I really wanted to make this summer a good one before Little Lambert entered our lives and shook things up a bit.  We really had such a great summer and did so many fun things.  In fact, the first two weeks with Baby at home, Samuel asked every day, "What's today, a pool day?  A friend day?  A park day?  A field trip day?"  The boys didn't really know what to do with themselves hanging out at home all day every day!

August 6, 2011

So the Saturday before D-Day, I wanted to make sure we had one last family hurrah before we became a Party of Five!  We kept it low key, just playing at the park and splash pad all afternoon then finishing up the evening at Cafe Rio.  But it was still a lot of fun to have the special time together.

August 8, 2011

I figured we better fit in a last hurrah with the friends, too.  So the Monday before D-Day, we headed up to the children's museum in Salt Lake.  We've been there so many times, but it never gets old.  And it's always good for a day-long outing with our friends!

The parade this year was a first for us.  We've never been before.  And with the early morning wake up call, plus knowing he had to go back into work later that afternoon, we couldn't talk Erik into coming to this little celebration.  Thankfully, our awesome neighbors, who are pros at Art City Days, hooked us up.  The staked out our spots the night before, then gave us the run down about the cool parts and the best ways to get candy.  It was so much fun.  The very beginning started with the police force on their motorcycles doing cool little tricks and formations, and all the firetrucks, ambulance, squad cars, etc, following behind.  Sirens and horns fuuuuuull force.  Even after being warned, Samuel still ended up busting into tears and burying his sensitive little ears in Mark's lap.  Owen sat there wide-eyed and holding pretty tight to my legs while I covered his ears for him, but he kept it together just fine.  After that, everyone was ready to go candy chasing.  It took Sam a few tires to get the hang of it (ie, not break down into a fit every time a bigger kid got to the tootsie roll before him) but once Owen showed him a thing or two, everyone was having a blast.  The rest of the parade was really neat; very small-town, homey, and quaint.  Owen's favorite thing was the horses.  Samuel said his favorite thing was the monster trucks.  Have I told you how much I love where we live?!

June 10, 2011

The Children's Parade was another activity we had a blast at last year, and wanted to make sure we did again this year.  The day before, we met up at a friend's house with several other neighbors and kids and had a big bike/stroller decorating free-for-all.  The next morning, some of us took off from our house and walked, and we met everyone else over there. 

"Who's ready for the parade?!"

Samuel was sooooo ornery, and he was borrowing a bike since his was busted and we hadn't had a chance to fix it yet.  I don't know what the big deal was, but he whined about it the whole time.  At the beginning, he popped one of his balloons (because HE BIT IT!) and threw a fit.  Also, his two best buddies, Gabe and Jacob, both have Strider bikes.  The three of them were so great about stopping when we moms and little ones needed to catch up, but each and every time they started back up again, Gabe and Jacob could peel off in their peddle-less bikes, and it took Sam a whole 3.5 seconds to catch up.  Which meant aother fit every single time.  Ugh. 

The Three Amigos?  I vote the Three Stooges.

Owen on the other hand, was darling.  He loved riding in the wagon, and was only a tiny bit put off for just a short moment when he had to share with Emily.   O sat there watching, pointing, talking, and taking it all in.

Sam finally cheered up when he got his "prize" and snow cone.  We hung out enjoying the sunshine and sugary ice with our friends.  Then we walked back home.  I was poooooooooooped!!!  But in the end, it was a really fun and exciting morning, and we sure did enjoy ourselves.     

What, you didn't know Bubba J was this cool?

June 6, 2011

I love living in Springville.  I love that we've been here long enough to feel really comfortable and at home.  Every year, Art City Days is a favorite thing about our little city.  We started the events off on Monday with the Teddy Bear Tea at the library.  Samuel brought one of his monkeys, and Owen brought his doggie.  There was a program in the basement to start it off, with a skit/story time/whatever-you-want-to-call it that might have lasted a tad too long, but the boys still mostly enjoyed.  Samuel eagerly sat on the rug with his buddy Jacob and 100 other kids while Owen was more content to hang back with Mom and eat his Cheerios. 

