Summa Fun

The summer seems to be flying by already. The boys are loving the warm weather, water, dirt, soccer, baseball and popsickles. We have found out that Beckett is an outdoorsman at heart. He'll bring me his shoes, plop himself down in front of me and want me to put them on...immediately. Then he asks for his hat. If I'm busy and can't take him out right away, we get some major tantrum antics. He throws himself on the floor and starts wailing. It's craziness, truly. For a little boy who is super sweet 90 percent of the time, he can sure throw down his share of stubbornness.

He copies everything Asher does, which can often equate to some really loud shouting contests (lucky me...usually in the car or at meal times). They go back and forth shouting the same sounds, then bursting into laughter. They think they are hilarious. I have to admit though, that as much as I detest the shouting I love to hear them laughing together. It's a special little bonus for me if I can put up with the rest of the racket.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention Beck's pension for anything wet. The kid climbs into any 'baby' pool he sees...clothes, shoes and all. He's usually faster getting in than I am catching him. He just sits there, happy as a clam. Being wet doesn't bother him a bit whether it's a pool, the bathtub, puddles, or sprinklers, he loves them all. I'm gonna have to get him swimming early so I don't worry. He seems to have no fear, which means I have plenty.

As for popsickles, I am a huge fan of eating them outside. Beckett insists on having one too, but it brings him to tears every time. He just won't accept that you are supposed to hold the stick, not the freezing cold popsickle. He's making progress, but it's almost painful to watch the excitement on his face melt into frustration and tears as he holds the popsickle itself. He just wants to know why his refreshing little treat is trying to hurt him. Cruel frozen treat.

Asher wants to play baseball or soccer almost every night. It's fun to see the boys out there playing together. Ash will start soccer in the fall, and I think it will be so much to cheer him on.
Ash is also very into trying to make sandcastles in the backyard. He's honing his skills just in time for Corey to build him a big sandbox next weekend. Actually, Asher is into building anything. He is constantly coming up with interesting and very creative contraptions. He claims they are alarms, machines, race tracks, gates, stop lights...and who am I to argue. He's got me convinced! (One of my favorite conversations is when he tells me that our car should turn into a boat...it comes up sometimes when we are driving across the river bridge. He tells me all I have to do is push the button, and then tells me how it all works. Don't I wish. What an imagination!)

One cute moment I caught in pictures was the two of them driving around on the plasma car (isn't that what they're called?). SO cute. I was doing something in the yard, and I turned around to find them peacefully riding around together...no one crying, whining or fighting. Just two happy boys riding together. Asher was one proud brother driving around with Beckett on the back.

The rest of the summer is going to fly by with swimming lessons this next month, visits from both sets of grandparents, and a visit to Utah in August. Lots of fun things to look forward to and I can't wait to see what these boys of mine will come up with next.

Happy Birthday Corey

Yep, another year. I have officially decided that we are not getting older, just younger at heart. Doesn't that have a nice ring to it? And it's so true. I find it so odd that as I've gotten older, I feel the same (even if sometimes my body doesn't...ie back pain, etc, grrrr). Weird.

Corey is now another year older, and the birthday extravaganza has begun. Asher started asking me yesterday if "Daddy has a birthday hat", which he didn't. Asher then told me we needed to make one, to which I said okay, even if I don't know how to make one. We sort of figured it out. Asher painted, colored, drew and wrote 'Happy Birthday', and I did my best to make a cone shape. It is TOTALLY home-made, but it's the thought that counts! And Asher was pretty excited about it. I think we should call it the birthday dunce hat. Asher also insisted on some party decor, so we blew up some balloons and hung a banner, and he was happy. Phew!

Corey had requested Polynesian Spare Ribs and an ice cream cake for the b-day party fare. The cake was fun to make! It's actually more of an ice cream pie, but it turned out great. Yum. We tried to put Beck to bed, but he'd already seen the cake and started bawling when he realized he was going to miss out. SO, we plopped him down in his seat and let him make a disaster of himself. He ate every last drop and smeared whatever he couldn't lick up all over himself. A lovely little mess.

Aaron, Meagan and the girls came over to celebrate with us and hang it. The kids played and had a good time tossing balloons all over, and the adults chatted it up. Aaron, Ash and Corey played a little soccer in the backyard with Corey's new Brasil Futbol(thanks Aaron -n-Meagan)...prepping themselves for the big World Cup no doubt. Fun times!

Happy Birthday Corey....I'm SO glad you were born! Love you:)

Memorial Day Weekend

Woohoo! I love a good long weekend! We had so much fun together, eating entirely too much, and hanging out with Aaron, Meagan and girls. We are realizing more and more all the time how great it is to have family nearby to hang out with, and the cute lil' cousins are having so much fun together already! A few more wouldn't hurt(hint, hint to all the rest of our family too far away to play), but we sure do love having Emery and Ellison close by for Ash and Beck to play with. We BBQ'd two of the days, played games, visited the Butterfly Pavillion and stained the deck.
The deck thing wasn't fun, just totally necessary. Last week our deck was finished being built(good!) and stained(bad!) with 'Cedar' colored stain. Aye-yie-yie. No good. The color looked fine on the can, not so fine on our deck. Nothing but bright orange, plus our bedroom walls reflected the color too when the curtains were open. It had to be fixed asap, so Memorial Day was the day. Now we are SO happy with it, and the dark brown color it is currently sporting. Glad it's done.

That evening Aaron and Meagan came over and we just hung out and relaxed the day away. Our boys topped it off with running through the sprinklers. We turned them on for the benefit of the lawn, but they just couldn't resist. Beckett was chattering from the cold by the time he wanted to come in. Next time maybe we'll try to throw some swimsuits on them first...if we're fast enough. Cute Emery just looked on at the craziness of the boys and kept saying, "Dry." Yes, she was nice and dry. What a good girl!

P.S. These last pics are a few from our visit to the Explora Museum last week. Always a good time!