Last Day of School - A Recap

The last day of school was filled with so much fun, partying and friends, I am exhausted just thinking about it. But what a FUN weekend we've had celebrating the kick-off to summer vacation!

We started it all off with a special breakfast Friday morning:

No, I didn't let him eat the candy bar for breakfast. :)

The kids only had school for a half day, so when they came home, we greeted them with an all-out surprise water attack! It was SO much fun to ambush them as they came happily riding home on their bikes.

Payton rides to school every day with our neighbor Avery, so her family and ours hid behind the brick entry wall to our neighborhood with all sorts of water guns, water-soaked sponges and buckets of water.

Here we are waiting to surprise them.

The minute they came around the corner we soaked them!

To be fair, we let them have their own bucket of sponges, etc. and they definitely retaliated!

It was SUCH fun!

The kids then immediately jumped into the DeAngelo's pool - clothes and all! And soon after, many of the neighbors arrived bearing lots of food and good times.

Payton & his buddy, Macklin.

Parker enjoyed the cupcakes!

The party went on well into the evening and we took two very tired kids home and crashed.

Of course the party started back up the next afternoon and the kids swam and played and ate lots of sweet Florida corn on the cob.

By Sunday we were all a little pooped, so a night in was just what we needed. God helped set the scene with dark skies and lots of thunder and lightening. Perfect for watching a movie, making popcorn and setting up a HUGE fort!

A great way to end a wild weekend.

Oh, and I have to share a couple of cute bunny pics before I "sign off."

Our little Mocha is growing like a weed! I bet she's doubled in size since we got her only a few short weeks ago. She eats a LOT and loves to run around the house.

And she is finally starting to play with the boys.

At night she loves to hop around and sniff and nibble on your clothes. Then she'll stand up on your leg, or head - depending on how you're laying - and sniff all over you. It's really cute.

This boy LOVES his bunny.

 

Tomorrow is the first official week day of summer vacation!

We're dog sitting, but other than that, there is not one single thing on the calendar.

I wonder if I'll be pulling my hair out by 5 p.m. or relishing in the slow pace of things... we'll see!

Happy Monday y'all!

Random Ramblings

I'm sure all of you are aware that Florida dealt with Tropical Storm Issac this week. Our schools were closed on Monday. Trash pick-up was cancelled. Our library and all other government offices were shut down. And we barely got enough rain to make puddles on the sidewalks. Our pastor put it best on Sunday when he said, "Hurricane season to meteorologists is like Christmas season to kids. They're SO excited to announce a new storm it's like instead of 'Santa is coming!' it's 'There's a hurricane coming!!'" I couldn't agree more.

So since school was out, we decided to have hurricane playdates all afternoon. Well, after Parker's 18-month check-up, that is (thankfully the pediatrician didn't close up shop). He was such a trooper when he got his shot in the thigh. One little shriek, and he was over it. Nothing a lollipop from the receptionist couldn't fix.

Now, we're back to our normal routine. Payton brought home his first homework assignment today. We have Parker's playgroup tomorrow. And this weekend we'll do some fun stuff to celebrate both Labor Day weekend and our 11-year wedding anniversary!

I also have to add that starting this weekend, all of my summer decorations will be coming down and all of the fall stuff will be going up! (I'm sure Brian is so thrilled to read that, knowing that it means a big trip up into the attic). I'm SO ready for fall. I'm excited for it to get darker earlier, for the humidity to drop a little (yes, I know the temps won't go below 80, but at least a little lower humidity will help), and to be able to enjoy an occasional Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. Ahh...I can almost taste it! I just did a little internet searching and I'm happy to report, it will be in stores on September 4th!

Beyond that exciting news, I have some fun, random pictures to share from our wet weekend that was spent indoors most of the time.

We played a LOT of Play Dough:

 Made a LOT of forts:

And read a lot of books.

This one is Parker's current favorite. I don't really understand the appeal of this book, but Payton was equally obsessed with it when he was a baby, so there's definitely something to it!

 Isn't this sweet?!?

One last image to share. It's a sneak peek at my new fall subway art:

Let the "embers" begin!!!

Some Random Summer Photos

In no particular order and with no particular topic in mind, I thought the family would enjoy some of these summertime photos of the boys...

I set up a scavenger hunt for Payton & his buddies a few weeks ago. They loved running all over the house searching for post-it note clues! (With Parker in tow of course.)

 

 The final clue led them to little baggies of candy!

 

We've been doing lots of sidewalk chalk this summer. Payton drew this picture of me:

 Which of course I had to counter with another nice drawing for him.

Parker has become quite good at "stealing" the laundry basket when I'm doing laundry and climbing into it. He usually only falls a few times. :)

 

 

 

The boys have made countless forts!

 

 And enjoyed lots of bed cuddle time as well as playtime in their new pool (thanks again Grandma & Grandpa for the great gift!).

 This is what I get from Parker when I say, "Say Cheese!"

Parker made this Olympic medal at his little in-home daycare place he goes to once a week. They had an Olympic themed day where they made medals and had Toddler Olympics (think sliding competition):

 In honor of the Olympics the boys wore their USA flag shirts and I actually snapped a photo of BOTH of them looking at the camera (that's a miracle in itself!):

And this picture of Brian holding Parker with the Chik-fil-A cow cracks me up! He had a "boys day out" recently and went to the mall for lunch. I can't tell if Parker loves the cow or is terrified by him!

The boys have also been enjoying lots of popsicles in the good ol Florida heat.

That's it for now. I'll be posting photos of our trip to the Glazer Children's Museum next. What a fun day that was! Until then, happy last-few-days of summer everyone!

Recently...

We've been:

Crossing off lots of things on our "Summer List."

One fun item was making sock puppets.

We busted out the craft bin, the hot glue gun, some of Brian's old tube socks and got to work!

 As usual, Payton knew exactly what he wanted his to look like. He wanted a dragon with blue & green spikes down it's back.
(Naughty sock puppet snuck in this picture)

 

 Parker napped through most of the "creation" part of it, so when he got up, he was a bit confused by these new creatures on our hands.

 Personally, I think all sock puppets should have pink feathered hair and a pink & green necklace. But that's just me.
(Speaking of sneaking in pictures... Parker managed a peek in this one)

We've also been playing with Payton's trains. 
We may have a new train-lover on our hands!

 

 Should we hide all the trains now so that we can give them to him for Christmases & birthdays? Is that wrong??

 And I've been dragging both boys with me to Target.
 We start at the snack bar where they get to choose a pretzel or popcorn. Then, if they're good while I shop, I let Payton play the display DS while I take Parker to the toy aisles.

Recently, Parker tore away from me in the toy aisle and ran across into the electronics area for a full-fledged sneak-attack hug!

 Absolutely heart-melting!

And with all the rain we've been having, we've been making lots of indoor forts. 
It keeps them happy until the rain stops and they can go outside and stomp in the puddles. 

This is how Brian caught them in the fort yesterday...

Parker was mad that Payton had Brian's phone.

 So to even the score, I gave him mine.

Peace & quiet ensued for about 5 minutes.

What have you been up to recently?