When John is traveling, James has a very hard time going to sleep. I usually find him sleeping in the hallway by the stairs so he can wait for Daddy to come home. Last week, when John was gone, I tried hard to get James into bed - but it backfired. He decided it was smarter to sleep on the stairs where I couldn't see him. He didn't know I was still downstairs though, so when I headed up I found him conked out like this. It was very impressive that he didn't fall.

Our neighbor had his 4th birthday and had a Spiderman themed party. Lots and lots of sugar and fun.

John brought back a drill for James just like his, so they have been going around the house "fixing" things together.

This week was James last soccer "game". It was a really fun season and we cant wait until the fall to so it again. There aren't a lot of sports going on during the summer for his age group so we will have to wait a few more months until we can get him signed up again. It was awesome to watch him listen and learn from someone else. He had his moments, but he did a great job. And he got his first trophy :)

 

We have started taking family bike rides after dinner. Which means poor Madeleine has to wear a helmet too. Can't you tell how thrilled she is?

The boys were washing the cars :)

Street Party

Last 4th of July, one of our neighbors decided to have a little street get together so everyone could meet and let the kids make some new friends. Madeleine and I were still in the hospital - but John and James both had a great time. Since it was such a hit last year, we all decided to do an even bigger one this year, and earlier in the year so it would not be so hot out. We all pitched in and rented a bounce house for the kids, got a permit to block off part of the street and brought out food in shifts. Neighbors started gathering at 11am and John and I finally went home around 1130pm even though most everyone else was still going strong... so I think it is fair to say that it was a successful street party.

Notice that James went through 3 outfits... between the sprinkler, all the bikes, scooters and food - he was a mess more than once. The best part was that we had to walk 20 yards to get home to change him. 

And since we only had to walk 20 yards to get home... we were able to put the kids to bed and take the baby monitor out with us :) We gave the dogs some rawhides and told them they were on kid duty.

My babies

Just wanted to share some of the professional pictures of my beautiful kids. James did awesome, I was so impressed. Madeleine on the other hand was a little confused with what was going on but she held her own.

 

From my mama for Mother's Day - woohoo! For some reason James thought that the ice cream was for him, poor kid is in for some disappointment ;)

Learning to use a sippy cup. She is a much faster learner than James was, or she's just less stubborn.

 

One of the best things about staying home is that I can enjoy the amazing weather now. I can just pack up the kids and go outside for the day.

 

I don't know how they do it, but after they run and play outside they always seem to have more energy then when we left the house. I, on the other hand, am always ready for a nap after the park.

Madeleine was teasing one of our cats with the beads, Vegas was not dumb enough to get too close but he wanted those beads so badly. They had a standoff for almost twenty minutes.

James wanted to climb in the baby bouncer, which was not too hard for him - but getting out of it was a different story. I don't think he will try and  get back in anytime soon.

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken a few weeks ago and here are a few. Not too shabby :)

Beating the heat

Yesterday we had our first hot day all year. It finally hit 90. James helped water our plants and garden and then we went over to a neighbor's house and filled up the baby pools. Our neighborhood pool is open, but the water is still too cold for me! Maybe it will heat up with a few more hot days.

I found these awesome baby girl swim hats a few weeks ago and couldn't resist. I got two for Madeleine and two for my friend's baby girl, Sidney. They will be so cute this summer!

Our garden! We have a neighborhood garden that we participate in and this is our plot. We have green beans, lettuce, tomatoes and lots of different peppers. James just loves it because he gets to play in the dirt and he can tell us that he is "gardening".

Twinkle Star

Last time we went to Costco, James and Madeleine sat in the front of the cart together. We were waiting in the check out line and Madeleine was starting to get a little cranky. Whenever she starts to fuss and we are in the car I will sing to her which always calms her down or puts her to sleep. This time, James took it upon himself to sing Twinkle Twinkle Star to her while he rubbed her back. It was the single most sweetest thing I have ever seen him do to her, a terrible tone-def wrong lyric rendition of the song, but just so sweet. When he was done, several people around us started to clap for him and he was instantly embarrassed and clammed up. I was able to convince him with ice cream bribery a few days later to sing the song again for me so I could tape it. And here it is.

Hello Huntersville

Last Saturday, our town had an arts and music festival called "Hello Huntersville". It was half a mile away from our neighborhood so it was perfect. It was small but had a ton of kids activities and some really great local art.

Addy is watching James in the bounce house, you can just see her thinking "When will it be my turn?"

James got a temporary tattoo that he is so proud of... it's of a dinosaur and is much cooler than our "tats" as he has been telling us. I have a fear that this is foreshadowing of what is in his future.

Later that night, John and I went to the NC Music and Brewer Festival. They had over 20 local brewers and some really awesome food trucks. It was a great night without the kids.