{ the big K }

It was a very big day here at our house as our lil' T-Man started his first day of kindergarten. T was very excited to be in a new school, interact in his new classroom, see the class pet (a turtle named Franklin), eat a school lunch in the cafeteria, meet new friends, and play with some of his old buddies at recess. Our neighbor Ron asked him how school went and he replied "Great...I met new friends!". That completely sums it up for our loveable, fun-loving guy!

Little Man on Campus - T had no problem navigating the halls on his own

Our lil' guy all grown up

{ weekly recap - July 11th-17th }

It was all about CJ since T was away at Grandma's.

We setup a car wash for our bikes in the driveway

The fun part was going through the rinse sprinkler.

Mommy let loose at the NKOTB/Back Street Boys concert with friends.

It was such a blast!

Invented a game of army bowling

Made a trip to Worlds of Fun & Oceans of Fun on a very hot day!

{ science city }

We were very blessed to receive an annual family pass to Science City for Christmas...one of the boys favorite places to explore here in the city. They literally can spend hours there, taking their sweet time at every station, building, creating, discovering, playing.

T is definitely our budding scientist and is very intrigued with anything that has to do with animals. He always spends a lot of time in the animal lab. Here he is examining each & every animal/bug specimen.

One of CJ's fav spots is the dinosaur area where he loves digging for dinosaur bones.

My two lil' scientists!

{ Snowball, Snowball, Snowball fight! }

The boys have been obsessed with this fun book lately, by the ever so funny Jimmy Fallon, so of course, the first thing that they wanted to do this morning was go and throw some snowballs of their own.

Happy & Rosy!

This smile wasn't for the camera. It is T's devilish smile knowing that he has a great opportunity to hit his mama right square with a snowball.

CJ loved the eating the snow declaring that it "tastes like sugar". The boy always has sweets on his mind!

My little snow angels

{ new year's eve celebration }

Simple celebration at home with lots of sparkling grape juice, champagne, candles & sparklers.

{ summer fun list - #77 }

{ summer fun list - #59)

CJ's 1st Horse Ride

{ summer fun list - #81)

My original idea was to dress up as superheroes for the day, but my idea turned even better when we made a visit to our local library earlier this summer. We happened to stumble across a face painting class while returning our books and T was more than happy to be one of their models. He was so excited about being Spiderman & was not shy about acting the part - in the grocery store, the pharmacy, at home, etc. He insisted on keeping the makeup on the entire day - even during his baseball game later that night. :)

{ summer fun list - #43 }

Our town throws a fabulous small-town Fourth of July parade every year, and lucky for us, the parade starts at the entrance of our neighborhood so we don't have far to venture. As usual, we geared up in lots of red, white & blue, and watched the parade with lots of our friends & neighbors. This year, the parade was loaded with lots of free give-outs, i.e. beads, recycling bags, t-shirts, oscar meyer weiner whistles, bottled water, tons & tons of candy, and ultra-cool headbands.

{ summer fun list - #5 }

I just love that my boys are lil' book worms!

(2006) The Hello-Goodbye Window - Juster-Raschka

(2003) My Friend Rabbit - Rohmann

(2002) The Three Pigs - Wiesner

(1997) Golem - Wisniewski

(1995) Smoky Night - Bunting-Diaz

(1992) Tuesday - Wiesner

(1989) Song and Dance Man - Ackerman-Gammell

(1986) The Polar Express - Van Allsburg

(1982) Jumanji - Van Allsburg

(1976) Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears - Aardema-Dillon

(1972) One Fine Day - Hogrogian

(1964) Where the Wild Things Are - Sendak

(1958) Time of Wonder - McCloskey

(1957) A Tree is Nice - Udry-Simont

(1954) Madeline's Rescue - Bernelmans

(1953) The Biggest Bear - Ward *

(1952) Finders Keepers - Will

(1947) The Little Island - Brown-Weisgard

(1945) Prayer for a Child - Field-Jones

(1943) The Little House - Burton

* One of our new favorites - such a heart-warming book for my animal-loving boys.

{ summer fun list - #3 }

One of the best ways to quickly cool off in the sticky, summer heat is to have a quick jaunt in one of the many water splash parks around the area. They are always a big hit with the boys!!!

{ we're back with our summer fun list }

We're back online, finally, and have lots of fun pics/stories to share! At the beginning of the summer, the boys & I created a "Summer Fun List" filled with 100 simple & fun things to do over the summer. We have crossed off a lot of things off our list so far and have documented the entire project with the hopes of creating a digital photo scrapbook at the end. Here's just a sneak peek...many more to follow.

{ my superhero boys }

The boys love opening up our dress-up trunk and getting dressed in all of their superhero attire. I just love watching them running around the house, battling the bad guys and saving the day!

{ V-Day fun }

The boys & I had a great week filled with lots & lots of hearts, friends, yummy treats, hundreds of "I Love You"s and loads of Valentine's Day fun. Here is a sampling of our {heart} day activities...

CJ is quite the multi-tasker
Easy (and way less messy) way to stamp with sponges. Cut your design out of a sponge and attach a wine cork to the sponge with hot glue. I bought a big bag of various sized sponges at Dollar General for $1 and we use them for lots of crafts & fun activities.
Easy painting activity incorporating the alphabet and Valentine's Day
Thumbprint clay magnets made for the grandparents
Yummy sweet treats made for all of our friends. Click here for the recipe.

{ happy belated Valentine's Day }

My true loves...my boys

I just love this photo booth picture of the two of us taken last month at the Slowdown in Omaha. J surprised me by taking me to see Brandi Carlile, one of our favorite singers/songwriters. One word sums it all up...AMAZING! Amazing voice, amazing show, amazing venue, amazing opening act. Her show was one-in-a-million...and I have a one-in-a-million husband!!

My lil' Valentines

{ happy birthday CJ }

It is hard to imagine that my baby CJ turns (2) today.  I can remember every last detail of the day he was born in 2008 and have cherished every day with him since.  Since he was born he has been the most cuddly little being that I have ever encountered.  Always cuddling in your arms, giving hugs, or nestled close in your lap.  Even when I put him to bed tonight, he just melted in my arms like he did when he was a little baby, except now he can says "wuv u" over & over again when he looks up in my eyes.  These three pictures taken just a month ago definitely capture his personality...sweet, ornery,  and oh, so cute!!!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my little CJ!!!  

{ sneak attack }

These days we can never turn our backs for a quick second as this is what happens...


The night these pictures were taken, CJ decided to get BACK into the tub after J had gotten him out of the tub for the first time, got him completely dried off and put his pj's on for the night. What can I say...the boy loves his baths!!!