Great Grandma Draman

Great Grandma Draman has come to visit from Iowa.  We haven't seen her since Lincoln was a baby.  It is so nice getting to visit with her.  I am so glad the kids are getting to see and visit with her. 

Today was our first day shopping for supplies for Great Grandma Vella's 80th birthday party.   And yes Grand Draman came with us.  We drug her through several stores today, and I think may have tuckered her out.

The kids just couldn't help themselves.  They want one of these cars so bad.  Haha!  I can't blame them I always wanted one as a kid too.

 

I couldn't help take this picture of Payton playing Barbies with Grandma Draman.  Building memories.  So cute!

Water Balloons and the Trampoline

Yesterday we went to our friend Damian's birthday party.  It was everything water, a pool, water balloons, and water guns.  The kids had so much fun.  So much fun in fact that they decided the wanted to replay part of the party.

Dave found some balloons and filled them with water and tossed them on the trampoline.  I took these pictures during the first 5 minutes.  Then went in to start dinner.  20 minutes later Dave brought them in completely drenched and giggling.

Soccer

Soccer time again.  Payton did so much better today.  She only cried during the first game.  Maybe next week she will not cry at all.  :o) 

On the other hand, Lincoln LOVES it.  There is so much joy on his face as he is running around playing the games and kicking the ball.

Today Ralph, Michelle, and Ashley were able to join us.  They commented several times on how much Lincoln reminded them of Dave when he was little.

Afterwards we went to Shin Sushi for dinner and then tried the little ice cream shop next door.  It wasn't Sweet Retreat Frozen yogurt but it was it was pretty tasty.

Maxi Skirt

Payton started off the morning still throwing up but as the morning as passed she started feeling better.  Thank goodness.

We decided to lay low to make sure that she didn't over do it.  So per their request it was a pj day.  Yay!

I happened to have all my sewing stuff out because I went to a craft night the last night after the kids went to bed.  I have some fabric that was cut into LONG strips 20 inches wide for a project that decided not to do.  Now I find myself trying to decide what to do with it.  As Paton was laying on the couch I thought, "Why not make her a skirt with it?"  Then I did.  :o)

I was so proud of myself.  I made a pattern, cut it out, and sewed it together in less than 40 minutes.  Sweet!  What's better is that she LOVED it.

Barfies

Today started off just like any other day.  Got the kids up and dressed.  Payton even read a couple of books to me.  But as I was finishing up getting ready Payton came in and said that her tummy hurt.  When she turned to look at me her face was white and she had really dark circle under her eyes.  I thought, "Uh Oh, she's gonna barf."  It wasn't long before she did and then she did all day long.  She couldn't even hold down water, poor baby.

We set up a little "bed for her in the family room so that she could watch some TV when she wasn't sleeping.  When Lincoln saw her bed he HAD to have one too.  Haha!  Fine.

Austin was very interested in her barf bucket.  He was very entertaining.  Fortunately it was clean, otherwise that would have been disgusting.

It was so sad, she kept saying she was scared and asking why she was throwing up.  I hope she feels better tomorrow.

Nails and Owies

Sunday was toe nails and today was finger nails.  I never thought I would have Lincoln following me around begging for me to paint his finger nails, but he was.  He opted for a nice bright blue color and Payton went with a sparkly purple.

Austin, Austin, Austin.  Please stop taking after your brother.  I do not want to end up in the ER with you too.  Today was a hard day for little Austie.  First, while pushing a kids chair around he let it get too far away from him and Wham!  Head straight to the hard wood.  Then later while he was crawling down the hallway, Payton ran by and accidentally kicked his arm out from underneath him and Smack! Face to the hardwood.  His poor forehead.

Brownie Cookies from Scratch

I am so proud of myself.  I actually made something from scratch.  Something that included more than 5 ingredients and took more than 5 steps to complete.  What's better, they actually turned out and everyone liked them. Yay me!

Nails

This little cutie is wearing a shirt that used to belong to his daddy.  The tag says 4T but I think it must be a small 4T.  So cute!

Payton has been begging me to paint her nails for just over a week now and for one reason or another I have just never taken the time to do it.  Well, today was the day.  Lincoln was very insistent that he get his nails painted too.  I tried persuading him to let me try and just paint spiders on his big toes but no, he wanted all his nails painted AND the spiders.  Haha!  OK fine.

Payton on the other hand wanted sparkly polish and polka dots. And that is what she got.

Chores, Play, and Soccer

The kids actually volunteered to do chores today.  What!?!?!?!  When does that happen?  They started with helping mow the lawn, then moved inside and helped me dust, vacuum, and wash windows.  All to earn some stickers.  Love it!

