Summer Days

Welcome to another special edition of: A Series of Unrelated Pictures from My Phone! First up, Eli and Carson being crazy monkeys one Sunday morning:

We just discovered this awesome store right by our house that has super cute cars attached to the shopping cart and free Smarties at the end of every trip. My kids sob when it's time to leave.

Instagrepeat. As I said there, "I think I gave birth to a leprechaun."

A cute picture that fell between the cracks and didn't ever make it onto my 4th of July post.

Black Bean Soup. A family favorite. Doubles as finger paint when you're full.

Carson loves to sit in my closet and watch me get ready in the mornings.

 On a walk to feed the ducks! I love this place.

Carson naturally thought we were trying to feed him when we handed him pieces of bread. When he realized the bread was actually for the ducks, he pulled the bread out of his mouth to share with his new feathered friends.

Eli at the park. His new favorite thing is to make me sand pancakes/waffles/cookies. It's darling.

An arty afternoon.

One time they played nicely together with cars. Eli has a very hard time seeing Carson play with any of his cars, but this day he was alright with it. And they were precious together.

Eli loves pushing Carson around. In the umbrella stroller.

Beating the heat means lots of evenings of hosed down kids.

Carson has completely taken possession of Eli's PlasmaCar. He's getting pretty quick!

Eli prefers his trusty trike.

 :)

Baby blue eyes! Does anyone else think it looks like Carson is stuck in the cement? 

We're having a fun time in this warm weather. Summer, stay forever.

The Nature Cure

Lately there’s a common theme,

Running through our house.

Make a little brother scream,

Giggle at the rouse.

Smack a brother in the head,

Bite each other's feet.

Fight each night to go to bed,

Run straight for the street.

Kicking walls and splatting food,

Two boys finding trouble.

Puts mom in a fiesty mood,

Making her blood bubble.

Approaching insanity,

Mom has had enough!

Gotta get out of this city,

Go explore the rough!

Cramped up in the house all day,

It’s starting to show.

Follow me kids, right this way.

On a hike we go!

We step in the wilderness,

Freedom fills our veins.

Shocked by their obedience,

Wandering terrain.

Single file line uphill,

Eli takes the lead.

Carson hikes with his strong will,

Happy to proceed.

With boys in their element,

I see this is good.

No more brotherly torment,

Just dirt, rocks and wood.

A smile crept onto my face.

Everyone was happy.

The boys willingly embraced --

Not to get too sappy.

If your kids are getting wild,

And if your kids are boys,

They might be a bit more mild,

If you remove the toys.

And wander in the forest,

Wherever it may be.

For a little family quest,

And some serenity.

Fired Up For Fireworks

In continuation of the last post, Jacob's family came to visit! I love when the boys huddle around my parents' coffee table with their cars.

Natalie started tattooing the kids in preparation of the big fireworks show that night.

Claire just about killed me with her cuteness. I may start putting headbands on Eli and Carson. And dresses.

Natalie started getting a little more business, so she opened up a makeshift tattoo parlor in the bathroom.

It's important to document every time my dad holds a baby because it doesn't happen too often. I love this picture.

Off to the show!

My kids were the only ones who had to run away every opportunity they had. Their escaping made me question my parenting. How do people prevent their kids from running away in public atmospheres?!? I need tips.

Becky and her kids dancing to Y-M-C-A.

Carson being totally exhausted. Every year I swear I will never drag my kids out to fireworks again because it is toddler torture, but then every year I find myself braving the tantrums in the name of celebrating my independence.

We are a family.

Beinerschnitzel came to town.

The one time Carson sat still for more than one minute. Cutie.

See. He's back on the move.

The next day we had the Thomas Family and the Golden Family over for a pool party and home fireworks show! I had put water in our kiddie pool early that day so it wouldn't be cold for them. It was basically a hot tub by the time our guests arrived.

Jeff made an awesome sprinkler out of PVC pipes.

The hot tub was the place to be.

Luckily I had a humongous cooler I was keeping at my house in preparation of girls' camp the next week. I took the opportunity to fill the cooler up with water balloons.

The water balloon package had cartoony, silly faces on the balloons. After I filled up the balloons, Eli kept opening the cooler up and asking me when the balloons would grow their faces.

Boys. And wheels.

There was a lot of trampoline  bouncing. To my surprise there were no trampoline injuries!

Jeff made us a delicious dutch oven dinner. Beef, potatoes and peach cobbler. Shout-out to the Goldens for hunting down the dutch ovens.

We opted to light our own fireworks after our late night the day before. Laurie got flags for everyone. Eli carried his around everywhere he went for a whole week after this.

All the kids were nervous about the sparklers, so Jeff showed them they weren't scary.

Then Jeff dropped the lit sparkler into a bucket of water. The sizzle got all the kids' attention and they thought that was pretty cool.

And that was just what it took to get everyone begging for sparklers. They would have Jeff light it, and then they would immediately walk over to the bucket and drop it in.

Here's my favorite picture from our party:

Happy 4th of July, and thanks for forcing me to throw a party, Jacob! :)