Ice Cream Tuesdays

My kids go to bed early.  Really early.  And while this has obvious perks, we pretty much shut down for the night at 7:00.  Because of this, I have a tendency to live for the weekends.  To get a little more joy out of the other 70 percent of my life I instituted one of my new favorite traditions...Ice Cream Tuesday.  It's a big hit all around.  

This is Harper's ice cream face.

Same day, different place each week, another day to look forward to (almost) as much as Saturday.

Ice cream Tuesday may just become a permanent fixture around here.

Anatomy of Harper's Summer

A long, long time ago, I wrote a post about how people shouldn't be sixteen months old in the winter.  For the record, July?  An ideal time to be sixteen months old.  Just ask Harper.

Our 4th

The Rundown:

We started our day with what is becoming a traditional 4th of July breakfast of champions.  Doughnuts and Diet Coke, picked up on the way to stake out our parade spot in the blazing sun, because I will never be hardcore enough to procure a shady spot the night before.  

We were joined by a whole crew of the fam this year, which exponentially increased Holden's taffy collecting footprint.

Which was good, because he spent the last week or so before the parade coaching Harper that she needs to help him clap so the people throw candy at them.

And I got a gift better than the 10,000 pounds of taffy Holden ended up with.  The news of happy hour finally within a reasonable driving distance?  Best news ever.

I mean, besides Gun Heaven.  Obv.

After the parade we brought everyone back to our house to show off our newly acquired pizza grilling skills.

The kids loved it.

What, you can't tell?

We threw in some eagle cookie decorating for good measure.  I was so engrossed in my craftmanship I didn't even notice Holden licking his spreader clean behind me.

We rounded out the day with what up until this year we have convinced Holden were "fireworks."  The snakes and pop its didn't fool anyone this year.

Which is why this was his face when he found out a couple of days later at the Manning BBQ that fireworks weren't going to be rained out after all.

Definitely going to have to up my game next year.

We finished up our patriotic weekend with good old fashioned red, white and blue pancakes for Sunday dinner.

All in all, another successful 4th of July holiday!

Kid Vs Kid--Family Photos

 So, my babies aren't into smiling for the (professional) camera.  Like, not even one little smile during their whole first family photo shoot.  Good thing they are still cute.

               (Holden at 11.5 months)                                                   (Harper at 14.5 months)  

Thankfully, this appears to be a problem they outgrow.

Big time.

Yep, getting smiles isn't a problem at all now...

Amazing photography work by Amanda Castleberry Photography.  It was not at all her fault Harper plays hard to get.

Rite of Passage

First Popsicle.  Pants optional. 

And the white Popsicle?  Brilliant.  Well played, Airheads Popsicle.  Well played.

And it's not a photo op without the cheeser face.  

The Kids Are Alright (Part 2)

This little blog is WAY overdue for a random kid update.  Time is passing, and details are slipping from my memory one scrambled mom brain moment at a time so I have to document what I can.  

Let's start with this little girl, shall we?

What's New:  She finally got some teeth!  I know you were all worried, so sorry about the delay in getting this information to you.   She uses the teeth to smile all cheesy whenever I pull out my phone to check Facebook (and now Instagram!  Find me!) so I am pretty much obligated to take a picture of her adorable face quite frequently.

What's Old:  Since I know there is nothing more interesting than hearing about how tired other people are. She still doesn't sleep.  At night or during the day. Thanks for asking.

How She's Contributing:  She's my little sidekick, to the point that babyproofing hasn't yet become necessary because she's never out of my sight.

How She's Adorable: She sings along to Taylor Swift (unintelligibly) and her crazy, gorgeous hair gets comments everywhere we go.

What Needs To Be Documented:  

Recent stats

Height: 29.75 inches (28th percentile)

Weight: 23 lbs 3 oz (55th percentile)

Head: 18.9 inches (94th percentile)

Moving on to offspring #1

 

What's New:  He finished preschool.  This would be harder to take if his October birthday didn't give me a whole other year before Kindergarten comes calling.  

What's Old:  He can be bribed or threatened to eat anything, but the only three things he eats willingly are dessert, Happy Meals and pancakes.

How He's Contributing:  He keeps us on schedule, never lets me forget a promise, and rats me out to Reo when I let him have a cookie with breakfast.  

How He's Adorable:  He reads himself to sleep every night, writes love notes and gives unsolicited hugs.

What Needs to be Documented:
Crowd favorite! Random stuff Holden says--

To Reo:  "This book is only for young boys and old girls.  YOU are an old boy."
and while roughhousing.  "DAD! You are hurting me! Your own son!"

Character on TV:  How would YOU feel if you couldn't catch the ball?
Holden to TV:  Oh, well, I could catch the ball, so.....

To Me:  "MOM, don't look!  You are not going to like this commercial.  It's all about kids growing up!

While getting lunch: "Mom, do you know what is rude? That customer just gave that worker the stink eye."

and my personal favorite as told to me by his Primary teacher at church:
after being told a story about people drinking out of rivers and streams.
"Wait...if they drank out of rivers and streams, wouldn't they get Dysentary??"

The Weekend of Dirty Looks and an Art Gallery

Apparently no one had any patience for my incessant photo taking this weekend.  It all started at my niece Kelsey's birthday party.   Look how annoyed she is that I paused our rocking horse time to bring Harper in for a cousin photo op...

Holden loves Legos.  And I know he loved the Lego penguins at the zoo.  He did not love me taking pictures of him WITH the Lego penguins.

Reo loves the zoo so hard.  So, seriously, with this face?!?

Harper and Morgan are guaranteed future besties.   However, neither girl was a fan of the other one's mom taking a picture of them.  I think Amber and I each got a glare with this one.

Also this weekend, Holden announced that he would be selling his artwork for a penny each.   I raided my car's ashtray and came over to peruse the merchandise.  

"Tell me about this one, Holden"

"Oh, that's a cat."

"Great, I'll take it!"

"What's this one called?"

"Me riding The Rocket at Lagoon"

"Sold!"

"What about this one?"

"That is a man who is in jail.  He definitely murdered someone."

"......"

Four is a weird age.  And I love it.