Paint and Lemonade

One of Jack's favorite things to do this summer was to paint on his easel.  I can't count how many times he asked me if he could paint!  Really, though, I know that it wasn't so much about actually painting that it was about getting to paint with blue, his favorite color.  He really only uses the blue, and uses the other colors as an occasional accent.  Once I actually kept track of which colors he used, and it went like this: blue, blue, blue, yellow (cause that's mommy's favorite color), blue blue, purple (cause grandma likes purple), blue blue blue blue, red, blue, orange, blue blue blue blue, green (because it was the only one he hadn't used yet), blue blue blue.  He certainly loves blue!

 

Jack always wants me to paint on the other side of the easel while he paints on his side, so I needed to have two cups of water for brush cleaning.  One day while we were painting, Jack looked at my cup and seeing that my water had turned mostly yellow, he started playing with it, stirring it with his paint brush and then putting his mouth on the end of the brush.  When I asked him what he was doing, he held it up to me and said "Mom, I'm making lemonade!  Here, do you want some?  It's veeeeeery yummy!"  I died.  He cracks me up!

I Heart Faces Week Totally-Lost-Count: Orange

I've been terrible about entering these challenges!  I always have the best of intentions, but I never remember to get my photo up until it's too late to enter!  This week, though, I am ready!
The theme this week is Orange!  There's lots of orange in this photo of my gorgeous little man! 

Don't forget to click on the button below to visit I Heart Faces to see more Orange entries!!!  

Happy Birthday, Lukers!

On August 18th, Luke turned one year old!  So we headed over to my sister and brother-in-law's house for a small family party.

The Birthday Boy!

Sam, who turned 6 months old on the same day Luke turned 1 (Sam was born on the day Luke turned 6 months!), got his first taste of sweet potatoes at the party!

I made Luke an Elmo smash cake, and as you can see, he loved it!  He wasn't quite sure what to do with it once we were done singing Happy Birthday to him.  He kind of thought it was a little weird to be eating Elmo's face, I think!

He was pretty hesitant to eat the cake, but he did enjoy the frosting!

Jack was very anxious for Luke to eat his cake.  I had made a bigger cake for everyone else to eat, and Jack knew that once Luke ate his cake, then he got to have a piece of the other cake.  He encouraged Luke to eat his cake and then asked "Can we have the large cake, now?"

Then Luke got to open gifts!  Poor kid was so tired that I didn't get many pictures of him opening gifts, but he was a very lucky one-year-old!

And he didn't mind when Sam tested out one of his new toys!

I can't believe he's one!  It seems like just last month he was a teeny tiny little baby!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Beachin' It, Again!

In mid-August we had a fun playdate with some of our friends from church!  Jack was thrilled, Sam was such a good baby, and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful beach day!

We've gotten so much use out of this little sun-shade tent thing that I bought for Sam at the beginning of the summer.  He seems to really enjoy it, too!

Jack immediately grabbed his sand toys and began digging in the sand... he loves playing in the sand!

Luke had only recently begun walking on solid ground, and he had so much fun learning how to walk on the uneven sand!

Austin really didn't want to go in the water, and as soon as he could get away he very adamantly signed "All Done!"

The rest of the kids had a blast with the water, though!

And of course, Jack still couldn't keep his feet under him!

Austin tried the water again... he was much more comfortable in the safety of his momma's arms, but he still was most definitely not a fan of the water!

He was much happier on dry land!

As I mentioned before, when we weren't down by the water Sam did great in his little tent... playing,


and napping!


He also enjoyed sitting in my beach chair


His favorite part, though, was chilling with McKenna!

Really, I'm not kidding when I say that those two love each other.  Seriously, we're not forcing their relationship at all!  They really do love each other!  See?

We did a pretty good job getting all the sand off before getting back in the car.  I had brought a change of clothes, and we made use of the shower, as well!  Doesn't he look like a total surfer-in-training here?

Although... I don't think the surfers actually try to drink the shower water, though!