June Highlight Reel

June started off with a beautiful Sunday, perfect for lounging outside.

We went to post church lunch, (Pei Wei again!).  While we waited for our food I practiced selfies with my mini.
 

From lunch we headed to the fountains to work on our pre Hawaii tans and let the kids run themselves silly.


No trip to the fountains is complete without a trip to the custard place.


A couple days later we broke out our own fountains at home.  Driveway sprinkler is much preferred to the grass these days - my kids hate getting their feet muddy.  Weirdos.


Later that week we discovered that some of the kids had gotten poison ivy from our Memorial Day winery and BBQ picnic outing in May.  It was awful - Riley had it particularly bad and some of our friends had it even worse.  Camden apparently is immune to it, as I learned TG is.  I guess those "leaf" necklaces they were making on our picnic were actually poison ivy (which is what I said when Riley came running up to me with one of them, but I was voted down).  I felt really guilty about Riley's poor itchy rashes, but my twinnie made me feel better when she told me "Poison ivy is a badge of honor. We're outdoorsy! If by outdoorsy you mean drinking wine. Outside."  Indeed.

So, our sweet girl had her Kindergarten graduation ceremony while she was covered in poison ivy rash.  She was a little embarrassed by it, but thankfully Gammy bought her the perfect long sleeved dress to hide most of the worst areas.

She ended up receiving the Principal's Citizenship Award and we were so proud of her.  She truly is a caring, intelligent, natural leader and we can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

Look at her proud, gap toothed grin, right after she received her award.  She had just lost tooth number 7 a few nights before.


The time flies.  I can't believe I'm in a photo with our Kindergarten graduate and big boy Cam - and this was already almost a year ago!


We absolutely LOVED Riley's kindergarten teachers.  These two women took her from barely knowing all of her alphabet to reading fluently, writing diligently and learning how to be a good citizen.  I can't say enough good things about them and how fortunate we were to have them for her first year in school.


After her ceremony in the morning we went to enjoy a special fun day together! Our first stop was Chick Fil A - where they were celebrating graduation too.  Riley thought they did this just for her class and I didn't tell her otherwise.


Our next stop was Chuck E Cheese!  I love the way Camden is looking at her.  He was proud of his sister and so excited to have all her attention for the day.


We finished out our afternoon at the fountains yet again, where the girl of the moment alternated between playing in the water and giving me a "spa day" that entailed pouring fountain water on my feet and giving me a shiatsu massage.


Guacamole and margaritas were consumed in copious amounts this month, but there's no better place for them than Uncle Julio's on a kid free couples date.


Where after we ate tons of guac, fajitas and then cupcakes from the bakery - we ended up at Breakers (attempting) to play a few games of pool.


After all the spring rain and sun the backyard jungle could no longer be ignored. We spent a few June Saturdays at Home Depot...


And the Dollar Store where Riley insisted she needed this coconut cup because "I'm Hawaiian and this is very Hawaiian."  I wish that logic worked when I insist that I need to live in Hawaii because I am Hawaiian. TG, are you reading this? #BeachfrontBargainHunt


And of course, there were Mommy and Cam snuggles, because what would a month without that even look like?


Even though this picture screams, "SUMMERTIME!"...


When the last day of school finally arrived, my sweet girl cried big alligator tears because she was so heartbroken to leave her beloved Kindergarten teachers behind.  She grudgingly gave me a tear filled grin with a number one for first grade.


I, on the other hand, was ready to party, but someone needed a nap first.

Can you see my life in this photo?  My blog should be called Stenciled Walls, Monogram Pillows and Disinfectant Spray.

Summer's comin!  In the next blog post.

 

Happy Birth-Baptism-Mother's Day!

Yes, you read that title right.

We pushed Camden's 4th birthday party back a few weeks so it would coincide with baptism day at our church, which also happened to be Mother's Day 2014.  It was a jam packed weekend of fun that all started when my family flew into town on Friday.

We picked them up at the airport and returned to Cam's favorite lunch spot du jour.  I love this picture because you can clearly see how much we love when they are in town.  Gammy and Gampy are always full of funny tricks and jokes that I remember from my own childhood.  It's a blessing to be able to watch my own children live some of my memories.  Whenever G + G have been around, my kids spend weeks singing old time cartoon theme songs, blowing their straw paper in your face, or telling you that you have a stain on the front of your shirt.  It's good times.


That afternoon we hung out in our backyard, shot some arrows at the target, and enjoyed a Baskin Robbins treat.  Baskin Robbins is Gammy's favorite.  Any ice cream is Camden's favorite.


The next morning, Gigi, Papa, and Lolo arrived, just in time for Cam's birthday party.  They came bearing awesome gifts like this new fishing rod from Aunt Lo.


