Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Photo's from Today

I am up to my ears busy these days. We are days away from Dakota's 4th birthday party and vacation so it's all I can do to keep my head above water. All of my time is spent keeping the kids busy and working on things for Dakota's party. I'm exhausted and vacation can't get here soon enough. So, I've got a few projects going on at the moment but I wanted to share some pictures of the babes enjoying their summer...












Back to work on birthday stuff now. Dakota reminds me every morning how many days are left!

Monday, June 20, 2016

First Day of Summer

Harper, Dakota and I spent our first day of summer at Six Flags. Landon spent his first day of summer with friends at a pool party. :)

We got to the park a little after 10 am. The gates don't officially open until 11, but with a gold card (which we have) we get in a half hour earlier than everyone else. So, we got in the gates but when we made our way over to Hurricane Harbor, they wouldn't let us through because they were doing some kind of work with heavy machinery. I was super annoyed because it completely defeats the purpose of being allowed in early to get seating and whatnot if you can't get in. We stood waiting for quite awhile before finally being allowed into the water park section and we were able to snag great seats for the day.



We were meeting friends but they were coming a little later than we were so we hung out at the new splash area until they got there and it opened. Harper was the only one who liked it though because the other three kids aren't fond of water getting all in their faces. I let Harper play there for awhile before we decided to head to the less splashy area of the park. 


Harper loves those giant buckets that dump water on your head! He stood there waiting for that big splash and he just LOVED it! None of the other kids liked that idea at all. Dakota did everything she could to avoid it. At one point I talked her into going up in the structure with me and she only agreed once I told her I'd carry her up. We'd just gotten up the first set of steps and I put her down and told her there wasn't any water spraying that particular area when that big bucket dumped 4 bajillion gallons of water right on our heads...oops. She wanted straight off that damned thing and NOW! 


Lunch Selfies


The kids really enjoyed playing in the main pool area. They played in there for a little over an hour just splashing around, chasing each other and cruising down the slowest slides on the planet kiddie slides. 


Before heading home for the day I let the kids get some Dippin' Dots. They both chose Rainbow Ice flavor but when Dakota saw my chocolate, she couldn't resist! I think she ate more of mine that her own. Isn't that the way it always goes?!



We had such a fun day and I'm looking forward to lots more of it in the weeks ahead. 

Father's Day

We had such a fun day yesterday.

It was jam packed but fun nonetheless.





We started our day with breakfast at IHOP, Tony's request. We pretty much never eat out for breakfast and I can't even tell you the last time we had IHOP, so it was new and different for everyone. We got there at 9 am and it was quite busy. It was only about a 15 minute wait for a table but once we were seated things were kind of slow. The night before we'd bought tickets to the 10:30 am showing of Finding Dory so we were on kind of a tight schedule. Somehow we did make it to our movie on time but it turns out we could have shown up late because they played 8 previews before the movie came on. Wait, 8 previews and then an absolutely ADORABLE Pixar short called Piper. Someone, and I won't name any names Tony got just a touch choked up over that cute little bird. I'll admit that my eyes may have teared too, flippin' Pixar. 

The movie was a bit long but we all really liked it. Dakota doesn't sit through movies unless she's buckled in her car seat so we just kind of deal with her craziness throughout. She did love Piper though, probably more than the actual movie.


After the movie we went home to try to figure out what we were going to make for dinner and dessert. We decided on grilled hamburgers, sweet potato fries, a zucchini/squash saute and some cheddar/broccoli noodles. Zoe decided to make dark chocolate raspberry pie bars for dessert and they were delicious! While Zoe and I ran to the grocery store to get dinner stuff everyone else got their bathing suits on and went to the pool. As soon as Zoe and I got back from the store, we joined them. 










We didn't leave the pool until close to 5 pm and since we skipped lunch we were all starving. Everything turned out really good though and once dinner was done we got the kids in bed and took a deep breath...ahhhhh...

It was a nice day. Could have just as easily been a child's birthday (going to breakfast, a kiddie movie and the pool) party but we had fun! ;)



Thursday, June 16, 2016

In a Blink

Just when I thought the school year would never end, it did. I blinked and my (pre) preschooler became a (4 year old) preschooler, my Kindergartner became a first grader and my freshman came home a sophomore. I've been a little sad about it all day and really just ignoring the fact that the kiddo's are all growing up (I won't even mention Zoe here, Miss Young Adult) on me.


