Scenes from today...

I went to work today while our nanny, Jessica, played with the kids at home. I arrived home to see two happy turkeys splashing in this little pool. It was a great day for them to splash in the water all morning and be lazy inside all afternoon...

Dinner

So my attempt at less meat and dairy and more fruits and veggies is becoming even more challenging. Why? Because my kids love meat and cheese. Lucas especially enjoys hamburgers, and a recent new love, steak tacos. We don't want to totally deprive him of something he likes so much, so we usually just enjoy these things when we go out to eat. Last night we needed a quick and easy meal at home, and had some veggie burgers in the fridge, so "burgers" it was. We'd been at the table about 20 min. Lucas had eaten his "ranch with salad" and his pasta, but hadn't touched his burger. When Jeff asked him why he said, "Because Mommy doesn't make good burgers. Mommy, you need to practice your burgers! These don't taste the same." Sigh...

Art Station

We've had this easel for a year and a half and it has mostly been decoration in our playroom. If the kids ever asked to paint, which was rare, I would divert them because it was too much trouble to set it all up and clean up afterwards. This wknd I started a project of making each one of them a growth chart. I needed a place to paint and figured if I was going to set something up for me that I could just set up a permanent station. So we did! And it's so fun! I didn't know that Ellen loved to paint so much. We are learning as we go... we started out with four colors, but now have four of the same messy, mixed together color : )

(this was actually pre-art station work at our kitchen table)

Sunday Morning

I love Sunday mornings. It's our morning to not rush out and just be lazy at home. Lazy doesn't mean sitting on the couch with two kids running around (I wish sometimes), but it does mean staying in your pj's as long as you want. Or it could mean playing in the sprinkler at 8:30am in your pj's. Or it could mean climbing your neighbors fence (Finn) and inviting him over to play in the sprinkler too! I think they all had a good time... that's the point, right?

Pool with Daddy

The kids and me have been to the pool a lot so far this summer, but Jeff hadn't been until today. We loved having him with us because we got 1/1 time with each kid.

Ellen was excited to show him her new full coverage, hot pink swimsuit. Now all that is showing is her face, her hands, lower leg and feet. That sunscreen is expensive! She was also super excited to show Jeff how she has been going under, jumping in and walking on the bottom. The lady has no fear (sound familiar?). This week she told me that she wanted to walk on the bottom of the pool, so I would count 1-2-3 and then duck her under and PUSH her shoulders down so that her feet touched the bottom. When she came up she would have hair in her eyes, grinning from ear to ear and saying, "I want to do it again!" The next step was that she wanted me to help her WALK on the bottom. So push her down and then lead her hands so that she could walk a few steps. And today she even jumped off the diving board by herself! We started with Jeff standing on the end of the board and handing her to me in the water. She wanted to do it again, but Jeff was swimming with Lucas, so I told her she would have to stand in line with the big kids and do it herself... so she did. I wish we had a picture, but both grown ups were busy swimming with these stinkers.

We did get Lucas jumping off. He can swim, swim now. Fine by himself in 12 ft of water. But he didn't want to do the swim team. Maybe next year. He said he got cold waiting in line for his turn to practice : )

And the day was complete with a Kl*ndike bar.

Big Brother...

Yesterday morning, before breakfast again, we were playing outside with the dogs and the water hose. Lucas was mad because Ellen was using the hose and he thought it was his turn. Watch the little stinker in action:

Scene #1: Lucas mad. He gets an idea.

Scene #2: Lucas stops the water from flowing. Look at that face!

Scene #3: Ellen is confused.

Scene #4: Lucas lets it go so it sprays her, but instead of getting mad, she laughs... which makes him laugh.

All is good until...

He sprays her (a TINY bit)!

Tikki and Belle

Olivier is racing in an Ironman event in France this week, so we are taking care of he and Marie's dogs. They are sweet and the kids love playing with them. This was first thing in the morning before they had gotten dressed...

Some kind of cousins...

I never remember if Max, Ben and Emma are 2nd cousins once removed or something else, but they are basically cousins. They all came over for dinner since Dennis was in town. Dennis is their Dad's, Mike, uncle. Got it?

Ben and Lucas, or are they Power Rangers?

Max, Ben, Lucas and Jeff playing Jenga

Lucas, Ellen, Max, Emma and Ben

Father's Day Weekend

We were so happy to have Dennis (Jeff's dad) in town for Father's Day Wknd. He makes the 12 hour drive in two days, so it's not an easy trip. We had a lot of good food and the kids took Grandpa to the pool with them a couple of times to show off their new skills. Lucas also talked Grandpa into taking him to the movies. And there was golf, of course : ) We are talking about making a trip to Memphis soon...

Swim Goggles

Ellen has been going under at the pool, so we got her some goggles today. I couldn't resist getting Lucas this pair of scary eye goggles too. He kind of needed a new pair anyway... : )

Ellen Sleep Update

Our lady hasn't gotten nearly as many posts related to sleep during her first two years. Thankfully she was much easier with sleep than Lucas as a baby/toddler. I finally have one of those textbook babies that I used to hear about that goes to sleep on her own!

For her nap we have a routine where she goes potty, we play with her doll house for a few minute, ie feed them lunch, take them on a walk, make sure they potty and then tuck them in for their nap. Then I lay down with her for a few minutes until she is settled. Then I tell her that Mommy has to go work and tell her what fun activity we're going to do when she wakes up. I kiss her and leave, shutting the door behind me that has a child proof latch on it so she can't come out. Sometimes she goes right to sleep, but most of the time she plays for 30min to an hour. We can hear her moving things around in her room and singing. She usually makes it to her pillow, but this day she didn't : ) This is what I found when I opened the door to wake her up :

She'll sleep 3 hours if we let her, but lately she's been going down around 2pm, but not going to sleep until about 3pm, and we wake her at 5pm to ensure she goes to bed at a decent hour at night.

At night we have a similar routine. Either Jeff or I go in there - we take turns with each kid. We can usually tell her that we are going to put our pj's on and that we'll check on her later. Then we leave the light on low and leave the room. I love it when I see her snuggling into her pillow and bunny as I'm leaving the room. Jeff and I both go up before we go to bed to turn off her light. We LOVE seeing her sleeping so peacefully, usually with her head on the pillow and the sheets pulled up on her.

Most nights she sleeps about 11 hours. Some nights she cries out because she's lost her binky. She calls for her Daddy and Jeff goes to sleep with her for the rest of the night. She even has a travel potty in her room that she uses if she has to!

Lego Work

Ellen made this by herself and told me it was a caterpillar : )

Cousins!

Jenn had to work today, but I talked her into bringing Ty and Mary to Mom's house so we could spend the day with them. Mom had two big inflatable pools that they had a blast playing in. Ty didn't like being splashed, but Lucas and Mary thought it was hilarious.

Here is my dad giving Lucas some "rat." That is his word for a soft drink. A couple of years ago when Lucas asked if he could have some of what grandpa was drinking, my dad said, "Sure, but it's "rat"... do you still want some?" Lucas surprised him by saying yes and since then it's been a running joke that grandpa drinks rat.

On Saturday night we grilled out... it was easy and fun and a perfect way to end our vacation!

Lucas and Tyrus

Daddy/Grandpa and Shanna

Ellen and Shanna

Emma, Lucas, Tyrus, Mary and Ellen