Wordless Wednesday

Backyard Fun

It has been super hot here (like everywhere) these past few weeks. But we have still made an effort to get outside and play. We've discovered that after dinner is the perfect time to play outside and blow bubbles.

Love the look of amazement on her face! She loves to run around and pop them. She gets pretty excited when they float over the fence. She always tells me "that bubble is getting away."

We bought her a slip slide on clearance this weekend. She loves it. She has finally mastered the sliding part of it. It could be the fact that she is getting older. Or the fact that Daddy threatened to return it if she did not slide!

Daddy giving her a little help with the boogie board. She goes so fast and squeals with delight.

Jeremy has a major green thumb. He planted tomatoes..

Ancho Chilies (never heard of these before). But they are growing like monsters!

Green Peppers

And lots & lots of Basil. We have had ton of homemade pesto. Yummy.

We hope the extreme heat is over with and we can really enjoy being outside the rest of this summer.

A Buzz Cut

We love our doggie boy but he sure does create a lot of extra work for me. I pretty much have to dust, sweep and vacuum everyday. My friend Shannon in TX has a lab and they shave him every summer. So we decided to give it a try. His before picture. You can see how thick and hairy he is.

His after picture. He looks so good. He looks leaner. And you can actually pet him WITHOUT hair coming off in your hand! He looks so much more like a young puppy now.

I think his tail looks so funny.

He will be a lot cooler now and I will have less clean up to do because of him. I only wish we had done this 7 years ago.

Her 4th Birthday Party

C celebrated her 4th birthday this past Saturday. Her party wasn't until 1:30 and around noon I realized I had not ordered any balloons for her party. It had just slipped my mind. I tried calling Jeremy who was out picking up ice but could not reach him. He must have read my mind, as he came home with huge Tinkerbell balloons. Please disregard C's mis-matched clothing as C picked out her own clothes that morning. Though I did tell her she had to change before her party.

She was so silly as she patiently waited for her friends to arrive.

C and her Grandad. Grandad drove up from TN to spend the weekend with us.

Our big 4 year old with her Daddy.

I hired a momma from my local MOPS group to come out and do balloon animals for an hour. She was a huge hit!

Colin and his parrot.

The birthday crown was suppose to be for C. Somehow Grandad ended up wearing it.

We spent part of the party outside and part inside. It was just so hot! Jeremy broke out some water balloons and was trying to teach them how to throw them up in the air and catch them.

Some bouncing fun. This was a good idea, but it was a nightmare trying to only keep 3 kids in it at a time.

Instead of paying big $$ for a cake, I just made some Tinkerbell cupcakes. I found these cool edible stickers at Walmart. They were super easy to apply.

The rest I just did with sprinkles. Super easy and cheap.

We let C open up her gifts after the party. Jeremy thought it would be less stressful that way. I was blown away with the gifts she received. Lots of arts and crafts, tons of games, and of course some barbies. After she opened all of them she of course wanted to play all of them. I let her pick a few and the rest when in the basement for a cold day. She chose to play "Pretty, Pretty Princess". And what a princess she is!

On Her Actual Birthday

On C's actual birthday we had a party with my mom's group at Chuck E Cheese's. I was surprised with the turnout we had. Over 20 moms and kids came out to play and celebrate with us.

C and her buddy Mason watching Chuck E get his groove on.

C, Colin and Mason riding the roller coaster.

The visit wouldn't be complete with out a visit from this guy!

Making a wish on a donut.

It was really hot on July 11th so Daddy blew up the bounce house in the basement and C went to town.

C was showered with sweet cards, songs, calls and gifts are on her birthday. Last year she was not into the gifts or opening them. This year was another story. She couldn't open any of them fast enough and she wanted more!

Her gator cake.

It sure is hard being 4!

Her Latest Obsession

For the last month or so C has been obsessed with hopscotch. Our old next door neighbor taught her how to play last summer. Well she had not forgotten over the winter. We have spent quite a few afternoons hopping and counting.

Throwing her rock.

Picking it up.

Hop, hop, hop.

On a friend's recommendation I went out and got C a water hopscotch. She LOVES it!!

We set it up in the front yard so Jake will not hop on it and rip it. She loves hopping and then waving at the passing cars.

The other afternoon she was playing in the backyard as I was washing dishes. She called me to come out and "look". She had drawn her own hopscotch! I was so surprised! She had drawn all the squares and put the numbers in them. I was so impressed. She was so proud of herself and had to keep telling me over and over that she made it by herself. Just another example of my little girl turning into a big girl.

My 2 Little Loves

The Birthday Girl

Look who's 4 years old today!!!

Busy, Busy Weekend

We have had a really busy fun weekend. We started of Friday night by going to a CornBelters game, our towns minor league baseball team. We had never been to a game here before. The stadium was much smaller than I expected. They a great kid-zone though. It had face painting and a few different bounce houses. C did the bounce houses over and over. She tried dipping dots for the first time and liked them. She even stalked down the mascot, Cornie and got a picture.

Saturday morning we went to Collin's 3rd birthday party. His mom, Gina is a mini Martha Stewart and went all out for the kids. It was Superhero theme.

She made all 12 kids their own capes with their initials.

Super "C".

Or maybe Super Minnie?

Even superheros take a break from fighting crime for a snack.

They played some games that Gina made.

Even got to squirt water guns at a "bad guy". But as C told me he was only a pretend bad guy.

Awesome cakes.

C had to have a water gun fight with Daddy when she got home.

Later that afternoon I gave Jake a bath and then let him play in the "pool" for a bit. It was HOT!! While Jake was in his pool, the 3 of us headed to the SF pool for pizza night. It was really nice. We had a pizza dinner and then went swimming. There was hardly anyone there and it was so nice to not have the pool be crowded. We finished the night sharing some chocolate ice cream.

Then this morning we left C open up her gift from us and Sparky and Pops.

Her very own bounce house!!

She played with it this morning and then again this afternoon with a friend.

I spent part of the day getting last minute things for C's birthday tomorrow. After quiet time we took C to the splash pad and then there was more jumping. We had such a fun weekend. We have lots of fun things planned for this week. But we are really looking forward to tomorrow, the BIG DAY!