Since they were so helpful, we set up the water toys out in the front yard so they could play while Dave and I worked in the garage. 

Then off to soccer!

From the pictures it looks as though Payton is REALLY into it.  Boy, do I wish that were the case.  We decided to move her to the 4 and 5 year old class instead of the 5 and 6 year old class because she was crying at the drop of a hat, and that was just during the skill building games.  Dave thinks we need to get her into more competitive things.  I just hope she starts to enjoy it, she was so excited to try it in the beginning.

Lincoln on the other hand is LOVING it.  I think it is partly his personality but I also think it is because he has a friend in the class with him.  Maybe we just need to make sure Payton meets the kids in her class.

 

While Lincoln was in class, Payton was hanging out with Dave and asked if she could take some pictures.  I just happened to turn and she her taking pictures of Lincoln playing on the big camera.  She is so cute, and actually got some really nice shots.

 



Lunch and a Movie

Our friend Jenae invited us to meet them at the movies to see Turbo this afternoon.  I was a bit skeptical of the movie but we all really liked it. 

Austin lasted probably 2/3 of the movie in my lap and then wanted down.  I spent the last 1/3 of the movie following him up and down the side isle.  I am pretty sure he ate some popcorn off of the floor.  Yuck!  He was filthy by the end of the movie but was having a great time and that is what matters, right?

After the movie the kids were "starving" so we walked next door to Burger King where they ate nothing.  Yup, ordered them all what they wanted and Payton and Lincoln ate nothing.  Oh well.
At least, Austin ate well.

Clean Up

Yesterday's play date was so much fun.  And because I was trying to finish my second shirt before I left for a girls night out with my sister, I neglected to clean up after the play date.  So clean up was on my To Do list for today.

Payton and Lincoln started out being helpful and picking up the little toys and cups that we have for playing in the water.  However, I soon lost them to the trampoline.  Crazy kids! 

 

While I was taking pictures of Payton and Lincoln, Austin took advantage of my turned back and climbed right in the pool we were in the process of draining.  He was so happy.  He kept going in and out.  So cute!  Have to keep my eye on that one.  He is quick.

 



 

Water Play Date

Instead of going to the park for the usual park play date we opted to stay home and have a water play date.  The goal was to have the kids playing in the water and the mommies crafting it up.

The kids spent the majority of the day out in the yard playing in the water and having a great time.  The other part of the day they spent taking out every toy we had out.  Haha!

Payton has been asking to play with her Dora Hopscotch sprinkler thingy.  We finally pulled it out and it provided a whole 5 minutes of entertainment.  Haha!

I am happy to say that my friend Jessie and I were successful in making one or more shirts each during our play date.  Yay!

I am so grateful to have talented friends that I can learn from.  I would never have even tried to make a shirt on my own but with Jessie's help I ended up making two!

The kids played in the water all day and still wanted to run through the sprinklers when they came on to water the lawn.  Why not?  Lots of giggling coming from these two.

Dance Class

I love this picture!  Not too bad for an iPhone.

This is Payton's second dance class and so far she loves it.  I think she is a little like me.  If you tell me to go and dance I just stand there like an idiot not knowing what to do.  On the other hand, if you give me a routine I can do it. At the beginning of each class the teacher will give the girls a ribbon or some kind of prop and have them dance around the room.  Payton basically just stands there or sways back and forth while the other girls twirl and leap around.  I did catch her twirling around a few times and it was so incredibly cute I just wanted to cry.

Park Day

Today the kids jumped on their scooters and we headed to the park.  I was impressed, this is really the farthest they have ever gone on their scooters.  Should have warned them about the hill.  Hee Hee!

Doesn't it look Lincoln is having a blast?  Ha Ha!  No really I think they had a great time.  We met up with some friends and the kids had fun playing together and I got to hold a tiny newborn.  :o)

I thought this was fun  I got a picture of Payton pushing Austin on the swings and remembered taking a similar picture of her pushing Lincoln when he was little.  In these pictures Lincoln is about 10 months and Austin is 11 months.  I can't believe how big Payton has gotten.  I can't believe how big Lincoln has gotten.  Geez, I need to put bricks on their heads.

Papa Don's Birthday Celebration

Payton won a little parachute guy at a birthday party she went to and Lincoln desperately wanted one.  So Dave fashioned a parachute for Lincoln out of a handkerchief, string, and his Spiderman toy.  After Payton saw Lincoln's parachuting Spiderman her little parachuting guy just didn't cut it so Dave fashioned a parachuting Fluttershy.  Fun times!

