Memorial Day Weekend and a Sprinkle

My sister got to come in for the long weekend.  We started it off with some supper at Grandma's with all four cousins on my side. 

I tried to get the kids to do a craft with me, making sidewalk chalk, but as is the norm, it did not turn out well so we went and played in the backyard instead.  I think I need to let go of the organized craft time attempts.  Some moms are crafty and great at giving direction.  I am not.

Memorial Day weekend is also when we put the Estes Family Ring pool up!

No, B, its still not ready.  Mommy has dumped enough chemicals in there to kill a small child.  You must wait 24 hours.  Yes, those are swords on the ground.

Not happy at all about waiting.  And he is still in his PJs at noon on a Saturday.

Ah ha!  Something to make waiting more tolerable!

Ty is sneaky with his water fight attack during lunch.  And those are his PJs too.  At least the bottoms.  Shirts come off very quickly during water fights.

We also threw a Baby Sprinkle for my little sister this weekend while she was visiting.  My Mom can throw an amazing party!  I sure which I had an iota of her entertaining talent!

Yum!

Then on Memorial Day, Hannah got to come over and we played in the pool.  It was colder than I thought it would be!  The kids had a blast.  We had to get out when B started shivering and his lips turned blue.  We decided he doesn't have enough body fat to keep him warm.  Someone give that child some whole milk!

Ty was torn.  He wanted to get in the pool, but he was a little nervous about it.  So he played swords with the skimmer for a while before I coaxed him into the pool. 

He was NOT happy about this turn of events.  He fussed a while, but ended up having a good time.  Especially after Daddy got in.

Hannah styling with her Mom's shades.

A couple of cute little boys in their towels.

And the funny faces, of course!  Note the lack of teeth on B.  He seems to be losing them almost daily, two this past weekend!  He now has one less than this picture.  Keep it on the down low (since he reads my blog, little smarty) and just say my wallet is traveling light after this weekend!

The kids zoning out after swimming all morning.

Not too tired for a group wrestle... I mean hug!

And the best part of the day off is time with their Daddy watching America's Got Talent.

Ty also got his big boy bed this weekend.  He has been doing great and looks adorable in it.  He told me, "I big boy, Mommy, no more crate!"  Me, "No baby, the puppy sleeps in the crate, you were in a CRIB!"  

Sure hope he doesn't go around telling people he is finally out of his crate. 



First time at kid table!

The cousins have graduated to the kid table!  No more highchairs for these boys! 
Ages 1, 2 and 6.

At Grandma's the boys play with Aerobies, basketball, and take rides on the golf cart with Big Daddy (their great grandad).  We are really loving the longer summer nights when visiting Grandma's.  These boys are so much fun!

Can you find the puppy in the clean laundry?

I see you!

Blue thinks if his face is hidden, you can't see him.

Tubby gave us a little scare this past week.  He is getting up there in age.  He's 10 which is 60 in dog years.  I keep asking what he is going to do when he retires, but he just wants to sleep in a big pile of laundry. 

He hurt his neck somehow while playing with Blue, our very lively 7 year old dog.  I was really worried since it did not seem to be getting better.  He didn't want to lift his head or turn it, but he was still eating and drinking, so I was trying not to worry too much.

I try to tell myself that I will be ok when his time comes.  He was my very first "baby."  We got him 3 months after we were married and he has been with us through a lot.  J and I agreed we would allow him to pass in dignity and without a lot of pain when the time came.  No chemo treatments or crazy surgeries for this dog, if it came to that.  Just lots of love... and steak.

I started thinking about these puppies and how they have been around since we started trying to have the boys.  Tubby snuggled up with me in the bed and licked my arm until there was hardly any hair left during some rather dark times in my life.  They have always been really gentle with the boys and the boys love on them.  They have endured sword fights, they have been dressed up as ninjas, they have been accidentally hit with nunchucks, they have patiently put up with us teaching little ones the correct way to "pat pat" them. 

Blue makes us laugh often when running into glass doors and looking at everything in the room all at once, and sniffing at bugs until they go straight up his nose.  Blue is very protective of the kids.  I have seen this seemingly not-so-with-it dog stand his ground in a doorway and not let a visiting friend of J's into the family room with us because J wasn't home yet.  And I have seen him get very upset when some older kids were wrestling around with B in the living room.  We are blessed to have such great babies and fur-babies.

