You Scream, I Scream

One of our favorite things about summer is ice cream!

Here  the cousins enjoy some after Ryan’s t-ball game.

Nathan, Leah & Andrew Visit

We had a great visit with Brian’s brother and his family this weekend. We just hung around the house while the kids played but it was really nice to catch up. Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures besides this one of Andrew on the tire swing.  

More T-Ball Pictures

A  picture of the team (minus one player). 

The post-game popsicles and wearing the batting helmets are Lucas’s favorite part of t-ball. When we pulled up the field the other day he said nothing about playing ball but happily exclaimed, “Oh, the popsicle place!”

Tyler has gotten really competitive at fielding. It good to see his enthusiasm but hard to explain why he can’t run all over the field and grab the ball right before his teammate gets it.

The games are only 3 innings, no outs, every player bats until they get on base and they can only run one base. The games are pretty short but not as short as Lucas’s attention span. By the end he and Andrew usually end  up running around in circles in the outfield, throwing their gloves up in the air, laying in the grass or pretending to be airplanes. 

Snuggle Time

When Tyler woke up from his nap he was still a little sleepy and asked Glammie to snuggle with him. He sat with her on the couch for a long time and it took me forever to finally get him out the door.

Lake Trip with the Cochran's

Between my pregnancy, Jen’s getting out of work late because of snow days, and the availability of the Florida house our annual Florida  trip didn’t work out this year.

Since we couldn’t make it to Destin with them we took a little getaway lake trip. Below are some pictures, but Jen did a much better blog post about our trip with lots of pics here.

Lots of swimming! Our kids are little fish that could stay in the water all day.

I love this pic of Jen walking Lucas down to the boat. To me, it just captures how nice it is to have  such close friends.  I love how our kids feel so comfortable with their whole family.

I was sad not to be able to tube for real! But I did get to take Tyler out on his first tube ride. We only went about 3 mph but Tyler still wanted off after a few minutes. Still, I was glad he finally wanted to try it.

Lucas also took his first tube ride with Brian. He also didn’t last very long. Maybe next year!

Sleepy Lucas was rocked to sleep by the boat; Silly Tyler snacks on the boat; Lucas curls up and sleeps just on his pillow.

Outdoor Art Class

The heat has kept us away from a lot of our typical summer outings such as the zoo. But the boys have kept busy with things like park trips, bible camp, a camp carnival, a magic show at the library and the summer reading program.

They are also taking a weekly outdoor art class at the Y with their friends Jake and Andrew. I expected them to get messy at the class but I had no idea just how bad. They need a bath immediately after every class.

It’s hard to see in this picture but Tyler has painted his chin, cheeks and nose with the body paint they put out. The body paint recipe was Crisco, cornstarch and food coloring. Yuck!

They’ve made art with colored shaving cream, kool-aid, large stamps, etc.

The spray bottle are the kids favorite  part of every class.  They give them water bottles filled with watered down paint and hang a large sheet for them to spray. Since they are giving the bottles to 2- 5 year olds just about everything and everyone in sight ends up getting sprayed.

Conway Family Lake Trip

I love spending time at my parent’s place on the lake and especially love our annual family trip. My entire family gets together to relax, have fun and celebrate father’s day, my mom’s birthday and my brother’s birthday.

Driving is still the kids favorite part of being on the boat.

Aunt Amy & Ry relax on the boat; Jeff H tests out his new wakeboard, Julia tubes with her dad.

Neither Tyler or Lucas had any interest in tubing.

Before our trip Lucas told Glammie to take care of him on the boat. Sure enough, when he was on the boat he was almost always by her side. Tyler was scared the last year but had lots of fun this year.

I’m also proud of how well Tyler has come along with swimming. This year he loved floating “all by himself” with his floatie on. 

Lucas is in that stubborn toddler phase where he wants to do everything himself, gets frustrated when he can’t and won’t accept help. He wanted to put on these goggles by himself  so he wore them around upside down, falling off, or crooked rather than letting us help him.

Mat was excited to meet the Red Stripe Ambassador but no free samples were procured; Cole really reminds me of Mat’s baby pictures here; Thank you to the smart people at Toyota for including headphones with the DVD player. It was so very nice not to have to listen to the Fireman Sam movies the whole ride home.

 

We had such a great weekend! You can see more of our trip on Erica’s blog here.

Slumber Party

Tyler has been begging to sleep with Lucas since he got his new bed so we finally let him tonight. Lucas woke up crying in middle of the night and it was so sweet to watch Tyler (over the monitor) go down to Lucas’s bed and comfort him, “It’s okay buddy. I will take care of you. Don’t cry.”

Happy Birthday Jake & Andrew!

The boys good friends Jake (5) and Andrew (3) celebrated their birthdays with a bounce party at Riverbend bounce. 

 

The birthday brothers are such cuties!

Tyler having fun on his favorite slide

and the inflatable obstacle course.

Lucas and Andrew spent most of the party playing in this inflatable with a slide and basketball hoop.

Cupcake time!

Growth Spurt

Thanks to the magic of an iPad app we can see how the boys would look if they were starring in an Eddie Murphy movie.

First T-Ball Practice

The boys are playing T-ball through the Maryville YMCA. Their t-ball league starts at age 3 so both of the boys are able to play on the red team with their cousin Julia, and their friends Jake & Andrew, Emma & Madelyn.

Half of our team members were on vacation so Tyler, Lucas & Jake and Andrew were the only ones at practice.  Their first try at bat was pretty entertaining. When they finally hit the ball they would either run to 3rd (Tyler), stand there and not run at all (Lucas), or run off the field crying (Andrew).  Papa is helping out as one of the coaches. I don’t think he realized what  he was getting into until practice started. Three is probably too young for t-ball but I am impressed with how quickly they have already improved.

Being entertained by Daddy when the novelty of practice wore off; Making Glammie run the bases with him every time.

FBCM Family Festival

The church where the boys go to pre-school holds a family festival every year. Brian was out of town but my parents and I took the kids for the first time this year.

They played lots of little games like this straw shooter and bean bag toss. Tyler didn’t always seem that interested in the games but wanted to play just to get tickets you trade in for plastic junk prizes.

They wanted to play this simple game of catching ducks in fishing nets over and over. A few days later I saw one at Walgreens and bought it hoping to recreate the excitement (and buy me some magazine reading time) while they fish things out of the blow up kiddie pool in the backyard. Fingers crossed!

Glammie entertains Lucas while Tyler plays on the inflatables. The kids somehow escaped a stomach ache after consuming a hot dog, Capri Sun, chips, popcorn and cotton candy.