Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Lake Time
Our family loves the lake. My parents have a house on Lake Mystic and we go with them quite often. Water, sand, a dock, boats, unlimited soda, loud music, and sunshine can make all your troubles disappear. We went down Fourth of July weekend to watch the annual boat parade. It was a rainy weekend, but we had fun anyway. I can't wait until Max is old enough to play along side his brother!
Preston's Birthday
This year we decided to keep Preston's birthday party a little smaller and only invite family. It worked out really well and he never knew the difference. Balloons, cake and presents and this boy was happy. Can we talk about how fast time flies? I feel like it was yesterday that I gave birth to him. He was the tiniest thing I had ever seen and I instantly fell in love. Some people like the newborn stage the most, but seem to like each stage he is in more than the last. I hope that doesn't end.
Currently he loves: trucks, airplanes, boats, emergency vehicles, tractors... pretty much anything with a motor.
His favorite foods are: snack foods (goldfish, chewies, granola bars), cheese, yogurt, pizza, mac & cheese, grapes.
His favorite movie: Cars, Cars 2
His favorite TV show: Jake and the Neverland Pirates, SuperWhy, and Caillou (gag me).
His favorite book: "Night-Night" Moon, Big Red Barn, My Truck is Stuck, The Little Blue Truck
His favorite song: Wheels on the Bus, Nephi's Courage (only because it mentions a boat) and Row Row Row Your Boat.
He is the sweetest, most tender-hearted child I have ever met. He gets his feelings hurt if thinks he is in trouble, or if you talk to him sternly. He loves to help! He "helps" with laundry, dishes, putting away groceries, and cleaning up. He is such a good big brother! He is very protective of Max and tells strangers in the grocery store, "MY Max" if they get too close. The first person he asks for in the morning is always Max. They are best friends and already play well together.
Here are some pictures from Preston's party. He loved his construction truck cake and all his presents. He finally got the hang of opening gifts but wasn't really interested because he wanted to play with each toy as he opened it. He got lots of books (which he seems to love more than toys), clothes, swim suit, water table and Lightening McQueen car. Out of all his presents, the dumb $0.59 balloon was his favorite.
Currently he loves: trucks, airplanes, boats, emergency vehicles, tractors... pretty much anything with a motor.
His favorite foods are: snack foods (goldfish, chewies, granola bars), cheese, yogurt, pizza, mac & cheese, grapes.
His favorite movie: Cars, Cars 2
His favorite TV show: Jake and the Neverland Pirates, SuperWhy, and Caillou (gag me).
His favorite book: "Night-Night" Moon, Big Red Barn, My Truck is Stuck, The Little Blue Truck
His favorite song: Wheels on the Bus, Nephi's Courage (only because it mentions a boat) and Row Row Row Your Boat.
He is the sweetest, most tender-hearted child I have ever met. He gets his feelings hurt if thinks he is in trouble, or if you talk to him sternly. He loves to help! He "helps" with laundry, dishes, putting away groceries, and cleaning up. He is such a good big brother! He is very protective of Max and tells strangers in the grocery store, "MY Max" if they get too close. The first person he asks for in the morning is always Max. They are best friends and already play well together.
Here are some pictures from Preston's party. He loved his construction truck cake and all his presents. He finally got the hang of opening gifts but wasn't really interested because he wanted to play with each toy as he opened it. He got lots of books (which he seems to love more than toys), clothes, swim suit, water table and Lightening McQueen car. Out of all his presents, the dumb $0.59 balloon was his favorite.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
The Fourth of July
This year we thought we would probably end up going down to my parents' lake house for the annual boat parade and fireworks, but the weather constrained us to good ole' home sweet home. I guess that's a fitting way to spend this holiday--focusing on home, family, and our freedom to have them whenever and wherever we choose. We made the best of the rain and managed to have some fun anyway.
The boys let us sleep in until 8:30. God bless America!
We dressed up in red, white and blue (yes, my sons are wearing matching USA shirts and plaid shorts).
We ate at Waffle House. What says "America" better than waffles, bacon, and chocolate milk?
Notice the dump truck that comes with us everywhere...
Is this not the cutest face?
After breakfast we braved the monsoon and went to Walmart for some groceries. Preston loves running in the rain. Turns out Max hates it and screams like he is dying.
The boys had snacks and naps.
Zach and I watched Skyfall.
