Swim Lessons, Sesame Street & Crazy Sleeper

{MONDAY} Landon has swim lessons solo this week with Miss Sarah. Taylor was supposed to be in his class, but she refuses. It's kind of funny to watch Landon attempt to swim. His laid-back personality shows through even in swimming.


{SUNDAY} We took to kids to see Sesame Street Live. Grandpa Don and Grandma Carol came along for this fun! Taylor was dancing along with the characters while Landon was shouting out for Elmo.


I swear Landon wakes up especially early just for Dora. Both of my kids LOVE Dora. She airs from 6:00-7:00 am in our household every morning. While I am begging for a few more minutes of shut eye, the kids watch TV in the spare bedroom while I rest on the bed. This is our morning routine.


Our nightly bedtime routine is simple: dinner, baths, cereal and then bedtime. Playtime is mingled in the whole process so that everything is fun. Showertime seems to be a favorite in our household. Often I hear Hank roaring like a wild lion or just acting simply silly to entertain the kids during shower or bathtime.

{THURSDAY} Since Landon has had his toddler bed (since March), we often find him sleeping in the most random places. Last Thursday night, I started to panic when I couldn't find Landon anywhere. Hank was gone for a few hours and I was home alone with the kids. I went in to check on the boys before heading to bed myself and saw Landon's bed was empty. At first I thought, "oh, he probably snuck in my bed the little sneak", but then I couldn't find him anywhere after searching the house. I had gone into his room a couple of times during my search, but obviously my search and rescue was quick and in the dark. So after a minute of searching for Landon, which seemed like eternity when your heart is pounding, I started to believe he was possibly abducted from his bed. Definitely not a good feeling. That's when I was like "I'm doing one last search with all of the lights on before I call the police!" {possibly a little too dramatic on my part} Sure enough, the lights revealed Landon's rather long little body behind he bedroom. So every time I opened his door, he just missed the door hitting him. Quite the evening adventure!

Goggles, Good Times & God

{WEDNESDAY} oh oh oh...isn't he yummy! I am starting to think Ryland will be a red head. His hair is starting to grow in and there are definite tinges of red in it. Ryland loved the pool tonight. He was bouncing around in my arms, kicking and splashing.


{TUESDAY} Since we've gone to the pool a couple of times this week, Landon is now enthralled with Hank's snorkel gear. He carries it will him wherever he goes in the house. It's quite cute, and I'm sure it reminds him of his Daddy.


{MONDAY} Grace (neighbor friend) and Taylor started VBS today at Cross of Glory. I love that this church is so committed to reaching out, that they provide weeklong VBS for free. A couple hours a day, Taylor gets to learn about God and have a good time. This is also her future preschool come August.

{SUNDAY} Father's Day this year was spent at Lake Pleasant with Grandma Carol & Grandpa Don, Omie and Grandpa Joe. We had a great time hanging out by the lake and eating lunch at Dillon's BBQ. The only thing missing was my Daddy :-(

{SATURDAY} So my two hour breakfast with two very special friends in Scottsdale turned into a 5-hour long adventure. I was able to enjoy "real" time with Carrie and Susan...no kids, no interruptions at my favorite breakfast place: The Good Egg. Then before heading home, Carrie decided to introduce me to "The Container Store". For a second I thought I was in heaven. Yes, heaven will be completely organized and color-coded I'm sure for those special A-personalities!

Daddy's Day 2010

We spent half of the day at Lake Pleasant visiting Hank's parents who were camping for the weekend. The kids always enjoy themselves and have fun playing in Grandma and Grandpa's RV. I have tons of good photos, but this one is the only one with Hank and all three kids. And it's a bonus that Grandpa Don is in the photo too. I sure do miss spending the day with my Daddy, but I will get to see him in a couple of weeks.

For part of Hank's gift for Father's Day, I interviewed Taylor and printed up the answers for Hank. I want to scrapbook them, and Hank wants to pin them up on his wall at work. I copied most of the questions from my friend Stephanie. (Thanks Steph!) I tried asking Landon the questions, but he didn't get it and is still a bit too young.

So here we go....

