Outside Fun

We try to take advantage of good summer weather and the sun staying out - which means outside fun after dinner!  Both the big kids have plasma cars and they loved taking them outside to play on!  They did have them inside to play with, but that got to be too much for me - they're so loud!  But they are perfect for outside play :)  Here they are ready to start racing!

 On your mark...get set....GO!!!

 And then Daddy and Ryan came out!  We love that the plasma cars can hold a parent and a child :)

 Love this action shot - especially of Sadie's ears flopping!

 And a quick pic of the little dude and myself!

 Katie and Jack were rolling down a little hill in our neighbors' yard and I took the picture at just the right time - Katie's face is hilarious as she smushed her brother!

 We have also been taking walks on the weekends - and if there is time after dinner, we have done that too!  I love having a double jogger!

 Katie isn't always the biggest fan of walks since she is actually walking now, but she does like to hold Sadie's leash!

 Daddy and Jack sliding!  So sweet :)

 And we had two hot boys when we got home!  That day was especially hot.  Whew - I can guarantee there was a very hot mommy and daddy too!

 I'm also walking for exercise most days during the week. In order to convince the kids it is a good idea, a stop at the playground typically has to happen!  Katie and Jack play with each other really well!  Here is Miss Priss about to slide!

 Love that sweet smile!  And of course he has a choo choo in hand :)

 Katie was playing under the play structure and Jack was watching.  I LOVE this picture!

 Here she is playing - she was using mulch as ice cream and setting it out!

 And this little peanut was just looking at all of nature and happy as could be!

 Jack got in on the "ice cream fun" as well - so sweet.

And this past week, after dinner, I knew we were needing to water the grass (new sod that was put down at the beginning of the summer), so I decided to take the kids out and let them romp around in the sprinkler!  Katie was SO excited and couldn't believe they were going to wear their real clothes!

 We let Jack do it on his own one night when Katie was having a sleepover with a friend and he was a little hesitant.  Needless to say that was not an option when playing with Sissy!

 She loved leaning over into the sprinkler with her hair and then flinging water everywhere when she stood up!

 Ryan and I just sat back and watched :)

 See?  There was no standing back for Jack :)

 They had the BEST time!  And we went inside through the laundry room so they could strip and go straight to the bath!

 Love this picture :)

 And then the next day we did another walk to the playground!  They were excited I was bringing chalk with us!

 This little guy was all smiles!  Love how happy and content he is!

 They did all sorts of drawing at the playground!  Katie was making handprint turkeys here :)

 I MAY have bribed them with water to make them sit still and look at the camera - ha!

 He will go down that slide all day!  As long as there aren't any bugs or piles of dirt on them, of course :)

 And I did get Ryan out of the stroller!  We are getting pretty good at the Mommy-with-Ryan selfies!

Love that we get out and have fun just about everyday!

Zoo Outings

During the last part of July, I took the kids to the zoo on different occasions.  One time, the weather was absolutely amazing and quite mild for this time of year...and Tanja went with us! It was quite the adventure - and that is putting it nicely.  The second time went much better - thankfully!

 

I figured the zoo would be a fun adventure and fairly easy to do with all three kiddos.  I use the term "easy" very loosely! :)  Here is Katie!

Jack did alright in his stroller - he definitely wanted out pretty often.  Once we got to the alligator/fish part, I let him get out.  He loved the freedom!

I told him he had to either hold my hand or Sissy's hand - he chose her hand every single time :)

And here are the older two crazies with Tanja!

And I jumped into a picture too!

This little fella was the best behaved of all!  I love that outfit!

After playing with the goats in the petting zoo part, it was full meltdown mode for Katie.  She just couldn't pull it together to be a good listener and yikes.  Not good.   Which meant no carousel.  Enter another meltdown.

This dude was less than thrilled about getting back in his stroller after playing with goats.  Thank GOODNESS I brought fruit snacks and juice boxes for them!

Tanja hung out with Ryan while I took these two through the area inside where all the reptiles and spiders and fish are!  They love to look at everything in there!

 Like I said, the second time was much more of a success!  And I actually got some cute pictures before we left!  LOVE this one!

And I love this one too - a true action shot!  They both wanted to hold Ryan - he is so very loved!

Since behavior was so much better, we made a stop at the carousel before we left.  It was pretty toasty outside, so the kids had rosy cheeks for sure!  Love this sweet girl!

