Fun days of summer, Baking and Anniversary

So I don't have AS many pictures of this week but we still had some fun.

My friend saw our water park pictures and said we needed to go to that! so we went again! The kids have no problem with that!

I thought I would take a picture of Sydney up on this rock.

But then she yells at me, "Don't take my picture MOMMY! GET ME DOWN!" I thought it was funny though. I guess I am a mean mom!

The kids were having fun covering this fountain with a bucket and watching the water inside.

I really love this water park because it's has some sandy play areas too that are COVERED and then not very high so I don't have to follow Jonas like a hawk so he doesn't try to jump down from an 8 feet landing. And it's well enclosed and encircled by a large field and they kids don't run off too much! Time for mommy time chat! It was nice!

And then I just have some photos of the kids helping me bake. Sydney was upset she couldn't help me cook dinner so I made it up to her by baking cookies with her. Jonas has been learning to say no lately. Although he says "mo" usually, this time when Sydney said "no-no" to not touch the cookies, he said "no-no perfectly!"

On Friday I started watching my friends' son so we'll have him over every morning starting in Sept. Sydney knows how to spell her name (S-Y-D-N-E-Y) and now we are working on her being able to write it! I thought she wasn't ready to start reading words because she doesn't always answer questions about letters correctly but she has learned how to spell "cat" and "bat" so she continues to amaze me!!

Jonas has started waking up at night crying and I am worried his phase of night terrors has started :( Sydney started about this age, too. We will see. One time this week I told him he had to sit on the potty until he went before getting in the bath and Dad sat with him and he went! So a little bit of training going on but not much. He doesn't always want to sit on the potty and then when he does, I can't get him off even though he's been there for 15 minutes! Should be an adventure!

Brian and I also celebrate our 7th anniversary tomorrow! Thanks for 7 wonderful years of love, fun and happiness with you sweetheart!

Fun in the sun! Getting the job done!

The kids and I have been having some fun the last couple of weeks. Have some photos to share with you about our adventures!

August 2nd
A quick video Sydney playing hopscotch. She saw on an episode of "Blue's Clues" where Blue learned to play and so Sydney wanted to, too :)

August 4th
In the morning, we went to the Kids' Workshop at Home Depot and the kids got to build stuff. I met up with Nicole there, too! Her boys, Brendon and Ross, as well as Jonas decided to make a small toolbox. Sydney went with a butterfly house.

Brian painting Jonas' tool box.

My nephew Brendon checking out the steps.

Sydney wanted to paint her butterfly house blue. She did a great job of carefully painting each side and was very patient about it. I was pretty surprised.

My sister Nicole, getting some green paint for Ross' toolbox.

Brendon with his finished toolbox! What to go buddy!

Jonas with his finished toolbox.

And Sydney next her butterfly house she painted all by herself!

Next, we went to the Sci-Port.

Brendon, the captain!

Think Sydney is old enough to learn how to tell time?

August 5th
This day we got to have a special event in the family as my cousin Patricia had her baby Ariana blessed by my grandpa in church. I wish Jonas had not started screaming when Brian went up to be in the circle but it was great to have all the family together. Here is the little star, Ariana.

This picture shows Patricia's 3 children, my sister Andrea's two children, my sister Nicole's two children and then my two children. 9 of my grandmother's Great-grandchildren! wow!

And here is my grandma, with Patricia and her mother and of course little Ariana. 4 generations of women!

And the grandparents and great-grandparents of the little angel.

August 7th
This was Sydney's 2nd dentist visit. She did a great job the first time and so I wasn't really worried about her this time. But the hygienist just went on and on about how great she did and gave her 3 prizes! Sydney was so excited to get her new toothbrush!

And yay! teeth checked out great!

August 9th

First we went to a water park with my sister Nicole and her son Ross and our nephew Liam.

The cousins with a friend they made!

Later that day, I had to go home and make a German's Chocolate cake from scratch! I made it myself because my grandmother can't handle the soybean products they add to the store-bought cake mixes. So I made everything from scratch! It was quite the process but everyone said it turned out well!

And it was all for my super awesome Grandpa! Love that man! Happy Birthday Grandpa!

The great-grandchildren singing "Happy Birthday!"

And my grandparents, the awesome people that they are!

August 11th
And then, just an ordinary day. Sharing you some photos of sibling love. Awwwww!

Sydney wants to sleep in her princess tent and the mattress on the floor wasn't working out for the bed frame that remained and was getting climbed on so this was dad's solution, place it around the bed! They have lots of fun in this!

Till next time!

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!