Summer is here! It is hot, hot, hot!

 

We have been using the hose and sprinkler almost every day to cool off, with or without bathing suits... because after a long bike ride a water fight is the best way to cool down :)



 

John took a two week trip which lead to James sleeping in the hallway again so he can hear if John comes home. Its a sweet thought but would never work because James sleeps like the dead.



Since John was gone for Mother's Day, I took the kids over to a neighbors house. The kids played in the water outside ALL DAY. I don't know how they weren't wrinkly cold messes by the time we went home, but they were exhausted - so I will take that as a win in the Mother's Day column.

 

Madeleine loves guacamole - she can literally smell it out in any house and then will eat it all. Its pretty impressive.  



 

James is extremely into Legos right now - he is constantly reading the manuals that he has on how to put them together and trying to figure out how to make bigger models out of what he has. He is also always trying to bargain his way into getting more Lego sets. So far, John is the only one who has been suckered.



 

After school one day, they were both so dirty that I just hosed them off outside - which of course they thought was the best thing ever.



 

My garden is finished and so super cute! John and the kids were a fantastic help getting it all done :)

 

Last weekend, Madeleine had a twig in her hand and fell while we were playing outside - jamming the twig into the corner of her eyelid. It swelled something terrible and I took her to Urgent Care, who promptly sent us to the ER. 

 

Thankfully she is perfectly fine and she had a great time getting hooked up to everything and having all the attention on her. We were the only ones at the ER (how often does that happen??) and so several of the nurses and a few doctors came to play "check up" with her. It actually turned into a good experience for her!



Photo dump

I always love going back through my phone pictures and seeing the fun random moments that we have throughout the days. I take way too many pictures with my phone and not my actual camera - which doesn't make for the best pictures but it is able to capture the best random moments.

Last year, Madeleine got this musical seahorse as a present from her "Aunt Amanda" and now she will sing along to it and rock it to sleep. Thankfully, because we hear it a 20 times a day, the lullaby that it plays isn't annoying!

 

James got a very long overdue haircut! I do miss his long surfer hair though.



 

James made a house for his dinosaur!



 

When my dad came to visit a few weeks ago, he brought us marshmallow roasting sticks - so of course we had to put them to use :)



 

We went to the mall a few weeks ago and walked into a children's boutique store. Right in the front were all these summer hats - Madeleine took one look at this hat, threw it on her head and ran out of the store. When John grabbed her and brought her back, she refused to take it off. So of course she is now the proud owner of a summer wide brimmed hat. That she wears almost everywhere!



Last summer, we were a part of our community garden. And while it was a lot of fun, it got to be a pain to have to walk there every day to water it or when I wanted a tomato. So this year the kids helped John and I plant our own. It turned out great - but they still want to go in there and dig... I'm pretty sure they have dug all the seeds back up.



 

Just a cute one of Madeleine at James' school playground!



 

There are train tracks that pass right by James' school - and at least once a week they get to see a train go by. They all line up and watch, and the conductor is always accommodating and will blow the  train whistle for them :)



 

Tire swing!



 

John built an awesome fence that goes around our AC unit and the garden - and of course James had to help. He started trying to help me paint all the pickets, but that just ended up badly. He then got to help John drill the screws in which was a much bigger success.



 

During the summer, our city park puts on a kids movie. They have popcorn, temp tattoos, contests and food trucks - and then when it gets dark, they play a movie on a huge screen. This was James' first time and he loved it! The movie was Frozen and of course all the kids sang along.



 

Hide and Seek :) Madeleine isn't sure whats going on, but shes not going to be left out!



 

We were at our friends house for dinner and since it was so hot out, we let the kids play in water... which lead to them stripping off their wet clothes. By the end of the night, they were all naked and running through the hose. But at least all the pizza and ice cream sandwiches were washed off!

 

Asheboro Zoo

The weekend before Easter, my Dad came to visit and we all went to the Asheboro zoo. We had not been there before, but had heard great things about it. It turned out to be a beautiful day, perfect zoo weather. James was beyond excited - he bounced and ran everywhere!   

 

 

James was our navigator - since the map had animal shapes to show where all the exhibits were located, he was able to tell us where to go!



It was a fantastic trip, we cannot wait to go back! 

Arrrgh!

Yesterday we had James' first real birthday party - and of course, it was a pirate birthday party! His party was supposed to be last Saturday, but James ended up getting some awful, gross stomach virus that week and we had to reschedule it. So last week was basically the longest week of James life, the wait for the originally party was hard enough for him - but then to push it another week?? He was about to lose his mind.  Thankfully almost everyone was able to still come and with the weather being 100% better than last week, it was worth pushing the party back a week.

 

We made the party "map" invitations, and James got a big kick our of delivering them to all his friends. I heard from most of the parents that their kids play with theirs, which totally made the extra effort to make the invites instead of buying ones worth it. 
 

 

 

We made signs for around the house - because, why not?
 

 

And since pirates all have tattoos, we had temporary pirate tattoos for the kids.
 

 

When the kids walked in, they got to get all "pirated up" as James called it. They got to grab some gold doubloons, necklaces, an eye patch, sword and pirate hat.
 

 

With all the pirate stuff - the kids went crazy for the pirate straws. They were pretty cool.
 

 

John got it into his head that he wanted to make a watermelon pirate boat. I thought he was kidding, he wasn't. I was impressed that he even attempted let alone actually succeeded in making one!
 

 

Madeleine just loved the easy access to the fruit.
 

 

Once the kids started arriving, it was totally awesome chaos. They ran and they arrrgh'ed all over the place. They all had their pirate gear...
 

 

They ate (although I don't think any one ate more than Madeline - seriously, I was worried she was going to pop)...
 

 

Chased bubbles...

 

Raced trucks...
 

 

And bikes...
 

 

And of course they bounced!
 

 

And fell :)
 

 

I found a Groupon for a bounce house rental where they deliver it, set it up and then come take it down. The rental was for 6 hours, but we only needed it for 2 - so we let the company figure out what worked best for them as long as it covered the 2 hours of the party. Well they came 2 hours early and then about an hour later called and asked if it was ok if they picked it up the following morning because they were so busy. So we got a bounce house for 24 hours... and James is in heaven. He got up this morning and ran outside to get some more bounces in before they came and took it away.
 

 

It was a perfect pirate cake. When James was sick over his actual birthday, I made a small cake for just us so we could still have a celebration - he took one look at that and declared that since it wasn't a pirate cake, it couldn't be his birthday cake. We settled on that it's an "I love you" cake which he was happy with.  But the pirate cake was his official birthday cake, and he was thrilled with it.

 

 



We also had goody bags for the kids filled with bubbles, stickers, temp tattoos, a pirate beach ball and more gold doubloons. Pirates need their treasures!

 

 

The party was supposed to go from 3-5, but the first family to leave left at 8... and I went to bed at 12:30 and there were still people here. There were no meltdowns or tantrums, only laughs and cheers. We could not have asked for a better day. I think that makes for a pretty epic 4th birthday party.
 

 

Instead of gifts for James, we asked people to bring donations for the Charlotte Humane Society. This morning James and I went to drop them off. I was so proud of him - and I could tell that he was proud of himself too. He knew we did something good today. He just melts my heart. It was definitely a day that I will not forget. I wish I took more pictures, but there was just too much fun to be had - and you can never regret living in the moment :) And this was a very good moment. Arrrgh!