Jack loves the carousel but wanted me to keep my arm around him the whole time.  I certainly don't mind!

And I took a picture of this cutie once we got home and cooled off.  He was so good!

I can't wait to go to the zoo some more.  I do have a double jogger stroller I can use...or a sit and stand stroller.  Our garage is certainly like a parking lot for strollers, and I am thinking I may need to add one more (a double umbrella stroller) to the mix - yikes!  Any of those will be good for the zoo...especially ones that I can strap Jack into - he is on the move all the time!

 

 

Peek A Boo!

{still playing catch up! this gem was from july 11!}

Swim Lessons

I had good intentions to get started with the kids' swim lessons for the summer before Ryan made his entrance into the world.  BUT...that didn't happen :) But we did manage to get 4 swim lessons in for Katie - and sort of for Jack.  The first one was about a month ago and went great.  I got there with all three kids on time.  Katie went first and did a really good job!  Here she is with the same instructor she has had the last couple of summers.

I have to say that I am glad we did them.  But I am also glad that we are finished.  Katie loves to be in the water and does a really good job!

While Katie had her lesson, Ryan slept in his carseat and Jack drank and then played with a juice box!  Sweet, sweet boy.

Just look at those eyelashes!

And then he had his first swim lesson!  He did a pretty good job (all things considered) during this first lesson.  During the second and third, I feel like he took some steps backwards - he didn't want to be in the water with the instructor and just wasn't having it.  And then he didn't even do his fourth lesson.  Next summer should be good timing for him though!

Glad we can mark that off our summer to do list.  One of the few things we can mark off :) It seems like I was just putting together our list and now summer is almost over! Ah!  I will just save it for next summer!

 

 

They're All Mine - For Better And For Worse

I am so glad I can take a step back and realize how lucky and blessed I am.  This summer, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have had all three kiddos by myself.  And it is slightly chaotic, but we survive!  Well, yesterday was the most trying of them all.  Katie wouldn't listen to save her life.  Jack is two and acting every minute of it.  And Ryan - thank goodness for his sweetness.  He started having little laughs when he smiled yesterday.  Sweet, sweet sounds.  But whew.  It was one thing after another...one of those days where I was literally counting down the seconds until bedtime.

 

But when it comes down to it, I have to remind myself that these kids are good kids.  Everyone has a bad day from time to time (note: it would be spectacular if Katie and Jack would try and time theirs on different days so as to not drive their mother insane.)  And while yesterday was insane, there were good, special moments too!

 

When Jack was napping, Katie and I did some art and practiced writing uppercase and lowercase letters (ya know, refreshing before Kindergarten starts) and her name (with the capital K and lowercase other letters).  And then we sat on the front porch for popsicles.  And then she watched a part of a movie while I fed Ryan.

 And this one - I mentioned he was starting to have some little laughs.  And they were precious and sweet and amazing.  Thankfully Ryan is a very sweet, low maintenance baby.  Now if we can just get rid of that middle of the night feeding, Mommy may have an extra bit of patience :) .... Note: This picture was taken almost a month ago.  My, oh, my he has changed!  He looked like a little squish here!

 And "acting his age" couldn't be more appropriate for this one.  He currently has two speeds: running and asleep.  And he is testing boundaries like crazy.  And if his freaking canine teeth don't hurry up and finishing coming through the whole way, we both may explode.  He didn't want to eat yesterday (which I know is fine - he isn't going to waste away...it is just frustrating).  And he was just naughty - eating crayons and not listening and all that jazz.  But there were moments of goodness (thankfully) - when he woke up from his nap, he gave me the biggest hug.  And on a few different occasions, he would walk over and extremely gently give Ryan a kiss on the head.  Sweet, wild child.  This picture is him to a tee - happy as can be and always on the move.

Most of the time, I paint a picture of pure happiness and all that at our house.  I just wanted to say that it isn't necessarily true.  I try to find the positives in each day.  And sometimes it is the whole day.  And then other days, like yesterday, I have to find little moments that made me smile.  And that's what gets me through.  But at the end of each day, I am so thankful and feel so blessed that each of these three calls me Mommy.  Brad and I are blessed enough to be able to be their parents.  Amazing.  Also?  Thank goodness a day is only 24 hours! :)