Sunday, June 30, 2013

A Night of Firsts {Week of Dates}

While the guys were enjoying the baseball game the girl's had a girl's night out. We started the evening with a walk around the neighborhood at Nora's (not Sawyer's) pace. We had Nora's favorite pasta for dinner.

As I was cleaning up dinner Nora got into my jewelry bag and proceeded to put on everything she could. And that's when I came up with an idea...Nora loves jewelry but mama doesn't appreciate her tearing up her jewelry so I decided it's time for Nora to have some of her own jewelry.

in momma's jewelry
Kyle drove the van to the baseball game so Nora and I took a ride in Flash (this was actually probably her favorite part of the evening :) We went to the mall and had frozen yogurt for dessert then we went to several stores in search of age appropriate and inexpensive jewelry. My original thought was to visit Claire's, but I hadn't been there in at least 15 years and they appear to have changed their product to focus on an adult client. So we ventured on and finally found Children's Place where we discovered kids jewelry and it was on clearance.

Nora picked out a purple necklace and bracelet set. She fell in love immediately and as we walked around the mall she showed off her jewels to everyone passing by. It's crazy to me how different girls are from boys. First of all I would have never taken Sawyer to a mall without (or with for that matter) a stroller at Nora's age. He would have been EVERYWHERE! Nora stayed by my side and held my hand most of the time. Every once in awhile she would stray away to check out a piece of clothing she admired but then she would come back to show it to me. And several times I heard "get it for me?" Can a 1 year old really like to shop?



Her new jewels even matched her dress
After perusing the mall we headed home to get in our pj's and paint our nails. This was Nora's 1st time to have her toenails painted and she was very excited. She picked the hot pink polish and patiently sat while I painted her nails. However, she was not so patient after the polish was applied. I had to turn on Veggietales so she would sit and let it dry.


checking out her pink toenails
when did she get so big?
As the evening wound down I read Nora a few books (her favorite past time) then she spotted the iPad. And I let her play until bedtime because she never gets to play on the iPad by herself because of her technology loving brother.
playing on the iPad
We both had lots of fun and I think it was a pretty successful evening full of firsts (jewelry, painting toenails and playing independently on the iPad). I can't wait for many more mommy/daughter dates in the years to come!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Royals Guy's Night {Week of Dates}

For Father's Day Kyle got 2 tickets to a Royals/Indians game in Cleveland and he decided to take Sawyer to his 1st baseball game. Sawyer was very excited!

 All ready to cheer on the Royals!

The game didn't start until 7 pm and we weren't sure how long Sawyer was going to last so the boys went early in the hope they could see batting practice up close.

And boy did they! They were able to stand along the rail in the outfield as the players took batting practice. Sawyer wasn't super interested until the man standing beside him caught a ball and gave it to Sawyer. He got a game ball at his very 1st game and he was super excited!




While they continued to wait for the game to start they grabbed supper. Out of all the great ballpark foods Sawyer chose a PB&J. Oh that boy :)



Finally the game started and Sawyer made it almost all the way through with the help of a few walks and Daddy's phone. If you can't tell from the picture below they had a terrific time!

They didn't get home until midnight but Sawyer was still wound up about his baseball!


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Father's Day

I realize Father's Day was several weeks ago but I wanted to post these pictures.

Father's Day was pretty low key just like Daddy likes it. We made Daddy waffles. Then gave him a hand made card w/ a baseball theme. Sawyer and I drew his hand on brown paper and cut it out to act like a baseball glove. Then I cut out a ball on white paper and wrote "Happy Father's Day" on it. We did a baseball card because Kyle's gift was 2 tickets to a Indians/Royals baseball game.

These are pictures from Father's Day and this is a very typical scene. The kids pile on Daddy to snuggle and then it all ends in a fit of laughter as they tickle each other until they are laughing so hard they can barely breathe.





Monday, June 24, 2013

Swimming Lessons

Sawyer recently completed 2 weeks of swimming lessons. It was a great learning experience for Sawyer as he learned to get more comfortable in the water.

The 1st few days of lessons were rough. He would willingly go with the class to the pool but once they were instructed to get in he would bolt. And he would run around the pool so fast the teacher couldn't catch him so I would have to step in. This happened three days in a row. After a great deal of discussion with Sawyer it was determined that when he put his foot in the water and realized it was cold he would not get in. 

