Week In Review

While Chris was at work, I sent him these 3 pics of what our children were doing right then while we were outside.

It's shows their personalities right now.

Dylan, playing on his Kobo (he's either doing this or reading).

Payton, riding her bike (she is making her daddy proud!).

Rylan, eating (just like his momma).

Day 2 of my hornet sting.  It really hurt.

It started to feel MUCH better by Thursday though (praise GOD!)

We went to the pool again.

Dylan is getting more and more brave.

Such a cute lady!

I made Refried Beans for the first time.

(With out the re-fried and in the slow cooker.)

I caught a sweet moment with the boys.

Daddy shaved this guy's head.

 

Can he get any cuter?

And he finished these 2 books in 6 days.

Seriously???  Wow!

Memorial Weekend Wrap up

It was so nice having Memorial weekend as our first weekend of summer.
We stayed busy!
We had karate class, and Payton was killing her turning round house kicks!

We went to a friends house to hang, while Chris was at Guys Night with our church.
We played outside and Jackson was kind and shared all his toys.

Dylan helped Rylan ride a tricycle.

Which he loved.

The kids had a fun time playing too.

And playing in the dirt.

Jackson had some fun toys that Rylan checked out.

My friend Rachel is such a cool mom.

She face painted the kids, "just because".
Here is Princess Twinkle the Owl.

And here is Prince Hooter the Owl.

Jackson was a tiger, which matched his shirt!

All together!
(Notice Dylan's arms are in his shirt to look like wings.)

Rylan learned a new trick.

(Fortunately Chris just showed me that he can also get down by himself too.)
Getting ready for church.

Such a silly girl.

Church!

It was hilarious watching Dylan read the instructions on how to play chess and try to teach himself and Payton.

We opted for a family game of Yahtzee instead.

I helped Payton play.

I had the kids draw pictures of some things they wanted to do this summer.
My favorites: the top one "Cooking with Momy" - Dylan
the top left one "Pillow Fight" - Payton

We went riding/hiking at Blankets Creek.
It was SO beautiful.
We covered 2 miles.

When we got home, the kids didn't even come in the house and they played outside for HOURS.
They were filthy when they were done.
I absolutely LOVE this picture of Dylan.
Such joy in his face.

See I told you, filthy!

This little guy is eating us out of house and home.

I'm not sure where he puts it all.

I got stung by a "horton" (that's what the kids call hornets).

OUCH!

Little man LOVES electronics.
He runs to Sasha in the morning to sit on her lap and play on her iPad.
He just might end up calling her Grandma iPad!
Here he is on Payton's computer.

Such a smart little boy!
So that was a glimpse of our Memorial Weekend.
It's nice to take a day to remember that our freedom isn't free, and that many men and women have lost their lives to protect our freedom!

What I Ate...

Sunday - Baked Potato Bar

I cut my potato in 4 pieces, topped one with chili, one with cheese & broccoli, one with pulled pork, and one with sour cream and bacon. Yum!

Monday - Roast Beef Bagel Sandwich
Green Salad with Olive Garden Dressing

Tuesday - Black Eyed Peas
Cornbread & Honey

Friday - Hamburger
Baked Beans

Saturday - English Muffin Pizzas
Orange Slices
Carob Bites

Loves His Sister

Today Payton was crying in a timeout.  Rylan went over to love on her.

Here is the progression of what happened.
(They're not great photos, but you get the idea!)








He loves his sister!

Jam Packed

Dylan was invited to a party at 6:30 tonight down by Chris' work.
Chris had a sales meeting until 4:30 (at least).
So instead of him heading home to turn around to go back the same direction, we decided to drop daddy off at work, and have a fun day out and about - just the kids and me.
(We share a car and this is one of those few (very few) times a year that it is a hassle having only one vehicle.  And I don't even want to call it a hassle because I would NOT want 2 car payments!)
So I packed up a lunch and had a few ideas of what we could do.
After dropping daddy off at work, and taking the kids in to meet his co-workers and seeing his office, we headed to the park.  It was a really nice park, with a few different sections of playground stuff.
This was Rylan's first time to a playground to actually play.
He wasn't so sure about the things that moved.

And he REFUSED to get into the swing.
But he had a great time walking around acting like he was big stuff.

There was lots to explore there.

And he had a great time.

When the kids got bored after a few hours, we headed to the mall parking lot and had a picnic in the back of the van.

Then went and walked the mall for a few hours.
Which honestly was a GREAT time.
I let the kids look in each store that they wanted.
We talked about each being patient with the other while we went into American Girl and then Game Stop.
I had told them up front that we weren't going to buy anything there and when they asked for something (which I knew they would), I told them to put it on their wish list for their birthday.
They were happy with that answer.

I did end up buying them each $2 flip flops from Children's Place and then these cool shades for Dylan for 2 bucks there as well!

Did I mention that Rylan slept almost the WHOLE time we were there???
It was wonderful!
Towards the end of the mall time, they were getting a bit antsy, so I told them that I had a surprise for them.
We piled in the car and headed to Chik-fil-A for kiddie cones and to play in the play area.
Rylan gladly went in and checked it out.

And watched all the kids come down the slide.

And them climbed up inside all by himself.

We then headed to McDonald's to get Dylan dinner so he wouldn't be starving at the party.
(I had totally forgot about packing dinner and also didn't pack enough food for my hungry brood.)

We picked up daddy from work, dropped Dylan off at the party (it was at a trampoline place), then headed to meet our friends, the Tappan's, for dinner.
We went to Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint.
It's a cool set up of customizable personal pizzas, salads, paninis, and sandwiches.
It reminded me of an italian version of Chipotle.
(And of course I forgot to take pictures.  Ugh!)
Our time with them was great, and way too short.  Before I knew it Chris was saying we had to leave to pick up Dylan.
So back to get Dylan and head home!
The kids were POOPED but it was a fun, jam packed day, and a great way to spend our first official full day of summer!