Where oh where did my babies go?

I can see the stretch marks and extra "lovin" that are remnants of having my two tug boat children but apparently having babies in the house is a thing of the past. Where did the time go? Lately it seems like every day they test their bravery, vocabulary and my amazement with all the things they are discovering. Summer comes with so much play time outside, that it seems like we are moving from the time they wake up until I change them for bed, that they are constantly growing every day. STOP IT ALREADY! I have been enjoying being able to witness their little characters grow and see them become such pleasures to be around. I am so blessed to be able to be at home and raise them and it has been about 2 years exactly now that I have been at home with Jack first and now both of them and I can honestly say that I enjoy it so much more now than I did at first after seeing all the amazing things that they have taught me. Sorry for the gushy moment but it seems like my love for these two little ones has been overflowing lately and I wanted to make sure to write it down so that next time we are going through a "phase" I can re-read this day and remember that "this too shall pass."

Little trip up to Manito today for our little nature walk through the flower gardens. The boys found walking sticks and I was pleasantly surprised when they were used for walking rather than poking. cooper was sort of hunched over his and really looked like an 80 year old man with a cane!

A Sunday visit to the neighborhood sand and water pit...something about that combination that all kids love. Cooper played with the "play hard work hard" mentality and basically bathed in the mud for about 20 minutes and then declared 'all done.' Jack took more of a leisurely approach and dug around for about 15 minutes before he was jumping in the puddles and making moats and lakes and didn't want to leave.

Strawberry Picking

I took the boys up to Greenbluff today to go strawberry picking since it was the first day that wasn't either crazy hot or crazy windy. It turned out that I was the only one who was strawberry picking and Jack and Coops were there to go strawberry eating. They ate so many strawberries and Jack was convinced that he didn't like strawberries before we went but I am pretty sure he had at least 20 or more in the time we were there! I am just thankful that I dressed Cooper in red for the excursion!

Happy birthday to little grandpa too! We delivered a some orange rolls this morning to the birthday boy and then partook in one after we got home from picking. Miss home yet honey? Orange rolls and strawberry shortcake? mmmm


Our bounty. I am thinking strawberries and cream and then maybe strawberrys with angle food cake?

Only picture I got of the boys with the ponies (if you look to the right of the picture) because 2 seconds later cooper tried to climb in the pen witht them.

They suprisingly picked great strawberries. Only one instruction: red ones only and that was all they needed. Now if I could have only gotten Jack to stop throwing the rotton ones away from us as some innocent bystanders were tagged with them.

I thought he was just looking at this one since he had 3 in his mouth already, but he managed to cram it in there with the rest for a strawberry party in his mouth.

They are deciding which ones to eat out of my tray...I couldn't pick them fast enough before they decided to go out on their own and the sky was the limit!

My potty didn't listen to me!

I was already planning to dropping by the pediatrician's office to get Jack's vaccination record so that we could get him registered for pre-school this fall...but that turned in to them squeezing Coops in for his missed 18 month appointment. 3 shots, 1 blood test and 4 stickers later we were done and eating Hawaiian ices in river front park. Aunt Maggie and the boys and I visited the wagon, garbage eating goat and took a few rides on the carousel before it was time to head home for a much needed nap.

Notice Jack's wardrobe change in the pictures? No, they were all taken within a couple of hours of each other, we just had a little situation right before the carousel...

Jack: aaaaahhhhhh
me: what happened?
Jack: I'm all wet! my potty didn't listen to me!
me: what?!?
Jack: I told it I didn't want to go now and to hold it but it came out. Its a bad potty.

So maybe I should put the potty in the corner for not listening?!?!

Kiddie Pool Official Thank you...

After a HOT HOT day like today, I would like to offically thank Grandma and Grandpa again for our blow up kiddie pool. It made our day (and I say "our" because I definitely partook in the water fun as well) and cooled us off after our air conditioner bit the bullet before a couple of 90 degree days! THANK YOU!

Hopefully this picture says it all. PURE JOY :)

On the 4th...there were a few local booms while we were waitng for the fireworks to begin and then we noticed that Jack was sitting all quiet and still under his blanket. No crying. Just sitting under his blanket cave...nice and safe. Luckily by the time the fireworks rolled around, both boys loved them and named every color with lots of WOWS and OOOHS and AAAAHS. It was really cute.

Water balloon arsonel on the 4th at our bbq. Jack has made a point to mention he wants to do that next year as well every day since. I think it was a hit. Only downfall? Took about 45 minutes to fill all the balloons and about 5 minutes to throw them all.

3 musketeers playing some game at the bbq right before ice cream cones.

Relaxing in his chair while Jack took a turn at bat while we relaxed on the 4th.

They LOVED the stomp rocket that we broke out and I was totally suprised that we didn't have to knock on any neighbors doors to retrieve the rockets!

Notice the stars on the head?

A little patriotic fun while we filled up the pools...still in jams of course!

Weather permitting?

Okay, so softball has been out for almost a month now and I know I vowed to be better about posting to the blog since the season was done occupying all my time but that time has been replaced with dealing with our home catastrophe in Denver and dealing with the contractors, insurance adjusters, bank and renters. All being said I have talked over 1000 minutes in the past 4 weeks to all these parties (and I have the phone bill to prove it!) which is so much considering the boys and I am not a big phone talker! :) That being said, I am making a new effort to post more often our summer outings and the fun, funny and not so funny things that we are going to do this summer. Thanks for being patient!

Coops exploring the trees in Coeur D'Alene.

Beach day, or as Jack said "its a big big sand box".

Water shooters kept all the boys busy for hours.

I wish my kids would swim up to their arm pits like Charlotte but at least seeing that encouraged Jack to go in to above his knee :)

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Rainy day fun at the new discovery park.

I think by this point they were all soaked to the bone. Who knew we would get so much use of rain jackets and rain boots in May and June?

Gondola ride at River Front Park. We also fed the ducks, and rode the carousel.

Neighborhood bike ride we were scouting out flowers and dogs in people's yards.

He is getting to be such a big boy lately and even stands up and pedals when he rides now.

BBQ fun at our house the sandbox has definitely been the hit for all the cousins so far this summer.

Two peas in a pod, they are so funny lately being such good buddies.

Sandbox time = pure happiness

It has rained here WAY way too much this past spring, especially since its now June 11Th and its rained for the past 3 days...so when we had a patch of sunshine this evening when the clouds broke, the boys practically busted down our slider to get to the backyard and their favorite corner of the yard - the sandbox.

Just when I think they have the attention spans of a tick, they surprise me and play non-stop in the sand for hours and hours, focusing on making castles and roads and filling up their dump trucks and dumping them out over and over again. Who knew that a yard of sand could make 2 boys so very happy and nothing makes me happier than seeing them play like that - using their imaginations and space planning the whole box (or if you're Cooper) just wearing the sand.

CAN'T WAIT for tomorrow and the next day for the projected upper 70's that is promised to us. If the weather man delivers then we are going to spend as much time outside as possible :)

We miss you Daddy, enjoy Orlando for us we are thinking of you. Jack wanted me to tell you that you are his best friend and that he saw your airplane today.

love me

When Poo Poo sees me pull out the camera now, this is the smile he gives me.

I love Jack's fat little webbed feet :)

Ice cream cone in the diaper - perfect ending to the day!