Its hot outside!

What do you do on the hottest day of the year? Schedule an outdoor play date of course!! The boys and I met up with some friends for our weekly breakfast/field play date on Friday. We hid under a tree and had a decent breeze so it wasn't too bad, but the boys didn't spend too much time running around, so we knew it was hot.

They look all cute and innocent, but 5 minutes later they were giving each other kisses!

Miss Debbie tortured Ben with Paisleys bow in his hair and made him pose for a picture. I think this will be good blackmail material in a few years!

So the next day when that is actually the hottest day of the year....what else but an out door birthday party??? We headed to the park to celebrate Tates 5th birthday Saturday morning. The boys loved the pinata.

Sam didn't need the bat. He had his stick!

Some day I'll get a picture of him actually smiling!

Sam claimed his (and Bens) piece of cake before miss Debbie could get it out of the pan.

After the party, we needed to cool off with some water toys. I think the water was too cold for Sam, but he still had some fun.

Other cute pics:

Addiction

Everyone says tattoos are addicting, and they are right! I got my Ben tattoo 3.5 years ago. Sams tattoo was long overdo and after getting his last month, my tattoo obsession has been renewed! Along with Sams tattoo, I got my dads signature. I don't think I put up any pictures of that one. After seeing how great Sams plane turned out, I was thinking that Bens looked a bit blah. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot we can do with that one to spruce it up with out completely altering the original, but my tattoo man (Eric) helped me a little bit last night by adding some shading and giving it some depth. The pictures didn't turn out great so you'll have to see that one in person. Since that one was a quick one, I also got a flower put on my arm. I know little about flowers, I can't keep them alive, but they are pretty to look at! I've wanted to get one for a while and of course now that I have one, I want to get another. I like it, but I'm going to have to go back and get it finished. It was the easiest tattoo by far (in terms of pain), but the blood and swelling was crazy. When I head back, the pink will become a little more purple and we will add a bit more color to the leaves. The flower will be easy to add to and I'm excited to see what Eric will create for me. Next step, save more money!

Privacy

I've been feeling for the kids recently, especially Ben. What ever Ben has, Sam wants. Now that they share a room, they don't seem to have anything that is just theirs. We decided to help them out just a bit. We headed out over the weekend and let them pick out book bags. The bags belong to them and only them. What ever is in Bens bag is off limits to Sam and vise versa. They love them. I'm surprised at how much Sam loves wearing his bag. He picks it up and asks me to help him put it on him. He proudly wears it for 5 minutes then it falls off because he is so little. He happily picks it up and brings it back to me to help him get it back on him. I don't know that he realizes you can actually put stuff in the bag yet. Ben is thrilled. I've already heard him remind Sam several times that he is not allowed in the Cars bag. The bags are too big for both of them, but they look so cute and are so happy. I hope this gives Ben a little bit of peace.

Street walk

Saturday was Lakewoods third annual Street Walk. From 3-8 they closed off Detroit Rd to make way for dancing, exercising, skate boarding, music, food and more. We had a lot of fun last year and it sounded like it was going to be bigger and better this year, but it wasn't.

Last year, it seemed like every where you turned, something was happening. The majority of the attractions had audience participation, lots of excitement, energy and music. That was definitely not the case this year.

It was crazy hot so I think that kept some of the crowds away. People were out, but not like I expected. We did see 2 guys fencing and 2 guys doing karate or some sort of martial art moves on each other. We saw belly dancers standing around and we saw some people exercising. Although they just did the same 3 moves over and over so I can't imagine it did much for the people who joined in.

The boys did find someone making balloon animals. Ben got a llama balloon (yes, my 3 yr old requested a llama from the balloon man) and Sam got a monkey.....

the monkey lived a short, but loved life. Dad had to console Sam when the monkey popped!

The highlight was the skate boarding. We sat down by the library and watched people try to look good doing crazy stunts. Sadly, most of them failed (at the stunts and looking cool)! Overall it was a let down.

As always, Ben found ways to entertain himself so it wasn't a complete loss. I hope they get some good feedback so next years street walk can be a hit again.

VBS

Monday through Wednesday, Cross Point held their second annual Vacation Bible School. They turned themselves into cowboys (and girls) and visited Saddle Ridge Ranch. They had dancing, crafts, singing, snacks, stories, skits, movies, learning and praying. Ben loved every second of it.

I love to see him get so excited to be with his friends and learn about God. Its amazing the change in Ben from last year to this year. We still have to prompt him a bit, but its great hearing him describe what he learned and how much fun he had. I'm looking forward to seeing how much more he'll get into it next year and how much more verbal he'll become (thats a good thing right?) Thanks Cross Point and thanks Emily for being on camera duty!

