Beating the Heat!

As with most of you, we have been battling "excessive heat" this last week or so. To combat the indoor cabin fever that comes with avoiding the heat, we came up with some alternative plans!

First of all, we set this up for Aaron and were shocked that he enjoyed it so much!

Taking a break, Aaron (a sweet brother the vast majority of the time) gives Emily a ride around the yard! They have really started playing together and communicating. It's great!

Emily has now picked up her brother's habit of asking for peanut butter before she's even out of bed! She will eat the whole bread/toast, but licks the peanut butter off first...and here is the result:

You may remember her brother putting gloves on his feet during a nap? Here, Emily had transferred her sock to her hand after waking up in the morning!

Emily and Duke share a special bond. She LOVES to hug him and he "tolerates" it, but secretly enjoys it. He still likes to help me put her to bed at night and will often stay in her room even after I've left.

Here she is giving him a kiss...aiming for his mouth...ick! Don't worry, Mommy intercepted that one!

We received this chair from Josh's brother's family who have long since outgrown it. It is intended for Emily's room but doesn't fit yet with the rocking chair still there (and, I'll admit, it doesn't yet match her decor) so it found a place in Aaron's room...that doesn't stop Emily from using it! It's the perfect size and so sweet!

Lately, when going to sleep, we'll hear Emily kicking the wall...not a big deal. Well apparently, she is a strong girl and can push her entire bed AWAY from the wall as well! We have found her bed 6-8inches from the wall several nights now!

(By the way, at her 18 month appointment she was in the 90th percentile for height, 35th percentile for weight and at or beyond the speech/language abilities of a 2 year old. She has an endless number of words and is putting two and three together regularly!)

Ever see a brussels sprout grow? Now you have...

Aaron is a natural on his bicycle. We've been taking evening walks/rides once the heat has cooled a bit. He is really good at stopping and starting back up again and is learning how to check for cars at intersections!

While Aaron works hard on his bike...Emily lounges in her wagon:) Trying to stay cool!

Looks like we're getting a break from the heat...we need it!

Happy Fourth of July!

For the fourth of July, we headed up to Josh's parents' for time with family (before his brother's family moves away again!), food and fireworks! Our kids have so much fun playing with the girls and Charlie.

Here are Grandpa and Grandma with their grandkids!

Our little firecracker...

We headed over to the country club for an outdoor dinner and games. They set up a few miniature golf holes on the putting green...

...and had cornhole as well!

After all of this organized play, Josh thought Aaron would benefit from a lesson in rolling down hills...

And Aaron chased around his cousins!

Aunt Kari and Olivia take Emily for a walk while we wait for fireworks to begin.

Sweet little face:)

I love this picture of the girl cousins! Emily knew how and where to lay...just have to work on an on-demand cheese face! Poor girl was exhausted at this point. She and her brother were troopers and lasted through all the fun!

Once again, I kick myself for not getting a family photo...someday I'll be kicking myself even harder! ha. Oh well.

Happy Independence Day!

O's in Ocean CIty

Warning...vacation pictures follow so this is a LONG one! Some of them are slightly out of order but, with multiple cameras, putting this post together was a little tricky! We went to Ocean City, Maryland with our friends, the Ostrouts. Kelly was my college and grad school roommate and is now a best friend! Her adorable boys are 2 and 6 months so we had a child represented for each year since 2008! We had a blast! Her aunt owns a condo there and allows family to choose a week to stay there. We thank both her and Kelly for inviting us along! We came prepared with a tent for shade, but she had more sand toys and beach chairs than we could have hoped for...we had a great time!

At the condo, they had these gorgeous hydrangea bushes...so I caught our gorgeous girl with them!

We all headed out to the boardwalk after an early dinner one night. Here the boys enter the train ride, tickets in hand...such big guys:)

Here, Aaron is having a great time. We have a video that shows that this ride was not relaxing for him. He LOVED it, but we're certain he thought he was responsible for keeping it on the circular track. It was a pretty fast ride and he was turning that wheel SOO fast (the right direction) to keep up! It was adorable...in fact, after that we had to strip him down to his undershirt--he had worked up such a sweat!

Here are Mommy and Emmie on the merry-go-round with some super creative photography by daddy!

BUSTED! Thankfully Josh was sending an action shot out to the grandparents...Nick, however, fully admitted that he was working!

The littles one weren't quite convinced that a stroller and pacifier were as much fun as those rides the big guys were on!

This is the first vacation where Emily has been old enough to truly start enjoying all that is BEACH. When I put her down on the sand the first morning, she stood there whimpering and wanting to be picked up. Instead, I handed her a shovel and pail and, lo and behold, she went to work without hesitation or further complaint. She LOVED playing in the surf and was relatively fearless. You should have heard her squeals as the water rushed up to "get her." So great!

We discovered that Aaron is a heck of a frisbee thrower!

Here are Daddy and Aaron playing in the surf. The water felt great, but Aaron thought it was hilarious for Josh to overreact when the waves would hit them!

Fun in the surf with them both...thankfully, it looks like we have a couple mini beach bums!

Jumping and splashing...

Here are all the kids, playing hard!

Caught these monkeys jumping on the bed...goofy kids!

Kelly's mom was staying with her aunt in her aunt's other condo and kindly offered to stay with the kids one night so we could have a date night! We got the kids fed and bathed early and then bribed, errr calmed them down, with a movie and some popcorn before putting them to bed and heading out! Emily has no clue there was a movie on...she just kept pulling Josh's hand (and therefore, pieces of popcorn) to her mouth!

The complex was great! It had indoor and outdoor pools, which Aaron was not interested in, and awesome playground that became part of the daily routine!

No family beach vacation is complete without a stop for mini-golf!

Aaron and James cheesin' it:

Mommies and little ones

There was some serious digging...in fact, they got "in trouble" by the lifeguard for digging too deep! Apparently, they don't want you digging deeper than your knees for safety reasons! ...and no tunnels either.

The picture that goes with the story at the beginning...here she is "falling in love" with the beach. After this, she became an old pro!

Part of the tradition of Ocean City are the Scopes photographers. They comb the beach taking pictures that you can then go look at and order gifts/prints. Here's our family shot:

We had a perfect time. Great accommodations, great amenities and exceptional company! Thanks to the Ostrouts for inviting us along!

Incredible Night of Memories!

Thanks to some creative and patient planning, my high school friends and I were able to meet for a great girls' night out! I've known some of these girls since kindergarten, some from grade school, a couple others from junior high, and high school. Each of them has 2-4 kids for a grand total of 26 kids between us (including two who will be arriving this fall!). You would NEVER guess by looking at any of them that they have birthed that many children;) We were supposed to meet all the little cuties and see each other in Mommy mode the next morning, but unfortunately Miss Emily fell further under the weather and we were prompted to drive home instead.

The night was such a heartwarming, soul uplifting, spirit lightening time of catching up on our kids and families and reminiscing about the time when "grown-up" lives were just a dream. Many, many times during the night someone would say "I still can't believe I'm a mom." We all felt like we were back in high school again together. Great, great time!

June Nakie Noodles

Beware, partial nudies follow!!

Following some outdoor water play, the kids warm up together in the chair:

Sometimes, it's just easier to lose the clothing than expect a bib to be sufficient!

No caption necessary...this...is...Emily:

No nudity here...Aaron was drawing on his easel and proudly exclaimed "I made an H!" He most certainly did...and made an "A" shortly thereafter!

This wraps up June at home...next up, vacation in Ocean City with the Ostrouts!