A Little Summer Summary

We moved.

Chuck e Cheeses with friends!

4th of July on the beach with Grampa.

Locke made friends with the baby in the mirror.

We watched caterpillars turn to butterflies and then watched them fly away.

Craft days with friends.

Family trip to Vegas

We discover Coconut Bliss. SO YUMMY!

Locke learns how to make a mess.

More beach.

Locke gets his first diaper rash.

lots o' love

Sees her first pelican!

Many library trips.

HQ learned she can bury herself in the sand.

OK.. so we love the beach :)

Izzy learned to boogie board!

Beach showers!

Doctor appointments.

Izzy finds out she has to get poked with needles (blood and TB testing) before she starts 1st grade.

Don't worry! She survived.

Picnics.

Weddings!

HQ learned how to get her own breakfast...

LOTS of swimming. Yes, Ty is wearing a Hello Kitty towel too. 

We also had family visit from Minnesota, birthday parties, and a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Summer went by so fast!

Picture Day

It was picture day for the girls at Hope. Izzy's Grammy purchased a fancy little outfit for her and Izzy felt pretty special the whole time she wore it. You can't beat hot pink and bows! In true little sister fashion HQ wore a cute little hand me down party dress. 

So happy about picture day! I think he looks a lot like Ty's dad in this picture. 

Ready for her picture... with Hello Kitty.
She demanded that she wear her little purple chucks with her dress.
Of course while taking her picture she lifted up her dress revealing her bellybutton. They ended up just cropping the photo. 

Posing. Izzy found this headband at the bottom of her toy box. She's so posh. 

After pictures we met up with a group of fellow homeschool moms at a nearby playplace.
We really enjoyed the time/fellowship together and the girls loved playing with all their little friends. 

Doing some writing review with Scarlett.

Izzy added cashier to the list of things she will be when she grows up. She said it's because that's the job where people hand you the most money and she will need that money to give to the poor. I explained to her that the cashiers don't get to keep all the money handed to them. She then decided that cashiers have the weirdest job.

The girls drawing while I read to them. :)

More Fun Than Disneyland

Little Locke only allowed me to sleep for a total 3 hours last night. For some reason he just wanted to play! Anyway, that meant a slow start for me this morning.  

Izzy had another tennis lesson at 4pm today. She was so excited for her second lesson she put on her pink tennis outfit the moment she woke up. She then walked around with her racket the majority of the day and even took it to bed with her. She said she thought tennis was even more fun than Disneyland. Big words coming from a 5 year old! 

In her tennis outfit working on her homework.

Part of Izzy's homework was to make animal shapes out of her pattern blocks.
I thought this was awesome! It got her to solve problems, think, group, count, etc while really enjoying it. 

HQ asked me to read Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? about a dozen times today giggling at the same spots every time. The only thing that ended up distracting her from the book was the promise of lunch. She's totally a little Ty. :)

I made Locke spinach for the first time tonight. I figured he wouldn't really like it as most don't the first time they try it, but he gobbled it down so fast I had to get him seconds! It also made a pretty funny looking green beard/mustache combo on his fat little face. Healthy and funny. Win Win!

As I was putting laundry away tonight I realized Locke no longer fit in his 6 month clothing. I can't believe I am already putting stuff into boxes that he can no longer fit in. Where has the time gone?! I can very vividly remember setting out his little newborn size jammies (which were a little baggy) the night I went into labor with him and now he wouldn't even be able to fit one of his chubby arms in them.

I am so blessed to be able to enjoy all this time with my kids!

Oh, Vikings

Leaving for church. Izzy is explaining to HQ  which buttons do what in the elevator.
HQ didn't care. She still wanted to push the red one.

After church today we headed to my parents house for football. It was the first game of the season for The Vikings. It started off great! But it didn't end so hot. I should have realized we were going to lose since Locke had peed all over his Vikings onesie this morning... Bring in Chris Ponder please. I believe he will do much better than McNabb. Anyway, we still enjoyed hanging out there.
 

My dad made sure he grabbed a football for Locke to play with.

 Izzy has turned into quite a great little Vikings' cheerleader. She would clap and cheer for them almost as loud as my brothers. She said she especially liked them since they wore purple.

"Do you think the Vikings watched the move Rio?" She asked.
My brother responded with, "They must have been watching Rio instead of practicing..."

My oldest brother playing with Izzy.
They made a group of "evil toys" that would do horrible things like rob banks, sit on people, and double dip their chips. 

