He's Slimming Down

So many people have been commenting on Brady and how he is getting taller and slimming down so much....

I think this picture shows it... :)

Passing Down the Good Traits

When I was growing, my mom sometimes carried more than one job just to make ends meet. She has always been a hard worker and still is to this day. She has taught me what good work ethic is all about. Here's to hoping I pass down to Anabelle what my mom has passed down to me...not only being a hard worker but also being a wonderful mommy too!

Here is Anabelle in my office at work....getting a feel of what "work" is like :)


okay...then we were goofing around a little too...posing for the camera :)...the good, fun mommy part :)

June's "Summer Camp" in Review

Each day in the summer, the kids have a different activity planned at school. They have a lot of fun and do some really cool things!

June in Review...

Monday, June 8th - Hula Hoop Contest

Brady tied with Colin for 1st place lasting a whole 3 seconds! :)

Anabelle got 4 seconds!

Tuesday, June 9th - Tie-Dye Shirt Day

(a pic of the shirts that they made are below)

Wednesday, June 10th - Make a Volcano Day

Anabelle's class each got to make their own volcano...hers was so cute. It looked like a pancake. :)

Brady's class just made one all together

Here's a pic of Anabelle's volcano...isn't it cute? ;)

Thursday, June 11th - Dress Hawaii
Brady picked out his own shirt. He saw the palm trees on it and said, "This is Hawaii mommy".
Friday, June 12th - Luau and everyone was to wear their shirts that they tie-dyed on Tuesday

Monday, June 15th - Mexican Dance Day

Tuesday, June 16th - Make Maracas

Wednesday, June 17th - Fiesta & Rollerskating Day
The school agers went roller skating on this day. They walked to the skating rink in town and roller skated. It was Belle's first time ever roller skating! :) She had a blast!

Thursday, June 18th - Dress Mexian Colors

Friday, June 19th - Pinatas
Belle missed this day because she went to work with me for Bring Your Kids to Work Day, but she made sure to tell her brother to get her some candy too! When we dropped Brady off that morning, I grabbed Belle a donut for the ride to work...courtesy of "Donuts with Dad" at school that morning. ;)

Monday, June 22nd - Make American Flags
Brady painted an American flag and it was the best one in his class! I have such good lil artists!

Tuesday, June 23rd - Baseball Day

Wednesday, June 24th - Dress Red, White, and Blue
Here they are in the morning getting ready to go to school. I saw this dress at Kohl's a couple of weeks ago and just HAD to buy it! So cute! And such a cute little model for it!

Thursday, June 25th - Parade

Friday, June 26th - Fireworks Day

Monday, June 29th - Crazy Hair Day
Kids didn't go to school this day

Tuesday, June 30th - Sports Day
Mommy forgot to look at the calendar this day to see what "day" it was, so when we got to school, I noticed that it was "Sports Day". Anabelle was of course in her little girlie clothes, but Brady actually had on his new Soccer shirt from the GAP, so at least one of the kids was in sports attire. :O)

July is in full swing now, and the kids are having so much fun at "summer camp"!!

The Innocence of a Young Child...aka...my lil man

Last night, we went to "Chooch's" (a pipefitter who Jason works with) house for a cookout. It was a really good time, and I got to meet a lot of guys that Jason works with. It is so nice to put a face with a name. :) He works with such a great bunch of guys! They all acted like brothers towards one another! It was funny to see. We brought the kids with and so did a few other pipefitters.

One guy had brought his wife, Mia, and their three kids. Their youngest daughter has down syndrome. She was playing with Brady and Anabelle on the swingset. Her speech wasn't very clear, so when Mia came over to check on her, Brady asked her, "Why does she always speak in Spanish all the time?" I just wanted to crawl under a rock! I didn't know what to say or do, but Mia, very nicely, explained to him that she was just a little different. She thought that what Brady said was just the cutest thing ever, and she said that she couldn't wait to tell her friend what Brady had said. Later that night, I apologized, and she told me to not even worry about it. They were such a nice family!

We ended up getting home at 12:30am. The kids had blast playing with the other kids. I think Anabelle had a crush on little Rocco (Chooch's son)! She was running in a little race and fell on the sidewalk getting a little scrape. The next thing you know, Rocco was bringing her out a water bottle. His mom told me that he came into the kitchen and said that he needed to get a water for a little girl who just fell...(awww!) The whole rest of the night Anabelle kept looking for him and wanted to play with him. :)

Comparing Zoo Pics

Last year...


This year...

Our Day at the Zoo

A couple of weeks ago, Jason and I took the kids to the zoo. It is one of our favorite things to do in the summertime with the kids! We sure do get lots of use out of our membership. We ended the day with the kids' favorite treat...a Spongebob popsicle.

Here are some pics of our fun day....

Mr. Polar Bear taking a nice swim to cool off

I love this pic of my lil cutie pie!

Posing in front of a dinosaur

The dinosaurs were really neat!

It won't be long before he passes her up!

Throwing money in and making a wish :)

Me and my babies

Watching the giraffes

Mr. Giraffe eating some grub

Strolling along with their daddy

She wanted her picture with the lion before we left :)

Belle's Ballet Recital - "Skater's Holiday"

A few weeks ago, Anabelle had her first ballet recital. What a long week that was with rehearsals and recitals! I was so glad that Jason switched jobs that week and was able to keep Brady while Belle and I did all of the running for the rehearsals and recitals.

The first rehearsal at the auditorium was Wednesday night from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. Thursday night was a repeat of Wednesday night. Then, the recital was on Friday and Saturday nights from 6pm-10pm. It was a looooooong week for my baby girl. She had fun getting all dressed up and putting on makeup, but she has now told me that she doesn't want to be in ballet anymore. She told me that she only wants to be in Soccer, Gymnastics, and Girl Scouts. I think the long rehearsal/recital week played a big part in her decision not to be in ballet anymore, but who knows...she could always change her mind. :)

She did really good on the recital nights with staying in the band room where all of the performers hung out. She didn't "freak out" for me! :)

All of the performers did a great job! It was so much fun to watch! The second night of the recital I was able to get front row seats for us! Our babysitter met us there the first night to watch Anabelle, and she even bought Anabelle flowers. Anabelle was so excited!

Here are some pics of the crazy, busy, fun week we had...

Skater's Holiday (Pre-Ballet)...Belle is in the middle

In the middle again


Front

The Finale...very cute idea!!

Anabelle and Jennifer...the best babysitter ever!! She even bought Anabelle pink flowers after her recital! The yellow roses were from Belle's prince...aka...her daddy :)

Us in front of her baby tree

Posing by her baby tree...the tree that Jason planted for her the year she was born :)

Anabelle and her daddy

Rehearsal night...rubbing her lipstick in

Anabelle with one of her bff's from school