Our Ordinary Life

Our life is pretty uneventful by most standards - we spend most of our days at home playing (and fighting), cleaning, cooking - nothing too exciting. As ordinary as our life is, most of the time I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm grateful that I can stay home and focus on raising our kids. They drive me nuts, but they're mine and I love them.

This is how Grace nurses 99% of the time. That foot is always up by her face!

We had corn one night and Gracie decided she needed some too. I'm not sure she got anything, but she sure liked sucking on the corn. Yum, butter.

Cayden, the wannabe Mexican. Yes, his mustache is upside down. Later on during the day the mustache ended up above his eyes. Wish I had a picture of that.

Gracie's new favorite toy is this little car. She tries to climb in (and out) by herself and has very nearly landed on her head doing so.

We made binoculars one day. The kids thought they were the coolest thing!

Cayden was bird watching, Laura was dad watching. :)

Bath time is a favorite around our house. Gracie likes to come visit the big kids after she has already had her bath. Love that little strawberry bum.

All three kiddos in the bath. It was late and they were super dirty.

Gracie's very first pony! It's pretty tiny, but it's there. And that smiley face is dang cute!

Another Lowe's Build and Grow clinic; the kids really like going to them. This time they made Turbo. Unfortunately, one snail was decapitated by the end of the day.

Swimming at Chad's work party. Cayden and Laura loved going down the slide! We tried a new type of floatie-thing on Cayden and he did so well with it (like I've never seen him so comfortable in the water before) that I went out the next day and bought one for him. 

This is what we bought Cayden. It's called a Puddle Jumper. I had never heard of them before, but was sold after seeing Cayden kicking and playing in the water like I've never seen before. Serioulsly the best floatie ever! Can't wait to try it out again!

 Cayden did one session of swimming lessons this summer. I wanted to have him do more, but kinda dropped the ball on that one. Next summer I know what to do and we'll get more lessons in and hopefully see lots of progress. But, even with taking only one session I've noticed that he is a little more confident and willing to get in the water. Baby steps.

Showing off her new skill - pulling up on everything! Her new-found mobility has led to lots and lots of trouble.

How to Eat a Popsicle

Smile, cause you're really excited. (Or more likely because mom just pulled the camera out.)

Popsicle eating isn't for wimps! Go at it with your whole mouth!

 

Eat the popsicle. Enjoy!

 Yummy and super cold; maybe don't take such a big bite next time. :)

Goodbye Curls! (I Secretely Hope You Stay!)

This little girl of mine is growing up and got her very first haircut yesterday! Yes, she is almost 2 1/2. Yes, her eight month old little sister got a haircut before she did. Yes, I almost cried as her curls were being cut off. (I really, really hope she doesn't lose her curls; sometimes that happens when you cut their hair. I know she'll hate it when she gets older, but I hope that her hair stays curly forever.) It's crazy how grown up she looks with shorter hair. It makes me want her to stay little forever. Sure love this girl of mine!

Look who...

...got glasses!

Turns out Cayden is ridiculously farsighted. Like so farsighted that the Dr was surprised that there wasn't some sort of physical indicator something was wrong with his eyes (like a lazy eye or frequently going crosseyed). They are going to take some getting used to, but so far don't seem to phase the kid at all. I'm glad we caught it before he starts school and I hope that kids don't tease him about them. I might be biased, but I think he looks pretty darn handsome.

Two Birthdays

Both of my boys celebrated their birthday recently. Cayden's birthday was packed with activity upon activity while Chad's was more mellow and spread out over a two day period. Regardless, I think both of them felt pretty special and loved.

The first order of business was opening presents. I seriously cannot believe that I have a five year old! How did he get so big?!

 A few of my favorite opening presents pictures. He was so excited about everything.

This is how Grace kept herself entertained while Cayden opened presents. Cute little girl.

Cayden wanted a pinata for his birthday. We went to the party store to pick one out and he picked out a box with a picture on it. Lame. I was hoping for one that actually resembled an object. But I guess the fact that he was happy is all that matters. I love the look of determination on his face in the first picture.

Laura wanted a turn too. She gave it a dinky little whack and one piece of candy came out. She immediately dropped the bat and went to get her candy. She was totally content with that one piece. :)

Cayden's cake. He loved it and I thought it was pretty dang awesome too.

He was so excited about his cake.

Sparklers AND a candle!

Blowing out the candle. (He tried to get the last remaining sparkler too, but didn't have much luck.)

Like I said, this handsome man didn't get celebrated nearly as much as his birthday was on a Sunday. We did presents and cake as a family the day before and on his actual birthday we spent some time with Chad's family. I lucked out with Chad's birthday this year. He wanted an ice cream cake so rather than make my own I cheated and bought a Cold Stone one. And since his birthday fell on Fast Sunday (when the whole extended family gets together for dinner), I didn't have to plan or cook most of his birthday dinner. Chad may not have gotten all the bells and whistles that Cayden got, but I love him just as much and am so lucky to have such an amazing man forever!

We REALLY Love the Park!

We took the kids to the park tonight. It was the first time that Grace really got to participate in the park fun and she loved every minute of it!

Going down the slide. Notice the huge, open mouth grin. This will be a recurring theme in all the pictures.

On the rocking bench with daddy.

She absolutely loved the swings! And that huge, open mouthed grin is permanently stuck on her face. Love it!

Proof that the bigger kids were there too. They were proud of themselves for climbing to the top. It wasn't all that high, but we'll let them be excited. :)

Our 4th

The 4th of July is always crazy at our house. You have your typical 4th activities and then we also have to squeeze in Cayden's birthday (separate post coming soon) and then two days later Chad's as well. It's always lots of fun, but also lots of stress for mom. Here is a breakdown of our 4th, minus how we celebrated Cayden's birthday.

We started off the day watching Grandma and Grandpa in their neighborhood parade. Grandma sprayed everyone with silly string. The kids loved seeing the police car, fire truck, and ambulance. Afterwards we enjoyed a yummy breakfast.

Cayden wanted to go talk to the police man and firemen so badly. He was pretty shy and wouldn't say much, just shook their hands and nodded yes and no with his head. When they found out that it was his birthday they took him over to the trucks for his very own tour. Cayden was in heaven!

Sitting in the police car. Cayden got to turn on the siren all by himself. He declined sitting in the back seat since that is where 'bad guys' go. :)

 Checking out the fire truck.

Holding the big, heavy hose and showing off his muscles.

 Pretending to be a fireman. The hat was apparently pretty heavy. He was so done with pictures at this point.

Checking out the ambulance and getting his O2 levels checked.

After going back home and taking naps, we all headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for swimming, birthday shenanigans, and fireworks.

Swimming! A splashing battle was going on and I didn't want to get too close.

Great shot of Laura attacking Grandpa with the (very) cold hose.

Pretending to be really tall with Uncle Eric while waiting for dinner to be ready.

The poppers were probably their favorite firework. I think they spent a good 30 minutes throwing them over and over and over.

Snakes! I love their faces here. Especially Laura's.

Sparkler fun! You can't tell by the looks on their faces, but the kids really enjoyed the sparklers as well.

 This is what Grace did the whole time the kids were doing fireworks. Something was pretty dang funny.

Later that night we packed up all the kids and went to see the fireworks. Once the show started I don't think any of them moved, Grace included. They loved it!

The best firework shot we got. Too bad it's not a picture of my favorite fireworks.