Beach music in the park

The other night, Ken had a social media meeting to go to, so I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to take the kids to Beach Music in the Park at Festival Park downtown. It was crazy packed, but lots of fun. One of the downsides of Skylar having to wear a cast now is that I have to use the double stroller when I take both kids anywhere. Grey just isn't old enough to walk on his own most places- especially not to something like this. And we had quite a time maneuvering around all of these people in the double Bob!

We paid a cover charge to get in, but then all of the downtown restaurants set up booths with free food samples, so we ate well! The kids had a blast! We found an out-of-the-way spot by the bouncy house to eat our dinner and listen to the band. Grey was a dancing machine, and Skylar was boogieing her little shoulders all night.

The band was Sleeping Booty and I was actually impressed. After we ate and played for a while, we drove the Bob around to the other side of the crowd so Skylar could see the band and ended up right beside the stage, so they both got a front-row view of everything.

Grey would run around dancing and then flop down on his pillow and stick his thumb in his mouth for a second before hopping back up again.

But I knew it was time to leave when he couldn't bring himself to let go of the pillow again!

Two tired kiddos.

It is ridiculously hard to get a good picture of Grey when he is dancing. But basically, he stomps his feet, wiggles his arms around and claps. Sometimes he will throw in a squat or two.

Skylar enjoyed the music, but had to stay on the blanket the whole time because the grass was pretty wet.

Whoa buddy.

I think Grey is learning a little too much from Skylar...

Here he is clapping...

And this is the, "I'm not totally sure if it is okay that I'm doing this, but I'm gonna do it anyway" look.

Skylar was in another one of her, "don't take my picture" moods.

I think Grey got a glimpse of the ball being tossed around here. And notice the marks on the side of his face? This is what happens when I accidentally leave Skylar's travel art desk with dry erase crayons within her reach in the backseat. I should have known she was being too quiet.

I love this next series. It really highlights what I go through during most car rides lately.

First: Grey has bag of chips. Happy boy.

Second: Skylar sees bag of chips. Wants whatever Grey has. Steals first chip.

Third: Grey is keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't get another chip.

Fourth: Grey gets distracted by the balloons. Happens to the best of us buddy.

Fifth: Skylar makes her move. Grey begins the "shriek at the top of his lungs" death yell.

Sixth: Skylar enjoys his torment. Also joins in "shriek at the top of her lungs" death yell.

Scene continues until chips are all gone or Grey bites Skylar's arm. This has happened twice now.

Skylar's relaxing on the blanket.

Grey really wanted a balloon. He tried to sneak over there several times.

Just checkin' to see if you were watchin' mom.

Fun with Aaron

Today we met up with Aaron, his older brother Luke, and his mom. We went to "story time" at the Central Library, which actually turned out to be the movie Ratatouille. We left a little early and looked at some books before heading over to Center City Park for a picnic and some running around by the fountains.

The first thing Skylar showed Aaron was her band-aids on her foot that she got yesterday. Priorities here.

Skylar didn't want her picture taken here for some reason...

After we ate, Aaron and Luke ran around under the fountains for a little bit before we realized they weren't supposed to do that. Skylar would have joined in if I had brought her cast cover and Grey was too engrossed in the extra food to care at that point.

Then he got out and ran around a little bit, but kept wanting to just get in the fountain. Luke showed him how to splash in the puddles and he thought that was hilarious.

Aaron wanted some more yogurt, so he and Skylar chilled in the stroller while he ate.

Grey was still trying to figure out how to get in the fountain...

Are boys and girls really different?

So far, Grey and Skylar have been mostly different as babies and toddlers. Although they were/are both happy babies, Skylar was a bit more high-strung than Grey. Especially as a baby. She learned to walk super early, learned signs very quickly and amassed a pretty large vocabulary by the time she was two. More than most kids speak. And was always very playful.

Grey was a late bloomer, shall we say? Remember, this time last year, I was about to take him in for an evaluation to make sure he was developing alright. Because he was just too happy lying around to be motivated to move anywhere…

He also does not have a large vocabulary of spoken words, but has not taken to signing very well either (maybe that's b/c I haven't been working with him as much… ya know, job and all). For the last few months, we have noticed a trend with Grey's play habits. He enjoys the dishwasher. The vacuum. The laundry. The broom. The baby dolls and accessories (stroller, food). You can see the pattern, I'm sure. Ken likes to say that he enjoys tools in any capacity. It also might be my fault for not getting him more boy toys...