How old is Daddy?
Taylor: 5

How tall is Daddy?
Taylor: big

What is Daddy's favorite thing to eat?
Taylor: white ice cream cone

What is Daddy's favorite thing to do?
Taylor: wrestle

Who does Daddy love the most?
Taylor: me

What makes Daddy happy?
Taylor: when we play with each other

What makes Daddy sad?
Taylor: when I hurt him

Where does Daddy like to go?
Taylor: to work

What is Daddy's favorite thing to do with you?
Taylor: play

What is Daddy really good at?
Taylor: for being good and getting treats

What is Daddy's middle name?
Taylor: Hank

What makes him a Daddy?
Taylor: God

What is something Daddy always says to you?
Taylor: Go night night

What does Daddy like most about Mommy?
Taylor: Make dinner

What makes you proud of your Daddy?
Taylor: when he eats all of his food

Pigtails, Playdate & Pulling Up

{FRIDAY} Today we had a playdate at my friend Shannon's house. She ended up inviting 5 moms and 15 kids. Good thing she had the pool and sprinklers going because it was a warm day. Taylor must have used up all of her energy at the playdate because she had one of her rare 3-hour naps today! I offered to bring fruit and made fruit kabobs. They were a big hit with the kiddos.


{THURSDAY} I was convinced that Landon was a bit color blind. Everything was yellow. Thankfully with the help of some M&M's, this week Landon officially knows all of his colors. For every M&M that he guessed the correct color, he got to eat it. Of course I cut him off after 12 or so...the boy could have kept on going!


{WEDNESDAY} Ryland is barely fitting into 9-month clothing these days. So it was due time to weed out the baby clothing and hang up the little boy clothing. His closest isn't organized as nicely as I would like it, but I haven't really had the time to sort all of the short sleeves together and all of the long sleeves together. Maybe I will tackle that one next week....


{TUESDAY} Ryland has started to pull himself up on EVERYTHING. This week, he started standing in his crib. This is now how he greets me in the morning and after naptime.

{MONDAY} Ever since water day last week at VBS, Taylor has asked me to put her hair in two pony tails (aka pigtails) every single day. If you can believe it, last week was the first time I ever tried that little hairdo on her. I asked her what was up with her new hair style, and she told me she got lots of compliments last week from her teachers.

Preschool Application

This week I received Taylor's letter of acceptance into a local Christian preschool. I can hardly wait for school to start...her school is wonderful in so many ways. As I was reading through all of the information, I came across the "Getting to Know Me" survey that I needed to fill out about Taylor. I thought I knew Taylor perfectly. I find out there were a couple of things I didn't know about her. If was fun to interview my little 3 year old. Here is "Getting to Know Taylor"...

Some of my favorite things are:

TOY: Baby stroller

BOOK: God Gave Us You

ANIMAL: Cat

GAME: Duck Duck Goose

SPORT: Basketball

FOOD: Spaghetti

Places I like to go: Gymboree, the beach, stores, library, and the gym.

Things I like to do: crafts, color, and push toys.

When I grow up, I want to be a: Mommy.

Then the teacher asked the parents to write a little bit more about Taylor...things that might help Miss Denise when teaching my darling girl. Here is what I included:

Taylor has two little brothers. One who is 2, and one who turns 1 very soon. She has become a loving, helpful big sister.

Taylor has typical first-born tendencies: strong willed, stubborn, and determined. Her strengths will hopefully be used for great things in life. Her weaknesses are: short tempered, impatient, and non compliant.

Our goal as a family, as her parents, is to raise children who love and want to serve Jesus.

Hello & Goodbye

{SUNDAY} I attacked a few things this week with the spray can. Don't look close because I did a really bad job on this project...and Hank wasn't too happy that patches of the grass are now aqua color. I didn't realize spray painting larger objects is kind of like a science. It helps to sand paper down every square inch...and it doesn't help to have young kids walking around spraying your freshly painted artwork with water. It's all good though because for $3.75, I am sure I will be repainting the outdoor table and chairs for the kids in a few months.


{SATURDAY} Today we had the unique opportunity to connect up with Hank's cousin Melinda. Hank has only met her a handful of times. This was my second time meeting her and the kids first time. Melinda comes from a family of 14 kids. She is a sweet, hard-working and motivated 19 year-old with lots of dreams and ambitions. I'm so glad we had the chance to see her and hope she will come visit for a weekend soon.

{FRIDAY} Technically this photos was taken on Thursday, but I needed to rearrange a bit. So anyway, this was Taylor and Katie's very last photo together...until we see them again hopefully this Fall. Taylor beaded a beautiful necklace for Katie. Taylor was a little sad and I told her that everytime Katie wears her frienship necklace, it will remind Katie of her friendship with Taylor. Hellos are fun, but goodbyes stink!

