June 2013

We started June with a haircut for the boy - which always makes him look older

We enjoyed some fruits of our garden planting - specifically a bumper crop of strawberries

 We made dad an apple pie and Natalie mad her own individual pie as well.  She loved making the dough, rolling it out and cutting the precise circle was especially fun for her. (we made 3 total in the month of June)

with ice cream or not, it is yummy!

We measured both kids in June, tracking their changes on our closet door. 

On June 4, 2013 Natalie measured in at 41.5 inches tall and Philip was 34.75 inches!  

We made several trips to visit godfather at his house.  The walk to and from the car is always an adventure - we are either running after kids going in different directions, or they are holding hands and walking together.

Natalie's class visited the Zoo and I participated as an adult volunteer for the adventure.  We visited animals - both statues and real.

 After the zoo, Natalie and I had a girls day out.  We had lunch at the Dodo followed by shopping for soap at Bath & Body Works, then home for a nap.

Phil was out of town for two separate work trips in June - one falling over Father's Day, so we celebrated without him by having fun in the back yard and taking a trip to the cabin.

We stopped at the outlets after our visit to the cabin, so we could ride the rides

fathers day card for Phil

Natalie participated in soccer this summer and loved it.  We had two games a week and she improved with every game.  She wanted to play every quarter and score as many goals as possible.  I was, naturally, the obnoxious mom on the sidelines screaming and cheering the loudest. 

We are signing her up for the fall session!

Little boy not satisfied with sitting on the sidelines; he was always running out to "help" his sister or get the ball

Except when he was enjoying a game snack while sitting on my lap

Gratuitous photos of my boy 

After a dip in the pool

In the pool - with all his clothes on

Getting ready for his foray into team sports (he thought it was pretty cool)

A lot of ground covered and we were only 1/2 way through the month!

Cabin Fever

We decided to spend some of the fourth of July weekend at the cabin. It has been a while since we have been up there, mainly due to sleep or lack there of. See when we were there back in April, Philip didn't sleep all that peacefully which meant that I didn't either, which makes it hard to function as a mother of two. Also, in April and May Philip put me through my paces with a lot of not sleeping, which made me not want to go back to the cabin and experience what little sleep I was getting on an uncomfortable mattress. When and if he let me sleep I wanted to be in my own bed! Well, since everyone around here has been sleeping a little more (most nights) these days we decided that heading to the cabin for one night would be a nice change. So, on Saturday we drove up the canyon and spent the night at the cabin. As normal, there was a lot of playing outside, a few walks, and as not-normal, some sleep. We saw a deer on the drive up and a squirrel came to visit Natalie and her food while she played on the deck - which she was thrilled about.

While we were there, it was extra warm! Even though it was cooler than in the city, temperatures were above 80 - which is TOO hot for me! So, we decided to get the kids into the pool, a very small pool that we filled with warm water and put in the shade. Natalie loved it, and so did Philip...then Natalie decided that spilling water out of the pool and playing in the mud was much more fun that just playing in the pool water. Because, after all, isn't dirty water more fun than clean? Once she got the water dirty she decided to "wash" baby brothers hair because it wasn't clean...makes sense, right? That hair washing led to us leaving the swimming pool about 10 minutes after we filled it up. But it was fun while the we were out there for 10 minutes.

After our swimming adventure we decided it was pretty warm, so I left Philip pretty naked so he could be cooler than the rest of us. He was SO happy, and you can see his spiky dirty hair in these photos.

Trying to crawl

Mini push Up

There is a photo of my dad at almost the same age

so my mom insisted on taking this one to compare

By the time 4:00 rolled around, no one had taken a nap and everyone needed one, but rather than a nap, we decided to pack everyone in the car and take a drive down to a local resort that was hosting a fair for the 4th. By the time we got down to the resort and realized that the fair was over for the day, both kids were asleep in their car seats so we decided that rather than stop and play at the play ground or go back to the cabin we drove around so they could get some sort of a nap and make our evening a little better. While driving around the local town we found a BBQ place and screeched our tires turning around so we could pick up some brisket. Phil got a pound of brisket and as he told us many times that weekend, "The guy just pulled out this huge slab of meat and cut it in front of me" (he said it while drooling). I will say it was some of the best BBQ I've ever had and it was CHEAP for what we got. That night we enjoyed the BBQ and some brats. Everyone got some sleep and Phil was able to golf 18 holes the next day with my dad. We stayed up at the cabin until about 4:00 on Sunday then drove home. It was a pretty fun one-night adventure. The best part is that when we got home we had 4 red strawberries waiting for us.

Cabin

Two weekends ago, before I got sick, we made the trip to the cabin for an over-nighter.

Natalie went up with my parents earlier in the day on Friday and Phil, Philip and I came up once we were both done with work. We had a great time, Natalie "played" chess with Phil, went on a few walks around the cabin to explore, played in the little bit of snow that was left, carried fire wood, got slivers, and very little sleep. All in all a pretty good time! Plus, Phil got to play golf on Saturday morning, which is always a treat.

Sitting in the chair together

playing chess

Chilling in the bouncer

Once we got home on Saturday, we "washed" the car. It was covered in mud and after I decided to wash it at home rather than the car wash, we realized that we didn't have soap, so I used dish soap, not such a good choice, but most of the mud came off.

That night we went to dinner with friends and then got some much needed sleep!

It has been so long

But work has been incredibly busy!

I'm busy with projects and end up working most nights (boo). I'm also gearing up for another round of travel. Over the next 3 weeks I'll travel to Minnesota (again), Tennessee, France and Great Britain. It is going to be a whirlwind. Plus, I'm going to toss in a Memorial Day weekend and U2 concert for good measure.

You know those people who are always talking about how they are so busy and then you ask them what they are up to and they can only come up with one or two projects/visits/trips/etc. that they are working on? I have these people in my life too; well, they can all stop complaining :)

Also, we went in for Natalie's 18-month check up. She is healthy as a horse (knock on wood) and lucky us, we have only ever been to the doctor for well baby check ups! (knock on wood-again). She weighed in at a light 21.8 pounds (yea! we passed the 20 pound mark)! She is growing into a little girl. She is so busy, very strong willed and has a very happy attitude.

Last weekend we traveled to the cabin for a quick one-nighter. Natalie had a blast. She loved exploring, being outside, and being with family.

I'll post photos soon...

Things that make you go "Humm"

Here are a few photos of Natalie enjoying the porch at the cabin. She loves hummingbirds, when you say "bird" she looks at the feeder

Phil and I decided to go "up and over" the mountain to get home
this is the view from the top

4th of July Fun

For the 4th of July holiday, we ran errands, spent time at the cabin and cleaned. So, pretty much just like any other weekend, only we had an extra day to do stuff.

Here are some photos

July 3rd - Natalie in curlers

After the curlers - all ready to go.

Don't you love the pose

At the cabin - couldn't get Natalie to look at the camera and smile

Natalie in her 4th of July dress

Stand Up

This weekend Natalie and I traveled to the cabin for an overnight with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a blast and Natalie learned a new trick:


She was sitting in her pack and play, playing with toys when she decided it might be fun to grab ahold of the side

Then eat a little

Then pull her self to a kneeling position

Then try and stand up!


It is happening too fast...