Garrett's Baseball Pictures

 

 

Garage Sale

This weekend was our neighborhood garage sale.  Our neighborhood and a few other surrounding neighborhoods participate so they are usually well attended.  We participated this year selling a lot of the kids clothes, baby things and a few random things.  Lucy wanted to set up a lemonade stand and talked with her friend Madi at school for a long time about doing it together.  Lucy was funny, she said Madi had a lemonade stand with her sister one summer so she has experience.  Lucy was so excited and worked hard on making a poster with pictures and prices.  She set up her lemonade stand Friday evening as we were setting up.  Several of our other neighbors were doing sales too so we were all out setting up our tables.  Everyone came out and bought lemonade while we visited and set up.  It was hot and the sun was right on us so cool lemonade hit the spot.  My parents came over that evening as well and brought some of their things for me to sell at my garage sale.  I was making cookies for Lucy to sell and we visited, unloaded and organized their things and enjoyed a few cookies together.    

 Saturday morning Lucy got up bright and early ready to set up her lemonade stand.  She was also selling donuts and chocolate chip cookies.  We made her pay us back for the donuts and lemonade and we donated the cups and cookies.  She made a ton of money and is so excited!  She shared the stand with Madi and Garrett so they divided the money three ways.  Garrett had a baseball game and Jacksons Mom and Dad took him to the game (they play on the same team).  It was so helpful and worked perfect.  

 Our garage sale was successful as well.  I was so excited to get rid of all that stuff!  I have been organizing and collecting it for a while and I am happy to have my organized storage room back. After we got everything cleaned up and had lunch we headed to the pool.  It was hot and the water is finally starting to warm up.  Madi stayed and had lunch and went swimming with us.  Lucy loved having her spend the day with us.  There aren't any girls in our little cul-a-sac, she's the only one.  So when we ride bikes with everyone she is the only girl and the oldest.  It was fun for her and we really like Madi.  

Polar Bear Exhibit

The zoo just finished a new Polar Bear exhibit.  They had a member preview Friday and we were excited to go check it out.  From the pictures we saw it looked like it was going to be similar to the polar bear exhibit at the Memphis Zoo.  We loved the polar bears at the Memphis Zoo and seeing them was one of our favorites.  We were excited to have a similar exhibit at our zoo.  They have lots of outdoor viewing areas and when we got there the polar bear was out walking around.  That is where we could see him the best. 

 They also have indoor viewing areas and a pool that he can swim in.  In order to get to that part you have to go through the penguin exhibit.  We love the penguins too, one of our favorites!

 Nolan was completely fascinated with the penguins!  It was so cute watching him look at the penguins and try to figure it all out.  He was so excited and would clap his hands a lot.  He kept trying to reach in the water and touch them when they would swim by.  I love watching the kids experience things like this, it is one of my favorite things as a parent. 

 

 

 

After looking at the penguins and polar bear we got a free popsicle and headed to the rivers edge.  We saw the hippos swimming.  It is fun for the kids to see the animals they can see up close. 

 We saw the elephants on our way out.  They were up close eating and playing in the water.  One elephant was spraying himself with water and swinging his trunk around.  Nolan just stared at it and had a funny confused look on his face.  I'm sure he didn't know what to think of the big elephant!

It was fun to go down to the zoo together and see the new exhibit.  We went to Culvers for hamburgers on our way home.  After walking around all afternoon it hit the spot.  It is fun to do things together and spend the whole day as a family. 

Summer Break Begins

Summer break has officially started!  The kids are enjoying all the time they have to play and do whatever they want.  Summer break started cold and rainy which has made it hard to think of fun things to do.  We have been playing at home a lot and enjoying all the time to relax.  Lucy had a play date with a friend and a swimming party with the activity girls.  We have done a few little projects and the kids like browsing my pinterest board looking for things to make and do.  One day they made these caterpillars with the rainbow loom.  They were cute!

