Nate's New Haircut

Nate is a lot like Lenny was at this age in the way that he doesn't like to get his picture taken. He will look every other direction except at the camera. So it was difficult to get a picture of his new 'do.

Dominic has been wanting me to get it cut short for a while but I just wouldn't do it. I finally decided to go ahead and get it short like Lenny's and I'm so glad that I did. He looks like a completely different boy. His hair looks much lighter and his eyes look bluer. He even looks more like Lenny now too. I really like it alot. I kept telling him all day how cute he looks with his new haircut. He would then get that bashful look on his face and turn away or either giggle real loud.

Busy Days of Summer

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted to my blog. Even Dominic has told me that I need to update it. Even though summer has just started, it has already been very busy. Our calendar for June has been packed full. July is about the same.

New Highchairs

Brooke and Nathan are very excited to have new highchairs. I really love them. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got rid of the highchairs that they were using since they were born. I was tired of cleaning them and they took up way too much space. I guess anything does in pairs of two. I started using booster seats for Brooke and Nathan. They worked great but they took up two of our chairs at the kitchen table. We only have four to begin with so if you do the math, one of us was always without a chair. We always sit down to eat dinner together and lunch on the weekends so that didn't work. Nunny noticed our problem one day when she came to visit so she bought us two of the wooden restaurant style chairs. We love them. As soon as they arrived, Dominic had to put them together. In this house, you always have three little ones always eager to help with any project. I'm not sure how much help they are but they try.



Father's Day

The kids had a great time making cards for daddy for Father's Day. Brooke and Nathan made some handprints on construction paper with a cute little saying. For Lenny, I asked him a bunch of questions and had him complete some sentences. I wrote down the answers and typed them on a page. My favorite one was when I asked Lenny "I really love it when my dad" and Lenny said "listens to me and he does what I say he needs to do." He really makes his mom proud. He sure sounds just like me. :-)

Lenny and I also made a little picture bouquet for daddy's office at work. We were very proud of it and Dominic was too. He took it to work the next day.


We also got him a few other things and the MarioKart Wii game. (Thanks Lisa for saying how much fun you have with it.) We all love it. I made sure that I got an extra steering wheel and I'm glad I did. It's much more fun when you can race each other. Lenny REALLY loves it. He already knows all the names of the race tracks.

Here is a picture of Brooke and Nathan with daddy on Father's Day.


We also played outside in the Elmo sprinkler and threw water balloons at daddy. All of the balloons bounced right off of him and busted when they hit the ground. We are going to have to work on our strategy for throwing water balloons.


Monster Trucks

Lenny has a new love these days. Oh, Thomas is still first on his list but he also loves monster trucks. We watch the monster truck jam most mornings at 7 a.m. He already knows the names of many of the monster trucks. His favorite is Blue Thunder and Monster Mutt. I like Maximum Destruction. Now Lenny is collecting the little monster trucks and Nathan loves them too. They both race them around and bounce them off of other cars. It's funny to watch them.

The bad thing is that Lenny now likes to race his tractor like a monster truck. Here he is on top of a pile of dirt. He is wild with that tractor.


Just Pictures

I just had to post this picture. When we are getting ready to go to a store, this is the look that Dominic and I get a lot when Lenny is usually saying, "I can get a new Thomas engine because I'm a good boy."


This is just an ornery little girl.


Brooke's New Purse

In my last post, I mentioned that Brooke was using Lenny's safety goggles for a purse. Well, after that, Nunny decided that Brooke needed a real purse so she got one for her. Brooke LOVES it. She carries it around and fills it up with things. The other day we were getting ready to go outside when she ran to get her purse. She put it over her shoulder and started to walk out the door. She's so girly.


MOMS Club

I've also been very busy this month. I was recently elected president of our local MOMS club. I'm looking forward to the opportunity. We had our first board meeting last week and I'm so excited about what we are planning for the coming year. It shouldn't take up too much of my time and it's great for me because it is for the kids mostly. I'm always up for anything that gets them in more activities and having more fun.

From the Mouth of a Four Year Old

This is an old story but I still love it. From the day that Lenny was old enough to notice our cat Wendel, he has been trying to become friends with him or even just pet him. Wendel doesn't care much for kids. Anyway, Lenny and I were upstairs one day and I noticed Wendel laying on our bed. I told Wendel that he is not allowed on our bed and I made him get off. Lenny quickly ran to Wendel and said, "That's ok Wendel. You can go lay on my bed." He then smiled great big and said, "Wendel likes me now because I said he can lay on my bed." The sad thing is, I think Wendel just gave him a hiss and walked away.

Fun in the Sun

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary and we spent the entire day at home with the kids. It was a very nice family day. We spent a good bit of the time outside playing in Lenny's pool. We had to get a new one this year because the one from last year got a hole in it. Lenny was so happy to finally get to play in his pool this summer. He was in it for a very long time today.


After Brooke and Nathan woke up from their naps, they came out to play too. It's funny how deceiving the pictures are on the box for the pools. This pool that Dominic bought for them looked like several toddlers could get in it with space left over. That certainly is not the case.




Having a snack at their picnic table.


Nate being his goofy self.


Earlier in the day Brooke and Nathan had some yogurt for a snack. I don't know why I do this to myself but they seem to love it. You can tell that they still aren't real good at using the spoon for yogurt yet.




