To each his own.

Now that we've been in our house for 3 years, it's safe to say we have our favorite local haunts pegged down, and Higgy's ice cream parlor is a slam dunk. Everyone loves the Blue Moon flavor best, and Nolan certainly has his own style with his ice cream cone.

So, it was a no-brainer today what kind of ice cream cake to order for his birthday party next weekend. He is gonna love it!

I can't believe my baby is turning TWO! Slow down time...

"Yes, Really."

After we left the Lake last weekend, we ended up at an awesome park on Lake Loveland.

Nolan had his first tire swing experience.

...

I don't know who had more fun!

Big brother cracked us up, and drew a few onlookers, while "meditating" again.

Then we headed to Bryan's favorite restaurant for dinner {Oskar Blues} for "homemade liquids and solids."

{I love this man-child!}

They have this new "cool" thing where they don't look at the camera when I'm taking their picture... they can't be bothered.

{Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum, Frick and Frack, Peas and Carrots...}

Warren ordered muscles, as he is known to do when he sees them on a menu.  We have strange eaters, I know. The kids menu holds no luster with them... never has.

But when the wait staff (not our original waiter) brought them to our table and we motioned to this hooded little bandit, he said "really?"

To which we chuckled and replied "Yes, Really."

I myself went for the cheese grits and shrimp and didn't look back.  So. Good.

When can we do it all again?

I am such a sucker for...

Blondie Curls...

A Farmer's Tan...

And a naked little booty scootin' along!

Still need to share the rest of our 4th of July Weekend pictures.

Our schedule/pace this week has been a bit... grueling to say the least. Swim lessons every morning are great, just lots of extra energy expended for me first thing. Thinking a little cross town drive today is in order to deliver this:

{The high chair is done!}

It turned out pretty good, I mean I'm sure I did at least 10 things wrong, but all in all I love the end result and am so happy to be gifting it to a good friend for her super cute and aptly vintage named little girl :)

So, on a totally different topic I have a sinking feeling that I am not pregnant yet again this month. And I found myself the other day reading about "secondary infertility." I know, I know, cry me a river we already have three beautiful perfectly healthy kids. But I WANT another. Just one more, and the elusiveness of it hurts no matter what. We did get pregnant in December and I was SO incredibly elated, literally floating for those first 6 weeks until the ultrasounds started... All in all we have been trying for just over a year, and I'm not even sure how a miscarriage factors into whether or not we are dealing with infertility. Blah. I'm thinking a doctor's appointment is in order very soon if in fact this month is another bust.

Super Spry on the Fly for the 4th of July!

Yesterday at about 11am we decided to pack up and head to Boyd Lake State Park for the day. Brace yourself for picture overload of us at the swim beach. I was in absolute nostalgic heaven at a lake like my childhood Summers in Anchorage spent hanging out at Jewell and Sand Lakes.

The boys LOVED it!

[Would you could you eat them at the beach?  Oh yes, Jack loves pickles here and there and everywhere!]

[Nolan was so focused and entranced with his tractor in the sand for HOURS.]

[Warren found a huge piece of driftwood that quickly became a machine gun.]

[Saying "whooosh" for his tractor.]

[Making a sand castle.]

[Mama even handed off the camera to help.]

[Of course we needed a huge mote too!]

[And that mote had to be filled and refilled and refilled throughout the day.]

[What a fun scene etched into my memory bank of my babies' childhoods!]

[And I'm so glad that I occasionally step out from behind the camera to just play...]

[...And watch all the silliness that goes on with these three.]

[Because there is certainly no lack of silliness, right?]

[Oh my I wish I could accurately convey how much fun Nolan had.  It was truly priceless and contageous.]

[Mini Mr. Muscles lugging "three waves of water" to the mote.]

[The original Mr. Muscles, pushing Nolan in the dump truck.]

[And flexing his brawn carrying the bucket.]

[Mama and her sandy, sun-kissed, tired, happy boys!]

We left the house at 11:30am for this last minute impromptu adventure, and I even fed my family a big healthy lunch before heading out so that dinner would be the only meal we ate out.... speaking of which, there is much more to this outing coming in a second post, since this one just about takes the cake for picture overload!

Last Weekend

Warren had one of his very best friends spend the night last weekend.

We loaded up and went to see Cars 2 early Friday evening, me, Bryan, four boys and at least as many Nerf guns.

Movie was good, and we discovered the winning combination of Junior Mints and popcorn in the same bite. Then we burst back out of the theater into the daylight for dinner outside at a restaurant patio. Kids were not too hungry, so they mostly sat on the sidelines "meditating" while Bryan and I ate and took turns herding Nolan back to our table.

After dinner it was getting dark, but that didn't stop them from getting completely drenched in the splash pad near the restaurant, carrying on like the wild men that they are until the shivering overcame the fun of it all.

