At our garage sale this weekend, Hank made $16 selling chocolate-chip cookies and Koolaid! I'd like to claim the credit for his sales success since I made the cookies, but I'm pretty sure Hank could sell ice to an eskimo with that perfect-angel smile and his charming little personality. Hank was quite pleased with himself and, after holding out a tenth of his earning to pay tithe, Hank used his very own money to buy a new garbage truck.
Well, "Picnic At Dad's Work" probably wouldn't have made my Top 5 list of exciting summer activities, but Hank suggested the idea and we aim to please.....so, we had a picnic (kinda) at Aaron's work!
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| The boys and I picked up Subway sandwiches and brought them to Aaron's office after work on Friday. Since Aaron's building doesn't have any grassy picnic areas, we improvised and ate our picnic in the conference room. Hey, spinning chairs and a view from the window of the pump fleet? Good enough! |
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| After our picnic, we took the boys to see Cars 2. Although it probably wasn't the movie I would have chosen, it was really fun to watch a movie together, in the theater, as a family. |
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Good Grief! Icecream Man? More like highway robber! Have you seen how much the Icecream Man is charging these days for a popcicle? Its nuts! Oh well, small price to pay for the fun memory, the sticky fingers and red-stained tongue, and these smiles:
With today marking the first official day of summer, and the weather actually providing us with some sunshine, we got off to a good start, tackling #13 on our summer to-do list--the Slip 'n Slide:
For Family Night on Monday, we upheld our family tradition and created our Summer To-Do List. Under the rules of our tradition, all suggestions are added to the list, even the most ambitious suggestions, and we try our very best to accomplish everything on the list. In summers' past, I have been pleasantly surprised at the number of items that we have been able to check-off our list with a some advance planning and a little creativity. Looking forward to another summer loaded with fun!
After fourteen months of having Ben sleep in a bassinette beside my bed, we decided it was time to make some changes. First, in order to vacate the nursery which was still being occupied by Max, we decided to bunk up Hank and Max in these beautiful bunkbeds that Aaron and his Dad MADE. The boys love climbing on their bunkbeds, wrestling on their bunkbeds, and playing together on their bunkbeds...now if we could just get them to sleep in their bunkbeds we'd be set.
Why yes, yes I have, thank you for noticing. Now, I'm no fitness expert. I don't go to the gym, I don't work out, I don't lift weights. But I do lug around a 32lb one-year old everywhere I go, and I've got the biceps to prove it! Check out these mommy muscles:
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| For comparison, this is my non-baby carrying right arm--nothing special, right? |
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| Boom! How 'bout them guns!? |
Perhaps one of the things about summertime that I look forward to the most is taking long walks, enjoying the beauty of the great outdoors....so therapeutic, so invigorating. The other day, I happened to get home from therapy in time to join Hank, Max, and Nana Grover on a fabulous walk along the trail to our bridge, where the boys entertained themselves throwing rocks into the river below.
Who else can cause a riot every single day simply by opening the front door and arriving home? Who else has a small entourage following two steps behind during even the most ordinary of tasks? Who is the strongest/tallest person on earth? Who else can fix anything? Knows everything? Can do anything? Our Dad. Aaron, thank you for being our Super Hero. We love you. I hope you enjoy the homemade motivational posters the boys and I made for you:)
After work on Friday, Aaron raced home, packed up the gear, and took Hank and Max on the first of many Father/Son Camp-outs. The boys were so excited to spend some special time with Daddy, and I won't lie, I was pretty excited to have a little "me" time. As the boys arrived at the campsite, set up camp, sat around the campfire, and bundled down for bed, Aaron would text me a quick note with a picture, telling me how much fun they were having together.
Wow! Hank is 5! Five means that Hank is old enough to go to kindergarten in the fall, old enough to buckle his own seat belt, old enough to dress himself and brush his own teeth, old enough to count to 200 (and count to 10 in spanish), old enough to know his address and phone number, old enough to ride a scooter, old enough to pee standing up (we held off teaching him this for purposes of cleanliness), old enough to skip taking a nap, old enough to offers his own prayers without being told, old enough to stay up until 8:30 on a good night, old enough to climb the monkey bars, old enough to write my grocery list for me, old enough to return the cart at the grocery store, but.....never, ever, too old to be my sweet Hanky boy. Our family was blessed five years ago when Hank was born--Hank, you are one in a million! Happy Birthday, Hanky boy!
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| My favorite little bowling ball. |
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| As usual, Hank was very spoiled and received many fun gifts: transformers (we're still trying to figure out how to put them together), a tow truck and police car, nerf sets, and a slip and slide. |
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| At his request, I made Hank a giant cookie instead of a cake. Non-traditional maybe, but boy was it tasty! |
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| The party ended with Aaron treating Hank and his friends to a special surprise. |