It was very hot outside yesterday too. We were all planning to go to the County Family Fun Night at the park to play games and watch the Wizard of Oz. Dominic had to work and then came home to cut the grass in the heat. He wasn't really looking forward to getting out in the heat again. So Lenny and I decided to go by ourselves and leave Daddy and the babies at home. We were so excited to go. We headed out a little after 5 p.m. and even stopped to get some bug juice and water for the trip. It was starting to look a little darker which was worrying me a little. We got there and there was so much to do. We first put our blanket on the ground close to the HUGE screen that they had for the movie. Then Lenny wanted to head straight to the moon bounces. There were four of them. Three of them were too big for him but I still let him go in one of them because it had a slide. He loved it and had so much fun jumping around. Then all of a sudden it started thundering and lightning. I wasn't going to take any chances. Lenny was so sad to get out of the moon bounce but he was very good about it. We picked up our blanket, bought some kettle corn and headed home. As we were leaving the parking lot, I looked over and saw that they had turned off the moon bounces anyway. We were both so bummed about it but at least we got out for about 45 minutes.

Earlier in the day the kids were playing in Lenny's play room and having lots of fun. Nathan was crawling through the lego table for this picture.


Brooke cracks me up because she is such a prissy little girl. Really! The boys were having fun running around pushing around trains and cars and playing with the Home Depot work bench. While Brooke decided (on her own) to pick up the safety goggles from the work bench and carry it around like a purse. She was picking up all kinds of things and putting them in it. It was so funny to look over and see what she was doing. You can see the drill bits in the goggles.



She has to wear these pink shoes all the time and prances around in them like she is just the coolest. If they are somewhere that she can see them, she wants to be wearing them. Of course, I had to paint her little toe nails pink too. I love having a girl! But we already know that she is going to be one to test us with everything.

A little later Lenny and Nathan were playing with some cars. Brooke pranced over to the punching bag and started slapping at it very girly like and squealing. The boys were just staring at her wondering what she was doing. Then she was done, turned around, and walked away with a huge smile on her face. It was the funniest thing.

I just realized that I haven't posted a "From the Mouth of a Four Year Old" for a while. I will add one soon. Lenny certainly does say some funny things.

Memorial Day Weekend and More

Finally, I have an update from our Memorial Day weekend trip. Every year since I was born, we have gone to our family cemeteries for Memorial Day to put flowers on the graves.

We arrived in Elkins on Thursday and celebrated dad's 60th birthday with him. He made dinner and baked a cake on his birthday and we got to enjoy it. Thanks Dad! Even though we stayed at his house, we didn't see him too much. He plays music in a band every weekend and he had to play that weekend too.

Friday we headed to the cemeteries. We have three that we visit in that area and each of them are way back in the country on tiny dirt roads. At some points on the road, it gets kind of scary especially if another car comes because there is no where to pull over for the other one to pass. All you can see to one side is the top of trees and if you look down it's a long long drop. On the other side is a hill that goes straight up. You definitely need to take your car through a car wash after those trips. It is worth the drive because the views from the cemeteries are absolutely beautiful. I can never get enough of it. It really is breathtaking.

We always try to make it to my dad's cemetery during Memorial Day weekend as well but we sometimes can't make it because it is in Preston County, West Virginia and we just run out of time. We do always try to make it there shortly afterwards though. His cemetery also has such pretty views. It's sad and hard to believe that we've been visiting his grave for 36 years now.

Be prepared for picture overload below. I took lots and had to choose a few.

At my grandma and granddad's cemetery, Brooke was enjoying watching her pinwheel spin in the wind.


And picking flowers.


Nathan was peeking through the fence at Meemaw.


Here is a picture that I took on the way to the cemetery.


A different cemetery and pretty view. Lenny and Anthony-Glen are in this picture. I knew Brooke would like this cemetery because there are lots of cows near it.


Saturday we finished our trip to the cemeteries. We also stopped at Valley Head for a community homecoming that they have every year. There's a little parade, a cake walk, some crafts and a few other things. It's very small but we had a nice time. Mom ran into a few people she hadn't seen in 40 some years.

Mr. Joe Cool here.


Here's the rowdy crew--my kids, my sister and her kids. Nathan was screaming because I walked away to take the picture. Silly boy.


That evening we went to our Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner as we do every year. We always enjoy this time with them. Here is a view of the river in their backyard. Wow, how I would love to have this in my backyard.

Lenny had a great time with Aleah and Anthony-Glen throwing rocks in the river. I remember doing the same thing behind my grandma and grandad's house when Kristi and I were kids. Jason and Mikey caught some crawfish so that the kids can look at them and touch them. I also remember doing that when we were young.


Saturday night Lenny was able to play with his friend Issy. You might remember the picture of them from the Forest Festival when they were walking through the park holding hands. They are enjoying a milkshake in this picture and talking about their milkshake mustaches.


We had a really nice time but it went by too fast. I was also able to get in a few games of Guitar Hero with Aleah and Kiana. There's no beating Aleah! She's a pro. Kiana is very good too!


Curtis Park

This past weekend Dominic and I took the kids to Curtis park to play at the playground. We then headed to the lake to feed the ducks and do some fishing.



Dominic and Lenny didn't get enough fishing this weekend so they headed back today. Lenny was proud of the sun fish that he caught.



We've really been enjoying the nice weather. The kids have been having a blast riding their 4 wheelers and Lenny's tractor. It's very funny to watch them. Brooke and Nathan can ride their's but they don't know how to steer yet so there are lots of crashes. And Lenny can steer but tries to crash anyway.