we did so much this month....

....so here's a post full of pics to capture it all!

We took Ainslee and Kylie to see Thomas at the Fox Theatre - followed by a true southern lunch at Mary Mac's Tea House.

Daddy spent some time hanging with Jake....

We finally ripped out our AWFUL deck......

and replaced it with composite deck material! It's sooooo nice! We can walk outside barefoot now!

Daddy got to go on a bike trip with Uncle Scott.

Kylie took swim lessons! She did so awesome for the first few - but then she got sick and her nose was plugged so she struggled with the last few. BUT, she swam for most of the summer with no swimmies/floats and put her head in the water. I was so proud of her.

We got to spend time at the Lawley's pool - BEAUTIFUL!!!

And, we spent many a Friday afternoon/evening at the neighborhood pool and ordered pizza.

Abba with Bella and Jake - is he a TUB or what??

We started feeding Jake some rice cereal - but he usually preferred his thumb instead.

And, of course, I took some pics of the kids. Best buds already.

Father's Day

We had a lovely (and interesting) Father's Day.  It started joyfully at the Seymour's house with drinks and food.   This was followed by Jack vomiting on Allyson, Jake having a poop explosion on Daddy, Bella having the same on Abba - and the culmination of the event was Kylie telling Jeff (at bedtime) the EXACT spot where she peed her pants on Liz's bedroom floor.  BUT - we still had fun!!!  I was able to click a few quick family pictures so I thought I would share.  We treasure our friends just like we do our family.  Happy Father's Day!!!

This was the nice calm beginning - even Danny was enjoying some golf.

My three sweeties.  xoxoxo

The Seymours

The Balzuweit family (before said incident)

The Kings - incident free (I think).

The Dekels.  This one cracked me up - Bella was NOT having her photo taken but Kiki was being such a trooper.  Ahhh, life with an infant!

The three guys with their new babies.  A comparison to Mother's Day.

No Pictures

I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures in this post.  I just wanted to mention (out loud) how grateful I am for my husband.  I know my friends will be thinking - "WHAT?  He's out of town on a BIKE TRIP???"   All the more reason to be thankful for him - right?  I went to a Birthday Party for Emily Elko this afternoon and we definitely over-stayed our welcome!  They had to go to the store and buy hamburgers, hot dogs and WINE for all the guests that stayed into the dinner hour! :)  And that is why I'm also grateful for our neighborhood - full of AWESOME people!  Even though I'm sans husband this weekend - I never feel alone.  And after having both kids for the afternoon and putting them both to bed, I can easily contemplate the life of a single mother (that which my mother was) and I proclaim my appreciation for my husband.  I can't wait for him to get home.  I miss him.  :)

I'm a superhero!!

Or at least I feel like one!  Jeff left town this morning for his weekend bike trip so it's me and the kids (and aunt Laurie and a babysitter).  I took both kids to the pool this afternoon and I was so proud of both of them - they were GREAT!!  And when it was time to go, I asked Kylie to get out of the pool and say goodbye to her friends and she did it without any problem at all! WOW!  We came home and took a shower, then she watched a show while I put Jake to bed. Both kids were sound asleep by 7:45pm (hence the superhero feeling)!  

Had to post a few pictures from my 15 minute mini-session with Kylie last week.  I thought this first one was relevant because she has a great fondness for "walking sticks" lately, thanks to Daddy.  She collects sticks everywhere we go.  She says they "support her".  

Yes, we have a nail-biter on our hands.  It drives Jeff absolutely and totally CRAZY - but what can you do really?  After all, they are HER fingers!

My little (actually HUGE) Jakester.  He's growing so fast.  We put him in the Intellitainer last week - the same one that Gramma and Grandpa got for Kylie.  He LOVES it.  He stands, drools, plays, talks and has a great time.   His toys are starting to take up some serious real estate in the family room!

This pic was from the EastGate BBQ.  Kylie ALWAYS wants to hold Jake.  She adores him. Today, when I was downstairs (and letting Jake "cry it out" for a morning nap) Kylie went into his room and got her stool to peak over the crib and console him.  So much for sleep training!

I gave Jake some cereal for the first time a couple days ago.  He seems interested, although he hasn't quite figured out the concept of eating the food rather than just smacking it around.  We are taking him to another ENT on Tuesday to look at his tongue and probably get his frenulum cut.   I'm a little nervous, but Jeff and I think it's better to do it now than when he's older and has speech problems, etc.   Kylie starts swim lessons that same day - wish me luck! 

Crohns Walk

TOTALLY BEHIND!  Yes, I know.  

The Take Steps Walk was awesome!  We raised over $6200 and came in 3rd place for fundraising!  Woo-hoo!  :)   Many of our friends came out to support us and Nana and Grandpa came to town for the big event.  THANK YOU to everyone for your support!

Kylie got her face painted - I know it doesn't look like it - but she WANTED to do it.  :)

Nana & Grandpa and the grand kids.  Gramma Gail and Dzia Dzia were here in our thoughts!