HQ likes playing with that race car toy. It makes a "vroom" sound that causes her brother to laugh.
Both the girls LOVE to make him laugh. 

We got home just before bedtime tonight. It left only enough time for a round of Simon Says. Izzy is almost flawless at that game. It's also a great way to get her to do some stuff around the house. "Simon says: Clean up all the blue toys!" And she does it even quicker than when normally asked. Hehe!

Well, Ty and I are going to try to get a movie or game in before our "old" and "tired" selves fall asleep.

First Tennis Lesson

I woke up to gloom and thunder which made me ridiculously giddy this morning. After having a couple of pretty stinking hot days I was especially happy to get a taste of fall! The gloom ended up burning off around lunch time. Oh well!

I'm crazy about this little guy!!!

My mom reading some Dr. Seuss (one of their favorite authors of course) to the girls.
Check out the look on HQ's face. She gets very into the story!

Izzy was very excited about her tennis lesson today. She actually wanted to wear he tennis outfit to bed last night. She settled for being able to put it on early today.

Ready for tennis lessons!

She was bummed she couldn't fit into the car. Especially since it matched her outfit.

Izzy was the only kid in her age range today so she got a private lesson. She didn't mind. Her coach was a lot fun, but she does look forward to having some kids with her next time. She LOVED practicing the backhand the most. It came the most natural to her. She was already hitting the ball over the net with very little trouble within the first 20 minutes.

I thought this was cool. As I was taking this pic my phone rang, causing the waves.

Looking quite proud of herself at the end of her lesson.

"Oh, Mom! Tennis is so fun and easy! Well, maybe it will be harder when I am playing with someone for real."

HQ and Locke stayed home with Ty while Izzy and I went to tennis. When we came home we walked in on HQ and Ty singing along with Hello Kitty.

Oh, HQ. 

Tonight Izzy asked me if we could work out together. I don't ever push her to "work out". She knows I like to, so it's more of a bonding thing I suppose. She usually just likes to play around with the small free weights (and dance in the mirror) or sit on the rowing machine playing 20 questions while I do my thing. Tonight she wanted to give the treadmill a try. She really enjoyed it. "Wow! This is almost like real walking. Well.. except you don't have to get muddy!" 

Workin' out in her gymnastics outfit.

"Izzyno"

So much has happened since my last blog (3 months ago) that I am not quite sure where to begin. I have been quite overwhelmed lately that I just haven't found the time blog, but a good chunk of the "junk" is about to make it's exit. PHEW! 

Heading back in from the pool.

Izzy's new favorite swim friend. "Pinky" the dolphin.
A hole was just discovered in Pinky's fin. Ty was able to save the fin by applying a band aid.

In the last 3 months we've moved, Locke got his first 2 teeth, can sit up, moved to his own bed, and has started solids. HQ has learned to swim and her favorite words are "wow", "cool", and "Izzyno". Izzy can now boogie board solo has also added "artist" to the list of things she will be when she grows up. I think those are the bullet points. 

Izzy and I just started her first grade curriculum. She is so excited about being a first grader! She tells everyone we meet that she's in the first grade. She is also counting down the days until her 6th birthday so that she will no longer be required to use a car seat. She is growing too fast! I tell her daily not to grow anymore, but she is just too darn defiant.

The girls sporting custom hats made by one awesome chick :)

Izzy has been quite infatuated with Rapunzel since the release of the movie "Tangled". So these were a HUGE hit with her. She plans to wear her new "wig/hat" everywhere she can. When she said that a flash back to her "goggle phase" popped in my head. HQ likes to slap people with her lovely new locks.

Working on some first grade homework.
Izzy was to create some pattern and of course the shape she chose was hearts.

My mom picked the girls up for lunch so that I could get some work done around the apartment. It's AMAZING how much quicker it gets done when I am down two kids. However it is nice when they are here too because I like them to learn to help. HQ loves cleaning up. She throws everything in any container she can find (which can mean toys in the trash and cheerios in the laundry basket) and then wipes everything else down with a diaper wipe. Don't worry, it's a clean one.

Off to Grandma's!

I find it funny how different peoples tastes can be. Even in one family. For dinner tonight my mom got the girls Subway. I don't think there is any food Izzy despises more than mustard and this is a very well known fact in my family. HQ, however, ravenously ripped her sammich apart and licked the mustard off everything leaving her entire sammich behind sans mustard. 

Izzy starts tennis tomorrow!