Animal safari

Last weekend Gram and Pap picked up Ben and Emma and took them to one of those animal safaris. They got on a wagon and drove through a bunch of animals. They made stops along the way to feed the animals and check them out up close. After seeing the videos, it looks like they had a great time. Ben got a stuffed llama while he was there and it hasn't left his side yet! Since I have better odds of winning the lottery than Gram updating the blog, I figured I post some of the highlights!

Thanks for taking the kids. Ben is already talking about going when he can go back!

Its a circus

This week Catans is having a kids craft "camp." For two hours each day, kids get together to make a craft and share a snack. The theme is the circus. Prasti and I struck a deal where I would take the big kids and she would watch the little kids. On Monday the kids made a box and a flower hat. Ben wasn't too sure about all those flowers, but they've grown on him. We skipped Tuesday and today they made car magnets and a clown doll---thing. You'll have to check the picture. I don't know what they are called! Today was a bit tougher for the kids. A lot of the steps were slightly advanced for a 3 and 4 year old (the camp is actually for 5 and up, but they accepted younger kids if a parent stayed with them). They needed a lot of help and we all know I'm not the craftiest person, so I was a bit exhausted trying to keep up! The kids seemed to have a good time though. Ben and Emma loved being with each other and since I rarely get to spend quality time with Emma, it was really nice to hang out with her and listen to the kids interact.

I love Emmas "cheese face" in this one.

Another Sunday picnic

We had our monthly summer Cross Point picnic on Sunday. The theme was all American so we grilled dogs and burgers and had plenty of goodies along with them. The highlight of the night was a water balloon toss. Sam was fascinated by them and all Ben wanted to do was pop them.

Debbie and I got in on the toss action. We didn't last long, but we still had fun!

Only child

Ben and Emma are off having an adventure with Gram and Pap this weekend so Sam has had us all to himself. He hasn't had to share any toys, he hasn't been bullied or bossed around, he hasn't had to compete for attention...I think he likes it!Sam showing off his "airplane arms." Something he got from his brother. We've loved having alone time with Sam, but I'm looking forward to having Ben around again.

Knock on wood

Ben has been potty trained, for the most part, for a while now. Since he rarely takes naps, he has been in under ware all day for a few months. We left him in pull ups for night time though...until recently. He has been sleeping in under ware for the past week with out any accidents. It took for ever to get here but we're so proud of our big boy!

The letter F

We looked at the letter F in June and extended it into the first week of July so we could cover the 4th. Heres what we covered:

I pulled out my wedding video and showed Ben my first dance with Jon which was to, "Fly me to the moon" by Frank Sinatra. Ben was kind enough to announce that I looked very pretty...that day!

We talked about some of Bens favorite movies: Finding Nemo and Shrek. If you remember, princess Fiona was from Far Far Away.

We celebrated Fathers day in June and spent plenty of time with Family and Friends.

Food is always a fun topic to cover. We've been spending a lot of time at the market buying Fruit. Ben has had way too many French Fries. We got some Frosted Flakes cereal to share for breakfast. We also had some French toast and used a Fork to eat it.

We worked on body parts with Sam that start with F like Foot, fingers and Face.

We did an experiment in the kitchen sink and learned about Floating vs sinking. Ben learned that dental Floss, empty plastic cups and his Fridge letters (among other things) Float, while a quarter, sunglasses and a plastic slinky sank.

We talked about Fish and and their Fins. We learned that some fish can breath in and out of the water. We talked about Farms and what animals are on them. Ben learned that Foxes sometimes go on Farms to scare the animals!

We looked at our cat, Katie and talked about how she is very Fluffy.

We worked on our Fort building skills:

We talked about Fire and found a Fake Fire at Bens Favorite hang out, chick Fil a.

We found France on the map and looked for some F things in and out of the house like a Football, Flash light, Flip Flops, Flowers and a Female.

We learned another French word, Fermer which means to close.

Finally, we talked about the Fourth of July, caught Fireflies and watched Fireworks with our Friends.

On to letter G.

7-4, a bit late

We had a great 4th (and 5th). After church, some family time and ribs for dinner, we headed over to the Calaways for our 3rd annual 4th of July fireworks viewing party. We were joined by two other families and a couple of the youth group kids, so we knew we were in for a fun night. The kids played hard. Cheeks were red, sweat was pouring, but they kept going all night long! Sam loved the fireworks. It was almost more fun watching him than the show. Ben was fascinated for a bit, but preferred running around with his friends. We had a great time, but we were all ready for bed (3hours past the kids bed time).

The kids made Todd dance by throwing fire works at his feet!

Sam staring at the sky in awe!

Being silly

We headed to Ravenna early yesterday to see Mamaw and aunt Lorrie. We had a huge lunch, which Ben helped cook. After lunch, we lounged "pool side" while the kids played and stayed cool.
It was a long and busy two days. We had a lot of fun visiting friends and family, but its nice to be back to our routine of naps and normal bedtimes.