Our family restaurant and much more. . .

Tonight as I was making dinner, I asked Ainsley to set the table and she said, "I'll be the waitress! Let's have a restaurant." And soooo the fun began. . .the kids made a sign to hang on the door for daddy that said, "Family Restaurant" (that's the name she came up with :) ). Then they made a menu and put on aprons, and when daddy came home he said it was the best part of his day. Speaking of that, a friend from church gave us the idea to have the kids and parents say the best/worst parts of their day at dinner every night. I had sparatically been asking them this question prior, but it's fun to have it as part of our dinner time routine. Porter says the same thing almost every night. . .the best part of his day is usually hugging mommy. . .probably bc he then gets to get out of his chair and give me a hug (you can't fool us yet Porter, but I like your thinking and your hugs anyway).

Think we should go into business?

I am not ready for my teacher friends/sister to go back to school. . .we had some fun playing with them last wk, and we finished off the last wk of summer vacation with a girls night out to the pool. Taetum and Ainsley got to go on a double date with just their mommies (thanks daddies) and enjoyed jumping in to us in the deep end, climbing up the ladder, and getting nerd ropes when we left. . .

Can I just say how proud I am of these little fishies. . notice that their hair is wet! We went to the spray park one last time this summer, and Ainsley purposefully stood under the bucket to get dumped on!!!!

We brought along a picnic lunch. . .

Summer days 2008. . .

And in honor of my little olympic swimmer :). . .well not quite, but here she is in the tubby. . .

Trey is continuing to live up to his name of mobile mess. . .I left the fridge door open this wk while I was cooking in the kitchen and he ended up with yogurt in his hair :) Here he is helping me with laundry today. . .Stay tuned as soccer season is about to begin and I will have to blog about life as a soccer mom/coaches wife for the GLITTERBUGS team!!!!

The Fair

I don't even know if the fair is worth blogging about, but Ainsley said, "Thanks! You're letting us do everything we wanted to tonight," so apparently the kids liked it. We thought the fair would cost a dollar or two to get into, but it was 5 dollars for adults just to get in and then you have to pay for rides/food, etc. So we let the kids get some cotton candyand then choose a ride. . the ferris wheel was not up, so they chose the rickety old, loud motorcycles :)We walked around and spent the rest of the evening in the FREE farm. The kids LOVED petting the lamb, bunny and kitty, and thought the piglet was so cute. GooF and I thought otherwise. We just kept looking at each other and laughing. Maybe we need to get out more, but people watching was quite entertaining at the fair. Other than that, the kids highlight was milking this cow. . .poor mama cow is leaking all over. . . .

In other news, one morning this wk we opened the windows and could hear trucks outside. Porter wanted to go watch them in the worst way, but it was RAINING. I knew these Cyclone ponchos would come in handy again (we got them at a pouring track meet). Here's Porter and I heading over to see the trucks in the rain. . .

Happy 1st Birthday Trey!

When Trey woke up this morning we all came in and sang him Happy Birthday! I usually make the kids a pancake with their birthday number, but Trey got a cinnamon roll with a candle this morning. . .and the first thing he took a bite of was the candle :) Ainsley wondered if he can walk yet, and the answer is no, but that's fine by me. . he sat nicely in his stroller while we celebrated his birthday at the zoo this morning!!! His favorite animal was the ducks. . he leaned way over his seat to see them. . . Thanks Grammy for packing us a picnic lunch and Auntie Stephy for bringing the birthday boy a balloon!

I hope to get some pics on here of Ainsley and Porter at 1yr old also, but here's the kids today at 4 1/2, 3 and 1!!!

Trey crawling out of the picture. . .

Happy Birthday Trey! Mommy loves you. . .you bring such joy to our lives! And no hurry on that walking thing. . you can stay my baby as long as you'd like. Besides, your mama was the 3rd child and didn't walk til I was 15 months old. Who needs to with 2 big siblings to get everything for you?!

