Lasts

 This will not happy very often anymore. 

Lucy doesn't nap. I think she has napped twice in the last two weeks (on days where we stayed up too late the night before). I was always nervous for that to happen. Naptime was precious to me, that was when I got things done that I wanted to or just sit and do nothing. But that doesn't happen anymore. And Sadie usually naps morning and afternoon so her naps don't coincide with Cole's anyway. Long story short. It's going well. We do quiet time, then preschool activities, and then we play together. It is good and actually not as crazy as I always imagined.

I'm so glad I got a picture of this. Sadie and Devin used to 'wrestle' and play on our bed. I'd hear her just giggling and giggling when they'd go in there. It was adorable. And if I ever set her on the bed she'd start crawling away giggling then look back at me expectantly. So one day I asked Devin to show me what they did. I think this was one of the last times that she did it. 

Now she is 100% mamma's girl. She hit that 6 month mommy-don't-leave-the-room-or-I'll-cry stage....I don't love it.

Sunshine and Smiles

We've been loving the summer and playing in the pool!

 We had the brilliant idea of pushing the slide up to the pool so the kids can slide into the water. It works a little TOO well.  They've both gone all the way under several times much to their dismay. Cole won't slide as much as Lucy anymore, but he will lie down under the water when no one else is in the pool.

 Love that face!

 These two are too much!

They like to dip their heads under and flip their hair back. They've always done this. I think I have pictures from last summer of them doing the same thing. I don't understand why its so fun, but they love it.

Lucy wanted wild hair! 

Cole's always comes to a point on his forehead. 

Being a 'monthter'. 

 Sadie was crawling up my leg to get the camera!

 She now growls at us...its cute, but adds to the whole 'you are not a dog" thought I always get...she loves to suck on shoes (we cannot keep shoes anywhere around the house where she crawls. And people think its cute!! So they offer her their shoes when she goes for them! AH! It drives me crazy.); Everyone calls her around the house; eats off the floor. So she is our little puppy now since she growls at us.

Finished Sadie's Blanket.....FINALLY!!!

So last week I buckled down and finished Sadie blanket!

 This is the same blanket that Devin's Grandma Dixon makes for the grandkids, one for each couple. They are supposed to be blessing blankets but we accidentally gave the first one to Lucy as her 'blankie'. So I made Cole one and now I've finished Sadie's. Both times I've made these I am amazed at how long it takes and at how many Grandma Dixon has made. 

 Sadie's blanket is pretty big compared to the others.

 But she likes it thus far so it's all good. 

 This is how much she likes it! 

 That's our silly baby :)

New Pots!!!!

Goodbye flaking, poisoning non-stick pots!!!

 ALLELUIA!!!!

That's all folks! :)

4th of July Celebrations

For the fourth of July Esperanza came to visit!! It was SO much fun to have her here. I totally jinxed her arrival, though.We had a conversation about which airport she was flying into and about how they are never delayed...haha! NEVER have conversations like that.

 EVER. 

She was three and a half hours late. 

All. my. fault. :)

The kids were so excited to see her. I can't even describe Lucy's excitement in words when we responded 'yes' to all of her questions, such as, "she'll sleep at our house? and play with our toys? and go to the park with us? and eat dinner with us? and go to church with us?" I think she covered every daily activity we do and got louder and more animated with every "yes"  she got :) it was great. 

Cole kept asking if we were going to Chastity's house on our way to the airport. But he was just as excited to see Esperanza when he realized who we were picking up!

Sadie's response when we got there was priceless. I fed Sadie while we waited for Esperanza to come out of the airport, and when Esperanza poked her head in to the car Sadie pulled off, wide eyed, and started looking around. I let her see Esperanza and she stared, wide eyed, for a second and then gave her the biggest smile ever! It was adorable. Instant love. Sadie gave Esperanza lots of smiles during her stay for which I am very grateful. 

