So I've had all these pics loaded from my phone into the blog draft for a month now.
But that's not the "hard" part of blogging.
The hard part is finding the time to type. Because the while it will someday be fun to just look back at this blog full of pictures, I also love remembering the funny stuff the kids say and the fun things we do.
Like gym class!
My Gym classes were one of the top five best things we did for Whitney as a toddler and preschooler.
And Grady lived his class each week as an infant and toddler, too.
So we re enrolled and both kids have been LOVING their weekly class!
Whitney is in a gymnastics class that is great! They aren't competitive or destined for gold medals but Whitney has learned more in the first three classes than she learned in three full months at a legit gymnastics gym. So thrilled!
The kids are at a good age to attempt a movie solo mission. We took advantage of the $1 movie showing of "Annie" and met up with Mandi and Kaia and Emanuel.
We enjoyed a quick but always fun visit from Eric's high school bestie, Ryan, and his adorable family. The kids always gave a blast and it's fun for the wives to see our husbands flashback to 1996.
Grady asks for his gym "plass" all week. He sits SO nicely through Whitney's class on Mondays, and gets super excited when it's finally his turn in Wednesdays.
This is his first time in and independent class. In the past the parents have always been in the class, too, helping to wrangle and keep kids on task. But now? The dude is big kid!!
He listens so nicely and waits his turn. He answers questions like "What's your favorite vegetable?"
"BROCCOLI!!"
And while he sometimes marches to his own beat, he has fun and doesn't disobey or disrupt. He's nice to everyone and just loves every second of the class.
Whitney has been really great about practicing school stuff this Summer. She reads really well now, and has read 34 books so far! I've pulled out my old second grade teaching materials and she's had fun working on number families and math facts.
We've had several great pool days and our pool is 90+ degrees!
Eric had to dress up in a SpiderMan costume for some work meeting (I try not to ask too many questions lol) and he surprised the kids at home.
Grady really only knows about super heroes because his underwear rocks some superman/batman/SpiderMan logos, but he was super excited!
And of course we have spent a bunch of time braving the crowds and heat at Disney!
I think we've seen Tinkerbell 58 times.
Grady has started requesting certain rides. Dumbo was his favorite at first, but now he asks for the tea cups and roller coasters and buzz Lightyear.
While it's not one of our usual stops, we decided to ride It's A Small World. It was fun to hear the kids point out different details. But my favorite was when we pulled into the Iceland room and Whitney said, "Hey! This must be BOSTON! Look at all the snow!!"
We always have a good time and while I love that the kids will have childhood memories of "lazy" pool days at home, but also memories of the magic of Daddy saying "Who wants to go watch fireworks after dinner??!!"
He's so good about watching and waiting patiently while Whitney enjoys her gym class. An hour is a long time for a three year old boy to just hang out. But almost every class, at least one other parent will mention how well-behaved Grady is. Makes a mommy proud 😃
Whitney was asked to join the "big kid" class after her teachers saw her tackling bigger skills with ease. These pics are from last month but we tried out the big kid class yesterday. In the first two minutes, Whitney was bounced off the side of the mini trampoline and earned a scraped and bruised shin that is now rockin' her first big goose egg.
Not one minute after she removed the ice pack and shook it off, she was kicked straight in the face by a girl doing a handstand. Sigh. I felt so bad for her. She didn't cry for the shin injury, but the glasses kicked into her nose/cheek was too much. She cried. But before the warmup was even over, she got back out there and carried on like a champ. A few weeks ago, she would likely have given up and demanded to go home. But she's tackled some tough skills in the last few weeks (think: two-wheeler!) and has proven to herself that she is tough and strong and she can do hard things. Sooooo proud of her!
Now that it's mid-July, this seems like a year ago, but we did Vacation Bible School at our church last month.
We went out on a limb and let Grady try it out this year so I could work with the older kids. Eh. Id say it was okay. He was so tired since its held 6:30-8:30pm and it never ended on time, but he said he had fun and liked playing on the playground.
Eric and I got to work with crews of older kids and it was fun! It was my first VBS experience 😃
This is what happened at 9pm when I finally got this sweet boy home. 😔 So we skipped a few nights and finished the week strong.