Mom and Dad came over for a little birthday celebration.  Dad turned 62 this year.  Wow!  With Jen out of town I had to step up and make the cupcakes.  I am not bragging or anything but Dad had two cupcakes.  Just sayin'.  Haha!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Kids Love Soccer - Day 1

The is the day Dave has been waiting for, Payton and Lincoln had their first day of soccer.  We spent the morning getting them set up with cleats, shin guards, soccer socks, and athletic clothing.

Both kids appeared to be VERY excited.

Payton's class was first.  Turns out she is a bit sensitive.  Haha!  Let me start off by saying that this program is very cool.  The coaches are great with the kids and I think they have come up with some great games to help teach the kids different soccer skills.  The first game they played was kind of like tag.  The kids were suppose to run around the field and the coach would try and kick the ball to their feet, if he hit their feet they were supposed to grab a ball and try to "tag" the other kids until they all had a ball.  As soon as the coach blew the whistle to start Payton started crying and ran back to me.  What?  She had a hard time throughout the class.  She would do a really well during one game and then break down during the next.  Hopefully next week will be better.

There is a class between Payton and Lincoln's classes so we went out and kicked the ball around in an adjoining field.  I love Lincoln's action shots.

Not sure if Lincoln was just tired or taking a cue from Payton but he did NOT want to go to his class.  So the coaches invited me and Payton to join his class.  Fortunately, it only took him a couple of minutes to warm up to the coaches.  He had so much fun...and so did Payton.

Outdoor movie night at the Wunderli's

Today has been a crazy busy day.  Lots and lots of errands.  But on a good note we found Lincoln a pair of shoes that he is super excited about.  Take a look at his new Spiderman kicks.  They also came with black lace covers.  He is over the moon excited about these.

My friend Ela and I have been planning an outdoor movie night with our friends from church.  It turned out being a much smaller group than anticipated but a fun group none the less. 

We started the evening off with a dinner potluck, then smores around the fire pit, a small movie trivia game, and lastly the movie and popcorn.  The movie selected was Mary Poppins.

The kids had a blast running around playing before the movie started.  I think all of the kids ended up having a variety of chips for dinner.  Haha!

Austin was one busy boy.  He was all over the place stealing chips, popcorn whatever he could find that was left within his reach.


I brought our camera to take pictures of the evenings festivities only to find out that I left the memory card at home.  Boo!  I took what I could on my phone and thankfully got the rest of the pictures from Ela.

 

Such a fun night!

Breakfast

I have been reading the 5 Love Languages: Children's Edition and it has been a real eye opener.  It has opened my eyes to how I can better show love to my kids.  Which is awesome!  However, in reading about the different love languages I have also become very conscious of what I say, how I say it, and what my body language is like when I am saying it.  Yikes!  It is very overwhelming.

Anyway, today I was reading about the Love Language, Acts of Service.  It was talking about how it is good for children to be independent and to learn to do things on their own but that it is also important to be there to help when asked.  Not only to just help but to do so happily and not begrudgingly.  And that by helping your child you aren't preventing them from becoming independent  or responsible but your are filling their love tank.  I hope that makes sense.

It made me think of all the times Lincoln asks for help doing something that I know he can do on his own because he usually does them every day.  It could be anything, getting dressed, going to the bathroom, brushing his teeth, picking up the plate of food that he dropped all over the floor...  More often that not I get annoyed when he asks for help with things I know he can do and should be doing on his own.  Depending on the day I may or may not help and if I do help I act just how I feel, annoyed.  Ick.

The book talks about how it is important to love your children in all the love languages.  It is hard to figure out what a child's primary love language is when they are young and you want to ensure their love tanks are full.  So they said by providing these kind of acts of service you will also be getting points with the love language of quality time. 

As you can tell the gym was a place of deep reflection today. :o)

When I got home from the gym I thought instead of me making breakfast for the kids I would have them make their own, with my help.  I have to admit it was fun watching them.  They were so excited to be doing things on their own and for themselves.  There was a lot of giggling.

Yay Momma!  You hit Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, and Quality Time all in one.  Love tanks full, check!

I was excited to capture these gems today.  I usually get great facial expressions from Lincoln but today Payton stepped up to the plate and served me these beauties.  Enjoy!

Twisty Ties

My mom came to visit for a little while today and Payton and Lincoln had to show her their skills with the bow and arrow.  Mom couldn't help herself and had to try out their way cool bows.  Haha!  I wish I had taken a video of mom and I trying to shoot.  Both Payton and Lincoln did great, while mom and I had several tries where the arrow didn't even leave the guide on the bow.  Yup, pulled back the string and let her go and the arrow didn't move.  It is really embarrassing when a 3 and 5 year old show you up.