Tonight though, as I was choosing which books to read the kids before bed, Harper came into Dakota's room with tears in his eyes. He said he reached into the big part of his backpack and it was empty so he put his hand in the small zippered part on the front and found just one little slip of paper, some mustang money (something they earn for doing good at school) and it reminded him he wouldn't be going back for awhile. He actually had tears in his eyes and it absolutely 100% broke my heart. So, I held him and asked what he'd miss about school and he told me he'd miss his friend Tobe. I told him he'd see him when he went back in a few months and about all the fun I had planned for the summer. Hugging and talking seemed to do the job but it was around then that Dakota started feeling a little sad about her school too. She told me she wanted me to hold her exactly like I was holding Harper and talk to her about school and summer, so of course, I did.

So, while my babies are all growing and learning and being more and more awesome, they still need some comfort from their momma every once in awhile. I'm so glad I am able to give that to them.


Also, I don't know if it was just Landon's sheer happiness to be out of school for the year or what, but when he came home he hung out with me for about two hours. We just talked about everything under the sun while I worked on whatever I was doing and it was really nice. He's such an awesome kid.


We were expecting stormy weather so instead of running down to the pool tonight we had a movie night. We watched The Rescuer's while we ate dinner and then we all had a slice of chocolate cake that Dakota and I made earlier this afternoon. It was a small celebration but it was nice to be home and cozy with my family. 


Now, for summer...


Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Kindergarten Picnic

Zoe, Dakota and I got to attend Harper's Kindergarten picnic with him yesterday. It was a perfect day for a picnic and he was so happy to see us when we showed up! Dakota was thrilled to get the chance to eat lunch with her brother AND she got to bring her lunch box which always delights her to no end! She was so excited about it that she helped me make both their lunches yesterday morning!






Monday, June 13, 2016

Harper's Kindergarten Author's Tea


Harper had his very first Author's Tea today. I remember going to these each year Zoe and Landon were in school and it's a tradition I hope continues throughout Harper and Dakota's elementary days. Every year each grade is given a topic to write a book about and for Kindergarten this year it was a "how to" book. Harper's book was called "How to Wash Your Hands" but some others included "How to Babysit", "How to Make a Pizza" and "How to Make a Chocolate Sandwich". All of the books were really cute and I loved listening to each of their stories. 


I have to say that Harper has absolutely no qualms about speaking in front of people. He read loudly and clearly and even stopped to turn his book around and show the pictures he drew. 



Ok, so he may need to work on lowering the book a little so the audience can see his face when he reads but even with the book up high we could hear what he was saying! Some of the kids read their books so softly we thought maybe they were just reading to themselves.

 

He was extremely proud of his book and there's no way you could read it and not know proper hand washing technique! I was very proud of the work he did and even more proud of how well he delivered it!


Once all of the kids had their turn it was time to celebrate with the tea juice boxes and animal crackers. 


It was a great morning and I'm so glad Tony, Dakota and I were able to be there to support him. I can't believe this year is coming to a close already and he'll be moving on to 1st grade! Gahhh! My baby is growing up so quickly! 





Sunday at the Pool

Sunday was another day spent at the pool only this time it was our neighborhood pool. Landon refused to spend another minute at the pool with us though so he's not in any of the pics. :(


We swam the first hour we were there and then when the whistle blew for adult swim, we had dinner poolside. Nothing fancy, just salad and sandwiches, watermelon and Popsicle's. 


The moment the whistle blew, Harper shoved his dinner in his mouth and ran to get back in! He loves playing in the pool and doesn't ever seem to tire of it. It was a bit chilly though so the rest of us stayed out of the water and watched him do his thing. 


When Harper showed me he could float on his back while his legs were bent over the ledge I asked him if he could push himself down under water and put his back against the wall. I thought for sure he'd say no way to that but he surprised me and did it! He pushed himself a little hard and bumped his head but he did get himself all the way against the wall! These two kids are more confident by the day!

April Fools Pranks

The two little kids made me laugh yesterday morning.  I was upstairs getting things ready for school when I heard them talking about how ...