iPhone offload: Summer Edition

Summer is coming to an end and with it comes a huge iPhone offload. It's been a busy season for us so here we go.

Pirate Noli after his Treasure hunt. 

Picnic lunch on the trampoline, why not?

Followed by some crazy trampoline jumping of course.

I got Nolan this work station for our drive to Oregon and it was a huge hit, his art was a bit disturbing but it kept him entertained. 

More vacation pictures!! How can this be possible?!?

I'm not sure what it is about me that makes my kids sit on me in weird ways. I mean a huge comfy couch right there but nope I want to sit on your collarbone. 

We played a wild game of Monopoly with Noli while Miles napped. Yeah, he beat us...and not because we let him either. Future banker?

Back at home at Remlinger Farms.

4th of July Parade fun. 

Evidently the kids told Ruby that Mom's collarbone is super comfy. 

My boys in their red, white and blue best. 

NEVER play tug of war with Ruby, you will never win and she will never stop bugging you to play.

We discovered that you can use chalk on your trampoline! Thank you pinterest!

My little carb lover. He snuck into the kitchen while I was vacuuming and raided the bread bag. 

A little yard maintenance for the boys. 

"Let's bury Ruby!" She took it because it was so hot outside.

Nolan did Summer school for a few weeks and Miles really liked going to get him off the bus at the end of the driveway. They were so sweet!

Oops!

Dog park fun.

On the last day of school Nolan picked out some roses and hydrangea for his teacher, teachers aid and bus driver. He was so excited to give them out. 

A little egg gathering in their pjs. 

Nolan fell in love with this barn cat, I almost brought it home with us. 

Nolan has started napping again randomly. It is always a surprise and completely wonderful.

Mixing it up with some back sitting. 

Nolan draws the same picture over and over again. He's so proud of each creation though that we still put them on the fridge. I'm pretty sure we have a couple dozen copies of this picture. 

One step closer to getting Nolan on a 2 wheeler pedal bike. 

Post fair, we introduced Clementine to Dairy Queen dipped ice cream.
How has she gone almost 7 years without this in her life?!? 

A cousin photo miracle!

These boys had A LOT to talk about. Please note that Dutch is naked.

Miles loves slides, he has never met one he doesn't love. Even the huge spirally steep ones he just shoots right down without hesitation. Nolan on the other hand prefers the short and straight variety confining himself that the spiral ones are only made for really big boys. This was until he saw miles go down one a couple dozen times. On our next trip Nolan decided to give it a try...and loved it! now both boys LOVE slides. It's so fun to see little brother teach big brother a little something.

Getting to use paint evidently inspired Nolan to try some new subjects. This is his portrait of me.

And this one is of Dad. He ended up doing one of each family member, including the pets.
They now hang in the playroom. 

Nolan has decided at 5.5 years old that he wants to co sleep. I'm all for it but Pat thinks if we let him do it he will never leave. He's probably right so we have compromised on making him sleep in his room for 3 nights and ours for 1. 

I didn't take a pic of the favor bags with my real camera but was glad to find this on my phone. 

Pool day!!!

A quiet walk in the rose garden. 

A little sleepy after our zoo day. 

How does he look so grown up suddenly?!?

Nolan wants to be a dog trainer when he grows up so I've challenged him to train ruby, a pretty difficult task. Here he got her to sit, lay down, stand up walk over and sit again for a goldfish cracker. He was quite proud. 

Zoo trip 2014

We were down in Tacoma to wrap up our Summer Bucket list at Point Defiance Zoo, our most favorite zoo ever! Last year we went on the hottest day of the summer and this was almost as hot. But we braved the heat and had a great time, prepare yourself for a ton of picture of the back of my kids heads. Ready, go!

Porcupine exhibit and a little fun with reflections.

Miles was stroller bound and not super stoked about that. But the seals entertained him for a bit.

Then we went downstairs for an underwater view. Nolan got up close and personal with the Walrus, is this still ET?

When I tried for a similar shot with Miles he FREAKED OUT! He was not a fan of the walrus that close to him and jumped about a foot in the air.

Back at the seals, the underwater view was just as fun as up top.

The biggest hit of this exhibit was the elevator button. Those boys were obsessed.

The polar bears were pretty upset about the heat but it was all smiles from Noli and Yaya.

Up close and personal with the barn owl.

Nolan has a tropical fish tank on his online game abcmouse and so he was telling us all the names of the fish in the tropical reef tank. I'm tempted to get these boys an aquarium as they were mesmerized.

Nolan didn't want to pose with us. :(

The real shark tank was a big hit again this year.

So much fun! We checked out every single exhibit, the kids area, gift shop and even the rose garden for lunch. Busy day but so much fun!

Turning 2

Well, my baby turned 2 this weekend.

Sigh.

There are officially no more babies in our home (and won't be anymore for those wondering). Its of course bringing a bag of mixed feelings. I'm thankful to be done with the sleepless nights, spit up, onesies and look forward to getting out more, hopefully being done with diapering soon thanks to Miles' potty training, and seeing more of these boy's personalities come out. But I will miss the sweet baby smells, cuddles and having them all to myself...now I have to share them with the world and I was never a great sharer. Oh well, life does on and I'm sure there will be many more mixed emotions to come so stay tuned!

But turning 2 means PAR-TAY! Miles' birthday fell on a Saturday so his party was on his actual day which is so fun.

This boy LOVES balloons! I"m pretty sure if all we got him for his bday was balloons he would be all set. He's still playing with them even though all the helium has worn out.

Big kids and honorary kids (aunt Sarah) in trampoline bliss.

The cupcakes that I did NOT have to bake. Thank you bakery.

Singing Happy Birthday, he didn't get it was for him.

Miles was far more dainty eating his cake this year but just to be safe he sat on my sister's lap so she could wear the mess. :) You're welcome!

Sweaty Clementine finally got off the trampoline for a cupcake.

Little Emily digging in on the ice cream bar.

I made Miles a big boy blanket like his brother's it was a pretty big hit, even on this hot day.

Post party hydrating by his face banner. I especially love that his face drinking water matches the face on the banner. Classic Miles face. :)

It was so nice celebrating with friends and family on such a sunny Saturday. I went pretty simple for this birthday which made it so much more enjoyable. Luckily my ladies came and helped dress it up for me, it really completed the day. Thanks everyone!

Today...and most days

I heard the boys giggling this morning as I unpacked from our trip up to Bellingham. See my sister's blog about our sweaty adventures here on her blog. I grabbed my camera and finally captured these 2 in their natural state. They have been acting quite brotherly lately which I guess means wavering dramatically from loving to annoyed.

It was all giggles and happiness until Nolan's nose got picked...only he's allowed to do that I guess.