Back home for a Daddy-assisted ghost hunt in the basement with flashlights, a real pillow fight, and finally passing out minutes before their goal of midnight. :)

We were all moving super slow the next day and enjoyed the company of Warren's buddy until late afternoon.

The next day we finally hit up a local outdoor pool we found a couple weeks ago. This is such a gem spot with a big pond and park in addition to the pool.

[the sky was unreal blue, not a cloud to be seen]

[stopped for a minute on this swing while waiting for the pool to open at 1]

[LOVE my new swim suit by Reebok.  Nolan and I kept coming back to the hot pavement at the pool to warm up like lizards after splashing in the fountains and spray features.]

[big pond with covered "island" thing you can walk out to.]

The longer we live here in Westminster, the more we love it.  So much to do!

This week has been busy as usual.  Warren had an orthodontist appointment Monday, all is going well there, his appliance will now sit for a while for the bone to grow in where his palette has been expanded.  Looking good!  He has also been going to Speed and Agility Camp all week, which he is loving and the energy release is doing him good.  We went to Jumpin' Jordy's bounce house yesterday and everyone, including Nolan, jumped their hearts out and had a blast. 

We are still working diligently each day on our Summer workbooks etc.  On Monday night Warren confessed that he hadn't actually read the material for his comprehension lesson that day, but rather had just read the questions and then went hunting for the answers.... SO, that was my clue to give that workbook a rest for a little while and switch it up with his Money workbook.  We started yesterday by first making a chart for him to know the names and values of the coins (I spilled coffee on it, oops!).  He has already done several sheets in the workbook now and is adding coins together already!  Crazy how fast kids pick stuff up, he is so smart! 

Jack learned all about Great White Sharks yesterday, and it just makes me so happy when something peaks their interest and they are excited to learn!

It's funny to me that when I started this blog in 2008 I kinda wondered what on Earth I would write about, thinking there would most likely be weeks or months when I didn't have anything to update on... and now I feel compelled to record even the mundane minutia that is my day to day life.  I love reading a few other blogs that inspire me and the kids love to see pictures from their normal everyday life on display.  It makes them feel so special.  They often ask me to "take a picture and put it on the computer" when they are doing things.  I just printed our third "blog book" where I document each year by printing the last 365 days of posts into a beautiful hard back book.  We will have a library of these for our kids and for us to pour over many years from now... love that! 

as we speak

Editing away from a session this morning...

{Cuteness squared. These babes have a special place in my heart.}

{The pigtails and the freckles slay me... this girl is not to be outdone by her little siblings. She has the looks and personality that just make her appear lit from within.}

{Maybe my new favorite baby pose for that stage where they are just sitting up and starting to crawl.}

{Tutu cute! *sigh* She was such a little model, I have nearly 300 pictures to sort through off my memory card. Gonna be hard to hit delete at all...}

Day dreaming about this camera, which I will hopefully have for my next shoot (been saving and saving and saving up)...

Listening as Bryan and the boys set up their "new" bunk beds upstairs (we LOVE Craig's List!!)...

Excited to share pictures and details from Warren's sleepover last night (included a movie, "meditation", ice cream, after dark rendezvous at the splash pad, ghost hunting, and finally passing out just shy of midnight!)...

So happy that we got this weeks' grocery shopping out of the way (we ALL went to the stores just as we always do) and will be eating delicious healthy fresh food all week and going to a local outdoor pool every day...

So. Incredibly. Happy.

Hodgepodge

Warren finally got buzzed for the Summer. He kept saying his hair hurt, which I took to mean it was too heavy and hot. Ahhh, much better! Bonus points if you can find me in this picture...

My approach to buying groceries to last exactly for the week is working perfectly. By Friday, our fridge looks like this:

...some hummus, yogurt, spinach and random beer and coke. Nice.

Every single morning, while our patio is still comfortably shaded, the boys head out and ride around,

and around, and around playing NASCAR on the various array of bikes. I have to drag them in eventually when we have stuff to do or it gets too hot. We love our patio!

dishes and laundry

When I first started staying home, there was definitely a period of time where I got all caught up in the day to day chores. I mean, I could not believe the amount of times I would wipe down the kitchen table each day, or the volume of dishes that would pass through the sink. And don't even get me started on the laundry.

Nowadays, while those same chores are very much part of each day here, the actual execution of them is automatic and I hardly even give them the courtesy of a dedicated thought. Partly because I have mostly perfected my approaches or implemented ways to minimize them as much as possible, but also mostly because I can finally see past them to the much more important things that go on around here.

...learning how to play a leisurely game of Pokemon with the cards Warren brought back from Alaska...

...letting the big boys take a drawn out "gourmet bubble bath" in our jetted tub...

...leaving the house a little early for our walk to pick up Jack, so that Warren can climb around "hometree" without being rushed...

...quite literally hanging out at the park showing off that negative percent body fat little boy six pack that makes me both envious and bewildered at how a child that eats so much can be SO skinny...

These are the things I will remember from raising my kids. 

The rest is just dishes and laundry.