Fourth of July

Last week, we had the pleasure of visiting Josh's family in Oklahoma. We had fun spending some quality time with them. Josh got to hang out with his brother for the weekend and he had a great time. It's nice for them to get to see each other because they are so close. Honestly, I think they miss each other more than they let on. We used to live about five minutes from each other about 3 years ago. Now there is a whopping four hour gap between our happy little families and the boys barely get to see each other. It can be a hard thing for us to take Alex just about anywhere these days. He seems to have some kind of breathing issue whenever we travel due to allergies and asthma. I hope that the mountain of medication he is on will change that over time. We shall see.

So on to the week of the Fourth of July. Early in the week, we went to our local firework tent and bought some snappers. You know the things...you toss them on the ground and get a nice little *pop!* They are perfect for kids because they pose very little threat to them. No burnt finger or loss of eyebrow risk involved. Alex loves them. He enjoys throwing them and stomping on them.
Naturally, Abby didn't want to be left out of the festivities. She was just as keen on throwing them as her big brother was. Of course, they rarely had enough oomph behind them to explode, but she ran over to them and tried to stomp on them too. She laughed every time one would snap. It was adorable.

That brings us to the weekend. We set off for Oklahoma. Alex was beyond thrilled to see his cousins, Lauren, Linsey, and Kate. Lauren is the oldest. As most parents will tell you, there is something engraved in every young child that makes them gravitate to the oldest children in the room. Something about them is awe inspiring. Alex and Lauren became quite good little buddies during the weekend. They played together constantly and were always holding hands. Alex is still talking about her today. Lauren was just wonderful with him too. She got him to play 'grocery store' and 'house' and all sorts of little imaginary games. I think Alex will miss her dearly now. He talks about her as much as he talks about his other cousins, Jamie and Linda, who are also quite a bit older than him.

My father-in-law smoked a mass load of meat over the weekend. That's great for the adults, but to kids, there is nothing more evil than random chunks of meat. So they ended up dining on ever-faithful cereal most of the time. Cereal is the food that most parents can gaurantee their child will eat at least once a day if given the opportunity.


All the kids ended up enjoying each others company. There were the off moments when two of them would become temporary mortal enemies, but after five minutes of cool-down time, they would become bosom buddies once again. Alex even got to go with Lauren and Linsey to watch Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in the theater. Josh and Ben took them. He had a lot of fun for his first movie on the big screen. I'm glad that he got to enjoy that experience. It gives me hope for future movie outings.


Abby wasn't smitten with anyone in particular (except Mommy of course), but she did enjoy tagging along whenever she could. She tried her best to keep up and got a kick out watching them play.

So other than the weather, the weekend was great. It decided to rain for a good chunk of the time we were there. The kids all passed out early on the Fourth and it left us with no other option but to miss the local firework display. I will say that I missed that. Maybe it makes me a big redneck, but I love a good fireworks display. We always had fireworks to shoot off when I was a kid. Nothin' better than spending your hard earned money on a bunch of cheap fireworks and then blowing it all up. It is a bit like flushing your money down the toilet, but hey...that's how I grew up. We always had fun though. I think Alex would have loved watching them this year. There's always next year though. I hope you all had a great Fourth of July too!

Weekly Winners

Okay, so my friend Mandy does something now called Weekly Winners. She said I should try to do this and I agree. It's a good way to put pictures up of the week. You basically put up your best pictures of the week every Sunday. I'm not always that great about posting updated pictures so I'll do my best to do this every Sunday. Hope you all enjoy!

Logan gettin' up close and personal.

Bonding time with Logan.

Abby enjoying her outdoor time.

Alex pickin' our first edible strawberry that the birds didn't get.

Firework snappers! Alex was jumping on them.

Alex checking out a monarch butterfly we found freshly hatched.

Alex and new buddy, cousin Lauren.

It's Video Time!

It's been awhile since I posted a video on here. I know that there are certain people in the family that do so enjoy a good video of my little monkeys. So here is a good one that demonstrates Abby's abilities thus far. (physical abilities anyhow) She truly is taking after Alex in so many ways. It's amazing to see. She is even adding new words to her repertoire almost daily just by listening to Alex. Alex will ask her to say something and she gladly does her best to repeat it. Then they both enjoy a nice round of self-congratulatory applause and giggle about it. It's pretty darn cute, to say the least.



On another note, we will be heading out of to see Josh's family for the Fourth of July weekend. Josh is super excited to spend some time with his brother and Alex is pretty excited to see Uncle Ben too. He's begun doing the "Uncle-Ben Dance" again to prepare for seeing him. So have a great weekend all! God Bless America!

Buzz Off

Mosquitoes...ugh. They are literally waiting at the door to dive bomb us on our way outside to play. I would almost swear that all the mosquitoes in the state use our backyard as a headquarters. For some reason, though, Josh is immune to them. He must have some random freakish super power that repels biting bugs. He can sit outside for an hour and get no bites at all. Whereas the kiddos and me end up looking like we got a nasty case of chicken pox. Yes, I do spray the kids down with bug spray. However, I don't feel really safe spraying chemicals on their sensitive little faces. So by the end of the evening, Abby and Alex have at least 5 or 6 new bites to add to the ever growing itchy bump list. Poor kids. They wake up every night at least 3 times crying and scratching their bites.

