Hello.

My name is Cute.

Joe’s Waterpark

Our neighbor bought his very own inflatable waterpark. It barely fits in his yard so we all headed over to his mom’s to play. Seth sure had a blast!

The slide was pretty steep and fast.
It was a little too fast for Ben but he had a lot of fun hanging out in the tunnel. I think he stayed in there for almost the entire two hours we were there!
I went for a quick slide but Seth kept spraying me with the ice cold water (the thing has a built-in water gun!). I was happy hanging out with Oliver in the shade.
We love our neighbors because they buy all the fun toys and let us play with them!

Dragonboats.

Neil was in the dragonboat races last weekend. We went to cheer him on.
Here’s the Green Team from Lafarge:

Hey, why are you guys called the green team? Shouldn’t your shirts be more green then? Oh, I guess you had green bandanas. Never mind.
Anyway the green team came in third place every race. Very consistent!! Well done team!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

My Grammy had her birthday back in April but we celebrated this last weekend because my Aunty from Arkansas was here.

I have to say, my Grammy is smokin’ hot! I can only hope I can rock a leopard print dress like she can when I am 70!
I love this lady!!

Haircut.

It has been a HOT summer so far. Ben’s hair is often plastered to his head with sweat. Nice.

So Neil gave him his first buzz cut. It’s becoming a summer tradition around here (Seth got his first one of the season a few weeks ago).
It’s always a little sad for me to see my kids’ hair shaved off their sweet little heads. And Ben’s hair has grown SO slowly- I think he’s only had 2 or 3 haircuts since he’s been born! But with this heat, the hair needed to go. Here’s a picture of the final product- it was VERY hard to get a shot of Ben not running around. And of course when I asked him to smile he clenched those eyes of his shut (for some reason it is physically impossible for Ben to smile on command with his eyes open)…
I can’t decide if he looks older or more like a baby again! Seth tells Ben that he looks bald. Ben does not appreciate that and fights often ensue. A lady in Wal-Mart today saw Ben and said “Ohhh look at that one. He looks like a real troublemaker.” She was spot on. Seriously. Seth seemed to skip the notorious “terrible twos” but Benji seems to be terrible enough for the both of them lately! But that’s another blog post….

Family Reunion

My mom’s family had a reunion last weekend. First one in 15 years. So we were kind of obligated to go. Or my mom would be sad. So we went. And it was actually kind of fun!
There were lots of games for everyone. It was pretty fun to race with my siblings, even though I was terribly ashamed of my performance. I came in dead last 3 out of 4 of the games. But I won one! The three-legged race- Alissa was a killer teammate. Anyway, it was loads of fun, regardless of whether I won or lost.
Remember that post where I made fun of Seth’s terrible sack-racing skills? I take it all back because now I know where he got it from. Me.I think I got like 3 hops in before I fell down. And I know where I got it from. My mom. Anyway, sorry Seth. Apparently you didn’t stand a chance in the sack-racing department.
We made Josh and Jaclyn play a game together. It was a little “risque” but Jaclyn was a great sport about it. I had a great time with my brother and sisters. I am so blessed to have such wonderful siblings! Us girls tried our best to do the classic “Josh” face. I think Rach and I did pretty well but Alissa couldn’t stop laughing enough to give it a try.
I really really love my family!

A stitch.

The day has finally come. Really, it’s amazing that it hasn’t come sooner. Yesterday, Seth got his first stitch.
He was running in the hallway wearing sunglasses (of course) when he slipped and fell flat on his face. Unfortunately the sunglasses had slid up to his forehead during the fall so he landed right on the nosepiece. It bled a lot. Seth cried for a bit but he settled down pretty quickly. We decided a trip to a doctor was warranted. I didn’t want to head straight to the ER for an inevitably long wait so we decided to try the walk-in clinic. They could at least tell us if we needed to go to the ER or not I thought. Seth was completely happy eating his fruit snacks and playing with toys in the waiting room. Here’s a shot of his forehead pre-dr’s visit: He looks like I just told him that we were going to Disney World with that smile on his face! The smile disappeared when the doctor told him it would need a stitch. We were so lucky- he stitched it up right there in the office. Seth put on a brave face but the tears came with the local anaesthetic (but seriously, I’ve seen grown-ups cry when they get freezing, so I don’t blame him!). Here’s his head post-stitch:

With band-aid in place we headed home (less than 45 minutes after arriving!). Honestly I have to admit I was strangely excited by the whole event. As a kid I always wished I could get stitches (don’t ask, I don’t know). Now I am living vicariously through my poor injured child. Life is good.

He’s happy!

Wow, Oliver has changed SO much in the last two months. Not only is he MUCH bigger (over 11 pounds now!) but he is also MUCH happier. He is turning into a wonderfully easy to please baby, and has even had stretches of sleep that have lasted up to six hours a couple of times now! One of the things Oliver really seems to enjoy is being outside (which is great considering it is the middle of summer and we are outside A LOT). He laid on a towel on my mom and dad’s deck just looking around and smiling for ages the other day. Today I put him in his bouncy chair outside and he just sat there happy as could be. Don’t tell CFS but I actually went inside and cleaned the kitchen and got lunch ready while he was out there (don’t worry, Seth or Ben was always babysitting ).
Aww, look at his little feet. I could just eat them. Sometimes I do put them in my mouth and just give them a little bite. They’re just so cute. Have you seen baby toes close up lately? Scrumptious.

I really really LOVE a happy baby. I think I appreciate this so much more after having an unhappy one for a while.
This baby is just too cute. Um, can you see those eyelashes? Seriously.

Peck.

Yesterday Grampy, the boys, and I went frog hunting. We’ve been in need of a frog since Seth’s best frog “hopped away” last summer. He had so much fun with that frog. Aw man. That picture just made me realize how much Seth has grown and changed in the last year.
Anyway our frog hunting was a success and I managed to catch a little one for Seth. He was so happy- it was hilarious. He said “Mom! Mom! This is my frog from last year!! See, he looks just like him! Mom! He grew his fourth leg!!” (That leg part really killed me. I guess he was thinking about our tadpole from last summer that we successfully raised to the point of having three and a half limbs when it sadly “croaked”). Anyway, Seth is convinced this frog is that same good ol’ frog from last year, and he’s pretty happy. It’s already been manhandled much more than any frog should ever be in a lifetime and he’s only been ours for less than 24 hours. But he’s still alive and kicking (maybe a bit less vigorously, but hey). Seth went for a sleepover with Grammy and Grampy tonight, so Ben got to play with the little guy too (a little reluctantly at first).
Oh yeah, and Seth named his frog “Peck”. Don’t ask me why. Seth comes up with weird names for things. Oh, and maybe you’re wondering why Seth is in full Spiderman gear. Wonder no more, Seth is almost ALWAYS in full spiderman gear these days.

Birthday Celebrations.

Seth’s birthday was on the 4th. We celebrated by going out for supper to the place where you get to where a giant hat and stand on a chair while people sing happy birthday to you. You might not be able to tell in this picture, but Seth was pretty stoked.
For his birthday party we headed to a very packed beach with all the family. Can you see the birthday bunting I made hanging from the trees? By some miracle I managed to whip that thing up during one of Oliver’s naps the day before the birthday.It was so nice to have so many family and friends come out. Seth had a fantastic day! I love this picture of him and Ciara… Seth got A LOT of iron man gifts this year. When I asked him what his favorite present was, he always responded “all of them!”. I think the gift of the day was the water gun though! Seth mastered that thing in no time and there were sure a lot of water gun fights happening that day!
I made Seth a triceratops cake per his specific instructions. I think it turned out pretty well (even though it got a bit smushed in transit). It was a wonderful weekend. Neil and I really enjoyed seeing Seth have so much fun- you could tell he loved being the center of attention for a couple days. Thank you to everyone who came out and made it so special for him!