Cam chose a swimming party this year which was a big hit with all the kids.  We just paid the general admission fee for about twenty people and then spent almost two hours splashing and playing.


Riley was our lone fearless water slide rider.


While we swam the Grandma's set up the party table. Cam chose a Dusty Planes theme this year. I actually took him to the party store at the beginning of April and let him shop for his own supplies.  The party favors were all swimming toys from the dollar store.  Have I mentioned they opened a dollar store in our part of town?  I love it.


I am fortunate to call some very talented women my dear friends.  One of them made this amazing Dusty cake for the party.   I loved that she put his name on the Planes logo.  It was perfect.


Double the grandma love before it was time to eat that cake!

He either wished for a Dusty airplane (which he got for his birthday already) or to go to the moon.  Either way it was his standard mantra for the first half of 2014.


We loved having both sides of the family in town for the big weekend - even though by this point I was already exhausted. We went to the mall after his party for more of Camden's favorite activity of shopping for things for himself. Gammy was too happy to oblige. I even got a new gym water bottle, after I lost the first one I purchased somewhere in our shopping travels that day (thanks Dad).


That evening we all rested after our busy day.  I made chicken and dumplings for dinner for everyone and then spent the rest of the night agonizing over the right words for the baptism of our babies.  At our church you speak words of encouragement for your children before they are baptized.  I already am terrified of public speaking, but to find the right words to tell these little people what they truly mean to me was overwhelming.  I gave up and went to bed before I could assemble my thoughts into something coherent.

The next morning we were up early to get everyone dressed and out the door.  Thankfully, all my jitters about speaking over my children melted away as they handed me the mic.  I used my notes and TG and I spoke from the heart and then our favorite pastor baptized each of them.  It was an emotional moment, but there were moments of laughter because our pastor is so good at engaging young children.  He asked both of them questions that they answered in a way that had the congregation roaring with laughter.

Riley of course, was born for the spotlight, she was right at ease with all eyes and attention on her and she knows how to make a joke.


We were worried about Camden, because he's generally more shy and wary of new situations.  However, when our pastor asked him how old he was, he firmly replied, "I'm 7."  When everyone started to laugh because clearly he is not 7, he interjected, "No I'm not kidding.  I'm serious." which of course made everyone laugh even harder.


It was a beautiful ceremony and we were so thankful to have our family, who love our children as much as we do, there to support us on an important day.  Not only that, but we were able to celebrate this event on Mother's Day with both of our mothers with us.
 





My family wasn't scheduled to fly out until Monday afternoon so we had some time to kill before we had to get them to the airport.  One of the things that I love about them is that they are always up for some adventure, whether it be snow tubing, laser tag at Thanksgiving, or this time a local farm that my kids love.  We ended up being the only people there and we had so much fun racing each other on the tube slides, posing in the photo ops, visiting the baby goats, and bouncing on the moon pillow.  We ran wild around there for hours, trying every activity, before it started to rain and we called it a day.








As usual, eventually the end came and there were lots of tears (mostly from me) when it was time to say goodbye.  I spend so many days looking forward to their visits and then we are so busy laughing and enjoying each other's company and it's over all too soon.  It's so hard to let them go when our time is up.  I always want more adventures and memories; just more time.  But I am thankful that we have the opportunity to be all together like this in meaningful ways no matter how short the days.

May Was...

May was…

1. Evenings lounging at a local shopping center, eating burgers and custard.

2. The return of soccer Sundays and a solo parent church day with the kiddos.



3. Starry eyed FaceTime with Gammy.




4. Coloring outside with chalk.


5.  Much needed bubble baths after long evenings outside.


6.  The last month of Kindergarten for this cutie.


7. Warm days spent swinging while reppin' Beantown.


8. The last day of Pre-K (and potted plants galore!).


9.  Rainy days and puddle jumping with Peppa and George.


10. Leafy green tree climbing.


11. And neon rainbows.


12. Post gym Saturdays having a pizza lunch date and practicing our shakas.

13. Brunch at our local Mexican joint after church.
 

14. Crafting time with my mini.


15.  Dollar Store and Starbucks visits with this guy.
 

16.  Lots of snuggle requests.


17.  Tearing up the neighborhood on their 360 spark trike.


18. Frozen birthday parties in the park and FINALLY learning to swing by herself.

19. Memorial Day winery + BBQ picnics with friends.



20. Memorial Day sales shopping with these two goofs.




21. Memorial Day lounging at the fountains with friends and dreaming of the summer to come.

22. Breaking out our spring/summer wardrobe.


23.  A dinner date with Daddy.


24.  A girls only date with the besties to see Maleficent.


25.  The end of 20 weeks worth of weekly indoor swimming dates with these two.


May was…perfection.