After the program, we were shipped outside for the rest of the activities.  There was an obstacle course set up to be like you were traveling the world, complete with a swamp (kiddie pools), a forest (giant playground balls, not sure how that works, but oh well), caves (a couple large pipes), a mountain (slide), and a desert (hula hoops, again, not quite sure…) and a reward of watered down Kool-Aid punch once you made it around the world. 

There was also a place to make your own magic carpet (a graham cracker with frosting and sprinkles) that Samuel was not interested in.  He was distracted by the parachute, which he played at with Jacob.  They got to toss their animals around on it and do a few other fun things.  Owen, however, was turning into a pill by now, and just wanted to eat rainbow sprinkles which he picked off his magic carpet, and then kept running back to the table to get some from the cute high school volunteer who was smitten by him and kept giving him more. 

We made some hippo hats, passed right by the "Princesses" reading stories (the Springville Royal Court?  Things like that make me grateful I have all boys) and got ready to head home.  I insisted on a picture of the two boys together on the bench.   Remember this adorable photo from last year??  I was dumb enough to think I could recreate it, or at least get something just as precious, a year later.

The boys were sooooo done and coming apart at the seams, particularly O.  So this is the best I walked away with.  Pretty much sums up the morning, I'd say.  I still think they're cute, though.

We did grab an ice cream cone on the way home, the first of the season, so that took care of some substantial cheering up.  And so did the naps that followed shortly after.

November 12, 2010

Samuel totally lucked out with two full days of birthday celebrations.  We knew we would be traveling on the 13th, so we planned Friday as the big day.  Samuel woke up to decorations and a new dinosaur.  We spent the morning getting ready for his party, and playing with Auntie C who was such a doll to be there for the party and help me out.  At 11:00 the kids came a’knocking for Sam’s first official friend party.  He told me months ago he wanted a dinosaur birthday party, so I had a few prehistoric tricks up my sleeve.

As Sam’s friends arrived, they got to do cave paintings and play with dinosaurs.  Then we made some dino feet so we could go on our dinosaur adventure.  The kids had to go through an obstacle course, but stay on the “stones” so they wouldn’t fall into the “hot lava” and become “extinct.”  After that we played “Chomp Chomp, Gotcha!” which was our version of Duck Duck Goose, with a triceratops hand puppet to do the chomping.  We had a yummy lunch of dinosaur nuggets for the carnivores, veggies and ranch for the herbivores, and chex mix and goldfish for the omnivores.  We read some dino books, did some dino puzzles, colored some dino pictures.  And then it was time for a dino dig!  I tried to do it two at a time while the other kids kept reading, puzzling, or coloring, but that lasted maybe 37 seconds.  It got a little crazy, but oh so fun!  There were lots of baby dinosaurs hiding in the sand, but there was also a dinosaur skeleton for each kid to find.

By that point, I could no longer put off the presents!  Samuel was so so excited, but it was adorable to see that his little friends were just as excited as him.  After Samuel opened all the generous gifts, he handed out the thank you/goodie bags and dug into the dino cupcakes.  By 12:30, we said goodbye, put Owen down for a nap, and opened all the new boxes and bags of toys and games.  Smart Mommy that I am, I let Sam open one present from Mommy and Daddy . . . How to Train Your Dragon!  So we popped the movie in, Sam watched and played quietly and happily, and I crashed on the sofa.  It had been a ton of work, but so much fun and I enjoyed every single second of it.  So did the Samosaurus Rex.

Our city Springville, the Art City, has its summer celebration the first week of June.  Samuel and I have been to the balloon launch the last 2 years, and one year all 3 of us went to the ridiculously overpriced white trash carnival.  This year I thought we would take advantage of the week long celebrations, events, and activities. 