{THURSDAY} My mother-in-law Carol hosted a tea party for her girlfriends and invited me. We drank all kinds and flavors of tea and munched on some yummy food. It was nice to get away for a few hours and socialize with adults.

VBS & Small Victories

{WEDNESDAY} Taylor wore her swimsuit to VBS for water day as did all of the other hundreds of little kiddos. Taylor was too busy sucking on her Otter Pop to look my way.


{TUESDAY} Since we can't afford some of the home improvement projects I have on my mental list, I like to add fresh flowers every once in awhile. They are so beautiful and add a smile to my face every time I see them.


{MONDAY} Today was the first day of VBS at Community Church of Joy. I am so relieved that I can sign Taylor up for *almost* anything. When I drop her off, she's like, "Later, Mom". She makes it so much easier on me. With a little reconfiguration, Taylor ended up being in the same class as her buddies Kat & Brody. Every day this week she has thoroughly enjoyed herself.


{SUNDAY} Ryland has officially started to crawl on hands and knees. He only opts for the army crawl when he has to get somewhere quick.


{SATURDAY} I am not potty training Landon quite yet, but he is showing signs of getting ready for it. Today, after we kept him naked for 30 minutes and brought him to the toilet every 5 minutes, he finally peed in the potty. I want to wait until our vacation to California is over and when I can commit to staying home for 3-4 days before we start the real training process.

Summer Commences

{FRIDAY} Back at the pool today. My friend Adra and her daughter Brynlie joined us. Brynlie is my little assistant at the pool this summer. I pay her a small wage to help keep three kids afloat and my sanity in check.


{THURSDAY} It was my turn to host Bunco. We've been playing Bunco with neighborhood ladies for a couple of years now. I really love this game, but I especially love the ladies!


{WEDNESDAY} Our first day at the pool. Summer is in session!

{TUESDAY} A unique view from atop...watching and documenting how my kids are now starting to play together.

{MONDAY} Today was Memorial Day. As we enjoyed God's beautiful creation and took the most adventurous hike ever with three little ones, I kept thinking of all of the deployed military professionals who couldn't be with their familes. Thank you service men and women!

{SUNDAY} First day of camping up in Prescott. The quick little getaway was such a nice change of pace. We all slept in Grandma and Grandpa's RV. The kids had an awesome time!

{SATURDAY} Taylor and Landon love to greet Ryland after his naps. They know exactly how to place their little feet in the slats of the crib to get the perfect view of Ry Ry. Ryland smiles from ear to ear when he's see his big brother and sister.

{FRIDAY} Horrible photo of myself, BUT I had to document our day up in Anthem. The kids played on the playground and in the water fountains. This is my neighbor friend Bonnie who is moving away in a matter of days. As the day gets closer to their departure, I feel more and more sad. We love you Blackwoods!

{THURSDAY} A neighbor gave another neighbor a box of boy clothes...then the box was passed on to me. What treasures we found in the box. The spiderman slippers were probably the biggest hit. Landon loves them! Even Taylor tried to talk Landon into giving them to her. Thank you Cherice!

{WEDNESDAY} I am pretty sure I had food poisoning for the day. I was sick as a dog, and Hank had to come home and watch the kids. I literally could not peel myself out of the bed.

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, I didn't quite know if we were crazy or adventurous taking three young kids camping this past weekend. It wasn't like we had to rough it though. We had warm running water, a warm bed, and a toilet in Grandma and Grandpa's RV. Don and Carol gave up their RV and slept on an air mattress in the back of the truck while we slept inside the camper with the kiddos.

We were up in Prescott for 24 hours...this was the litmus test for camping in the future. The cooler weather was such a nice change. We went into town and walked around an art fair. Taylor and Landon enjoyed the hula hoopers who were in their own trance dancing away. We ended up eating pizza for dinner in the park. It was such a fun day. Back at camp, the adults even managed to get in a couple rounds of Shanghai...my favorite cards game.

We went for walks and enjoyed the outdoors. I bought paint for the kids and they decorated rocks. Hank downloaded a farting application on his cell phone and we all laughed so hard. It really was a wonderful time. Taylor keeps on asking when we can go camping again.

So I guess my answer to the original question is both. It was a bit crazy with little sleep, but it was completely adventurous and fun!