Our Weekend in Pictures and Video

We had a fun filled 4th of July weekend and hope you did as well! Here's a run down of the fun we had, in pictures and one video!

Friday night we (wisely) decided to  go see some fireworks. We were thinking the boys might need most of the weekend to recover from being up so late (we were right) and it was looking like rain on the 4th, when all the other displays would be happening (again, right). The boys had a ball waiting outside as it got darker and darker and then they Oooohed and Ahhhhhed every time one went off!

I was wishing I had a tripod while there. It was insanely difficult to hold perfectly still long enough to not have blurry fireworks. Most came out like the first picture below, but I did catch one decent one...

Sunday was cloudy all day, but we didn't let that stop us from taking the boys to swim at Aunt Laura's pool! They've been dying to try out their new Puddle Jumpers since they arrived last week. I tell you what, that was the best money spent all summer! The boys LOVED swimming and kept exclaiming "we don't need Mommy or Daddy!".

When Jackson got out and put on his towel, he looked like a little football player. Cracked us up!

Yesterday we took the boys bowling for the first time! They had a ball and we'll definitely take them back again sometime this summer.

Chase won, but not by much!

Hope your family had as much fun as we did this weekend!

A Big Cat, A Big Whoopie Pie and Improvements All Around

That's probably an excessively long blog post title, but it's all I could come up with to describe the recent days here!

Friday night I successfully pulled off a surprise 30th birthday party for Nick. At the party the boys chased around a very large cat named Bubba. Tyler especially loved him. I think by the end of the night Bubba was not a fan of the boys.

For the birthday cake I decided to try something new... a GIANT Whoopie Pie! It came out beautifully and I'm willing to sell them to folks here in Kansas City (if I can figure out how to ship it I'll gladly sell it online).

In addition to a fun Friday night, we've seen some improvements this weekend in various areas of life. Here's the run down on those!

Potty Training: We've started having boys (namely Chase and Jackson) waking up dry in the mornings! The longest streak is 2 days (Chase), but most mornings one of them is dry. That gives us hope that potty training is almost complete. Woohoo!

Staying in Bed: We've seen vast improvements lately in this department. The boys still aren't perfect, but at least if they act up it's only for 10-15 minutes instead of 2 hours. I like to think this new found obedience is due to a nice mix of wearing-out activities during the day and bribery. The boys are collecting money for a mission project at church, and we've started telling them that if they're good boys and stay in bed they'll get more money to put in their Rice Bowl (the special bank they got from church). It's working pretty well!

Swimming Lessons: The boys have now completed 6 weeks of swim lessons and Nick and I are quite impressed with their new skills and bravery when it comes to water! Last week, during bath time, they kept putting their faces in the water. In class they've learned how to "walk" along the side of the pool with their hands, they've learned how to go completely under water, they've learned to use a kick board and this past weekend we saw them learning how to kick and move their arms. It's been a blast to watch! I can't wait to see how confident they are in the pool at my parent's hotel this week. Did I mention my parents are in town? Hooray for grandparent time!

Tyler (I think) trying out the kick board for the first time

Jackson under water - and Chase putting his ear in the water for some reason.

Quick Jackson! Wipe that water off your face!

First Swim Lesson

After the brutal start our weekend got off to, Saturday morning dawned with everyone healthy. The sickness ended just in time too, because on Saturday the boys got to start swimming lessons! I had been pumping them up for it all week, even telling them that Mommy and Daddy wouldn't be getting into the water with them. By the time we got to the pool, they were beyond excited.

 

  

We had a minor issue when the boys' instructor came to get them and she led them to a different part of the pool... Chase had been eying the lazy river area and wanted to go there, but that's not where his lesson was happening. Oh the drama. We finally had to just force him into the arms of the instructor and he was fine within a matter of seconds.

 

  

Yep, the boys are the class. The place we're taking lessons at caps this age group (and a few years older) at 3 per class! During the lesson, the swim director came over and talked to Nick and me, and she told me they're willing to open up new classes for the boys so that they can stay together in the future. I thought that was so nice of her! I only snapped a few pics of the actual lesson, because Nick and I didn't want to hover and the chairs for parents were at the other side of the pool. However, when I was told the boys would be ending their lesson by going down the big slide, I positioned myself for pictures!

 

  

Ty came down first

 

Then Chase (who we were worried would be too scared to go down - lately he doesn't even like the slide at Chick Fil A)

 

And finally, dare devil Jackson!

 

  

The only way we could coax the boys out of the pool area was to assure them we would be back many more times in the coming weeks. Needless to say, swimming lessons are a big hit here!

Swimming and The Local Biker Hangout

I was loading new pictures onto the computer this morning when I noticed the pictures from our time swimming. Suddenly it dawned on me that I never posted these for your enjoyment! I believe I even teased you earlier in the week and told I would have some to post... So here are a few of my favorites from our time swimming in the pool at the hotel my family stayed at for a couple of days.

Tyler

Jackson and Nick

Chase - he got brave in that floaty! Took us all by surprise considering it took him 10 minutes to even want to get in the pool in the first place.

Chase

Jackson - this makes me giggle!

After all the chaos of Christmas vacated our house Monday morning, Nick and I decided to bring out another Christmas gift for the boys (we've yet to give them our gifts yet - we'll probably bring those out this weekend). These sweet bikes came from Nick's parents. The boys call them their motorcycles and boy do they love them! As I type this Tyler is sitting on his in front of the TV, watching Sesame Street.

L-R: Chase, Jackson, Tyler

 

Chase

Jackson (that's his attempt at a "thumbs up")

Who Needs the Beach?

I often find myself jealous when I read other blogs about beach trips with their kids, or see pictures on Facebook of families at the beach together. Here in Kansas City there aren't a whole lot of beach options. Sure there are little lakes, but because the lakes are relatively small the water is like bath water and the beaches aren't very large.

Yes, I have beach envy. Growing up in Maine I never really enjoyed swimming in the ocean (it was always so cold by my house!) but I loved swimming when we'd camp at Cape Cod so I feel like my beach standards are pretty high.

The other day the boys showed me we don't need to go to the beach when we can have beachy fun in our back yard...

Swimming

This past weekend the boys experienced the joys of swimming in a pool... for the first time! The deepest water they'd ever been in was a whopping 3 inches until Saturday.

My parents and grandparents are in town visiting and staying at a nice hotel just up the street. That hotel has a nice, indoor pool! Nick and I loaded the boys up Saturday morning and headed over to the pool.

Tyler and Chase weren't so sure about the water... for this picture my dad and I were both in the pool already trying to get them to come to us. I finally had to physically grab Tyler to get him in.



There was a lot of excited and nervous trembling at first, but pretty soon the boys had warmed up and were having a blast!