pics are just making the itch stronger!  We had such a good time and can't wait to do it again.  :)

My boy.

I have been meaning to write a post all about my little boy for a long time, but now that he's officially turned two I'm making myself finally sit down and do it!  Thomas is in this really fun stage and has the funniest personality that I just want to bottle up and keep forever.  

At two, his eyes are still just as bright blue as ever and I absolutely love it.  I feel good about them staying blue forever, and I just hope they hold their brightness.  They really are the prettiest eyes.  His hair is still blond but seems to be darkening by the day.  I never imagined I'd have a blond boy, but now I've gotten used to it and don't want it to go away!  Brown hair genes are pretty strong on both sides of our families though, so I'm sure he'll eventually be brunette too.  I just hope it's not too soon!  The hair that he has grows quickly and sadly has lost the little bit of curls that he had last summer.  It's thickening up all over...except for the top sides.  Poor guy still looks like he has a bad receding hairline!

Thomas has never met a pair of shoes that he didn't want to try on.  He loves to click clack around the house in any that I've taken off, but it's also not unusual for him to just go in my closet to find a pair on his own.  His sister's shoes aren't safe either.  He prefers her hot pink water shoes to his navy ones every day of the week.

The picture below on the right is from dinner time one night when Thomas strolled in with most of a roll of toilet paper.  And he was so proud of himself!  You really just never know what he's up to when he's out of sight.

My boy is really a Daddy's boy most of the time.  He'll settle for his Mama when Daddy isn't around.  He probably says "I want my Daddy" or "hold me, Daddy" or "where Daddy go?" a hundred times a day.

His very favorite food is probably tomatoes - called "apples" - followed closely by green beans.  For the first two years of his life, he has been a really good eater and has tried nearly everything set in front of him.  We are just starting to see the beginnings of toddler pickiness emerge.  Other current faves include grapes, cheese, cereal, gold fish, and ice cream.  If he had it his way, he would drink "bot-lick" (chocolate) milk all day every day.  And in the mornings, he still sucks down his whole sippy cup of milk in one sitting, like a baby drinking a bottle.  

As you can see from the picture below, if I'm too slow on the snack delivery, he takes matters into his own hands.  He figured out WAY too early on (probably from watching his sister) how to pull a chair up to the fridge or counter to get anything he wants.  Basically, nothing is safe. 

There are days when he's 100% ALL boy.  He does not shy away from dirt and mud.  He's happy to run around naked or just in a diaper.  He throws anything that even somewhat resembles a ball.  He gets excited to watch a choo-choo pass by on the tracks and watches for big trucks outside the car window.  He pushes any toy with wheels around while saying "beep beep!" 

Other days, he shows his sweet, gentle soul.  Most of our friends in town have new babies and he LOVES to sit and watch them in their bouncers.  I've caught him petting their sweet little feet and he loves when we hold a baby and let him gently touch their head.  He has told me he wants a baby; it made me sad to tell him "Sorry, bud! Probably not gonna happen!"  He borrows Katie Wynn's babies and pushes them around in her stroller.  And he carts his Elmo and stuffed bunny rabbits all over the house in the mornings.  

Thomas's biggest love is for candy!  Matt and I both love candy too so he comes by it honestly.  He knows that Mimi keeps candy in her cookie jar and that he usually can have ONE piece.  These days, he has his one finger up before we even make it through her garage door and starts asking, "one canny, one canny?"  This mama has learned to use that love for candy to her advantage - he'll almost always pose for a picture if there's a piece of candy promised!

He knows how to "cheese!" for the camera now too, so often I get silly grins like the one below on the left!

I know I've mentioned it before, but Thomas recently went through a big boots phase.  He has his own pair of navy rain boots but prefers this hand-me-down yellow pair of Katie Wynn's.  Wrong feet?  He doesn't care!  Thankfully, he has at least temporarily moved on from the rain boots.  Now, he prefers to wear "lop lops" (flip flops) everyday.  

Thomas's favorite days are ones that Mr. Nate comes to mow the yard.  He LOVES to watch him through the window and wave to him.  On the day we celebrated his birthday, Mr. Nate came to cut the grass AND spread mulch, so he was there longer than normal.  Thomas was in heaven!  We sat on the back porch and watched him mow.  I'm sure Nate hates coming to our house because he always has an audience.  :)  The next morning, the first thing Thomas said when he woke up was, "Where Nate go?" 

Katie Wynn is still incredibly shy around crowds, and Thomas feeds off her energy.  If we're somewhere with other people - a birthday party, for example - and she's not talking and wants to be held, then he's doing the same.  If she's being silly and running around, then he's hot on her heels.  And if she's not around, he's at the window waiting for her arrival.  Another phrase on repeat - "Where Kay-Wynn go?" 

Thomas loves playing with the toy doctor's kit that Katie Wynn got for Christmas.  He often gives shots, takes our blood pressure, and hammers us with the reflex tool.  All while wearing his doctor glasses, of course.  Sometimes, he even gives haircuts with his surgical scissors.  

Now that Thomas is two, he technically has outgrown the nursery at our church.  He has started attending Sunday School and now joins us in the sanctuary for church until the children are dismissed for Children's Church.  It can get a bit noisy in our pew.  :)  A couple Sundays ago, Matt eventually had to carry Thomas out because we couldn't get him to be quiet.  He was singing "Jesus loves me!" - just those three words - on repeat and only sang louder when Matt picked him up.  Sweet guy just loves his Jesus!  :)

Thomas is my very favorite little guy.  Every day all I want to do is kiss his chubby little cheeks.  I can't imagine what our life would be like without him in it.  He brightens our days, keeps us on our toes, sometimes makes us crazy, but always makes us laugh and smile.  We love him big!