 

Look at this guy!  He is pulling himself all over the place.  Things now need to be placed just a little higher.

Payton and Lincoln were very into playing with their costumes today.  This was their second costume change.  I especially like the fairy wings on Lincoln.  Haha!  That was Payton's touch, she originally brought the wings out for me to wear but I was afraid I was going to break the straps.  And she really wanted someone to wear them.

Sometimes it is amazing what will entertain the kids.  Today it was a bunch of twisty ties they found.  They spent at least 30 minutes folding each twisty tie into a "bead" and when asked what they were going to do with them they said they were going to make bracelets.  Very creative!

Dance Class

I love summer time!  I love that for the most part we can decide what we want to do and when.  Today we decided to go to the pool.  The kids LOVE being in the water, even wee little Austin.  I am so grateful when Mamo Michelle and Auntie Ashley meet us at the pool.  One adult for every kiddo are a lot better odds than 1 adult for 3 kiddos.

Payton started Ballet class at a new place today.  She was so excited and telling everyone about it, even the lifeguards at the pool.  She is especially excited to be taking the class with two of her good friends, Janey and Sadie.  They are all so cute in their dance leotards.

Tonight was Cooking Group.  The topic was Summer dinners.  I was hoping to get some ideas for meals that are easy, quick, and do not involve turning on the oven.  After a little thinking and receiving a few emails with ideas I came up with four categories salads, sandwiches/wraps, pasta, and smoothies.  In preparation for the evening I made two salads that my mom makes that I love (a fruit salad, and a regular veggie one with chicken), a Panini, a tuna wrap, and a pesto pasta dish.  All of them were so yummy. 

As I was putting everything together I kept thinking to myself why do I have such a hard time thinking of things to have for dinner.  I came up with 5 things for cooking group and prepared them all in an hour and a half.  I should be able to do this no problem and yet we end up having pancakes or cereal.  Haha!  Oh well.

Can we play school?

Payton loves school and always wants to play "school".  So this morning we read, learned how to recognize "A" and "B", the sound they make, and how to write those letters.  Since Lincoln really has no interest in learning his letters and numbers we have to get really creative in getting him to participate.  When you ask him, "What letter is this?"  He looks at you with this adorable and confused look and says, "What?" or "What number is that again?"  His teachers are going to have their hands full.  Haha!

To get him to trying writing the letters we rolled out a big sheet of butcher paper and handed out markers.  The instructions were to only write on the paper...in all fairness Austin was on the paper...

For letter and sound recognition we put "A" on one box and a "B" on another and took turns throwing bean bags into the box that had a certain letter on it or that had a letter that sounded like "?".  When they got tired to that we took it outside and put and "A" on a little plastic chair and then put a "B" on the other and had them shoot at the chair with the letter that matched the question we were asking. 

It is scary how good Lincoln is at shooting his bow and arrow ("A" for arrow and "B" for bow).  ;O)

After prayers and before the kids got into bed they started doing summersaults and all kinds of crazy "tricks".  I decided to show them how to stand on their heads.  It was pretty comical, they were falling all over the place.  I did manage to snap a couple of photos of them standing on their heads supported by the couch.  Cutie pies!

Fourth of July

We decided the Fourth of July needed to a more laid back day because of going to Disneyland yesterday.  Here are a few highlights from the day.

Pretty Pretty Princess.  I am not sure who brought this game but it was a popular game amongst all the kids...and Preston. 

There was one point this morning when I remember hearing Ethan crying from the bedroom.  When Jen went back to check on him I heard him cry, "I want to play Pretty Pretty Princess but Lincoln won't let me."  I had to try really hard to stifle my giggles.  :o)

Michelle brought this cute little romper to give to us for Austin to wear.  I guess this little outfit belonged to Dave when he was a wee one.  He had his one year old pictures taken in it.  So cute!  I would love to see the picture of Dave in the romper. 

 

It was evident when Michelle and I went for our walk in the morning that going to hang out on the beach was going to be a bad idea.  It looked like people had camped out all night to reserve their spots.  It was crazy how many people were out so early in the morning.  Fortunately, there is a pool at the condo that we can hang out and swim in.

 

After the pool and before dinner these planes flew back and forth right over the condo.  It was cool to watch them in such a tight formation.

 

After, dinner we decided to take a stroll down to the beach, just to see what was going on.  Payton spotted the cotton candy stand right away and asked if she could get some.  She was so funny and wanted to do all the talking and money giving.

After just a little while on the beach we decided to head back up the hill and head to the frozen yogurt place again.You can't have the Forth of July without ice cream.

 

 

The firework show was awesome.  I watched it from the balcony of the condo and enjoyed it a bunch.

 



What a great day!