Grinning

Maybe...just maybe...I have had a permanent grin on my face since Sunday.

Maybe Chris was released from being first counselor in the bishopric at church. (For those not down with this lingo--I've been told by my friends of other faiths that it might be compared to an assistant pastor of sorts. Except it's all volunteer and unpaid.) So maybe...just maybe...a lot of his time has been freed up and we have certainly enjoyed him being home a bit more!

And maybe I sat and giggled during church when Chris came and sat with us and the boys wanted absolutely nothing to do with me and were all over Chris during the meeting.

Here's Caleb showing us how excited he is by showing us the bull:




And sporting women's sunglasses

(Thanks for dressing my son in these fancy sunglasses, Aubrey--and taking a picture--but this looks suspiciously like it was during church--hmmmm.... :)

And Carson was so excited, he was doing a mariachi song for us



And doing a happy dance on the table

Ok. Actually...that is where you can find him anytime I turn around for more than a second. Crazy kid!

All teasing aside though--Chris really enjoyed serving in the Bishopric. I know there will be plenty of other opportunities to serve, but he will definitely miss being able to serve in this capacity. He constantly amazes me with how hard he works. He was going to school full time finishing his second master's degree, working 60-70 hours and serving in the church full time and yet managed to make his family feel like the priority. Now he is finished with his MBA, usually working only about 40 hours a week, and has a break from church service. Hence our smiles! :)

And the second exciting reason I am maybe...just maybe...smiling a lot is because Carson started Nursery at church on Sunday. (Again, for those that are not down with the lingo--they have a class that kids start attending at church during the second and third hour when they turn 18 months.)

Ok. Not really! I'm not smiling that big about this yet. I can't believe my baby is 18 months old and I'm a little sad about it. Sniff sniff. Ok. A lot sad. And I think it makes it harder because he is having such a hard time with nursery so far. As in crying so hard he puked. This is a new adventure for us as Caleb walked into nursery like he owned the place! Any suggestions? Tips? Pointers?

And speaking of grinning...here's to hoping that Chris is still smiling when I get back from girlcation!!! :) hehehehe.

Summer Fun

Just a random (albeit long) sampling of some of our fun this summer....

We have been having a lot of fun so far this summer! We just love those free summer movies. And we've been actually making it to playgroup. Ok...sometimes.

Ok. And seriously? The. Best. Dollar. Ever. Spent.


Marble races. Awesome. It's one of those swimming noodle thingys (that's the technical term) cut in half and stuck together with toothpicks with a shoe box at the end to catch all those racing marbles. Seriously...we have had hours of fun! You can find more detailed directions online here. Awesome site!! Love it!

Caleb started swimming lessons and LOVED them!



Caleb is doing quite well at the swimming thing. And Carson is too. Carson was so cute watching Caleb's swimming lessons. He would walk around the pool kicking his little feet and saying, "Kick kick kick!" while the kids were practicing their kicks in the pool. When they went under the water and blew bubbles, he would be blowing too. Every time Carson gets in the bath or pool now he kicks and blows bubbles in the water and practices everything he saw Caleb's class doing. Funny kid. He even insists on wearing Caleb's swimming suit (and one flip flop) at all times.

I always think that thing is hidden...but he comes up with it somehow!

Speaking of water...we have spent quite a bit of time at the Sea World water park this summer.


Um, yeah...in case you were wondering...it's HOT in Texas in the summer. Not as hot this year as other years...but still hot. I thought this picture of them sucking down their drinks was funny.

I've been very surprised and very proud of Caleb for wanting to do all the water slides. He goes by himself on any that he's tall enough for. I took him on a kind of scary slide and thought I had probably made him swear off water slides forever. It was dark and fast and at the end he was bucked off our tube. But he got up and said he wanted to go again! I was ShOcKeD!

Caleb and Carson love the various play areas at Sea World.



They have also enjoyed some sprinkler time



It's actually rained some this summer...so on the rainy days we find things indoors to amuse ourselves:

Like riding a bag of dirty diapers like a horse while shouting, "Woo hoo!" Sick. But not too sick to stop and take a picture first. :)

Or racing in laundry baskets:



We spend time indoors being crazy box head



Or giving each other rides in boxes



Or rides on blankets



or just playing hard core together



Or just kicking back and having a cold one:



Or having breakfast in bed:



Maybe we have enjoyed a few too many indoor play lands.


Ahh...so much fun and so yummy too.

Carson's vocabulary is EXPLODING! He says EVERYTHING we say now and it is SO very funny! He also imitates everyone. Like this:

Caleb fell and twisted his ankle a little bit. So he was scooting on his bum over to see me. So what does Carson do? Why of course...he drops down on his bum and scoots over to see me too! He had everyone in the place laughing at his antics.

This is Carson's new spot for dinner cooking:

A little wet and well, at first I thought it was kind of gross...but then I decided it's nothing a little clorox can't fix. :)

And what summer is complete without...

...a flat tire. Can't you see how excited the boys are to wait an hour and fifteen minutes for a patch? :)

Also needed for some summer fun--

...some bike riding...

...and some skating



So there you have it! A random post about some random summer fun!

Now go make that marble racer thing. And just TRY to pretend you don't think it's fun!

Fourth Fun

Ahhh...nothing like some Fourth of July Fun and a three day weekend! Action packed fun, really!

Where to begin? We had a church breakfast celebration in the morning--complete with a kazoo parade for the kids.

Um...thank you...I THINK...for the now well used kazoos! :)

Then we hit a good old fashioned small town parade


The boys scored a ton of candy! And some pretty necklaces. Nice. :)

Then we hit a community center celebration, complete with food and fire trucks and such:




Went to a very fun pool party

Stayed at said pool party way too late. Stayed up even later when we got home and set off a few of our own fireworks in front of our house.

Regretted staying up so late the next day during morning church. :) Remembered how one and four year olds should not be up until 11:00pm. Recommitted during morning church to never staying out so late again. At least on Saturday nights. This month at least. :)

Went to a very very very yummy barbecue at some awesome friends' house. Then missed meeting up with some other good friends for some fireworks. But still saw the fireworks. A bit disappointed they were so short...but the boys didn't care. In fact...they loved them. I have just been personally spoiled by Cincinnati fireworks.

Of course we had to do some 4th of July crafts and make some yummy treats


(boys putting festive sprinkles on cupcakes)

And of course we had to have matching patriotic (and dirty) t-shirts.




My favorite part was just being with my three boys. My boys' favorite part I'm pretty sure was the poppers.