 It is hard to plan big things to do with the kids right now with Nolan.   He still takes two naps so big outings are hard to plan and organize.  Luckily he does good if he needs to miss the afternoon nap so we can go do something.  I could tell the kids needed to get out of the house so one evening after dinner we headed to the playground as a family.  The weather was perfect and the kids had fun running around and climbing.  It was easier to manage with JJ since all the kids seem to go in different directions.  Nolan loves to play too, the slides are his favorite.  He is getting better and better with walking.  He will now walk across the room and was walking a lot at the playground that evening.   

 We went to the library to sign up for the summer reading program.  They had some fun activities for the kids to do.  Their favorite was making slime.  We got new books and the kids are looking forward to doing the reading program.  Lucy is a fast reader and can get through a book pretty fast, so library visits happen a lot.  Garrett loves to read too and it amazes me how well he can read already.  

 We were grocery shopping on National Donut day and they were giving out free donuts.  It was perfect since it was getting close to lunch time and we were all getting hungry.  The kids were pretty excited and so was I, I love donuts!

We are still finding our summer groove.  It always take me a few days to figure out how our days will go when there is an adjustment.  The kids have a few things they want to do go do this summer so we will have to try to make those happen.  Thankfully it has warmed back up and we can visit the pool often. 

Cardinals Game

Each year JJ gets two tickets to the cardinals game.  The retina specialist the company refers to a lot gives all the doctors tickets.  We submitted several dates and they randomly gave us tickets.  Last year he took the kids since Nolan was so little.  I was looking forward to going this year.  I have never been to the new stadium and thinking back it has been probably 12 years since I have been to a cardinals game.  I was excited to go and looking forward to a date night with JJ.  Well it wasn't the evening we were hoping to have and maybe in a few years we will look back and laugh.  Pretty much everything went wrong.  Starting with JJ getting the time of the game wrong and rushing to get the babysitter so we could leave on time.  We also almost got in a car accident, a lady ran a red light and flew through the intersection.  Luckily JJ saw her and was able to stop before she hit us.  We have had such a rainy spring and the weather forecast was not promising for the evening.  As soon as we got into the stadium it started to pour rain.  The game was on rain delay and hadn't even started.  It rained on us for about 2 1/2 hours.  We stood outside in the rain trying to stay dry under walkways.  Finally around 9 PM they threw the first pitch of the game, 3 hours later.  It was still raining and it was freezing cold and windy.  The wind would blow gust's of rain onto us.  It was miserable, we were wet and cold.  After the first inning we called it a night and headed home.  We hadn't planned on being out that late and didn't want to stop to get more money to pay the babysitter.  Between all the drunk obnoxious people, the rain and the lack of seeing a game it was a horrible night.  We tried to make the most of it but it was hard.  My Dad said well at least you got to spend time together, I guess that is one positive thing.  The evening was such a disappointment for so many reasons.  In between pouring rain a rainbow came our and we did get a picture of us with the arch in the background.     

Berry Picking

 Friday morning we all got up early and headed to pick raspberries and strawberries. We heard about a place close by from some friends last year.  We wanted to go but never made it.  We were a little early on the raspberries and they were just turning ripe enough to pick.  We started there and found plenty.  In a week or so they will all be ready to pick!  We ran into Garrett's speech teacher from school, he was excited to see her.   

 

We then headed over to the strawberries.  They had two different types to pick.  We went with the smaller variety that had more flavor.  There were tons of them so it was easy to find good ones to pick.  They only stay open as long as they have berries.  They were really busy so we are glad we got there early. 

 

  The kids had a fun time picking strawberries.  We didn't pick very much because we are just planning on eating them.  We might go back again and get more.  They are so good and the raspberries will be riper.  We have been eating them like crazy, they are like candy!  It was a fun family activity and we are glad we made it out this year.

Last Day of School

Wednesday was the last day of school for Lucy and Garrett.  It will be nice to have the summer off.  We are looking forward to sleeping in and doing fun things together. 

