Swimming sooner than we thought!!!

Well, sure enough….we went swimming with him again last night and then today after work and TAA-DAA!  G is off and running….in the pool that is!  Couldn’t wait to upload this to show Grammy & Papa!

Memorial Day Weekend!

 

It’s been a great, relaxing Memorial Day weekend.  While Blaine is back to work today, he did manage to get Saturday and Sunday off.  And I was lucky enough to have a three day weekend!  The weather has been gorgeous here and we took full advantage of that.  We spent a day out at Fun Factory with the McIntier’s on Saturday and then enjoyed a date night later that evening, while my parents came over to watch the kids.  Yesterday, after church and naps, we had a BBQ at our house with my parents, Ryan and Kim and Dale.  It was so nice to be outside and enjoy the pool, play some baseball and of course eat ourselves silly! 

Grayson (and Colbie now!) continue to search for and capture new bugs and critters!  If you knew me, this is SO out of my element……you should see me do the ant dance!  The things we do for our children!  We’ve since found a bumble bee, a dragon fly, a lizard and a caterpillar. 

We had fun making bird houses the other day for each of the kids. I got the idea out of Parents Magazine if any of you get that.   Unfortunately, the birds haven’t caught on to their new pretty houses in our yard!  Maybe I need a different food. 

Grayson is getting quite comfortable on his bike these days.  We’ve taken a few trips to the park recently, where he road the whole way there and back and around the park several times.  I swear we just bought this bike for him (his 3rd birthday) and he already looks like a giant on it!  Oh, and he insisted on wearing his backpack, carrying the duck food and his snacks!

I took these yesterday before church.  They looked too cute together in their little coordinating outfits, so we took them to a nearby wheat field to snap a few shots!

These two are my favorites! 

The gang at the BBQ yesterday.

Grayson is getting really strong in the pool.  Lately, he’s ditched the floaties and likes to cruise around on his Spiderman “surfboard.”  Today , we had a play date with Molly and Maggie and both Molly and Grayson did awesome swimming….several moments without us holding them.  I feel like a couple more times like today and Grayson will be off and swimming completely on his own!

Playing with Aunt Kimmie and showing off her new itsy bitsy bikini!  The past couple of weeks, Colbie’s vocabulary has really begun to explode.  She attempts to repeat most anything you say now and while I don’t always understand her requests, we are actually starting to communicate with her!  It is pretty cool!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Cranes, Gardens and Bugs!

Awe….the life of a three year old boy!  Who needs toys when you can have your own crane, garden and bug collection?!  A little over a month ago, Blaine and Grayson planted a little garden in our back yard.  Minus the strawberries, they were very successful in getting everything else up and growing in a relatively quick period of time.  We now have tomatoes, “radishals,” carrots, snow peas and cute little midget squash!  I think they were supposed to be of average size, but Becca says this is a pollination problem (Jonny would know!).  It has been a lot of fun for Grayson to check his garden every day, water it and occasionally pick some “radishals” or tomatoes. 

Another thing that Grayson has always had an interest in is any type of tool or work equipment….tractors, cement trucks, and lately, he has been very fascinated with cranes.  His Dadda promised to build him one and did exactly that last weekend!  I had no idea how he was going to put this together, and I don’t think he did either, but in less than an hour’s time and using mostly scraps from our garage, the boys had a working crane!

And finally, Grayson’s latest and definitely my LEAST favorite hobby is his curiosity in bugs!  At first, he would catch a beetle or moth and we would make a little insect home for his latest catch.  This weekend, he graduated to the insect display board. He actually cut out the cardboard and glued on the cardstock himself.  We are currently working on catching a yellow butterfly!

Little miss is of course into EVERYTHING “GG” is into at the moment.  While this often leads to some serious screaming matches, Grayson is usually very good about sharing his new possession or hobby with his little sis!  These were taken this morning before church.  Caught Colbie practicing her jumps in her new diva sandals! 

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I had a wonderful Mother’s Day, thanks to my awesome hubby and my amazing kiddos.  I was surprised with a yummy Starbucks coffee, flowers and some other goodies and hand-made cards this morning.  And other than going to church, we didn’t go out at all or do any house work today!  It was a super low key, RELAXING weekend, spent with the people that I love the most!  Thank you Blaine, Grayson and Colbie!  I am one lucky Mama!

Happy Mother’s Day to all and Happy Anniversary to my parents!  They set sail yesterday out of Seattle for a seven-day Alaskan cruise to celebrate 40 years of marriage!  Very much needed and very well-deserved!

It’s Beach Time Again!

While we may not be ready for summer here in Yuma, we are excited that warmer weather usually means more days at the beach for us!  We were able to spend the last two weekends in April over in Laguna.   Blaine & I celebrated our fifth anniversary there (kid-free!) the first weekend and then took a little family vacation the Wednesday through Sunday after that before Blaine gets wrapped up in watermelon season.  We had two perfect days at the beach, a super day at Sea World and then the Sunday we came home, my dad, Blaine and I all ran in the La Jolla 1/2 marathon.  It was a very HILLY, but gorgeous run that was all along coast-line between Del Mar and La Jolla.  We all felt great, ran well and came in under two hours!

Always lots of pictures to share...

Crazy kids in the bubble bath and our Batman superhero!

Enjoying their new lawn chairs and our little sleeping angel!

Now off to the beach house!  Due to DeeDee’s recent surgery and my parents’ place being occupied, we ended up staying at the Anderson’s beach pad, which is just down the road from Cloud 9.  DeeDee had back surgery a few weeks ago over in Orange County and is currently at the rehab hospital there.  She is working really hard to regain her health and her strength so that she can come back home soon.   We are all keeping her in our thoughts and prayers everyday.

On the search for some sand crabs!

Little Diva!

Kisses for brother!

SEA WORLD!  Although we took Colbie last summer, she was too young to really appreciate it.  This year, she really seemed to enjoy the shows and loved looking at all the animals and sea life.

Checking out the polar bear and the sea turtles.

These pictures are from today.  We had a swim play date with the McIntier girls!  Everyone had fun….no hair was pulled, no fights broke out…..it was a good day!

My little poser!  Colbie saying “Cheeeeese” wearing her new dress from DeeDee!