Hayes

Hayes.

The carrier of all the things.

All the toys.

His snack and drink.

He keeps more treasures in his hands than I can keep up with daily.

He doesn't share them.

He enjoys his Transformers the most.

Occasionally we sport wild hair.

He wants a mohawk more than anything.

But his hair grows crazy... like Daryk's.

So, no mohawk for now.

Too much work for momma in the mornings...

He also celebrates getting a new toy.

He loves toys.

He will obsess about them and never put them down.

Neat and Clean

If you ever wanted to see the chaos that is my house, just glance below.  Here's the thing, it isn't really chaotic.  Until Elizabeth wakes up, then it becomes full blown hurricane status.  Before that, it is just Hayes, his toys, and rows of dinosaurs.  I'm not really sure where his 'sense of order' came from, but he prefers all toys to look like this.  Occasionally, he puts them in a circle, but mostly they live in lines.

I suppose this is a choo choo train of toys?  I'm not sure what they are doing, but it appears that the binoculars are leading a charge to... somewhere...

New face of Maybeline?

Guess who got into Grandma's lipstick?

And its not just any kind of lipstick...

Its the color stay kind.

When they say COLOR STAY, they mean... 

forever.

After a bath and lots of scrubbing.

After a whole day of eating and several hours of sweating....

She still looked like this!

Thankfully BeBe had some lip stain remover and that helped!

I was glad to get that mess off her face.

I was afraid that we would have a skin reaction to the lip stain...

I was right.

Here is the final product with the allergic reaction!

Clean, thankfully!

And still smiling!

She's a punk.

No, but seriously.

She's such a little diva.

I am not really sure where she gets that from...

We have no diva-esque qualities in my genetic pool.

Must get that from her Daddy.

And then she's like this?!

Smiles and sweet.

She's flirty and a total sweetheart.

Just all grins and giggles.

And then she ignores me.

Typical.

It's a fiesta!

Sometimes summer means we are so busy having fun we forget about a nap until 3 p.m.

And we have dinner around 8 because we nap from 4-6:30 p.m.

Oops.

So I'm too lazy to cook and we go eat Mexican food.

Thankfully we can dine outside and be loud/messy without it being disastrous. 

Family dinner night at the Mexican restaurant. Hayes brought his mens along for the ride. 

This girl ate her own bowl of cheese. We couldn't share. 

He also ordered for himself telling our server he wanted chicken fingers and fries. Mind you, he doesn't eat fries. 

Just like she doesn't eat chips.

Cheese dip, new finger food?  

Literally. 

Kitty's Birthday

This is my sister Kathryn.

Her birthday was February 12th, and I was entirely too busy to post about her that day!

So, I shall back date my post and pretend it happened then.

Because I love her SO much!

She was born in 1985 (you do the math) and according to my parents it was a blizzard outside.

I remember none of that.

I was 3 when she was born and really remember nothing about her being born.

I do love to hear stories about it though.

Apparently I didn't want to keep her because she didn't have a bow in her hair at the hospital.

Oops.

I'm so loving.

I also love to see pictures from right after her birth with us together at home.

I get the biggest kick out of seeing how big my sister grin was when she was placed in my arms.

I know I was proud to finally get her.

I am still so proud to HAVE her!

She's getting married in May and I'm so proud of her for that.

I am also thrilled for her.

I didn't think it was possible for me to love her anymore....

but after watching her love my babies I realized that was possible.

Something about how she loves and the way she loves my kids makes me love her more.

She is the best Kitty they could every have and the best middle Sissy I've got.

Love her to the moon!

Labor Day

Cheesin grin.  Sorta.

He's so crazy.  Loved his shoes.

I just HAD to take his picture.

And I HAD to show it to him. 

He says, 'Momma, sowww me.  I wanna see.'

This kid.

She thinks she's going to be a surfer.

She's been surfing on those diapers all weekend.

Big Apple... supporters

Amidst the laundry we have two little ones and their favorite toys.

They have a distinct love for the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad.

Typically she's trying to eat it.

This is a rare moment where she is actually attempting to look at it...

Few and far between...

This is HIS phone.

It is really an iTouch that I bought *used* from a former student.

He loves it.

It is currently the ONLY way we can get him to use the potty.

For number 2. 

Typical man.

He loves his phone and watching videos on it.

He's a pro at YouTube and Disney Junior.

I often wonder what their generation will be like.

I certainly didn't have a computer like this at age 2.

His learning will be VERY different from mine.

Hulk Smash!

He loves the super heroes.
Mind you that he has NO idea who they really are...

I know that his daddy will make sure he knows exactly who they are in a few years!

Cushion the Fall

Daddy left us for about 10 days to go coach wrestling in Fargo.
Yes, North Dakota.

Yes, he does this most every summer.
Yes, I think he's weird.

But he loves it... so I deal.

And this is one way I deal.... gotta cook dinner.

So we play with all the cushions on the floor!
Hayes helps me line them up just so... cause he's RainMan.

Elizabeth just LOVES being able to play on the couch and bouncing!

I left it like this all day last week...love it!

Lunch Date with Toy Story

We found our costumes while trying to pack the house.

The kid loves them.

We changed them about every 20 minutes for a good 3 hours.

I was exhausted about the time naptime finally rolled around.

Fearless Pool Boy

 Two weeks ago we couldn't get the kid IN the water, much less get him to enjoy the water.
And now we have this....

 He stands at the edge and without hesitation, jumps, or rather walks in.

 He's not afraid of the water anymore.
And he loves wearing is orange frog float.
Yes, there ARE orange frogs.
We saw some last week at the aquarium exhibit.

 He leaps with glee and just trusts that you will catch him!
Even if you don't, he still comes up smiling and laughing!

 His favorite part of the pool was running, jumping, and kicking back to the steps to repeat that cycle.
We met a friend at the pool this year at the beach.
She had a green frog float, but called her's a monster.
She was precious little girl with cute braids.
Her little brother's name was Walker and he had something called Williams Syndrome.
I was so impressed with the mom's open attitude and I really enjoyed talking with her.

Our babies swam together for 3 hours that morning and they were just precious!

This little guy made me really happy that he was so kind to his new friends!
He used his good manners and was very friendly.

He leaves me speechless.

 Pawpaw brought him an airplane on Father's Day.
Hayes hadn't been feeling well, and this day was a stretch for him.
Poor kid has had one heck of a summer with sicknesses.
Plural. 
As in the whole month of June, sick.
Summer sicknesses are misery for all involved.

 But you would NEVER know that this kid is miserable.
He has a face that radiates joy.
His giggles could melt anyone's heart.

 He's just so tickled that he can't stop laughing!

 Look, he pretends to be shy.
Hilarious.

 I love his chubby hands.
I love his dimples too.
I am so sad he's growing up.

 Simply put, he's TOO big for his britches.

Yeehaw+Buzz=BFF

 You know, just playing with my YeeHaw Buzz in the buff.

 Surveying the toys.

 Extremely intense toy to toy dialogue.

 Still sporting the shiner... and now Mr Potato Head has joined the party.

These two are his favorites.
Hours are devoted to the toting around of these two.

He spends millions of minutes with them playing together.

They are best friends.

They are probably his best friends.

He tends to carry them everywhere.

They are currently with him in the bed.

One on either side.