We got to watch fireworks with one of Devin's work friends, the kids were in awe. Sadie woke up and didn't cry at all. That was amazing because they were loud! We were two streets away with a perfect break in the trees so we saw EVERYTHING! The low fireworks right by the river and the high ones. It was beautiful and the finale was awesome. Lucy asked if it was over every minute as if she didn't care for them, until it was really over and then she was sad. :) And she talked EVERYONE's ear off during the fireworks. It was hilarious.

Lucy 'typing' on my NOOK.

 We also went to the zoo. Some of our friends have a family pass and they got us all in for FREE! So nice of them. It was a blast. I guess its one of the biggest Zoo's in the US. I wouldn't doubt it. That place is HUGE it took us 5 hours to see almost everything, and that wasn't spending time at each exhibit either. So we'll definitely be going back so that we can see the rest and spend time at our favorite animals. 

Sadie on the car ride up. Lucy took these pictures.

I think they are al cute and she did such a good job I can't delete them...so I'm putting them all on here. 

Sadie and Daddy. I was so unprepared. Not enough snacks. No sunscreen, no hats, ect. ect. So Sadie now has Zoo paraphernalia :) I guess those Zoo guest shops are good for something.

Because I'm horrible at taking pictures here are pictures from the zoo on our walk out :)

The Thomas kids and our kids riding the Lie-Lie

The word Lion is not part of Cole's volcabulary in any way. Lion no matter what word it is in is always Lie-Lie. Dandelions are dandy-lie-lie's. :) He LOVED seeing the Lions at the zoo and getting to ride this one.

These are some of our new favorite friends! We have spent SO much time with them since we got here. Very grateful to have such  good friends.

We had a surprise bike delivery TOO!!

(we weren't expecting them to arrive for another few days)

New bikes from Mercedes on Vimeo.

The kids LOVE their bikes. Thankfully, because Lucy had a knockoff of the Stryder bike and it didn't work like we hoped and she didn't like it. But she is already picking her feet off the ground and getting better and better at balancing while she glides. I'm amazed :)

Cole on his new bike. Oh man, this kid really likes to ride. And asks to ride two to three times a day.

Lucy on her new bike

Off they go!

We pulled out the sidewalk chalk and everyone set to drawing...I rarely get to see Devin draw. It is fun, and he is really good. 

Esperanza and her garden :)
Regrettably the only picture I got of Esperanza while she was here! I really need to get better at taking pictures while family is around!

Sadie and Momma coming in late to the chalk drawing fun.

The morning Esperanza flew out we had a rainstorm. Here are pictures of the kids playing in the rain.

 and we got a hamster!!!
But this post is already so long i'll leave that for another day :)

It was a very full but very fun five days. 

Recap

Time got away with me (we won't mention the real reasons like: the last season of Downton Abby, online shopping to furnish our apartment, Downton Abby,  aaaand Lucy no longer napping) its almost been a month!   So here's your recap.

A lot of this has been going on at our house..

 Sadie started sitting up on her own....June 16th...

 5 and a half months.....CRAZY baby.

 Cole now lives in a bucket

Just kidding!!! :) 

 They were both running around in their unmentionables because I didn't want to go thru the hassle of properly clothing them to get soaking wet....somedays it just doesn't make sense.

 We are learning what the 'proper' amount of tissue means 

 We think we're petty cool... Like our Opa apparently :)

 Cole looks like his Opa :) 

 Lucy, "I'm wearing them like Opa!" 

They really do love their Opa :)

 Our evening wrestling matches have gained a new participant.

She now crawls and pulls herself up onto things all before six months...someone tell me this isn't completely abnormal!!

 This little one got a new bed after finding her like this after her nap....yeah, I about died.

 Still taking WAY too many pictures.

 Enjoyed good food

And 

one too many bathroom escapes.

Story:
Once Sadie started crawling she'd try to get to the bathroom. She LOVES water and baths are her favorite. Whenever I didn't see her in the living room I'd peek around the corner and sure enough she'd be in the hallway making her way to the bathroom. I'd say her name and she'd giggle and sprint(crawling) to the bathroom as fast as she could. It was HILARIOUS. 

And that gets us through June..