Wilson/McKinney Beach Trip 2010

I looked forward to our beach trip for sooo long this year. I was ready for a much needed week of hanging out on the beach. I couldn't wait to see what the boys' reaction would be this year since last year, they were just too young to really enjoy it all.

It was AWESOME this year! We got there Saturday and immediately unpacked everything and put on swimsuits! The whole family headed down to the water to make sure we didn't miss out on one day of fun. Parker was excited about the water and walked right on in - Whit on the other hand ran as far away from the ocean (or "lotion" as Whit called it all week) as he could get. In Whit's picture, he is more than likely saying "swimming pool?"

The next day (and most of the other days) we spent our morning outside on the beach and in the swimming pool. I really thought the boys may turn into fish by the end of the week. They just couldn't get enough of the pool. We played in the sand for a while, and then went to the pools to cool off (and rinse off). This is about as close as Whit got to playing in the ocean.

We all were in close quarters as this was a 4 bedroom condo with 13 people sleeping in it. In the mornings, of course the boys woke at the crack of dawn - which meant that it was wake up time for anyone that may be a light sleeper in the house. So one morning, we decided to let everyone sleep a little and we took the boys to to sand to find seashells. I used to think this was the coolest thing to do with my Mimi when I was little! I was so happy that Whit enjoyed it just as much as I did as a kid. We walked along and he kept picking up shells and putting them in his bucket. We have a nice little collection here at home now - most of them are ugly or broken, but its ok, because Whit thought they were special for some reason or another. Parker didn't care a thing about picking up shells - he would rather have been in the pool or making Daddy chase him up and down the beach.

One of Parker's favorite things about the beach was learning to "Jump A Wave!!!" Which he liked to scream as loud as he could. I have never seen such a huge smile on his face as he had when he was jumping waves with his Aunt Paige and cousin Madi.

One night, we decided to take a walk down to the OD pavilion area. We went mainly to go have some ice cream but of course, they had rides and a carnival of sorts set up. We would have been fine except Parker of course noticed a small train ride. He wouldn't even eat his ice cream because he had his eyes so glued to the train ride. We knew we would have a HUGE fit if we tried to leave without a ride on the makeshift Thomas ride. Chip and I ended up having to ride it with them - we have learned that maybe our children just like to see trains - neither were too thrilled about the ride. Whit rode like a deer in the headlights the whole time. And Parker refused to sit in his seat so he climbed into my lap and held on for dear life.

One thing that was nice about the place that we stayed was that there happened to be HUGE tide pools in front of our hotel. Once the boys discovered how much fun they were, we couldn't get them out. Parker would float his little boats all over the pools, and Whit really enjoyed running and then just throwing himself into the water. This was great because it gave us all a chance to sit in our chairs (and not have to chase them all over the beach!).

And of course as every year, we have to have the group grandchildren shots. This is the time when we make all of the kids do their hair and put on real clothes (other than bathing suits) and pose for a few pictures. You would think that we were making them doing something horrible by all of the whines, cries, and mean looks we get just trying to get them to pose. But somehow the pictures always turn out perfect! Here are a few of the favorite poses - the sitting in the sand pose, the lifeguard stand pose, and the holding hands shot. And this year, I was happy to get a picture of just the boys sitting together (granted they were sitting high on the lifeguard stand and were probably scared to death to try to get down).

ICE CREAM TRUCK!!!

Last weekend, we spent a nice warm afternoon outside with the boys. The boys played in the sprinkler and chased Jackson all over the yard trying to pour water on him. Jackson was not so thrilled.

Then we hear that wonderful music that I have heard MANY times over the years. The ICE CREAM TRUCK!! I am personally a BIG fan of the ice cream truck but I haven't stopped one since I was at least in middle school. Anyway, one drives past our house and my first reaction is that the boys have to experience the ice cream truck sooner or later - why not today?! Thank goodness that the way our neighborhood is set up, if the truck passes our house once, it has to pass again to leave.

So Chip runs in to get money and I wrangle the boys up so that we can get out to the street. Of course we order a popsicle for the boys - By the way, note to self, next time order the popsicle Jr. as this one was HUGE (and $2 each!).
We bring the boys back to the backyard to enjoy the popsicles (which Chip ends up having to chop up and put in bowls because it was too big for the boys to hold!).

Now, everytime we walk out to the driveway to get into the car, the boys say "Ice Cream Truck" over and over and over..... I'm so glad that they enjoyed it and got to have that experience. Even if we have to now always keep cash put away in the house just in case it comes by again!

These aren't pictures of our fun ice cream truck adventure but a few days before when the boys ate popsicles in the back yard. :)

Creative Cookies

We all know its difficult financially to become a stay at home mom. Living on one income is not the easiest thing that we have faced but we have gotten by. One thing that has helped me make a little more income while still being able to stay at home with my boys is to make cookies. At least I get to use that creative edge that I miss from the Edible Art days.

I started by doing cookies for my boys' birthday and for a Union County Mommies event. Now, I have thankfully continued to get orders for them! Take a look at some of the ones that I have done -

Let's Paint Mommy!!!

