July activities

I told myself I wouldn't make my posts monthly yet again I have!

At the beginning of the month, we went to Alabama and visited Brian's parents. The kids had a blast and Sydney keeps saying, "I want to go back to Grandma's house!" She had so much fun.

We splashed in Grandma and Grandpa's blow-up pool:

We went to a fun local library with lots of fun play centers for the kids:

Aww, Sydney saw this photo as I was posting and said, "Grandma Tuck! I really love Grandma Tuck!" Awww

We went blueberry-picking and got a whole bunch of them! We had blueberry waffles with blueberry syrup there in Alabama, brought some home and had blueberry pancakes for days!

We went to a fun water park:

And of course, celebrated July 4th! I know we are so blessed with our freedom in this country and that there are many dedicated men and women who have given their lives for that freedom. I feel very patriotic to this beautiful country when our Independence Day rolls around and I think of the history we have, of fighters, of those who hoped for a better world. It's not a perfect country, and I am still hoping for a better world, but there are traditions and past events to honor and respect and the lives of those who put the needs of others above their own is definitely one.

Once we got back from Alabama, it was back to the usual routine for us. I watched a friend's 3 children, 9 months, 7, and 9 Mon-Thurs in the morning. Sydney and Jonas had a blast with them. Always a lot going on when they were over!

My last day with them over was Wed and I have been slacking off since. When they were coming over I made sure the house was clean every day and I'm afraid I have let it go since! But I plan on getting out and about a bit more as with the 5 kids, I couldn't go places with our car. So I have plans to keep Sydney and Jonas busy!

Jonas has started showing interest in the potty. I still wouldn't say I am ready to potty-train him but he likes to sit on the training potty and have me hand him toilet paper to "wipe" himself even though he hasn't gone. He actually has done #2 on the potty twice now though so there's definite promise there! He loves this potty book we have, too so I'm hoping it means it won't be too difficult when we do decide to train him!

More. Jonas loves signing this when eating. Sorry this video is in the bath tub but I was snacking while watching them bathe and Sydney and Jonas of course wanted some so we thought we would record him signing it.

My nephew Brendon also had his birthday last Friday. He's 6 now and we got some fun shots of the kids singing and playing.

Brendon likes Spider-Man. Can you tell? He's wearing the Spider-Man gloves we got him that make webbing sounds as you flick your wrists.

Singing some Disney karaoke. 

Birthday Cake! Happy Birthday Brendon!

Yummy!

I love Jonas' curly hair but there are some curls right above his ears that give him a kind of Bozo the clown look that I am not a fan of. So, I thought for his first cut! I would trim those pieces of hair just a little. Brian took video when I would have preferred photos, and then the camera turned off while he was filming but this is what we got:

Jonas wasn't too bad and then I was cutting Sydney's hair afterwards but he wanted me to keep cutting his hair!

I MESSED UP big time on Sydney's bangs I was trying to trim and I don't really want to take a picture of them. I just hope they grow back quickly!! She was so good-natured about it though. She just looked in the mirror and said, "I look silly!" and laughed. Too funny. And graciously, no one at church today said anything.

Brian starts school next month! I can't tell if he's excited or not but he is ready for the work and knows he's leisure time will be limited. He turned 31 on the 14th but we didn't do anything special for his birthday. He had just had tooth surgery a few days before and was drugged up still on his birthday so we just had a cake and watched a movie at home. But we'll make it up to him!

I am having a really hard time getting hours to tutor this summer so the babysitting income has been a lifesaver for us but also my digital-scrapbooking income! Last month I made a little bit more from tutoring than I did from my business but this month, I'm going to make twice as much from my scrapbooking at tutoring and this month I have also made the most I ever have in 1 month from scrapbooking! I am really excited! I'm opening up a new store at a bigger online scrapbooking site and am very hopeful it will open up more opportunities and am just really feeling better about all the time I devote to this love of mine.

Sydney and I are already talking about her birthday (like mother, like daughter) and she's getting pretty excited. Pretty much anything Rapunzel will make her happy! :)  We're looking at a bunch of stuff and I'm hoping it helps her stay happy as she again got sad because it was Dad's birthday and not hers!

I'll try to post more often and not these once-a-month marathons! but enjoy!

Where did June go.....

Oh man! I am getting behind on the blog! It's been kind of busy but fun around here!

On June 2nd, we went to this kid fun place and it was nice to just let the kids play. We had some pizza, too.

Basketball superstar!

Messy Face!

And a cute little video of Jonas blowing on his food:

Then Jonas squeezed in a quick game of Air Hockey with dad:

Some video footage:

And you gotta love Sydney's expression as she plays this shooter game. Makes me think "You rascally rabbit!"

We borrowed our neighbor's kiddie pool one afternoon and the kids had a blast! Oh, and the thing on Jonas' shoulder is a temporary frog tattoo. We're not beating our kids!

Some video footage:

Then, we took all the cousins bowling! It was a tad crazy with 6 little kiddos but they still had fun! I broke 100 so I was happy. LOL.

Ross and Scarlett by the large bowling pin!

Scarlett and Sydney! These girls are so cute! always getting super happy to see each other and giving each other a huge hug!

 Here's Brendon with his cheesy grin!

 Liam, giving it some extra air just in case!

And Drea, looking like a serious, pro-bowler even though I whooped ya! We all were distracted during the game but it was fun!

And can you believe it, that same day, we went to a birthday party! Full weekend! Sydney has gone to 3 birthday parties since the summer started! whew! Lots of fun stuff though!

Here's Sydney with the birthday girl, Peyton. Peyton and her 2 brothers are who I watch during the week.

 And Jonas, just going along for the ride.

And then this is some pictures of bedtime that night. The kids are fighting over my lap more. I do get annoyed sometimes but then I am glad Jonas is still such a sweet little cuddle bug, even if he is a wiggle worm. My mom said I was a wiggle worm when I was little so I guess I'm just getting a taste of my own medicine.

Jonas has really taken a stronger liking to books. Like the one he's reading in this photo, "How Do Penguins Play" is one of his favorites right now and one day, he had to take it with him everywhere we went. It's cute to see him looking through books.

In this one, he finds me a comfortable place to lay on and read.

 Jonas has also started to point at pictures of Jesus and mumble "jes" or something close to that. It's cute and sweet to see that he's recognizing him and just testifies of the sweet spirit of children so close to the veil.

Here's a video "Super Princess Sydney". That's what she told me she wanted to be for Halloween, a super princess. We'll see if we can pull it off... Right before this, she was telling me, "Mom, don't look at my super trick" because she knew she wasn't supposed to be jumping on the couch but I couldn't resist letting her because she looks so cute in her "super" costume.

Here's a video of Jonas putting on my shoes and walking around. He loves shoes, loves putting your shoes on your feet, taking them off and trying others' shoes. It's cute!

And! a few days ago, I smelled the warning signs of a dirty diaper and had Jonas sit on the potty. We have a little training potty in the bathroom and he's been sitting on it some times. He likes to get toilet paper and wipe too even though he never goes. But this day! He stayed on, I think it helped that Sydney was sitting on the big potty next to him, and he went! I tried to make as big a deal as I could, telling him what a big boy he was and giving him a sticker. I'm not sure how much I want to do as far as training right now, I think I'll just see how long he'll sit there some times. But here is a photo of the big boy on the first day he went in the potty!

The silly boy, he'll make that face when I'm taking the picture, then a HUGE smile comes on his face as he races to me to look at his picture on the camera. Little stinker...

Anyways, that's what we have for now! Looking forward to a visit to Alabama this week to see Grandma and Grandpa Tuck!