We ate burgers, pasta salad, corn on the cob, and glazed carrots (which nobody ate but me).
We had a little time on the McQueen car when there was a break in the rain.
We read stories and said prayers before bed.
Pretty much a normal day...but it was nice to be able to reflect on how grateful I am for the freedom we have in this country. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
Birds
We don't have pets. Since we got married Zach has been begging for a dog, but we have had two little boys instead. I am not entirely opposed to the idea of pets, but I really would like to avoid it as long as possible. One reason for this is that all my traumatic childhood memories involve pets.
My puppy was poisoned and I found him dead in the bushes.
Our horse was sold to a glue factory (I recently found out that this was a LIE and that my Uncle was just being mean and told me that).
I walked into the garage one day to see a white oak snake eating a nest of baby birds.
I found a dying baby bird that was being eaten by ants.
We found a baby squirrel outside and tried to nurse it back to health. It choked on milk in the middle of the night and died.
My favorite dog in the whole world had to get sent to the shelter and we later found out he had been put down.
See where I'm going with this?
So we don't have pets.
When we discovered that a bird had built a nest in one of our trees outside, we were skeptical but excited. It was a pretty flimsy tree, but it was pretty neat to see the nest that close. First there was just a nest. Then there were two little eggs.
My puppy was poisoned and I found him dead in the bushes.
Our horse was sold to a glue factory (I recently found out that this was a LIE and that my Uncle was just being mean and told me that).
I walked into the garage one day to see a white oak snake eating a nest of baby birds.
I found a dying baby bird that was being eaten by ants.
We found a baby squirrel outside and tried to nurse it back to health. It choked on milk in the middle of the night and died.
My favorite dog in the whole world had to get sent to the shelter and we later found out he had been put down.
See where I'm going with this?
So we don't have pets.
When we discovered that a bird had built a nest in one of our trees outside, we were skeptical but excited. It was a pretty flimsy tree, but it was pretty neat to see the nest that close. First there was just a nest. Then there were two little eggs.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we watched the mama bird sit on the nest all day and night.
Finally the eggs hatched.
I watched over these baby birds more than I watched my own children a lot.
Then, disaster struck in the form of Tropical Storm Andrea. It rained and rained and rained. The mama bird didn't leave the nest for two days. The daddy bird came and brought them all food. It rained so hard that the nest began to take on water and tip over. Zach jimmy-rigged an umbrella in between the branches of the tree to offer some relief from the rain. It worked for a while. Eventually the rain and wind knocked the umbrella over which made the branch lean even more. I prepared myself for all the birds to fall out of the nest and die.
One of the times I looked out the window, I noticed that the mama was gone so I went outside to investigate. One of the baby birds had fallen out of the nest and was lying on the ground. I was always taught never to get too close or touch birds because the mama would smell humans and abandon the nest. So I left him to die :(
I cried.
And I called Zach at work and cried some more.
When Zach got home, the bird was still chirping frantically on the ground. He wrapped his arm in a grocery bag and put the bird back in the nest. He removed the umbrella and straightened the nest back like it was.
The mama bird didn't come back for a long time. We knew the babies wouldn't make it very long without their mama.
Then.... the mama came back! Seriously, I was ridiculously excited about this.
She sat on those babies for about another week.
Then they left the nest.
The cutest part of the entire ordeal was Preston. He would check on the birds with me and we watched them learn to fly. He kept saying "fly, birdie, fly!"
See why we don't have pets? I get way too emotionally invested!
June Wrap-Up
June brought sun, fun, growing boys, lake and pool days, snuggles, sprinklers, Preston's birthday and just hanging out at home. I haven't been feeling well lately (I'm sure I'll do a blog post about that subject at some point), so we had to do things that didn't involve much energy on my part. Tricky when you have two little boys bursting at the seams with energy! We managed though.
We Preston and Max took lots of naps.
Pops taught Preston how to work a dump trailer. He calls it (and dump trucks) "up-downs"... for obvious reasons.
We rode motorcycles in Costco.
Preston learned that he can climb the fridge. Thankfully he can't open it yet.
We had lots of brother snuggle time.
We did lots of messy eating.
Preston played in the water and sunshine while Max stayed inside in the air conditioning.
We took lots of selfies.
Preston had his first trip to the dentist. He was traumatized. He did great.
We hung out with Mimi.
This kid loves his Mimi so much!
We were overcome with cuteness.
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