Since I'm off of work until mid-August, I've had a lot of extra time on my hands with the kids! I have SO many pictures and have sorted them into categories for your viewing pleasure (and my OCD organizational mind). As always, there is an update on each of us after the pictures. No rants or confessions this time; you're welcome :) I will, however, encourage you to take time and enjoy something you normally take for granted today...it will be worth it!
Jimmy and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this month! We alternate who plans the celebration each year. This year it was Jimmy's turn and he surprised me :) I LOVE surprises. The Cloers came to watch the kids while we went out to eat at the Tavern in Old Salem. Then we went to get dessert at Mid Town Cafe and Dessertery...it was SO nice to have some time together.
Father's Day
This is a picture from Katie's wedding and I love it! My dad is quite goofy, but we sure do love him.
Grace made a craft for Jimmy...gotta love Pinterest!
Sorry I didn't rotate the image but can't you tell it's a family portrait Grace drew? Apparently we have a lot more babies to make...
Grace made this at preschool before they let out for summer.
She made this as well (the front was cute with little thumb print bugs).
Wesley's chubby hand print card is the cutest!
Family Time
We went bowling one afternoon when Jimmy got home wayyy earlier than expected.
The kids lasted about a game and then we went to the arcade in the building. It was fun!
Jimmy was off work one day that Grace had swimming lessons at Tanglewood Park. Naturally, we packed a lunch and headed to the playground right after. Jimmy and Grace had a soccer session together as well (not sure where those pictures went). It was one of those hot days, however, we escaped the heat under a huge tree and were fortunate of all the breeze!
Poor Maverick.
Our garden is looking good! This is our cucumber plant that had yielded a total of four so far.
Such a ham!
Story time with daddy
I just realized that Jimmy is wearing scrubs in most of the pictures from this month, haha! OB is the best :)
I randomly turned my camera to take a selfie of Wesley and I...I love this picture now! Sweet, smiley boy! Grace was listening to a book on CD (she loves those!) and didn't want to participate in our fun, haha!
Daddy-daughter ice cream date :)
Playdates: Since school let out for the summer, we have been catching up on long overdue play dates with friends.
We met the Hicks family at Gigi's cupcakes to drop off something for them. They were already planning on going there and we were headed to dinner around the corner, so it worked out. We did have a water play date with them a few weeks ago. It was good to see them!
Grace and Blake at the mall...because it has been too dang hot to play outside! Blake is the daughter of Sean and Caitlyn. Sean is one of Jimmy's resident classmates. Many more play dates to come with them!
Wesley hamming it up in a car toy, I think.
Left to right: Hannah, Grace, Maddie, and Wesley.
Grace and Maddie became buds this past school year as they were classmates. They took the same swim lesson session at Tanglewood the past two weeks and we went to their neighborhood pool following the last class.
The girls with their swim teacher. I highly recommend the swim lessons at Tanglewood! Grace ended up swimming the length of the pool with a noodle (and no help!) which is a big accomplishment for my cautious water baby.
Hannah and Wesley hanging around in the train
Little Learners Curriculum (with Wesley this time!)
Anyone remember when I was posting weekly updates as Grace was going through the Little Learners Curriculum?? Here we go again! This time it's with Wesley and everything is already laid out for me which is SO nice. Many of you all and some strangers have purchased the curriculum from Teachers Pay Teachers. Check out the link and buy it if you'd like! Gretchen and I created this a few years ago. It's very doable even if you don't have an education background!
Grace wanted to paint when I was doing the apple sponge stamping activity with Wesley. It worked out perfectly!
"A" is for ants on a log (healthy version and not so healthy version)
Pipe cleaners and strainers=time occupier!
Look at that boy...he has just stolen our hearts!
Dot paint fun (should have saved it for "D" week)
Grace and I made a butterfly out of the dot paint pens.
Then she wanted "to please do it on my own, mommy".
Outside fun: water, paint brushes, stencils
Sight word bingo: Grace has been memorizing basic sight words (most sight words are not phonetic which is why they should be memorized i.e. to, the). As a review, we played a game. I added some other words on there like her name and our names. She enjoyed it. It was difficult at first for her to isolate the words I was calling out, so I would write the word down and she would search for it.
"B" is for bathtub fun. Wesley got sleepy during bath time, so he went down for a nap. When I returned, Grace had created her own amusement park. That girl is so creative!
Finger painting fun disaster :)
Sweet Tooth: I've had quite the sweet tooth and just cooking interest in general. I've made a lot over the past few weeks. Most of the recipes are from my friend's food blog. She's a dietitian and knows what she's cooking about y'all...check it out. Her queso dip (made with veggies) is killer!!
dailydoseofgreens.com
dailydoseofgreens.com
Muffins, puppy chow, and fudgy pudding from the Oh She Glows cookbook. So good!
Kale chips made with kale from our garden! Our garden has done wayyyy better than last year.
Chocolate Mint Button cookies with cashew cream on top (from my friend's website). They were SO yummy. I had extra ganache sauce leftover that I dipped strawberries in and they did not last very long!
Grace was thinking hard about whether she liked them or not....she decided she did not. Haha, she has very particular tastes when it comes to sweets. Fortunately and unfortunately, I don't!
I had a bunch of lemons I needed to use and found a lemon macaroon recipe on Pinterest. I didn't end up using many lemons for this recipe, but the macaroons were fantastic!!! I will definitely be making these bad boys again.
Family Update
Wesley: Our 20 month old little boy is turning into a toddler. Besides his meltdown and favorite words "NO" and "MINE" he is quite the sweet little boy. For the first time, he walked up to me, gave me a hug and said, "I wuv ooo". I about melted to pieces on the ground. Wesley looks for his sissy first thing every morning. She usually sleeps in about an hour past him, so when he hears her coming down the hall, he gets SO excited. Wesley also LOVES his daddy. I need to take a video of the kids when Jimmy gets home from work one day...it's priceless. Also, Wesley has begun to speak in phrases. One day when Jimmy walked in the door, Wesley said "Daddy, you home!". I thought my mind was going crazy until Jimmy asked if I heard what he heard...it's so fun to listen to their voices!
Grace: Our 4 year old going on 15 year old is a trip. Grace definitely has her sassy moments and we are working the hardest on having a good attitude even if you have to do something you don't want to do. It's tough being 4! Usually Grace is fantastic with her little brother and they can be heard laughing/playing throughout the house. She just finished her second set of swim lessons and has progress so much. We are proud of her.
Kristen: I have been enjoying my break from work! I have had to pick things back up with grad school, but it feels much more doable now. I'll continue grad school classes through the summer since my program finishes next May (and it only a 22 month program). While it may be a year away, you can pray for guidance for me as assistant principal jobs will open up over the next year and I'll need to figure out if I'll be ready to start the 2016-2017 school year or to wait another year.
Jimmy: He is finishing up OB and it really hasn't been too bad this time around. His hours are long, but he has had some unexpected time off or has gotten home earlier than expected on some days. Jimmy is on research next month, so that should be good. He will go in each day to check on his current research study patients and should be home early most days...we look forward to that! Jimmy will begin his last year of residency this next month!! Can you believe it? In case I haven't mentioned this (which I think I have) he still has one more year after this one for a fellowship in regional. So, in two years he'll be completely done!
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