This is the phrase I have heard A LOT in the last 24 hours! I decided yesterday to do a fun rainy day activity. We didn't have pudding (which was my first thought) but I knew we needed something that the boys could eat if we were going to do any painting around our house. It seems that everything that is put in front of them still goes straight towards the mouth! And also, this helped kill 2 birds with one stone - a fun activity to keep the boys entertained on a rainy day AND snack time!

I took vanilla yogurt that we had in the fridge and put it in small containers. Then I used food coloring to dye the yogurt pink, blue, green, and yellow. I happened to have a couple of paint brushes that I had never used too so we broke those out. And for easy cleanup, I covered a big area on our kitchen island with wax paper that I taped down. I handed the boys the materials and just let them explore. What a hoot! You can tell both of them have a little of their daddy in them because when I stuck their hands in the yogurt, they both freaked out!

Soon, they figured it out and were painting up a storm. Talk about a fun and educational (yes, the teacher in me had to make it educational) activity. They had to ask for the colors - so that right there is practicing colors, we drew shapes and they named them for me, we wrote our names and Whit told me what letters I was writing. We used paint brushes, spatulas, straws, and even basting brushes. It was great!!

Now, about 5 minute into this activity, Parker thought, "humm...I wonder if I can eat this?", and therefore, painting stopped, and snacking began. We started running low on "paint" and I didn't want to waste ALL of our yogurt so I added a little applesauce and let them go to town again. Of course I HAD to take pictures of all of this. By the time we were done, Whit was begging me to take more pictures. He kept saying "Mommy CHEESE!!" What a ham!!

I love letting the boys explore and seeing their reactions to it all. It was a lot of fun and took up a good hour of our morning - a good hour that we didn't have to watch Choo Choos (Thomas the tank)!

Blessings

I feel like lately, we have been incredibly blessed in our home. I have wanted so bad to enroll the kids in some sort of "mommy and me" classes for a while. In our home, the price tag was just a little too high to enroll both boys in a class at the same time, so therefore we had kind of decided that it would be something to save up for.

This spring, we had decided that it was time for us to do something. So we decided on soccer. We figured this would give us a chance to do something on a Saturday to get out of the house and get some energy out. While it is a little pricey, I knew it would be a lot of fun for the boys. Well we sign up for it and then a week later, I find out that thanks to CMOMs and their scholarship program, they have paid the majority of our fees for soccer. Wow. I was so happy to know that we would be able to really afford to do this!

I know what you are thinking.....soccer for 2 year olds??? How does that work??? Well it is more of a parent/child class. And no, we don't play actual soccer games. We play games like red light/green light, we build towers out of cones and then practice kicking them over, they blow bubbles and the kids have to kick or stomp on them, the do obstacle courses, and of course they break out the soccer balls and the kids just score as many goals as they can. By the end of the class, the boys are exhausted and so are mommy and daddy! :) And who can resist all of these little kids in these HUGE soccer jerseys?

You can tell by the last picture just how tired Parker can get! :) And this was only 10am!

And who would have known, soon after we found out that we would get the opportunity to join another Mommy and Me type class!! This time it was Union County Music Together. What an awesome program!!

http://www.ucmusictogether.com/. The first week, the boys didn't really know what was going on. For the most part, they ran around and every once in a while came to sit with me while I sang along. Since that first class, we have really come a long way though. Last week, both boys even came to sit with me and clap along with the songs. Their favorite part is the instruments. It's so much fun seeing the kids trying to figure out what to do with all of them. With the class, you receive a song book and 2 cds to take home. The boys love to listen to the cds while we are playing downstairs and in the car when we are driving all over town. We did have a moment the other day when I knew that Music Together was really starting to make sense to the boys. I went to get Parker up from his nap when he began singing "Hewo everybody...see you....Hewo Mommy....so see you!" (translated as Hello everybody, so glad to see you and Hello to Mommy, so glad to see you too). And its just icing on the cake that a lot of the people that are in our music together class, are all friends from Union County Mommies!

Like I said before, we have had A LOT to be grateful for lately! Without such amazing people in our lives, we wouldn't have been able to give these opportunities for our boys. And now that I have seen just how amazing these things have been for our family, we can now save for the future so that we can do these again!

Whit & Parker turn 2!

Yes, so they actually turned 2 a month ago but I had to take a moment to update everyone on what they have been up to recently and of course some pictures from their party.

If you have been around my kids anytime recently, you know about their obsession with Thomas the Tank. Is it sad that your 2 year olds can name more trains from a picture than you can?

So of course, we had to have a Thomas the Tank birthday party. Decorations, plates, napkins, cake....everything Thomas! We did most of the decorating while the boys napped that day and let me tell you, I have never seen such excited faces when they came down and saw Thomas stuff EVERYWHERE!

We of course had the family but what was fun was that the boys actually got to have some of their friends come over. Most of these friends we have met through Union County Mommies and the boys have had plenty of playdates with these kiddos.

The cutest thing was seeing all of the kids sitting at the table together enjoying their little personal train cakes. We spent lots of time playing outside on the new swingset, which we got for the boys for their birthday present. We also had lots of indoor play time, eating, and present opening. It was a great afternoon! By the time the party was over, Whit was already sitting next to Nana with his Yertle in mouth exhausted!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY WHIT & PARKER!!