Well, my mom...working in a lawn and garden center...got some free samples of this thing called Bug Band. Ever heard of it? Well, if you haven't then you really must seek it out. It's a nifty little bracelet/band that you wear on your wrist/ankle/belt and it is supposed to keep away the many insects that like to bug us all (pun intended). I was skeptical, but gave it a go for good measure. I was shocked to see what happened. Those nasty little biters were hovering over the kids all night, but never once landed on their skin. It was like there was a magical force shield around them and the bugs couldn't get past it. Very weird. My favorite part of this little bracelet is that it is supposed to work for 120 hours an comes with a little case to store it in when you aren't using it. It is made from the oil of geraniums. I guess back in the day, people used to plant geraniums in flower boxes outside their windows because they are notorious for keeping bugs at bay. Huh...who knew? Turns out that they were right. So if you are lookin' for a pretty snazzy way to keep the biting at it's minimum, I'd recommend these things. (I was not paid to promote this folks...just trying to get the word out to stop the summer itch.) I can't guarantee that these things work for the 120 hours they claim, but neither Alex or Abby had a single bite on them last night. And guess what? They both slept through the night itch-free.

Check 'em out...seriously...you might be surprised too! Bugband.net

Tatoo Boy

Over the course of his two and half years, Alex has had his fair share of visits to the doctor's office. The one joy of going for him has always been the end of the appointment when he gets to pick one of those wonderful stickers out of the bin. We had quite the collection of stickers. And they don't just come with his doctor visits. My OB has stickers for kiddos to get when they accompany the mama's to their pregnancy appointments. Well, he has officially abandoned his love of stickers and moved up a level. There are three bins to choose from.

1. The pencil bin...which he is much too young to appreciate. He would more than likely end up revisiting the doctor after falling with one in his mouth.

2. The sticker bin...very popular for most kids. Friendly to all ages. Though Abby enjoys dining on them if she gets one.

3. The tatoo bin...temporary tatoos for youngsters to decorate their skin with. How can you go wrong with these?

So Alex has moved on up to a love of the temporary tatoos. I couldn't let the little monkey wear temp tatoos for the longest time because his skin was just too darn sensitive. He'd break out from anything on his skin. Well, he has officially toughened up and is no longer a sensitive little dude. (still won't try the smell-good laundry soap though) He loves, loves, LOVES those tatoos. We get them whenever we can. I think that he is going to have an absolute blast when we go to the state fair this year. They give out those tatoos at nearly every booth. I'll be taking a before and after photograph of that day. I think it's the cutest thing to watch him brag about his tatoos when we put them on him. So without further ado, here are a couple of pictures of his latest temporary body art.

Dinosaur Tatoo

Spiderman Tatoo

Move Over Jack Sparrow!

Optimus Prime just kicked poor Jack Sparrow's butt. As far as guilty pleasure movies go, Pirates of the Caribbean has been the movie series that has topped my popcorn-watch-ability chart since I saw the first one in the theatre. But here lately, I've taken a liking to Transformers. I didn't get the pleasure of seeing it on the big screen and I regret that now. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, eh? Well, as you may have realized from the most recent blog entry below this one, I was scheduled to see Transformers 2 today. Well, I just got back and all I can say is...HOLY COW!!!! Okay...that movie was beyond awesome! If you know me, you know that I'm a geek to the core. I mean, you can't see a movie 11 times in the theater (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) and not be classified as a geek, ya know what I mean? So I've been watching Transformers at home on the trusty DVD player and have gotten absolutely hooked. I will not admit to the number of times I've seen it. Okay...nevermind that last statement. I have no shame. I have seen it 10 times in the last two months. (Go ahead. Roll your eyes.) It has bumped my love of Pirates of the Caribbean down a level on the ol' favorite list. Seriously folks, the movie rocks. But not nearly as much as the second one. I know that I have a list of movies that I must see, but I shall give this advice to you. If you are going to see one movie in the theater this year, then see Transformers. Michael Bay (director) knows what the viewers want. I laughed. I cried. And I was literally on the edge of my seat wanting more by the time the credits hit. I mean, I love Harry Potter and all, but you can't see a Michael Bay film for the first time on your couch or you just won't get the full effect of it's magnificence. I can't wait until Alex and Abby are old enough that they can go with us to enjoy the awesomeness of these kinds of movies.

So as far as getting out of the house and enjoying some personal-away-from-the-kids time...that part was great too. The kids are finally old enough to leave them for a day with Grandma and Grandpa. They had a blast and were little angels. They didn't even suffer from mommy-complex issues this time around. I must admit that is has got the wheels in my brain to start turning. I am wondering if it wouldn't be nice to stick with just two kiddos instead of the three that I had planned on having eventually. Though I will probably change my mind again later. It was so nice to get out though. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! I'll be sure to drop them off in a week or two when I need to see the movie again.

P.S. Seriously folks...go see Transformers 2. You won't be sorry.

My Day Out

Tomorrow is the big day. Well...one of the big days. I shall take a minor leave of the kiddos to go spend some quality time with Josh. If you follow my movie counters on the side bar, then you will know that tomorrow I will be seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I am so incredibly pumped to get out of the house for awhile. We are dropping the kiddos off at Grandma and Grandpa's house tomorrow morning and catching a nice noon matinee of the flick. It's going to be great. I do so miss the movies. Josh and I used to pretty avid movie goers pre-kid and since Alex, I think maybe we have seen three or four movies. That was a one month quota a few years back. For now I'll just enjoy the rare times I get. I fully plan on kickin' back and relaxin' tomorrow for 2 1/2 hours of joy joy popcorn movie goodness. Have a great weekend everyone! I know I will!