Nothing like a smoothie

Building Stuff

One of Blake's favorite things to do is to build stuff. He spends the majority of his time either creating houses out of blocks, setting up the car track for Plan City, or setting up very elaborite tracks for Geo Trax. He has always been great at spatial planning and it is really exciting for me to see how much he grows as he gets older.

Potty Learning Time

Peter went out and bought Parker a new potty seat in hopes it would help him learn to use the potty. He loves to sit on it, but has yet to pee. He is sooooo close. He can be naked and not have any accidents (or just small ones), but cannot relax enough to go on the potty. The other day he made Jacob sit in the bathroom with him while he was on there for 10 minutes. Jacob was happy to keep him company :)

Random Pics

Silly boys (I don't know why it is so dark)
After spending 3 1/2 hours at the creek, we came home and the boys immediately sat on the couch to read while I started dinner. Blake was reading The Tomten and Jacob was making his own story to the illustrations of The Summer Story from the Brambly Hedge series.

Backyard Buddies

We have a few bird feeders in our backyard that draws in several birds each day. By far though, the boys favorites are the goldfinches. They usually are at the feeders when we are eating our dinner and the boys enjoy looking for them each night. We were also thrilled to see a little bunny feasting on the sunflower seeds one evening. We have been watching this bunny in our neighbors yards, but this was the first time it came into ours. It must have stayed there for about 10 minutes before hopping on.

New Pool Gear

Check out the shark goggles!

July Fourth in Georgia

We had yet another wonderful Fourth of July celebration at my parents home in Georgia. Peter went all out with the fireworks this year. The show lasted almost an hour, including a little time to put out a minor fire (oops). The boys had a blast and were exhausted as always.

Grandma reading to the little guys
Parker with the glow sticks
Time for a little mini golf
Look at the concentration!
Cheesy boys
Slip n Slide time


Filling the pool (Parker was wearing Jacobs new rainboots and pretending to be a fireman)

Summer Solstice

We celebrated the summer solstice by attending an event at our local botanical gardens. The kids got to take home ladybugs to release, planted verbena shoots, made a willow and mum garland, ate a strawberry snack and of course, ran through the gardens. It was our first time there and they had so much fun! There are a bunch of different fountains "hidden" throughout the gardens and the boys couldn't wait to see what came next. We spent about 3 hours there and they were beat! Jacob got a little too close to one and actually fell in. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold out.

Parker doing his "crazy run"
How cool is this!
Family shot (notice Jacob...his shirt is wet so he is pulling it away from him)
They went back and forth over this bridge several times.
playing with the giant earth beach balls.

How pretty :) (Peter was cringing during this shot!)
my cheesy boys

Creek Day

Every Thursday, the boys and I and some friends meet up at a nature preserve that is right around the corner from us. There is a great trail the runs along a creek that provides hours of entertainment. This is something both the boys and I look forward to every week.

Digging in the mud
Mud cake anyone?
Me, dirty?
Sometimes Parker prefers to watch from a distance!

Haircut

It was time to say goodbye to the long locks. I miss those curls!

The before picture. It was able to get more volume thanks to "chlorine hair"
After. He cried the ENTIRE time. It took forever b/c it was so long and Peter went very slowly. He seemed unhappy about it, but after it was done he was proud to have hair like Daddy's! He calls it a "shortcut". He looks so much older!

Parker

This is what happens after a morning of swimming.

Family Picture

This is Jacob in true form...always a ham!

Granny's Visit

Peter's family came from NY to celebrate Blake's kindergarten graduation. Everyone had a great time and the visit went all too quickly. The weather was extremely hot, which meant lots of pool time. We also were able to take the boys to Carowinds for the first time. They loved riding all the rides and can't wait to go back!

Water Bug
Granny and Blake
Jacob refused to look at the camera...he just wanted to swim!
Yes, he is jumping in with no floaties! He barely could touch the bottom, but loved jumping in anyway.
The cousins-Blake, Parker, Brooke and Jacob
Granny and Uncle Spencer
Granny and Parker
Aunt Beth and Parker
Daddy, Blake and Brooke