Sand from there to here and grins from ear to ear

July has just flown by huh! We are having a great time together this summer despite the not so great weather. We enjoy the coolness outside but not the yucky rain. Did you know that our average daily temp for July as of now is only a tenth of a degree warmer than Fairbanks Alaska! Anyway, Tanner got an awesome new sandbox for his birthday handmade by his PapPap. I love it because I can fit in it with him to play. He spends a lot of time these days digging and filling his trucks and finding every place he possibly can to hide sand. Ethan is just the happiest baby! He is eating so well, everything from roast beef dinner to spaghetti, he loves food! If he were one of the dwarfs he would definitely be smiley. He bears that gummy smile every chance he gets, especially when his doggy or big brother catch his eye. He has grown and changed so much. He is sleeping so well, about 9 hours every night, and taking 2 about 2 hour naps every day! He even wakes up happy from his naps and just lays in his crib and babbles around. I still look at the kids and I can't believe I am a Mom of two beautiful, healthy boys. I wonder how I ever got so lucky, I just feel so blessed and my heart feels so full every time I think about them.

Forget the mini-van

Tanner wants a mini-horse. We went to this cool little petting farm that a woman has set up at her house every Thursday. She had a million goats, a calf, peacocks, horses, a bunny, guinea pigs and a few chicks. Tanner loved seeing and petting all of the animals and riding Cricket the most. If he could I know he would have said "can we take her home?" It was a funny little outing for the evening but fun nonetheless.

We have been enjoying little trips or outings since we don't have a vacation planned this summer due to Mike's new job. We packed up the kids, dog and a picnic on Friday to celebrate Mike's day off! We went to a beautiful local park and had a blast. They have a swinging bridge, waterfall and a beautiful trail to get there. We went with our friends, their 4 month old Owen and Stanley their Golden Retriever too. We were quite a sight to behold, adults outnumbered by kids and dogs, yikes! Tanner loved to play by the river and throw rocks, he is such a boy! He was so cruddy, he is an outdoorsy kid for sure already, thank goodness! We had such a great time, we are so lucky in our area to have access to so many wonderful parks and FREE stuff to do. It just takes a little time to find it.

Camping out...really!

Okay, so it was only in the backyard, but O what fun it was. We got the tent and fire pit all set up while Tanner was napping. He squealed with delight as he noticed the giant new blue thing in the yard. He ran right down to check it all out, the doggy door was his favorite part. We sat around the fire, had S'mores and sang some songs (Tanner mostly wanted to run around in the dark.) We headed down to the tent, Tanner even has a cute little sleeping bag, and attempted to get all settled in. Tanner has never slept in any sort of bed before, only his crib and pack-n-play, so we were a little worried. I guess the marshmallows didn't really help either :) He did settle down and slept great with his Dad, I went back up to the house with the baby. They didn't come in to the house until 8:45 the next morning! It was so fun and I can't wait until we all pack up as a family and go camping together. I have so many wonderful memories from camping as a kid and I can't wait to make memories with my family now.

Ethan enjoying his part of the campout - dinner!

Sun drenched memories

What a beautiful week it has been and we are loving it up! I think Tanner may have had the best day of his two little years on Tuesday. We went to a beautiful park called Raystown Lake on Tuesday. My best friends parents were camping there and invited us to spend the day. We started off with a 1 hour cruise around the lake on a huge houseboat. ( I had to nurse Ethan on the boat, a first for me, quite interesting!) Next we went to eat lunch at the campsite then and off to the beach we went for swimming and digging. Then came feeding fish, playground time, eating more, fishing, playing, on and on. It was the best day and the kids were great, even with no nap for Tanner. I think we weren't even 2 minutes out of the park and they were both sound asleep, not another peep for the hour drive home.

BTW-Busted out and shined up the exersaucer for Ethan. I think he could spend the day in that thing, he loves it! It is an old hand me down from a friend at work but it has the coolest gadgets on it. Exersaucer on little buddy!

Are you cereal?

Yup, Ethan tried some rice cereal for the first time today. Tanner spent the day at Grandma's so I decided with a quiet and calm house today was the day. He did great, a little irritated at the slowness of the whole process but all in all he was lovin' it! It was so funny, he kept sticking his thumb in there like "am I not supposed to be sucking right now?" Our highchair reclines but it was still a little awkward for him, he did much better in the Bumbo this evening. (I love those chairs, my friends 5 year old daughter explained "it is called a Bumbo beacause that's where your bum goes!" love it!) So, it looks like game on for feeding, can't wait to start shmushing stuff up again, gotta find that food mill. He is rolling and rolling all over the place and very curious of his surroundings. You can tell he just can't wait to keep up with his brother. Tanner is just so funny too these days. He is still not really talking yet, says a lot of words and knows exactly what you are telling him, but hasn't come up with any strings of words yet. He knows exactly what he is saying though, but it is all dutch to me. He is such a boy; bruises, scrapes, dirt under the nails. Most times there is never a tear shed for any of these injuries, we barely ever even know he got hurt unless we see it happen. I am enjoying my time at home with them so very much. Tanner and I signed up for story time at the library on Wednesdays, I am really looking forward to that. Ethan has a Dr. appt on Monday too, so I am really excited to see his stats! So, more to report next week. It is funny the things we get excited about and look forward to, the life of a Mommy but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

We're on a roll!

Ethan is on the move! He rolled over this week. The coolest part is that this is exactly the same age that Tanner rolled over too, right before 4 months of age. I thought that was pretty neat. He gets that little arm out of the way and everything, that is the hardest part. What an exciting milestone.

Sorry Computer, you are last on my list!

Well, getting back to work has been just CRAZY! It seems that the laundry is never ending, the house is never clean but I can't really say that I am letting it get to me. I always think to myself that the kids aren't going to remember if the house was clean or there was no dog hair in the corners, they are going to remember playing in the yard after dinner and spending time as a family. It is my goal to try not to focus on all of that everyday stuff that doesn't really matter. So far, so good. We are doing great, the kids are loving their time at Grandma's everyday. Ethan has adjusted so well, I was worried for nothing. He only eats twice, which is so great, and has been napping pretty well. He won't sleep in the pack n play though. Andrea has this corny little seat he likes to sleep in, kind of like a car seat. It is old and ugly but he loves it, he loves to be all snuggled when he sleeps. I finally figured out that he likes the sleep positioner at night, he keeps his arms bent and his hands up by his face. He goes down around 8ish (usually I fall asleep in the rocker too) and he wakes to eat anywhere from 3-4, and goes right back to sleep. Caffine has become my friend, I know he is doing great but it is rough getting up at night. Only a few more weeks and it is summer break, I can't wait to be back home with the kids. I can't believe Ethan is already three months (almost 4), it just goes so fast. He is a happy little guy, giggling and cooing all of the time. He loves to sit and nose around, he loves the Bumbo chair too. His fingers are his very favorite, they are always in his mouth. Tanner will get real close to his face and say "Hi" in this cute little voice, priceless! He has learned the itsy bitsy spider too, twisting his chubby little fingers as the spider goes up the waterspout, a dinner time favorite! So fun, WE ARE enjoying every milestone and loving every minute with them, our boys are the best!

Mommy's little helper in the garden

Ethan is so close to rolling all the way over

Our first picnic lunch in the yard