trying to stay busy

AJ has been gone since early Sunday morning so we have been trying to stay busy around here. We stayed at home all day Sunday and Monday which made the time go by extremely slow. So Monday night I took Ari to Chic-fil-a so he could use his ice cream coupon.

I think his expression explains it all. Then he went down the slide in the play place one time. It makes me nervous letting him play in there when I can't control the other kids he is playing with. He is so polite to them and says "excuse me" with a sweet little voice. But he doesn't understand when I want him to leave because other kids don't play the way I would want them to. Then I have thoughts of him going to school and what he will be exposed to then. I can't bring myself to think about it for long because I know I can't protect him from everything, even if I chose to homeschool. Good thing I have a few years to decide.

Then there's sweet baby girl. She really has just been hanging out.

She loves taking baths and watching her brother.

While we were at Chic-fil-a, Ari was just eating his ice cream and looked up at me and said "I will take care of you, mama." At that moment I could have just cried. It amazes me the things he thinks about saying on his own.

The other day we were on our way to church and Ari said out of the blue "Papa is a real man. He's my favorite friend." The kid cracks me up.

This morning we spent a few hours out back in our luxurious pool. Ok, maybe not to me but Ari thinks so. Evangeline is still just hanging out.

Then Ari took a 3 1/2 hour nap. No joke.

It

was

glorious.

I was resting as well and was thinking I should be up cleaning the house while I had a chance. But then I thought about it again and decided that was a terrible idea. So my house is still unclean.

My friend Gretchen is wonderful and invited us over for dinner. Her husband is wonderful too since he manned the grill. The kids had a lot of fun playing in a rigged up sprinkler.

Ari just loves his friends. It is neat to see him grow up with such a great group of kids.

The Fourth and Before

This summer is flying by because we are so busy. July is a scheduling nightmare. We have 3 weddings in 3 different states (2 of them in the same weekend) and AJ is gone 6 days with the youth group. I've barely had enough time to catch my breath. And it's only the 10th.

I am so behind on the times I haven't even had my camera out since the Fourth of July. So here are some pictures from a while ago.

Since AJ was going to be gone we managed to take another trip to the zoo the week before the Fourth. This time with some friends.

Ari is becoming such a big boy. I wish I would write down more of the things he says because he is so funny and sweet. Now he asks me "How is your morning, mama?" For some reason he has gone back to calling me mama. That's what my name was at first, then it was mommy, then it was mom, then it went back to mommy, and now it's back to mama. He's so silly.

We really wanted him to see some fireworks so we trekked 15 minutes to a park after driving 25 minutes to get there. He played on the playground for a while, ate a snack, took a potty break, then started to see some random fireworks people were shooting off. He asked about this dog sitting next to us and why the people were leaving. Well I must have made the mistake of telling him the dog was scared and that it was too loud for his ears because he became panicked afterwards and wouldn't uncover his ears. He was crying and scrambling around to try and get out of there. So we packed up camp and trekked back 15 minutes to the car. He kept his ears covered the whole way and told lots of people who were on their way to the fireworks that he was scared.

We ended up stopping and watching them from a distance while we sat in the car. It actually worked out really well because we were one of the firsts to get out of there and didn't have to sit through crazy traffic. Next year we will skip the 30 minutes of walking and just watch from a safe distance.

I love this sweet moment Ari is having with Evangeline. He is getting better at being gentle on his own without being told, but we still have to remind him frequently that she can't play the same way he can. These two months with her have flown by. I am loving all the smiles and coos she gives us now. She is doing a great job with holding her head up and even strains to get in a sitting up position.

Now I must get back to my house. It has been neglected since last Thursday because of my sisters wedding and looks like a tornado went through it.

his first song

Ari was playing his guitar and decided to come up with lyrics to a song he was playing. He said "This is a Jesus song. Say Jesus on the water. Woohoo on the walking. He cares for me!" And then he threw his arms up in the air after his last strum on the guitar.