Sleepover

A few weeks ago, Adriana was dying to have a sleepover with her Daddy downstairs. Just her and him. I told her we could do it on a Friday night and get candy, play games and watch a movie. Ryan was such a good sport about having a party with her. He got the mattress off her bed, brought it downstairs and he slept on the couch. She was PUMPED! I really wasn't allowed downstairs, but I was able to catch some pictures of them, while they were eating their candy and watching a movie.

Notice Candy Land was already out and on the floor from a game they had played earlier. They had such a good time. I heard lots of laughter and, I think, a mini dance party was going on at one point. Adriana, however, outlasted me and Ryan with staying up. I had gone to bed upstairs already and she kept going upstairs and trying to get in my room to talk to Milo. Then when I threatened to make her sleep in her room that night, she stayed downstairs but was up later than Ryan. She had a blast, but she's like me, she doesn't sleep well outside of her environment, and she said the next day she prefers to sleep in her own room. I'm glad they were able to have this special time and hopefully made memories that will last a long time.

A Nature Walk Gone Bad

Now, this story is probably 2 months old already, but I wanted to write it down, because its still something I remember and want to tell the kids about someday. I thought it would be a great idea to take the kids on a nature walk and Adriana could collect leaves, sticks, rocks and whatever else she found along the way. (The Picture below was taken at the begining of our trip, all smiles (and pacifer, keep that in mind as the story progresses).)

We brought Milo with us. Me pushing a stroller, holding a leash and trying to corral a 4 year old, was quite a sight. We hadn't gone too far and we came across a little stream.

There was more water flowing through the creek bed than normal, due to a lot of rain. The kids immediately wanted to throw rocks in the stream. I kept Paxton in his stroller, gathered rocks for him and he would sit there to throw them in the creek, they were both having a blast. I decided to keep the party moving, so we said good-bye to the creek and went on our way. (Granted, we had never been on this trail before so around every turn, I was just as anxious to see what was ahead.) Well, a little down the trail was another entrance to the creek. The kids were so excited to throw rocks in the creek again. So, I gathered rocks for Paxton again. This time, the creek was running on both sides of the trail. I'm thankful Adriana is a good listener, for the most part, because having that much water around, a dog, stroller and 2 kids, its not easy to watch everything at every second. Adriana and I were gathering rocks, and I had my back turned to Paxton for just a second and I see him throwing his passy into the creek. Now, his passy was connected to his shirt by a pacifier holder. He ripped it off his shirt and chucked into the fast moving waters. Not only that, he about tipped his stroller over and rolled in the creek. I was a nervous wreck! Paxton is screaming because he is watching his passy float away, I'm about in tears because of the thought of him landing in the creek, PLUS I take off, running along the stream, trying to see if there is any way for me to reach in and grab a $2 passy, but the waters were moving so fast and it was on the opposite side of the creek, so I didn't think it was worth risking my life over. It was quite a sight to say the least. Paxton screamed the entire walk back, the entire ride home. It was such a fun afternoon. If you detect a little sarcasm, good, because I'm laying it on thick. It was a nature walk, I won't soon forget.

Swim Time!

I can't believe its hot and time to go swimming again! Summer seemed like it was just getting over and here it is again. Its amazing how fast time flies. I'm not a big fan of summer. I don't like being out in the heat and humidity, but when you have kids, there's not much of a choice. Last night, after a hot, hot day, we decided to head over to a public pool and cool off. It was a lot of fun! I wasn't sure if Paxton would care for swimming or not, but he really liked it. The pool we went to has fountains and slides so the kids had a blast. Paxton couldn't even stay out of the pool during adult swim. He got the whistle blown at him a time or two, but other than that, we had a great time. I took a picture of the kids before we went. I remember doing this last year, so I wanted to make sure I did it again this year so I could compare them, but when I saw the comparison, I thought, "Wow, the kids have changed and have grown so much!". Its sad to me to think of how big they are getting. Here are their pictures.

Summer 2010

Summer 2011

They almost don't look like babies anymore, they look so grown up. Its until you compare them, side by side that you can see how much they have changed. Hope everyone enjoys their summer and finds a fun way, like swimming, to keep cool!

Evening in the Park

This last weekend, we met my parents and my dads cousin, Barb and her husband Roger at the park for an impromptu picnic. It was a lot of fun. We let the kids feed the ducks and we walked around and took some pictures. I took some pictures of Adriana, she was actually was posing for me, so I took advantage and snapped some photos. These are some of my favorite of our big 4 year old girl!

These other 2 pictures are some of my other favorites from the night.

We had a lot of fun snapping pictures, playing on the playground, feeding the ducks and visiting with family. What a great way to spend a Saturday night.

Decor Update

So I had it in my head, we needed some change in our house. I'm itching to rearrange some furniture, but we really don't have many options for that,due to the way our house is set up, so I decided to "rearrange" the walls. I saw this "family tree" thing in an ad a while back and LOVED it and have thought of it ever since. We have vaulted ceilings in our family room, so we kind of needed something big to help take up the space. This is what there was before, hanging over the couch (never mind the sheet on the couch, we take it off for company, but other than that it stays on. There are a lot of sticky fingers and furry critters in this house, so this helps save the couch a little).

Now, granted the pictures in the frames above the couch are about 2 years old, so NO pictures of poor Paxton were hung up there.
These are the sad looking frames I had in the hallway. I HATED these frames. They NEVER hung straight and they just didn't look right in the hallway.

Again, no pictures of poor Paxton in those either. It was time for something new and fresh. Here is what went up above the couch. I LOVE how it turned out.

It takes up a lot of wall space (over 4 feet tall) and it adds something different to the room. Now, here is what I did with the frames that were over the couch. I put them in the hallway, took down those sad, crooked frames and put new black and whites in there to give them a new look.

I also wised up and moved our clock. I didn't take any pictures of the before, but when we moved into this house, for some stupid reason, i thought the clock would look good hanging BEHIND the love seat. It didn't make any sense at all! From most of the seating places in the family room you could NOT see the clock without putting your neck out. SO I wised up! I bought some shelves that match the family tree theme and hung those where the clock use to be and moved the clock to a very visible wall, that makes so much more sense. Here are the pictures of our shelves.

My mini makeover for the room cost less than $65. I gives such a different feel to the room and I love how it turned out.