ABC's of Summer

For some reason I've been feeling incredible non-creative when it comes to blogging.  I have a bajillion pictures to post and we've had lots of stuff going on, but every time I go to type it all out my mind goes blank.  But fall season is a'comin and I don't want to forget some of the memories we made this summer.  And practicing writing the letters of the alphabet with Benjamin inspired the format of this post.  A complete random, hodge-podge of summer thoughts to the ABC's.

A - Auntie Amanda.  Not only did she visit this summer for a few weeks but today is her birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!  We all love you and can't wait to see you again soon

B - Blackberries.  My boys love, love, love them.  I've only had a few because I seriously can't pick them fast enough for my two guys.  Hurry for being able to pick them for free in our neighborhood.  Yum!

 

C - Crawling.  Jonah is sooooo close and wants to crawl so bad.  It will be any.day.now.  2 mobile boys?  I'm doomed!  :-)

D - Date night.  Peter and I went on our first date without either of our two little guys.  Our friends watched them for a few hours while we had dinner, and walked around a downtown area eating gelato and drinking coffee.  So fun to spend time with my handsome hubby!

E - Energy.  I spent a huge chunk of the summer finding ways for this adorable 2 year old to burn off his endless amount of energy.  Love him.

F - Family.  We spent around 50 days this summer either enjoying family in our home or enjoying time with them in theirs.  Considering the closest family is 8 hours away, it's a big reason why our summer was full, busy, and blessed.  Wonderful memories.

G - Garage sales.  Benjamin quickly learned how fun it was to garage sale on Friday morning so Mommy could find him "something special".  I just love finding a good deal, so going to garage sales is one of my fav summer activities.  Here's Ben and Jonah enjoying one of the fun deals I found for $2.

H - Hugs.  I will always remember this because when I told Benjamin I wanted to take a picture of him and Jonah, he immediately wanted to sit behind him so he could wrap him up in a hug.  Too.stinkin.precious.

I - Ice cream.  You gotta have it in summer right? 

J - Just Us.  Last weekend we had a lazy Saturday morning complete with pancakes, bacon and eggs.  We stayed in our pj's and enjoyed sweet time as our family of four.

 

K - Knute.  Storytime with Uncle Knute is the best!

L - Legos.  Just the best daddy in the world building lego busses with the cutest 2 year old I know.

Pete is cute even with his eyes closed!

 

M - Micah.  Benjamin just adores his best little buddy.  They fight like brothers too, but Benjamin always wants to "go see his friend".  We tried to let them hang out as much as they could during the busy summer

N - Nighttime routine.  We love stories before bed in this household

O - Overtime.  Peter has worked quite.a.bit of overtime this summer.  It's made for some looongish stretches at times, but I love how hardworking he is.  Though to be honest, sometimes the crazy hours make us both feel like this....

P - Pajamas.  On the rare day where we didn't have somewhere to be, we most likely spent the day playing at home in our pajamas.  The other day I went to get Benjamin in the morning and I had a fleece jacket over my t-shirt and pajama pants because it was a little chilly in the morning.....Benjamin sees my jacket and immediately asks "where are we going???"  Note to self:  get dressed before the kiddos wake up at least once a week, ha ha.

Q - Quiet time.  Quiet time doesn't really exist in my house but we did have some quiet playtime one morning when the boys played and read in their "fort"

R - Redecorating.  I decided to make the little cubby under our stairs into a fun "tunnel" as Benjamin calls it.  I'll post more pics of this later.

S - Slides & Swings & Sunshine.  We spent a lot of time in our backyard, at the park, and anywhere we could enjoy the summer sun.  Because we Oregonians know the "reason why our grass stays so green" is coming quicker than we want it to.  I have such great memories being outdoors with my cuties

T - Trouble.  It certainly wouldn't be a summer with a two year old without a little bit of trouble now would it???

U - Undressed.  Oh how I love my sun kissed, blond haired, blue eyed, cuties in all their glory in the tub.

V - Vivaldi.  Okay, so it probably wasn't classical music but he sure did like it anyway.

W - Wishing time would just slow down.  Sometimes I'm so taken back by how fast my boys are growing up.  Cue.the.crocodile.tears.

X - X-tra large hat on a little cute baby.  A-dor-able.

Y - Youth group.  Our summer ending/fall kickoff event has happened and we're back to bi-weekly events.  Praying God works in big ways again this year.

 

Z - Zero.  Zero things on this earth are more precious than these three boys.  They make my summer and my life so full of blessings.

 



Auntie Amanda

It's about time I post a few pictures of when my sister was here for a visit seeing as how it happened a few weeks ago now!  She's known as "Auntie Amanda" in our house and she stayed with us for 2 weeks.  It was a wonderful mix of relaxation with a sister you've had 20+ years of inside jokes with, and doing fun activities around the area. 

We went to all the local garage sales and found some great deals.  I love going to garage sales with her, we can "divide and conquer" and find all the great deals, ha!

We went to the Portland Childrens museum one day and had a great time.  We will definetly get an annual pass to that place when she *finally* moves here one day.  Benjamin took a while to warm up to the activities because there were quite a few kids, but once it cleared up a bit during lunch time he was all about it!  He loved playing with his Auntie Amanda!

We hit up Five Guys for lunch (soooo good!), and may or may not have brought a slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory home for dessert that night.  We did a bit of shopping at IKEA too.  The boys were so great the whole time, it was a wonderful day.

Amanda came along for our first EPIC youth group event (never ending pasta bowl is a convincing argument, ha!)  We also went to a free concert one Sunday evening. 

 

We went to the library, played at the park, made frozen sliced peaches, had a "sister" dinner out one night......the boys loved having her around and so did I.  It was very sad to take her to the airport.  You know I miss you sis', coming back soon????