The Fourth

It stunk. Really. It was rainy most of the day and the kids and I were all sick. The kids had a pretty good time at the parade in Monument until the rain came and we had to leave. Other than that we just ate, went to get ice cream, and went to bed. It was too rainy and wet to have fireworks so I was glad my kids are still little enough that they didn't miss them. I wouldn't have blogged about it except for the one bright spot...Samantha had a darling little dress to wear. YEAH! Too bad she ruined it with watermelon juice. :)

The watermelon on the right is actually jello, cool uh?

I sure did take a lot of pictures of a not so fabulous day!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Life never seems to slow down, but these last few weeks have been even busier than normal. The kids and I went on a quick trip to Utah to check on our rentals. They did great, but I was still wiped out by the time we got home. It didn't help that we all ended up with colds. In July? Seriously? The drive out went fine, but our way home took almost 9 1/2 hours (versus 8 on the way out) because of accidents, rain, and rush hour traffic. The kids hardly cried, but I still about lost it. Thank goodness we live in the age of DVD players. We had a great time seeing friends and staying with Kim and Brad. I brought my camera but only remembered to take pictures on our last night there (after Adam gave me a hard time) so I only have pictures of Sammi, Paul, and Talmage. Samantha had SO much fun and keeps telling me we need to move back to "Moo-tah" I am not sure that she understands that means she wouldn't see her cousins, grandparents, etc that live in Colorado.

I also decided it was finally time to potty train Samantha. She still wasn't crazy about the idea, but quickly got on board when my mom told her it would be great (luckily my mom is still cool and can influence her. I clearly am already a total loser and have no idea what I'm talking about). One nice thing is that it only took 3 accidents and 2 days (really 1 1/2) to have her done. She still wears a diaper at night, but I'm okay with that for awhile.

The biggest news is probably that Paul started walking...YEAH! He's still a little unsteady and will usually take 5-6 steps, fall, and then crawl the rest of the way. It's fun to see him on his fat little legs wobble around. He is definitely seeming more like a toddler than a baby to me. Sad.

These last pictures are probably my favorite. We go down to my grandfather's house once a week so I can write down his history and eat lunch (it's taking awhile because my kids don't always cooperate). When he and I aren't talking, he's playing with the kids. The last time we were down there Samantha conned him into playing "night night" on the porch. It was funny/cute to see him lying on the ground covered with a chair cushion. What a great guy!

Yes, her blanket is a place mat, and his is a chair cushion

My New Favorite

This is my new favorite picture of Paul. He was laughing so hard at Elmo that he fell over...twice. Notice the Superman pajamas and cape...love it!

The Cake

I just wanted to put a picture of the castle cake I made for Samantha. She REALLY wanted a castle cake for her birthday so I decided to try to do it myself. It's not a great picture, but you get the idea. I am rather proud of the way it turned out...

She's Three!

This is now what I hear daily..."I'm three ya know." Yeah, I didn't know that, thanks for the update. Sammi turned 3 on Thursday and had SUCH a fun time. She told me she wanted to: go to the pool, go to Mr. Biggs, go to Chuck E. Cheese, have a picnic, play in our little pool, go to the library for singing time, and have a date with Daddy. She got to pick two (plus the date). We went swimming in the morning and after naps she got to go to Build A Bear with Grammie. The cute bear bear she made has a skirt, pink bows, pink shoes, a pink backpack, and a pink shirt. She decided to name her Adam. Lovely. After that we went to Chuck E Cheese with my mom, Chris, Brittney, and Caeven. Her day ended by having a "slumber party" with Daddy and watching Horton Hears a Who. She was SO excited about this that she talked aobut it the whole way home from dinner (35 min). Non-stop talking. Non-stop.



As if that wasn't enough, we had a party for her yesterday at Fox Run Park. Some of her friends and thier families came by as well as both sets of grandparents and my sister and her family. We just got a new camera and were trying to test it out so we took way too many pictures. We got almost 200 (I know, woah) so I'm going to just put in a slideshow with SOME of those.

Slip 'n Slide

We broke out the slip 'n slide today for the first time this summer. Samantha (as always) LOVES anything that has to do with water. Paul wasn't too sure. I don't think he was too fond of the water being freezing. Puls it wasn't that hot today, so it wasn't exactly refreshing. Here are some pictures....

This is the goofy "smile" he always gives me now

The Dress

I decided to borrow my mom's camera...sorry they're not the best pictures, but it gets the idea across