Monday we went to the Teddy Bear Picnic at the library.  It was kind of a bust, but the boys still had fun eating snacks, drinking Tampico, and playing at the park.

Another day was the Children’s Parade.  Sam couldn’t believe that HE got to be IN a parade on his BIKE.  We went with a couple friends and had a really fun time.  We started by going through the Etch-a-Sketch entry arch (I have no idea of the significance . . . ) and then followed around a few closed off streets with lots of other kids on bikes, scooters, roller blades, strollers, and one chicken in a wagon.  Sam was really into it and he seriously had a blast.  And when he recieved his yellow ribbon (along with every other kid who was there) he threw his hands in the air and shouted, ”I’m the winner!!”  Sam still asks me almost every day if he can go back and ride his bike in the presentation again.  (Don’t know why he calls it a presentation, or where he even learned that word, but after some investigation I figured out he meant the parade.)

We had planned to try out the Art Fair, but sick Owen kind of spoiled those plans.  And the rain spoiled our plans for the balloon launch.  Bummer!  But for the little that we did do, we enjoyed it.  Next year we will be ready for more!

Today I got up at 6:30.

Today I went upstairs to brush my teeth.  When I came back down 3 minutes later, Sam was completely naked and hitting Owen on the head with a balloon.  Owen was laughing hysterically.

Today Samuel also pushed Owen over, stole his toys, poked him in the eyes, and gagged him with a spatula.

Today on our drive through the canyon we pulled over and got out of the car to watch a flock of about 50 turkeys.  In Samuel’s mind, this translated to chasing turkeys in Candyland.

Today when I brought Sam a monster truck, per request, he said, “Not this monster truck, the SMALLER monster truck!”

Today Samuel told me while he was playing zoo, “My antelope needs a tree.  Build it Mommy, my antelope needs stand on his hind legs and eat the leaves.”

Today Owen did the Hot Dog dance.

Today Owen ate 17 ounces in less than 7 hours.  I think Sam might have eaten that much one week.

Today I cleaned my kitchen to a spotless shine.  I had to run the dishwasher 3 times.  I was washing pans and couldn’t even remember back to what I had cooked in them.

Today Samuel and I had a “picnic” on the floor of his room and went to the “park” while Owen napped.  Really, we ate crackers on his blanket and hid in his closets.

Today I am 182% fully completely totally utterly exhausted.

Today I have a good day.

Samuel must have known I had big plans for his birthday, because he slept in till nine.  I was doing the dishes when I heard his cute little groggy voice from the stairs, “Oh balloons!  It’s my birthday!”  Sam just sat there looking at the decorations and getting more and more excited by the second.

We spent the morning getting ready for Sam’s monster party!  We had a few friends come over for games, crafts, a monster hunt, and adorable cupcakes compliments of Triana.  She also did a killer post summimg up the fun with lots more of her cute pictures.  http://ordfamily.sk8erord.com/?p=1128

Samuel attempted a nap, but he was too excited.  Lucky for him, Grandma’s present arrived so he had some original Little People and several new airplanes to keep himself busy and happy instead of driving me nuts while he didn’t sleep.

Erik came home early, and we took off for dinner at Pirate Island Pizza.  In the waiting area, Sam was super taken by the low lighting, skeletons hanging from the ceiling, and pirate ships on the walls.  He was also a bit nervous.  When the thunderstorm started, and one of the skeletons started glowing and talking, Sam did his “Scary scary scary” reaction.

The rest of the evening was a blast, eating pizza, playing arcade games, climbing the pirate ship, and, after 3 tries, finally being back at the table for the pirates to bring ice cream and sing happy birthday.  Sam heard them coming and got super excited, then when they stopped at our table and he realized it was for him, he got shy and embarrassed.  It was so funny, I’ve never seen him act this way!

