You're never too old...

Most fun I've had in a while...Our friends the Becker's celebrated their little girl's first birthday with a homey, outdoor party - complete with awesome water slide.  A water slide that, fortunately, the rental company was several days late in picking back up.  So, we made good use of it while it was still in their backyard.  So.  much.  fun!

Trouble with a capital "t"  :)

Matt and Tiffany

Jason catching some good air

Little C was happy walking around and stickin' his belly out :)

Matt:

Cannonball!

Goin' over!  (this was a goal set for several slides before it actually happened :)

Too much spray for Connor:  :)

Thanks Beckers!  It was a blast!

Love Abuse

There's all kinds of abuse, right?  Emotional, physical, animal, etc.  Well, in one of my many roles, as "mom," I'm adding a new kind of abuse:  love abuse.

This kind of abuse does actually hurt, although it's certainly unintentional.  It occurs when a child loves being in close proximity to his mother so much, that it actually causes physical pain.  To illustrate, let me use my child Jack, for he is the PERFECT example.  During morning snuggles, he is surprisingly still, that is until he decides to flip his body around to face the other way, so quickly in fact that a loose arm thwaps me on my jaw.  That happened the other morning; it hurt...badly!

Another jaw injury:  kids love to jump on beds, right?  Especially when they get to jump off the bed as you catch them.  One time, Jack managed to crouch down low, ready to spring up, only as he sprung up he jumped forward and knocked me from underneath my jaw.  The impact was so forceful that I bit my tongue, and it bled.  Quite a bit...

My boys love to drive their truck and little toy cars along the ground all the time, and their vroom vroom noises are so fun to listen to.  But what's not fun is when they move their bodies so quickly, in the way of where I'm walking, and I'm forced to trip/jump over them.  On occasion, those jumps land me against a wall or cause me to twist my ankle.  Fun times...

I've been poked in the eyes with crayons and likely nearly lost my hearing from my daughter's loud screams (okay, that one may be an exaggeration :)

Moms deal with these little "love injuries" all the time.  All three of my kids have caused me physical pain - and not just when I birthed them.  :)  Love abuse, it's just another part of the job :)

Girls Being Girly

Although Lucy was enrolled to go to MMO a few days a week this summer, I changed my mind and decided that Lucy's love of playing with her friends would keep her busy enough during the summer.  Things have worked out great, as Lucy just LOVES playing with her friends.  Here, Maclaine and Lucy played dress up for no less than two hours the other morning:

Jack was at school this particular morning, but Connor was hanging around, keeping busy stuffing his face with food while the girls played:

So funny, these girls have the posing down!!!

Connor started up his new thing, which is simply pushing Lucy from behind.  She's got to stop laughing at him, for one day he will be able to push her over :)

Okay, so this is the best series.  They announced from the top of the stairs that this entrance was for their "bride and baby" runway show.  After carrying each other's bridal trains, each girl presented their baby.  I refrained from pointing out that the only thing that a bride should be carrying is her bouquet; we'll get to that at a more appropriate time, though.  :)  Classic!

Quintessential Summer

Enjoying the fountains at Bridgestreet:

Look closely at this above:  what's funny is that Connor is holding his PB&J, which was quickly turned into a soggy mess.  Didn't stop that machine from eating it, though :)

Lucy's new thing

Well, I have to say, I LOVE Lucy's "new thing."  And that thing is...(drumroll...):  making her bed in the morning!

She is all about it, and this is a nice surprise.  Having Lucy make her bed is not high on my priority list, and before she was able to physically do it on her own, I never considered it worth my time, so I never did it. (In my opinion, there are just too many other more important things to do).

That said, I obviously appreciate the good lesson that comes from teaching a child to respect and take care of their things - and making your bed is a part of that, so recently Jason and I added "making her bed" one of her morning chores.  I braced myself for quite a bit of resistance, considering 1) I never modeled good "bed-making" habits to her (a kid is always going to notice when you say one thing and do another...  bad mama!  :) and 2) there is always a whiny soundtrack spouting from that child's mouth every day as she completes her regular chores.

surprisingly, however, she has really taken an ownership of this chore, and even enjoys setting up her dolls just so:

She spends about ten minutes setting up her bed, very serious about it.  :)  way to go, lucy!  great job!

fav workout pants! ON SALE!

I have been waiting for these to go on sale!  I bought two more pairs today, and just wanted to pass along the recommendation.

I'm teaching at least three workout classes a week now, so I wanted to stock up on some more of my very favorite ones!  These really are super flattering, and surprisingly good quality considering it's Old Navy.  (I'm a fan of their inexpensive prices, but I've never been impressed by the quality of any of their clothes until I bought these.  :)  I've been using one pair that I wash over and over...well, until now!  :)

http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=8852840020003&cid=77639&locale=en_US

Papa 'n Uncle Brendan visit

Jason was out of town last week, and my dad and brother were kind enough to come to Huntsville to lend some extra help.  The kids were so thrilled to have them visit.  We had a countdown going for days before their visit!  My brother Brendan is so fantastic with my kids; really, kids in general.  But, as my kids announced, he's their favorite uncle (Ryan:  guess you need to make a visit sometime soon if you want the title :).