The boys received big brother presents to open from Nana & Papa’s neighbors. We are now the proud owners of 2 Zhu Zhu pets. I had heard of these things, but had never seen them in action. Who knew hamsters quacked and moo-ed??? The boys love them!
Later in the day, we broke out the construction paper and stickers and made haunted houses based on a picture of one in an I Spy book the boys received (also as a gift for being big brothers.)
The boys have been asking for a chance to play in the leaves. Our trees don’t drop leaves that are any good for that, so we asked our neighbor of we could “borrow” theirs. J was kind enough to rake a pile for the boys to kick, jump and throw around. They had so much fun!
Last night we were at our friends’ house and Nolan got a little excited and bounced off their couch onto their circular coffee table. Unfortunately, circular tables still have hard edges and he ended up with a swollen & colorful eye when he woke up this morning.
Now both boys have had black eyes this year, so the score is settled. No need to have any more.
It’s State Fair time!
Once again, we loaded into the suburban and hit the fairgrounds with the kids and our friend, Michelle. It was chilly this year! we all needed extra layers and the boys each donned their stocking caps. Just a few days earlier, people were still dressed in summer clothes.
We hit our favorite cookie spot early on so we could enjoy them throughout our tour. We also made a stop at the Miracle of Birth building. This year, our visit to the building had a particularly “special” meaning, since we are going to experience our own miracle of birth in a few short weeks!
The other memorable stop during our visit was to the giant slide. Nolan and Lincoln loved the ride – Lincoln even asked to go again.
When we had our trees taken down in the backyard, we had trucks and bobcats in and out of the backyard. In order to make that possible, one of the fences on the side of the house had to be removed. The old fence couldn’t be put back into its old place, so Jake and a friend of his spent the day building a new fence so our kids and dogs stay contained 🙂
Our friend, Jeanne, came over to give me a bit of a break (and play with the kids.) I was able to get the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up while they built this in the sandbox:
My mom wasn’t feeling well on my dad’s actual birthday, so we delayed the celebration by a couple of days. We had a delicious dinner, complete with pulled pork sandwiches, multiple salads, and of course cake, provided by our family friend, Teri. (She makes an amazing rum cake.) The boys once again were candle blowing assistants for Papa.
The boys had a couple of days to play with their friend, I. The three of their little minds never cease to come up with creative ways to use blankets, pillows, and containers.
Here they are in their “hideout” behind the couch:
Here are the “cars” they were riding in:
And then, of course, Lincoln had to empty the bookcase. Nothing frustrates me more than walking into the toy room and seeing a mess like this. I would love to know what possesses my 2 year old to take every book off of the shelf and make a monster pile. Maybe he thinks he can read by osmosis through his feet?
There’s a woman we know from our church who lives nearby a set of train tracks. The train passes through every morning at about the same time. We can often hear the whistle blow if we have the windows open in our house. Earlier in the summer, Jake told the kids that he would talk to Ms. B and see if they could come visit and watch the trains and have a glass of lemonade. Well, it only took telling them this once. They continue to remind us that this is something we need to do before the summer ends. What I love the most about this though, is the way Lincoln says the word “lemonade.” It’s “yem-nade.” Makes me smile every time I hear him say it!
Nolan received moonsand as a gift from our neighbors a while ago and I pulled it out today for the boys to play with. Note to self…next time, take the moonsand OUTSIDE to play with. The kids LOVED the stuff, but man was it a mess to clean up! I had to shake rugs, vacuum, and wipe down the table multiple times. Nevertheless, watching the boys have fun was definitely worth the clean-up afterward.
