Potty training, reading and throw me on the couch!

Ellory helping herself to a snack of dried blueberries.

i love catching the kids reading together!

"dad, throw me on the couch" before bedtime game :)

and diaries of a potty trained 2 1/2 year old princess at the library

(note- we did the pump full of liquid and go sit on toilet every 20 min method and after a rough morning filled with lots of accidents, by the afternoon she had it down. such a champ!)

Summer bucket list

with only two weeks left of summer and grant asking to watch a show everyday, i snapped into action and we planned out our end of summer bucket list to keep us busy and having fun!

 (without the tv)

a few items that made the list:

home made popcorn and mormon messages

exploring new libraries

eating new libraries puzzle pieces

playing cars

window people watching

exploring new play grounds

backyard snacks and fun

(proof that rockwell is officially a climber like his older siblings)

hanging out on target's pillow aisle

testing out comfy kid size chairs at target

enjoying smoothie drinks

exploring another new playground

sibling slide back-up

accepting our new neighbors offer to swim in their pool while they were at work and daycare.

taking a break to read some stories in a new comfy spot

 

morning walks followed by popsicles

car races while waiting at dr office

having ellory and grant diagnosed with sad, sad earaches :(

testing out the cool glasses

eating lots of watermelon

taking lots of adorable selfies

playing in our own pool

running through sprinklers

discovering another new library, where ellory chose to have her first potty accident in public :(

and playing around on the bars outside the library 

(in hopes of airing out ellory!)

Sunday walks and strong muscles

If the weather cooperates, most sunday afternoons we can be found going on a family walk. Lately, ellory and rockwell have been going in style being pulled in the wagon with j and g riding along on their scooters.

and we talked g into showing us how strong his muscles were by taking the garbage can out to the curb. he says he can feel his muscles better if he holds his breath:)

Buckroe beach!!!

Deciding we should take the kids at least once to the beach this summer- you can tell we are quite the sandy beach lovers:), we loaded up and landed at Buckroe Beach.

On the car ride down, grant said,

Don't worry daddy... I said a prayer the rain would stop before we got to the beach. 

Dad, it's a good thing when it rains if you go fishing. Because the fisherman can  see the fish jumping out of the water to get a drink of the rain. It's fresh water not salty... 

love that boy!

the rain did indeed stop, but it was quite windy when we arrived so we set up the kite! grant has been asking and asking to fly the kite so it was perfect... until the cart full of lifeguards found us and told us they were not allowed. oops.  

rockwell enjoyed the beach for about 5 min. and then he realized he did not appreciate the sand and wind

windy beach selfies!

with all the wind, our spirits didn't last much longer than an hour...but with some tasty snacks and a sand break we filled our bellies and played on the fun playground before hitting the road back home.

pulling into the garage, grant declared he was too tired to move...successful day!:)

Captain of the freedom

This morning Grant came down declaring he was "captain of the freedom" and would protect us all! Hooray for super hero grants and his amazing costume creations!

I recently finished reading this quick, delightful book. It made me laugh with all the stories of  little, rambunctious boys.

 

And while playing outside Grant gave me hope for the future, when he said 

"Mom, I want to do what Jesus would do, so I am going to crumple up this paper and throw it away. I want to be like Jesus... Yeah,  I want to be Jesus when I grow up!"

Pool time

We were itching to get out of the house and since Ellory wakes up each morning asking to wear her "see suit" to go swimming, we invited ourselves to the pool with the Evans Girls:)  Perfect day and we had the pool all to ourselves.

G man came home hungry and took it upon himself to make a ham and ketchup and mustard sandwich:) he eventually ate it all. love that little man