Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Monday, July 21

Where, Oh Where, Has the Summer Gone?

The days are somehow going faster! I couldn't believe 2 weeks had passed since the last post...and then I thought back to everything that happened since the weekend of the fourth, and WOW - where did those days go?

We were able to visit with my dear friend and her 1 year old son, who now live in Colorado. Our other high school friend came with his family, including his 2 year old daughter. It was super cute to see the 1, 2, and my 3 year olds all playing together and how our lives have changed so much! My friend's mom ramped up her grandma mode and had all 3 kids following her around the yard so the adults could spend time chatting instead of chasing little ones. We were so busy talking, we didn't take any pictures :( boo. Then the next day we celebrated our favorite boy twins' 6th birthday. You can't argue fun when there is a bounce house, pinata, and Lego candy/cake/favors!

When the kids were younger, it was pretty obvious that Kelsey hit the "milestones" before Drew. Sometimes he would be a week behind; sometimes months. As they get older, it hasn't been as noticeable. Until recently... Drew had been driving me nuts with his incessant talking, mostly about nothing but words were constantly coming out of his mouth! I looked over at Craig as we were driving and said, "remember a couple months ago...Kelsey was doing the SAME THING!" I just thought it was her personality, not necessarily a phase some kids go through.

About milestones...the potty-training thing happened at the same time for them. Of course the first month or 2 they had their accidents, but overall we felt they had it under control. They both refused pull-ups for nighttime. Which is okay for Kelsey but Drew continues to wet the bed.every.morning. He just doesn't wake up to pee, even during nap time. I put pads under his sheets to protect the mattress and mattress pad so I'm only washing pads and sheets. It is now a rare occurrence for him to wake up dry. We take away any liquids after 5 so that his last pee before bed should be all that's left but that isn't helping. I'm not mad at him; I understand his system is still immature but it is getting very old with him waking up soaked in urine.

Sometimes the couch cushions work better on the floor

At the ZOO! and rare pic together



First carousel ride!


I said, "oh, Drew's shoe came off." She said, "oh no, again?"

She's such a mom - helping Drew put his Croc back on

Keeping cool this past weekend


Wednesday, July 9

Small Town 4th

The past weekend was just one that I would bottle up and save for "rainy days." I took the kids back home for the local parade and picnic. Craig almost always has to work on the 4th, since the pool also hosts a 4th of July party. So I prefer to head home and spread the love around with my family :) The kids were up late the night before playing with sparklers and jumping on the trampoline with the neighbors, which made Drew a little whiny before the parade - he wanted his daddy, he wanted to go home, he wanted his blankie. We headed down to the parade early to get a spot so I was trying my darndest to keep Drew busy and it ended with him curled up on my lap...on an 80 degree day. So thankfully we were in the company of the fam and Tara was more than willing to sit in the street with Kelsey, watch the parade, and get candy! I hired Uncle Matt to pull the wagon up to the park for the picnic. The kids were totally zoned in on the jump house and inflatable slide. It was their first time on "rides" so the second time they went in the bounce house, I had to go in after them when their time was up :( They are use to the neighbor's, where they just play in it until it's time to go home or eat! I know they were just having a good time and didn't want to stop. We ate hamburgers and popcorn and after a couple hours decided it was nap time. I wanted them to be able to stay up to see fireworks so taking a later nap was ideal. Tara and I put the kids down and headed back outside to relax on the patio, wait for Craig to come once work finished and the rest of the family to saunter back from the picnic. The weather was gorgeous. To watch fireworks, we headed over to my cousin's house with a whole mess of other little ones to play with. Kelsey and Drew are finally at the age where they play with other kids. Listening to the giggling, the yelling as they ran around the house with glow sticks, the ooh's and ahh's over the fireworks was totally worth the small bits of whining and tears earlier in the day.

Heading up the big slide

Getting ready to slide down
Pile up at the bottom

Kelsey going by herself (about half way down she looks totally petrified but
always had a smile when she got to the bottom)

Getting ready for the parade (and wearing a pony tail - FINALLY)

Waving to the firetrucks
Checking out the loot


Mr. Benson, rocking his first 4th

Tuesday, July 1

A Sailor's Life for Me!

Aside from a major storm on Saturday, we had nice little weekend. Craig had grad class so the kids and I were bumming around, beating the humidity. Unfortunately, that ended in Kelsey misplacing her favorite stuffed animal - a mini purple care bear, sweetly named after "Baby Benson." I Google searched for a replacement while the kids took a bath and had to play it off that a new Baby Benson was going to come in the mail and, "Oh! How fun it will be to get the mail!" So I was slightly worried about nap/bed time since she ALWAYS has him with her but she seems to be dealing okay. It was shipped already via snail mail, so we'll see how long it takes for it to get here!

On Sunday we headed out to the farmer's market, before meeting some friends for lunch. I received a text as we were about to leave, asking if we had life jackets for the kids, we could meet them for a boat ride on the Milwaukee River. Fortunately, we had a couple hand-me-downs in the house and the kids were excited. I was preparing for them to not want to wear the life jackets than to dislike the actual boat ride. Drew is obsessed with any vehicle that moves so we were pretty sure this would be the ride of his life. It ended up being such a nice time and the kids handled it all so well - we even drove FAST:) We took the boat down the river to a local pub/brewery and ended up having to wait to be seated. The friends we were with don't have small children so they were concerned when they told us we might be waiting over 30 min for a table and it was already one o'clock. But Kelsey and Drew were content with the sand volleyball courts, cups of ice, a couple of pet dogs to say hi to, and an oversize Jenga set!

You can also keep yourself busy with the shotguns from Big Buck Hunter

Checking out the river from the dock

Drew checking out Capt'n Rich's fancy boat

Boatin' life is rough

He sat on the sun pad facing backwards on the way home