B and Tubby

B and the pups.

Blue in trouble.  That was a stuffed animal.

B and Tubby... do you have a question?

B feeding Blue from the highchair.

The Twizzler incident.  Not cool, Tubs.

Ty and Blue.

Ty with Blue looking left out.  He just got fussed at for snuffling the new baby.

Even at bath time, Blue is keeping watch.

 

Ty and Tubby napping.

Well thank goodness Tubby is going to be ok this time around.  No tumors or fractures.  Just needs some rest and baby aspirin (Thanks AMK!) and lots of snuggles in the clean laundry.

Love my Tubbers and my Boo Boo Butta-finga!

A Carnival and a Vegetable Garden

After B's baseball game on Friday night, we hit a very impromptu carnival that had set up by the mall.  Right off, B went down the giant slide.  I tried so hard to convince him to try the Ferris Wheel and he just would not do it.  So frustrating!  I know he would love it if he would try it, but that kid is just not the peer pressuring type, and when he doesn't want to do something, he won't budge.  I call it being stubborn, he calls it perseverance.  I even tried to bribe with ice cream and candy.  Nope.

So while he and Daddy watched, Ty went on his very first Ferris Wheel ride with me!

  He wasn't sure at first and hid his little face in my chest on the way up.  Then when we got to the top, a big smile appeared on his little face and he loved it!  When we came down the other side he yelled and waved to Daddy and B.  It was so much fun!  I just love watching the wonderment in little kid's faces when they experience something new.  Just raw excitement.

The boys also went on a ride with Daddy.  It was a little too fast for Ty and he hid his face the whole time.  No crying though.  He would look up once in a while and just say,
"I don't like this, Daddy."
B killed it with the carnival games and both boys nailed the fishing game. 

Yum, funnel cake. 

Then the boys started melting down so we called it a night.  We came home with a couple of blow up swords, an orange guitar and a little yellow duck. 

The sword fight that ensued when we got home was pretty huge. 

The guitar was used inappropriately as another stabbing device and the fight made it all the way upstairs and onto my bed.  It was a rough one, but I managed to tackle the little ones and get them in the tub.

Saturday started off pretty good.  I just love Ty's "just woken up" face.

Those beautiful blue eyes.  Gonna be trouble in another decade or two.

And his little foot with its crazy toe.

A pile of frogs that came downstairs to watch cartoons with us.

And my B with his Tubby.  Not so much a morning person.  Or maybe just not wanting a camera in his face before 8am.

  We didn't have a lot planned which was really nice, so I announced that morning that it was everyone's Saturday and they could do what they wanted.  So I went outside and started on my vegetable garden and B stayed inside and played with Legos.  Ty came on out with me and played outside. 

I'm trying very hard to accept the fact that my boys have individual personalities and along with that comes individual preferences (which don't always... ok almost NEVER match mine).  So yes, it bothers me that it was 73 degrees outside, sunny and beautiful and B was sitting inside in his PJs with his Legos until noon.  But that's what he loves right now, so I have to just let it roll.  Its not going to stop me from playing in the dirt on a Saturday morning though!

We needed to run a couple of errands after lunch and the boys got very challenging.  A rough rest of the day and evening.  Lots of whining and spoiled attitudes going on.  Something about turning a nose up at a watermelon because it had seeds and standing around pouting because everyone was eating supper instead of playing or doing what one 6 year old wanted.

These times are tough on parents!  Bedtime was welcomed warmly.

Sunday the kids rallied.  We went to a family reunion where we knew only a handful of people and my boys jumped right in and played with kids they didn't know and did awesome.  They ate a ton of food and didn't complain one bit.  They were happy tired boys going to bed and I was a happy tired Mommy.  A good ending to a challenging weekend.

Back to work and school today!  A lot of worries for this Mom today, so I am taking a break from "casting all my cares" on God and just thanking him and focusing on an attitude of gratitude.  The worries will all still be there tomorrow.  I read somewhere that worries are like a rocking chair.  You can rock and rock and rock as hard and as long as you want, but you are still sitting in the exact same spot you were when you started rocking.