Eric had been working on a hand me down loft bed for Whitney and it was FINALLY time for the big reveal!
Whitney was diggin' her new bed and Bingo made himself right at home with his bone and his biggest fan.
Trying to give the kids a solid mix of days-at-home and planned-entertainment, we took advantage of the Kids Bowl Free campaign and joined some friends at the bowling alley.
Both kids had fun and it was a nice air conditioned way to get them moving 😃
Jam packing all the summer activities into the first few weeks of Summer was sorta exhausting.
We've hosted a few sleepovers with Whitney's bestie, Faith, and because my husband and mom are awesome, I got to play in a women's tennis camp at the last minute. My mom kept Whitney, Faith, and Grady while I played tennis, AND she took all three kids to Grady's gym class! Mac is a rock star!
And these two mermaids had a blast!
And when I picked three happy kids up from Mac's house, we headed home for more swimming and fun. As we pulled into the driveway I heard a house alarm blaring. Not until I was in my garage did I realize it was OUR house alarm.
So I rush inside to turn it off and it won't budge. No luck no matter how many times I punch in the code.
I call Eric who was in a meeting. So I call my dad who said "call the fire department."
So. Yeah.
The kids got quite an exciting show as four firemen and a police officer came to our house to help mommy get it together.
As soon as I pulled out the bed in the playroom, Grady grabbed his monkeys and climbed right in. He wanted to be a part of the big girl sleepover fun!
As the weather warmed up, bingo started shedding more. As I was vacuuming, he didn't scurry away like usual....so as I ran the vacuum by him on the family room floor, I went for it.
That dumb dog let me vacuum his entire body. Weirdo.
While the kids were watching Disney Jr, they saw a short telling how to make a cucumber sandwich. Both kids came running into the kitchen, "Mommy!! Can we make cucumber sandwiches???!!! Please?!?"
Ummmm. Sure!
They each made their own and gobbled them up!
I even put a tiny amount of cream cheese on Grady's, and prayed for no reactions. So far, so good!!
VBS kids 😃
The family who VBS together, stays together!!
Whitney was sooooo good about dancing with Grady at the end of VBS each night. He looks up to her so much!!
We went to a birthday party for the boys next door and the kids had so much fun! Bounce houses and foam pits and trampolines!
My biggest "kid" had fun, too!
We encountered a favorite Clemson football player in a giant ad at our favorite sports store. And it made me excited for football season!!
And of course, pool days with Daddy are the best!
And poolside tic-tac-toe is always a good time!
This is the kinda temp we return to in our car in June. Ouch.
Grady water to help carry groceries to the car 😃
The gymnastics practice continues!
One day I had Grady at the tennis courts with me and when I went into the pro shop to grab a water, Grady asked for a cup. I handed him the cup of water and he proudly exclaimed, "I'm like Gramps now!!"
Our little arts n crafts lover has been doing all kinds of projects! Painting ceramic ladybugs, decorating with gems, and attempting the bracelet loom!
Aunt Gerry sends great crafts for Whitney all the time! Thanks Aunt Ger!!
We got a box from Aunt Ger and a box of goodies Mac ordered from QVC, and the kids were thrilled with their "drive-in Ickes cars"! They say there for an entire movie!
And then Daddy carried their cars to bed!
The movie "Inside Out" was released last month and we were all excited to see it. I found the Golden Book version of the movie at Sam's and a "meet the characters" book with the little "guys". We rushed home and we read the golden book and fell in LOVE with the story!
We then grabbed the chapter book ( Disney does AWESOME junior novelizations of their movies now!) at Target, and dug in. While at Target, we saw a small end cap with a handful of Inside Out toys. Knowing the story would be a hit and knowing those toys would be near impossible to find once the movie was actually released, I told Whitney she could get the stuffed "Joy"....BUT.....she could not take Joy outta the box until she finished reading the chapter book to me.
So for three days, I read a page then she read a page. And when we finished that book, we bought our tickets to see the movie the next morning!
I have another draft from last month that I'll try to know out today....lots to share!!
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