We were on the way to the playground when Owen noticed we all had the same shoes!
Author Archives: Jen
They think this is hilarious.
Owen tells Katie to sit like this when they get in the car, so when I come around to buckle her in, this is what I see. They love it.
Katie found a friend at the playground.
She has no fear of leaving me…when it’s on her terms.
Can you see them? (They’re about smack dab in the middle of the picture.)
See? (They ended up walking all the way around!)
Owen had made a friend, too—running around the track while the kid biked. 🙂 I love that they make “friends” so easily!
If I let them do what they wanted all the time…
…this is what it would look like 24/7.
But I make them do things like this (yes, make—they often give me grief until they’re out there and then they love it):
Kids in trees!
Guess which one loved it and which one was scared to death?
Katie loved it and Owen was scared—he liked the first 10 seconds of Tom lifting him up into the tree but then it was a constant stream of “I’m scared, I don’t like this, I want to get down!” I told him I wanted a picture and held my phone up, he saw it and smiled brilliantly for the photo above, then that was IT.
Katie is 3 years 1 month old today!
Just two more years of monthly pictures to go! 🙂
This is how they sometimes watch movies.
Charlie Love
Of course, 10 seconds after I snapped this, Katie did something to annoy Charlie and got swatted and there were tears and crying and drama.
We dug out the “skinny clothes” bin!
Tom tried his stuff on last night and found a new wardrobe! I found a ton of stuff, too—some things that are already too big, quite a bit that fits now, and a smaller stack that will fit in another 10-15#. After that, I get to donate everything and buy a new wardrobe!
I haven’t worn these since maybe 2005. It’s fun shopping in your own stuff. 🙂
My total loss as of yesterday was 43.4# — still 56.6# away from my first goal, but almost halfway there in just 12 weeks!
Another birthday present down…
Swim Lesson Sunday
She’s not even posing. This is just a natural look. Hoo boy are we in for trouble… 🙂
Getting better at floating—lasting longer in the float position little by little.
Then guess who suddenly LOVED jumping in?
She loves wearing her goggles now! We think that’s why she liked jumping in this time!
And another natural look LOL. I missed the actual eye roll. 🙂
Little Lego Treasures
So this is what happens after you’re off sugar for awhile?
So, Tom and I have been on our new life plan for eight weeks. And in addition to cutting back the amount of food we eat, we’ve also pretty much cut out added sugar. I’ve given up wine, margaritas, wine coolers, and mixed drinks (since I like sugary mixers). Desserts are now a bite or two of something. And we’re good with that, though we always wonder how we’ll do with “old favorites.” So today was one of those experiments.
We got a Costco cake for Owen’s party. And normally I love Costco’s cake. LOVE IT. As in I could make a meal out of it. Or even make myself sick eating it.
But today? Meh. 😐
The frosting was good but the cake a bit less exciting…and two bites was plenty. At dinner, it looked good again so I had another two bites and reconfirmed yep: pretty meh.
My old food (eating) memories said YOU WANT IT. IT’S DELICIOUS…but my new taste buds and brain said THERE ARE THINGS YOU LIKE BETTER. WAIT FOR THOSE. (Like the Ghirardelli box mix brownies from Costco.)
It’s amazing what happens when you stop eating sugar. (That said, I can’t wait until I reach the maintenance level—that’s when I can start introducing wine and margaritas again!)
Getting right into things!
Owen wanted to open his presents as soon as we got home…and Katie really wanted to help. She had a hard time accepting that these were OWEN’S PRESENTS and there were none for her. But he’s a nice brother so he let her help on a few.
Then we took a little break so I could go walk on the treadmill and they could play on the bounce house…and also so Owen wouldn’t blow through all his gifts in the first day!
Afterwards, I noticed Owen was wearing a new Minion #selfie shirt and I asked if he knew what a selfie was. He said no, so we took this picture:
And then he grabbed my phone and took this:
Back to the gifts! 🙂
Owen’s half birthday pool party!
The wait was finally over—the day for Owen’s postponed birthday pool party! And the weather was perfect!! We had 19 kids and 14 adults!
The timing was perfect: at the end of every hour, the lifeguards take a 15-minute break and all kids must exit the pool. So we used this time to have our pizza lunch!
The second break was time for cake! Of course, I had completely forgot to put the balloon in the cake…
So it went in the leftovers so I could take a picture. 🙂
Two of the kids from his Kindergarten class (who are about his size so he looks normal!).
Everyone had a great time! The kids LOVED the water shooters and, while a few got broken, each kid was able to take one home. We guessed pretty good on the pizza—we ordered five and ate about four. There was enough cake to leave out a few pieces and freeze a nice chunk for a later date. The best part was after 10 minutes of cleaning up and packing the car, we were DONE. 🙂
She fights it, then this happens.
Unfortunately, I had to wake her up because we had to go pick up Owen from sports camp. I rubbed her arm and she moved…
…into the next position. Completely out.
I pulled the blankets away and rubber her back. Still out.
I finally had to really wake her up. At least I got cuddles. 🙂
Waiting patiently…then going crazy!
Today we stopped.
Every day after we drop Owen off at his sports camp and turn into our subdivision, Katie wants to go to the playground. It’s usually at least 85° and godawful humid by then, so I say no. But today was gorgeous so we stopped.
Painting in the bath!
Owen likes showers better these days, but I convinced him to take a bath with Katie this morning…by promising a new treat: fingerpaint soap (gotta love the dollar bins at Target!). They had a blast.
I had each one fill their hand with their respective colors (pink and blue) and then had them rub hands…to get a light purple! Owen knew about mixing colors but he still thought it was super cool. Katie was amazed! Some days it’s the little things. 🙂
Me and my new friend.
Right now, my goal is to walk a mile a day. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s an extra mile more than I’ve been doing so it’s something!
“Look! We’re up there!”
She loves seeing us on the video monitor at Sam’s Club. 🙂
And then minutes later, a chocolate face from a sample granola bar.
She loves carrying this guitar around.
Daddy cuddle time
Cirque Italia (Water Circus)
We surprised the kids with tickets to a water circus. We were driving around beforehand running errands and they saw the big tents and they knew it was a circus!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly as exciting as I thought it would be from being called a WATER circus…it was pretty much your basic circus acts with a few of them done inside a ring of falling water. I didn’t really even take any pictures. It was also REALLY warm inside the tent and we were there an hour early, so it was a loooong afternoon of sitting on uncomfortable seats in an unfriendly temperature. There were some neat acts and the kids enjoyed it, but it certainly didn’t compare to the Big Apple Circus we saw last year.
Sunday Swim Lessons
She’s getting better at floating!
Owen getting a lesson on the backstroke from a new instructor:
This is what happens when left to her own devices:
“I’ve got a tutu!”
She loves mama’s shoes.
July (and vacation) pictures are online!
>>> July pictures are now online at Shutterfly!
Guess who was the only one who slept?
Yes, the entire way home…Owen was the only kid who napped.
Appropriate road trip music.
About two hours into our trip home, this came on XM.
If it doesn’t ring a bell…it’s the theme song from National Lampoon’s Vacation:
Watering plants with Gramma turns into this.