Splish Splashin

The kids had a blast at the pool tonight, and after Ainsley realized how much fun it is to jump in, she jumped in over and over and over again (didn't even cry when she went under). . .atleast 100 times. One of her little friends from church was at the pool, so they would count to 3 and then jump in together. . .check out my super hops dad!
Porter even got in on some jumping in action!The whale slide was a hit. . .for Ainsley and DoraPorter aka Gordon (that's what a gramma at the park thought his name was. . .gave me the giggles) loved the frogAnd they even had sand to get messy in. . .complete with a digger for PorterShould I crawl in the water or out?! I just love those dimples in the fingers. . .so sweetThe kids were pretty excited that the pool even had snacks, and GooF and I both got to go down the waterslide a few times. Good time had by all!

Mommy's Lap

Sometimes it's nice to have a day where you look at the calendar and there's nothing on it. I sat on the couch to see what the kids wanted to do today, and immediately I had 3 kids on me. I assume this happens to all moms, but whenever I sit down, whether it be the rocking chair or floor, it's pile on mama time:) This is especially difficult when I sit down to nurse!! We decided to play outside for a bit and could hear a truck, so we took a walk. It was a concrete cutter and Porter informed me that he wants to drive one when he grows up. Ainsley does not want to. . .too stinky. Later in the morning we went to the park and I enjoyed watching my little pals play together and meet new friends, and watching the other moms. Now that I think about it, I really have nothing to blog about today. . .it's just a good way to procrastinate folding my pile of laundry. Besides, the minute I sit down to fold that laundry, Trey will climb up on mama's lap:) And, if I fold that laundry, how will they play giggley peekaboo?
We're going to a fun pool tonight, so maybe I'll take some more blog worthy pics of my babes!

Just Because. . .

I love you Ainsley Brielle! What a beautiful little lady you are, on the inside and out! Daddy always said we were going to have "boy, boy, boy, boy" and I always said we'd have "girl, girl, girl, girl." I remember the day I found out you were a girl, and I went out and bought a dress for you! Yes, boys, I have found out just how much fun the world of boys is, and daddy loves his girl who always wants to wear game shoes with her dresses, but am glad I have a little girl to play baby dolls and do art projects with. . .

Backyard Bash

I have been so excited to post about Trey turning the Big 1!!!! He got the nickname "mobile mess" this week. . .I'll just show you why. . here he is helping make his cakes. . mmmmmand here's our little mobile mess helping himself to some graham crackers out of the pantry. . just look at how happy he is when he finally gets them in his mouth!Yes, my near one year old is on the move, and one of his favorite things is keeping up with his silly family. . the first thing he does after nap is look around to see who's awake to play with/torture him :), and the first thing he does when he hears daddy's voice is crawl to him. . . He does also manage to make US laugh often and keeps us entertained. . .here he is stepping out of his pants, which is hilarious if you're 3 or 4. . .or 28 or 29 for that matter.Friday night we went to my parents for a campfire. . . On Saturday morning his siblings took him to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate (and to keep the house clean),

and then we had a BACKYARD BEACH BASH with family and friends!!!! We set out a few pools and the slip and slide in the backyard, and had a ring toss, beanbags, croquet, and best of all water balloons!!!! I had a few games planned like finding beach items in the sandbox, pin the colors on the beachball (Ainsley's invention), decorate little beach bags, hula hoop contest, etc but mostly the kids just played! We had homeade ice-cream, a beach ball cake, cupcakes, sloppy joes, etc. I loved watching you eat your cupcake Trey and singing Happy Birthday to you. . .

One tradition we do on the kids' first birthday is make them a birthday box where everyone writes them a little note. Then GooF and I try to add notes to them in their box each birthday, and I hope to put a picture from each birthday in it too. Big brother Porter is pretty social and was sad to see everyone go.We are so thankful that we're close to our families, and that they get to help us celebrate. . these pics were taken recently with GooF's brothers and their brides. Notice the need for more little cherubs?! HINT HINT :)