Father's Day Week-ish

We love going downtown to have lunch with daddy. This time Ari asked if we were going to see his desk. When we got there all he wanted to do was work. He kept saying "Daddy, come work with me!" I'm not ready for him to be old enough to work! Ok, let's be honest. I don't think I'll ever be. But his daddy is a good role model and works hard for our family. 

I took a 3 day trip over the weekend to go see my grandparents. My brother went with me and had to witness my fear of flying. And not to mention the poor guys who were stuck next to me and kept reassuring me that everything was going to be fine. But it all turned out ok and I survived both plane rides.

Unfortunately AJ and the kids couldn't come but it was really nice to see how my grandparents were fairing with the trials of life. My grandpa went through treatment last fall for lung cancer and then just finished another treatment for brain cancer. On top of that my grandma was just diagnosed with breast cancer, so needless to say they have had a lot on their plate. But to no surprise they are still hopeful that these trials are part of God's plan and that no matter what happens He is the one in control.

Going on 54 years of marriage, they continue to show how much love they have for one another. There is no guilt, fault, or blame in their household. God is the center of most conversations and how He has worked in their life over the years. I am so grateful to have them as a role model.

They all survived without me too and had lots of quality time with daddy and the grandparents. (Sorry mom! Didn't have a picture of you but I know you helped out!)

When I first told Ari I was going to be gone for a few days he said "But I will miss you!" Then he realized that he was going to have daddy all to himself and said "Ok! You have fun, I will stay here with daddy and play." Ari wants to be with his daddy all the time, whether he's working out, mowing the grass, fixing something, or sleeping.

Evangeline has also become really attached to her daddy. Every day after work she will hear the door and start looking for him. Once she hears his voice it's all over. She wants daddy and wants him NOW. If he has to go to the other room before seeing her then she starts crying. This saying has already come true in this household: 

DADDY

a son's first 

HERO

a daughter's first

LOVE

I am so blessed to have a husband who wants to be invested in his kids lives. Love you babe!

Did I mention we have a new pet? He isn't always around and likes to make surprise appearances.

He is very calm and likes to take "pretend" naps on the kitchen floor. Now that is my ideal pet!

When I am with Ari all the time he seems so grown up. But when I was gone for 3 days and I talked to him on the phone, his voice seemed so little and precious. He is such a big help around the house and with Evangeline I sometimes forget that he is only three.

I always admire his artwork and sometimes it surprises me what he ends up drawing. These two people below were his chalk creations from yesterday. Although they might be square, the rest of it was pretty accurate: arms, legs, face, hair. And no, this was not an inspiration from Sponge Bob. Those words aren't even spoken in this house.

Most of the time his drawings are for daddy to take to work. This one will just have to remain out back until it rains. That is, if it ever rains. 

days in June

It has been pretty uneventful so far this month. We have enjoyed the warm weather and have been spending lots of time out in the pool, sprinkler, and slip n slide.

I was surprised at how fast Ari picked up on it. I was glad to get him in action!

We attempted to camp in the backyard again and I can officially say it was a success! Besides the fact that Ari was ready to get up at 6am and I woke up several times throughout the night froze, it was really fun. Maybe some day we will attempt to camp somewhere less "convenient". Maybe.

We had an impromptu get together with my siblings. The kids didn't want to sit still for a picture, so I settled for a silly action photo. They are a pair.

My nephew is getting so big these days. I love all the smiles!

Evangeline has decided she likes to use the spoon herself. I am happy to oblige since she is willing to let me put the food on it for her and let her do the rest.

We spent three evenings in a row at our friends house because they had a bounce house for their son's birthday. Those things make me REALLY nervous but the kids played well and there were no injuries. Ari still has all his teeth and my hair doesn't seem to be sporting any gray from it. At least I don't think. But please, don't ruin the surprise if you see any.

AJ has joined an ultimate frisbee league this summer at a local church. He has only had one game so far but it was so late in the evening we played at the park until it started then I had to leave to get the kids to bed. Some of the games will be played earlier so hopefully we will successfully get to watch one. (My standard for success is set really low right now since Ari thinks he is going to be playing with them. Not to mention a particular little girl is getting around really well by walking. She might not be interested in sitting still for that long.)

Ari usually makes a new friend every time we go to the park. He is not shy and likes to talk to strangers ALL the time. We will be in the grocery store or on a walk and will randomly start telling people what he has been up to. He still loves to entertain people and will do anything to make us laugh.

Evangeline is still laid back but has shown us this past month that she is getting more comfortable around people she doesn't know. We had a garage sale a few weekends ago and she held her arms out for a stranger. The lady held her and when she gave her back Evangeline started crying and wanted the lady to keep holding her. We were starting to wonder if this was our child! She is walking all over the place but after a while she will come find me and want me to hold her. I love that she still wants to be cuddled.

Ari's room

Even though I haven't kept up on here, we have slowly but surely made some progress on this list of things to accomplish. I think we are half-way done with the list. Here is a glimpse of Ari's room that we finished months ago.

The art hanging by the bed is from Hobby Lobby. The bedding is from Target and I love it because it is reversible. The blanket has stars on the other side (like the pillow shown). But the coolest part is the sheet. I didn't take a picture but half the sheet is green (you can see a little at the end of the bed) and the other half is blue (like the curtain). So when you pull the blanket down you only see one color, because the other color is at the other end of the bed.

I really only wanted a valance in his room but couldn't find anything to match the bedding, except the curtains that only came as curtains. Since I could only purchase these items online I decided to go ahead and get the curtains because I could always take them back later. After looking at them I decided it wasn't worth $50 for curtains that I didn't want anyway, so I took one curtain back (having spent $24 for one curtain) and planned on using the other curtain to make in to a valance. Well it just so happened that my friend was at the Target I returned the curtain to and saw they had marked it on clearance for only $6 since it was an online item. I couldn't believe it! So we ended up with two curtains and saved me the time of sewing one in to a valance.

We had the white letters since he was born and they had been painted several times, so we painted them back white. I wanted a way to display some of his art so while we were at Hobby Lobby we picked up some items to make it. The black and grey wood attached to the wall was originally just wood color so we painted that. The guitars were already assembled and painted so we just attached those to the wood with a small barrel spool and wrapped the twine around each one. Now all we have to do is use the mini clothesline clips to attach his things.

I'm not that big in to posters but I really liked this one for Ari. Hopefully you enjoyed getting a glimpse of his room. I am not creative (which is why it took like a year to do!) so this was a huge accomplishment for me.