 While they were at school Nolan and I headed to Faust Park to meet up with my parents, Natalie and her kids.  We had a picnic lunch with everyone and then rode the carousel.  Nolan was so cute riding the carousel.  He sat and held onto the pole and just looked around.  He was smiling and talking, you could tell he really enjoyed it.  I think he looks a lot like JJ in this picture.   

 We played at the playground with everyone for a few minutes until we needed to head back home.  I really like the play ground there.  It was nice that the little area was in the shade so the slides weren't hot.

 Peek-a-boo with Grandma!

 We didn't stay to long because the kids only had a half day at school so we needed to get home.  I am glad I was able to go do something with just Nolan one last time.  It has been nice to have the time to focus on just him while the kids are at school.  We watched the bus pull up and the kids get off.  Nolan always is so happy to see them and is starting to say the word "bus".   They were sad to say goodbye to their teachers and friends.  It has been a great year of school.  They learned a lot and made some good memories.   

 While Nolan napped Garrett got out his superhero kit from Aunt Kelsey and had fun coloring.  He was in heaven.  He loves to color and do things like that.

 The kids really wanted to go to the pool so when Nolan got up we headed over for a little while.  It is a lot of work to take the kids to the pool by myself.  I have set rules for them to follow when it is only me.  They have to stay in certain parts of the pool so I can see them while still taking care of Nolan.  Nolan is busy and is all over the place.  It is still a lot of fun and worth the effort because they have a blast.  Once the water warms up Nolan might actually enjoy getting in the water and we can join the big kids in the deeper area.   

As soon as JJ got home from work we headed over to the Bemis for an end of the school year party.  They ordered a bunch of pizza and we all brought sides.  They set up the bounce house and put a small pool and the end of the slide.  Derek also made a sprinkler out of PVC pipe to go over the slides.  It was awesome and the set up worked perfect!  The kids had a blast running around with friends and getting wet.  We had fun relaxing outside and visiting with friends.    

 

 

It was a fun day and we are looking forward to a fun summer break!

Garrett's 6th Birthday!

Garrett was so excited to have his birthday! He talked about it coming for a long time.  It feels like we have been celebrating it for a while since we had his birthday party with friends a few weeks ago.  We got birthday donuts for breakfast and Garrett loved it.  He picked out some pencils to take to his class at school.  He loves pencils and was excited to pass them out.  He had a fun day at school and was looking forward to them announcing that it was his birthday.  He came home with a birthday crown and a special birthday pencil and note from his teacher.  It was fun to have so many special things to look forward to.  He wore his new outfit from Grandma and Grandpa and requested his hair in a Mohawk.  For his birthday dinner he requested French toast, bacon and orange juice.    

 

I love how excited and happy he looks just looking at his cake. 

He wanted a colorful cake and so I did a tie-dye cake.  I bought a mix and it came with food coloring that you add to the mix.  It was perfect and he loved it!   

Garrett was funny with his gift requests this year.  He loves the dry fit shirts, he calls them air shirts.  He asked for some new ones.  I found an under armour one for him and then we got him a shirt with some matching shorts.  He was so excited about them.  He also got him some other t-shirts.  We also got him a new lego set, he was excited about it.  JJ's parents sent a gift, they got him a superman t-shirt and Grandma Smith sewed him a new solar system pillow case.  They also sent money to put into his college fund.  He still has a gift card from someone at his party that we saved until after his birthday so we could see what he got.  He is excited to go pick something out.       

Garrett is such a happy boy and it was so fun to celebrate him.  He was so excited about everything that happened on his birthday.  I'm glad he had a fun day and felt special.  We sat down together and watched the video of him in the hospital as a baby.  Lucy was so little and her hair was so curly.  It was fun to watch it and remember how exciting it was to welcome him into our family.  I can't believe that was 6 years ago!! He is growing up so fast!