We stopped at ToysRUs on the way home and Samuel got to choose his very own toy.  Sam hit the jackpot when he found a set of three pull-and-go monster trucks with flashing headlights and sound effects.  He was completely taken with them the entire way home, still in the box.

At home, it was finally time for presents.  Sam had been talking about opening presents all day long; he knew that was a big part of birthdays.  Samuel got “Up,” and Imagination Movers cd, a dinosaur racetrack, radio controlled Mater and Lightning McQueen, and his very own childproof camera.  We let him stay up almost until 10 playing (remember, he didn’t nap!!).  When I put Samuel to bed that night, he gave me my hug and kiss and said, “I found a good day.  Thank you my birthday.”  You are so welcome, little big man!

We’ve made sure things didn’t get too boring around here.  It sure helps to have Triana and Gavin around.  On Wednesday we met up at the park for a picnic.  What none of us expected was the barely 50 degree weather and cold wind.  The boys didn’t mind, but we mommies shivered in the deceiving sunshine. 

Then on Friday, we went to customer apprection Free Jump Day at Jumpin’ Jacks.  What we didn’t realize is that even though it opened at 11, the event didn’t technically start until noon.  Lucky us, the nice ladies still let us jump for free, and we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves before it got mad mad mad busy at 12.  By 12:30 we had all had enough and you could hardly stand in there it was so crowded.  We headed outside for a free hot dog, and a well prepared Triana supplied grapes, crackers, and juice boxes to round off lunch.  So much fun!

Saturday was our third adventure of the week with Gavin and Triana . . . May Day at Wheeler Farm!!  Erik let Sam and me take off by ourselves for the day while he stayed home and worked on Sam’s new room.  Sam and I were there for almost 4 hours.  We toured the farm, played on some tractors, walked a few paths, threw rocks in the water, checked out the vendors (including what Sam called “Robot mans” which were really just people dressed up in Star Wars costumes), had some lunch, visited the First Aid station with a bloodied knee, met up with the Ords and did it all again, adding on a tractor pulled wagon ride.  Of course no trip up north would be complete without a stop by El Pollo Loco on the way home.  Wheeler Farm is definitely on our list of things to do again.

 {Please do note how filthy dirty Sam got.  ALL boy!}

The pathetic thing is that between 3 fabulous adventures, my camera came out once, and barely even at that.  So despite any positive proof, we did have tons of fun!!  (But visit Triana, I know she’ll have excellent pictures from Wheeler Farm!)

That’s been the mantra the last several days, maybe even week or so.  For the most part, the weather has cooperated beautifully, and we have made good use of it.  There have been several trips to the different parks within walking distance, lots of time in the backyard, and evenings playing with the neighbors while we wait for Daddy to come home. 

On Saturday we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.  Because the tractor ride wasn’t going, Sam got to ride the ponies twice!  He sat on the pony both times jabbering non-stop,  ”Woody, yeeha, ride ‘em cowboy, catch other horsies,” etc etc.  Then he cried when it was time to get off.  Erik let Sam go around the ring a couple times by himself before he finally heeded to my continually escalating panic, and finished off the ride by Samuel’s side.  Samuel was sometimes timid about touching the animals, but like usual, he just took some time to warm up.  However, he did not warm up to the tom turkey, no matter how many times we walked by.  That tom was strutting around making funny noise and ruffling his feathers, and Sam did not like it one bit.  He did think it was pretty funny when Mom found out she weighs as much as a goat and kid; how appropriate.

Today after a morning of errands, we went to Nielsen’s Grove to feed the ducks.  Too bad it was pretty much a bust.  There’s a storm moving in right now, and it was sooooo windy.  The ducks were hiding in the reeds, and Samuel disliked the wind almost as much as me.  We made it about 15 minutes on the playground before Sam said he was ready to “Back car.  Time go home.”

So we most definitely enjoyed this little taste of spring.  Hopefully it won’t wait too long before coming back.