Start of Summer

This summer has been off to a crazy start!  Brian's mother was here to help with the boys for a week and my mother was here for two weeks when I took a long-term substitute teaching position.  The boys had some adjusting to do with Momma being gone, but they did their best and it was wonderful to come home to their smiles and hugs each day.  Both grandparents did an amazing job, and we are lucky to have parents that help all of us!

Once the grandparents left, the weather quickly turned rainy.  I swear it has rained 40 days and 40 nights here.  The swimming pool has made a few appearances alongside Lincoln's outside toys, but mostly we have been cooped up.  I have been creative about how we spend some time, and Lincoln is getting to watch a little more television than usual (oops!).  Declan is napping fairly consistently so we have a lot of time waiting for him to get up so we can head to the Y, Little Skippers, COSI, or just over to the mall.  We did meet a friend at the zoo this past week and loved being outside!  Luckily, we are renewing our zoo membership as one of Lincoln's birthday gifts, and I am sure we will be there more once the weather clears.

Lincoln got a "ball pit" for his birthday and just this week invited Declan in to play.   They both had a lot of fun, and it was one of the first times I saw them playing together without my help.  I'm excited to see them grow into great friends (and enemies at times!) over the next years :)

"Do you see this Mom?  He is letting me play!"

Below is a photo dump of some of our summer adventures over the last couple of weeks.  We head to Florida this coming weekend for the 4th so I am sure we will have more stories to share then, especially since I am flying back with the boys BY MYSELF.  Oh vey.

Enjoy the pics!

Lincoln got a little easel for his birthday - it gives us about 5 minutes of quiet throughout the day!

Our local science museum had "big trucks" this weekend.  There were a lot of huge trucks, and Linc was in heaven.  Some of the trucks the kiddos were able to actually make them move, dig, and lift; Lincoln will love that part next year.  This year he was sooooooo excited to sit in them and hit all of the buttons.  In true Lincoln fashion, he did not want to wear his hard hat (they handed them out), but once he got home he wore it everywhere!

Another brother first - both boys in the shopping cart.  We switched Declan's car seat from the removable bucket seat to the "big boy seat".  Usually I keep Declan in his seat and just put him and the entire seat in the basket part of the cart while Linc rides up front.  Today I realized - what am I going to do with both boys now?!  Luckily, Home Depot has carts for two.  I will soon become that mom that takes up an entire aisle with my screaming children. :)