So, I talked to the teacher and instead of having him get in slowly like the rest of the kids if he could just immediately be immersed. She agreed and while he didn't like the initial getting in part once he was in the water he did fine. Thankfully once we figured that out he never ran away again.

Sawyer is very tentative about new situations but once he does it he loves it and swimming was no different. He learned to float, kick with a noodle, jump in the water and he even "jumped" off the diving board twice (that was his favorite part).

In his Elmo towel getting ready for his lesson


Sorry this is going to be like Where's Waldo, but they were on the opposite side of the pool from the bleachers. In the above picture Sawyer is the only kid standing (wearing navy shorts).

Here he is jumping off the diving board

Sometimes it was a battle to get him to go to the lesson but when he was finished he was always very excited about the things he learned.

his sucker and certificate for completing his lessons

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Cousin Visit

Last weekend we had 1 more cousin visit before Gracie and Nolan move to Chicago. The kids had so much fun reuniting. On Friday we went to the zoo then Kyle graciously watched all 4 kids while the mom's got to go out for the evening.

On Saturday my SIL had a photo shoot so I watched all 4 kids. It was a beautiful day so we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and play outside. They left later that day and it was a sad good-bye but we will soon be reunited again at the beach!

on a walk or should I say run

can you tell they love each other?




kissing cousins



Thursday, June 20, 2013

Rolling Ridge Ranch

We recently went to Rolling Ridge Ranch with our play group. The ranch has numerous "wild" animals that come right up to the wagon and you can feed them out of your hand. We rode in a horse drawn wagon. 

The night before we went Sawyer encountered a cat at a friend's house and freaked out. I knew at that moment this animal experience was going to be very difficult. My prediction proved true. Sawyer was very nervous when we pulled through the gates and the elk approached the wagon. During the 1 hour tour he eventually got brave enough to stand and throw food at the animals but he would not let them eat out of his hand.

Nora surprised me. She too was terrified, even more so than Sawyer. She literally clung to me the whole time and if I tried to put her down she would scream hysterically. This made it very difficult to take pictures (I lost my lens cap along the way) and help Sawyer overcome his fears.



I had fun seeing all the animals up close and personal but I don't think we'll be going back again unless Daddy can come with us (I didn't have enough hands). Below are pictures of other children enjoying feeding the animals :)

Elk

Sawyer throwing food to the ducks

a very friendly camel


Longhorn cattle...I can't get over his tongue and teeth, gross

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Final Highlights {Camping 2013}

Here are a few other camping highlights:

Sawyer was enamored with our friends hammock. He would have stayed in there all day if we had let him. He loved to hide, squirm around, and flip over. He did fall out a few times but he only sustained a small finger injury.





Nora and Daddy also got in on the hammock action

To help pass the time the men of the group set up a wood splitting competition...only men would set up a competition for such a tedious task. But they had fun acting like real outdoorsmen :)

Sawyer and Nora one morning waiting for breakfast by the fire
I fixed breakfast burritos at home then wrapped them in foil and heated them up over the fire. I can't find the recipe I used but it was basically bacon, scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and green onions wrapped in a flour tortilla.


As we were packing up Sawyer and Nora were roaming around the campsite and I had to get a picture because this is such a typical scene in our everyday life: Sawyer hiking up his ever falling pants, Nora carrying around a snack (though it's not always so large :) and wearing all kinds of clothes that don't belong to her.

Camping (especially with little ones) is always a lot of work before, during and after the trip but it's always worth it to spend so much quality time as a family with no distractions. And it's also great to enjoy it with your church family.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Farming & Fishing {Camping 2013}

On Saturday night we visited a local farm, had a hay ride through the countryside and went fishing in a pond.

checking out the big tractors

our family on the hay ride

2 fishing buddies



Nora and I were just chilling while the boys were fishing (truth be told she really wanted to fish but we didn't have a pole for her) so I took a few pictures in the beautiful sunset light

Sawyer terrified of his catch

finally daddy persuaded him to touch the fish


Nora, our brave girl, wanted to touch the fish too