We went to the Zoo!

Wow, I feel bad that I haven't posted on the blog in a whole month but it's a been a busy one for sure! I started watching my nephew Liam and so we go somewhere almost every day this summer, just trying to keep these guys busy! Here's a look of some of the fun things we've done!

June 3rd
We got a new kiddie pool this summer and so about once a week we'll fill this up and let the kids have some fun!

June 6th- finding the slug
It's been a hot summer as usual but it's also been pretty wet! We'll get a couple days of some strong downpour and one day it seemed to rain the entire day. One day we came out after the storm and found a slug on the wall! I can't remember the last time I saw one. And even though he's slimy, he's antennae are so cute! And, actually, before we found this live one we found a dead one (ewww) and I won't post those pictures but to tell you that Sydney is becoming quite the bug killer! She is not afraid to squash ants and spiders we find in the house and while I had my back turned she squished this (already-dead!) slug. I said, "Sydney, why did you do that?" She said, "I thought I saw it move!" Makes me laugh!

June 8th- Farmer's Market
Well, this whole week my Aunt Dawn was in town with her 4 kids so we went over to my grandmother's a lot and the kids swam almost every day! Then on Saturday, we went to the local Farmer's Market where all the kids had some great face-painting done!

 I was so impressed that Jonas was still enough for them to get this full-face mask on there!

Sydney is Hello Kitty!

 The skeletons! Hunter, Liam and Christopher.

 June 13- Marshmallow Snowmen
So I know it's summer but I had these marshmallows in my cupboard and thought we'd do a craft with them and then eat them. So naturally, snowmen. The kids got pretty creative with them! I helped them make hats and then Liam made them guitars!

June 21- My 25 pounds down weigh-in!
I am so excited that after 6 months, I've lost 25 pounds! It's been slow progress but so worth it! This was what I weighed when I got married, and when I started school at BYU-I so I haven't seen these numbers for almost 8 years. Hoping to keep going! I've dropped 2 dress sizes and probably 4 inches in the hips and waist (only started measuring those in April so it's just a guess..). I've done it with regular exercise and changing my eating habits. I have incorporated more fiber and protein in my diet with healthier snacks and then portion-control for other meals. I allow myself to cheat on the weekends but still try not to go over board. So here are my before and after shots!

And my in-laws were asking a few months back how far I was from my weight at the wedding so now that I'm there, thought I would take a picture to prove it!
 Here I am back in the wedding dress! Most definitely could not have fit in it 6 months ago.

And here's me in one of my new outfits. Loved getting these pants!

and of course, if there's pictures being taken, the kids want in on the action...

June 22- the Zoo!
The kids had a blast as we went to the zoo. I think it was the first time we took Jonas to the zoo.

 They had SO much fun feeding the birds. Look at Jonas with his cute little SpiderMan backpack! He wore it all day too! When he was feeding the birds, he would put his stick out there and say "Here birdie! Want eat? Woohoo!" And then when he got a bird on his stick, he said, "Dad! Look! I got birdie!"

So it was a blast! We hope to go again later this summer. The kids did so well. Sydney says her favorite animals are penguins and giraffes. We got to see them feed the penguins so that was fun. 

So that's pretty much been our month! I take the kids to playgrounds often and we have playdates. They got to pet some stingrays at the local Science Museum but it being only me and me needing to make sure they don't grab the stingrays (more Jonas than Sydney) I didn't get any photos. But they did great with them and then we also got to feed them. They eat shrimp and you can hold it at the bottom of the tank and they'll eat it from your hand. So fun!

We have more family visits planned this summer and we're still waiting to see if Sydney starts preschool this fall. Cross your fingers!

Mother's Day, Our New Garden and

There's been some bad storms coming through Shreveport but we've been doing fine with them. Sydney and Jonas are excited that with the summer coming, that means their cousin Liam will be hanging out with us each day! We've been looking online, on Craigslist, in the newspaper for a car Brian can use strictly to get to work and back but it's tough going right now. Hoping to find something soon.

New Van
We did purchase a 2005 Honda Odyssey in the middle of my jury duty trial. We are really loving it! I was worried it would be a lot different than driving a car but I am adjusting to it fine and the kids LOVE the DVD system. A movie is ALWAYS playing when we get in. Here's  some shots of that:

Mother's Day
Here are just some fun pictures we took together on Mother's Day this year.

Sydney and I painted our finger nails.

Love my kids! They can drive me crazy some days but overall they are very sweet and caring and so loving. Sweet and precious gifts from God. I truly understand the love God has for us more fully as I interact with my children.

Jonas with his backpack
 Just a cute random photo. Jonas loves this Spider-Man backpack he got for Christmas from his cousin Ross and I thought this was just so adorable, him staring at this piece of paper intently as if he was reading it! He's going to have a hard time when Sydney starts Pre-K.

Paint Your Heart Out and Dinner
For 3 years now, Brian and I have participated in a community service project they do in our city called Paint Your Heart Out. Groups from the city are assigned homes where elderly, or disabled citizens need a home repainted and the city buys the paint and provides the material and the community provides the man power! Brian has painted the houses each time and the first year, I helped watch kids at the church for those painting, the second year I think I just stayed home with the kids but this year I wanted to paint! We're thankful our friends the Terry's were willing to watch the kids all morning for us. I got paint in my hair (probably from painting straight above myself, lol) and it was hard work but it was fun and I was so glad we were able to help this woman out who had had a stroke! Now she will come home to a newly painted house. Later that day, they had an appreciation dinner for all the volunteers including a crawfish boil!

New Flower Bed
And as if painting a house wasn't enough for a day, we went home and MADE this flower bed around our tree in the front yard. We had to try to level out the dirt around the roots because they are HUGE! Brian's co-worker gave us some irises to plant and then a few days later we went and got some other flowers too.

Even Miss Priss herself helped us with the garden.

We're just grouping the irises all together for now, they are supposed to expand out really well and Brian's co-worker is bringing us more too so hopefully we'll have another ring of flowers around the bed soon. Overall, I love the way it came out and the color it adds to our front yard!

WaterPark
We will be going to the water park  A LOT this summer. We decided to go last Friday and it was packed! but the kids had a great time!

Jonas might be outgrowing naps. For now I don't push trying to get him down for a nap but if he falls asleep I let him sleep. He's off and on for naps each day and I'm ok with that. It's more important he sleeps well at night than during the day for me.

Hope everyone is doing well and we look forward to a fun summer!