June 24

Today was a great day for the zoo. We gathered up some friends, packed our lunch, and went to see some animals. Today was the first day that we have ever gone into the lorikeet cage. Every hour they feed them and then the birds will come and land on you. We just missed the feeding, but the birds were beautiful to watch.

This one started getting tired before lunch

This one was tired after lunch

And so was this one!

What a fun day for these guys at the zoo!

Another attempt with the lorikeets. These arms didn't seem to be attractive enough for the birds today

We had a great day. Neylan was asleep before we made it out of the parking lot!

June 23

Happy Father's Day

(for real this time!)

Today, we finally got around to celebrating Daddy. The boys had several presents to give and I cooked lunch (nothing fancy around here, lunch in and presents wrapped in plastic bags!)

This was the highlight! I found some time to chase the boys around and ask them a few questions about Daddy. They came up with some pretty good answers!

We love you bunches Daddy!

June 22

Nothing planned for tonight, since last night was such a long one, so we just loaded up the bikes and tried to ride across the street to the big fountain for some splash time. But, the fountain was turned off :(

So, we took our popsicles to our friend's house and had sprinkler time instead

 This bunch didn't care at all that the plans got changed!

June 21

Tonight we all went to our first drive-in movie. It was a double feature of Monsters University and Superman. The crowd was so large they were turning cars away.

We set up our chairs and got our snacks ready. These guys are dressed for the movies and are excited

We had a large group of friends that joined us, which made it more fun

Lots of boys plus lots of candy (which Cooper had stuffed all in his cheeks) equals fun!

It's time!

We made a little bed in the back of the car and finally convinced these guys to go to sleep around midnight!

June 20

Happy Birthday Neylan!!

This morning the boys had their first swim lesson of the summer. They were so excited to go see Miss Mary and get back in the water.

Once we were there, Grayson took off and never looked back. Neylan quickly realized that swim lessons weren't just for play and there was work involved. NOT his idea of a fun hour in the pool!

Grayson did a great job swimming all over and practicing his floating. I have some more pictures, but can't find the memory card at the moment :( Grayson has some big news on there, if I can ever find it

The tent got moved to Neylan's bed tonight and he loves it!!

June 19

The boys got this fun Toy Story tent for their birthdays. It goes on top of a twin bed. Grayson wanted to try it out first, even though his bed is a bit bigger. He was quite proud!

 

 

And then wanted to show us all that was inside!

 

Wow!! We had to take the tent off to get the full effect. The ENTIRE bookshelf had been wiped clean of books and toys and transferred to the tent. Not sure there could have been much sleeping going on in there. Maybe we should move the tent to someone else's bed!

June 18

A special birthday package arrived in the mail today!

Shirts and slap bracelets from our great friends who used to live in Austria. They had bought the boys these things when they were in England and saved them for their big day! How fun!!

 

 

The storm that came through on Saturday knocked down a big tree branch, so Grayson helped Daddy cut it up and bag it tonight. He had such a good time with his special job

June 17

We went to the library this morning and Grayson picked out this selection! I think he must be in the mood for something. Or he feels like it's a bit to hot around here.

 

June 16

Happy Father's Day

 

Since our big birthday party was yesterday, we didn't really get anything planned for Father's Day. So, it's going to be postponed until next week. We did however, go to Daddy's favorite ice cream shop and got him a free scoop

 

June 15

It's PARTY time!!

 

The boys picked a superhero theme for their big party this year. We found a bunch of cute ideas and planned our first destination party, at the park (because all of my mommy friends said it's much easier than party planning and cleaning your house).

 

We had a very busy week of VBS and had to put together all of the party activities at the last minute, but it got done. We were all ready to go, and then the rain came!! A bunch of rain!! Such a big storm that there was no way that this party could be outside. So, an hour and a half before the party was supposed to start, we cleaned the house threw everything in sight into a closet and prepared for 50 people to arrive shortly!! (This mama was a bit stressed and not prepared for this little change!!)

 

The boys are very blessed to have such wonderful friends to celebrate with!

 

One of the fun activities I found was superhero sand art. The kids chose between a Superman or a Batman logo and created some really cute masterpieces

 

Grayson got the pinata that he wanted (after seeing one at the adoption picnic we went to last weekend). He picked it out himself. It was quite sturdy and took quite a while to break into

 

The three cakes I made

 

Happy Birthday to you!!

I also found decorate-your-own masks. Several of the kids made some super creations

 

 Present time!! It was funny to watch the boys this year. You can see the progression as kids get older. The first year, I opened all of the gifts. The second year, I had a little more help. By the third birthday, they are pretty independent at opening. And now, for the fourth birthday, all of your friends help you open your gifts!!

The rain finally stopped at the end of the party so we could sneak out for a group picture of the boys and their super friends

 

We did it!! This party was not quite what we had in mind, but it turned out to be really cute and the kids had a blast! Maybe I'll shoot for the park next year