Recently, however, I have started noticing a trend in the opposite direction. He likes his cars, balls, and running around the rooms. He throws everything he can get his little hands on, and it if hits someone, the more the better. He has also bit Skylar twice and likes to give Ken super strong hugs while bitting his neck…

But there are some things that don't change. Grey can be a super snuggler- especially if said snugglee has a certain pillow pet. Anywhere he sees his giraffe or monkey, he will throw himself down on it and start sucking his thumb.

I just found out that Target is selling mini-pillow pets and I'm kinda excited about them! That huge pillow is pretty awkward to carry around with us to places like Church or the pool, where he might take a nap.

And then here is the difference between boys and girls: where Nana would just snuggle little man and rock him, Papa decided this is a good time to teach Grey how to punch.

His giraffe. And Grey loved it.

Oooh, look at me Papa, that one was so funny!

Our summer activities

Last Tuesday, I took the kids to McIver to do a little gardening (we plan on going most weeks this summer) and we were all hot and sweaty by the time we left, so we decided to try our luck at Wet'nWild to cool off. I was a little nervous since it was my first time since "the incident" taking both of them swimming by myself, but figured Skylar could crabwalk and float around and I could hold Grey's hand. They did great at the pool and we had a blast!

Until we got back to the car and I took Skylar's cast cover off… and her cast was dripping water. Something went way wrong somewhere, and I checked that thing constantly throughout the day and it was dry.

After hours of using the hairdryer and a tongue depressor to push a towel in between the bottom of her foot and the cast, it was still soaking wet when she fell asleep. We went to see our nice cast doctors on Wed. and luckily for us, they thought it was fine to leave on, but did recover the ankle part where it was mushy.

Not sure where that leaves us as far as the pool goes… but we have exciting plans for the rest of the summer!

Skylar and I have been practicing her writing and numbers, and doing lots of coloring and art projects. Our church is starting a summer story time this Tuesday that we will go to, and possibly some more kids movies at the theater on Wednesdays. We went this past Wednesday to see Alpha and Omega with my mom and their cousins, but Grey was interested for only about 15 minutes. And that was mostly because of the popcorn and drink… But we did get a free dentist visit for Skylar (which we used on Thursday) and a free happy meal for Grey, so maybe we'll try it again.

I work on Mondays and Fridays, and am hoping to spend Thursdays catching up with friends.

In the meantime, there are also a bunch of projects that I want to get done while I am at home, starting with our garage. It is disgusting. And filled with creatures.

So, the past two days, I have put Skylar and Grey down on a blanket at the top of our driveway with a bunch of bubbles, sidewalk chalk and toys while I have been working on the garage. And yard. Did I mention that I finally finished my bush? Thanks to hubby who stood there with a can of wasp spray and chased them all away while I worked.

Bubbles!

Btw- is it okay to be jealous of your children's eyelashes? Cause I am.

Grey's are finally starting to darken up, but I think they will be about the color of mine- kinda dark on the bottom, with blonde tips.

And Skylar got Ken's eyelashes- super thick, long and dark. Seriously perfect. :)

Skylar has really learned to get around with her cast this week- a complete change from wanting to be carried everywhere last week. It's a good thing we go back in a few weeks to get a new one, because this one will not last the full 6-8 as much as she slides on it and drags it behind her.

Playing with her long-lost toys we found in the garage. I'm pretty sure they were set aside to go to consignment. Or maybe we threw them out there before Skylar's birthday party last October in an attempt to hide the clutter inside?

Grey's about as good of a walker as I am: not at all. And he fell yesterday and skinned up his knee. He let dada put some alcohol on it (yikes) and a bandaid. He was really interested in what was happening, but immediately ripped the bandaid off like, "what is this dada?" and handed it back to Ken.

And… one of our families favorite games is "stinky feet". Skylar has always taken her shoes off in the car- everytime, and now Grey is learning to as well. And seriously, during the summer time, it can get pretty stinky in there. Let's just say, I can always tell when they have their shoes off, even without looking. Well, they think it is hilarious when I say, "Ewww, I smell stinky baby feet!" and then they want me to smell their feet and say it again. Well, Ken has now adapted the game to where he makes the kids smell his feet. And then Grey will turn his head to the side and mumble something sorta resembling "eww, stinky" and giggle.

Poor kids.

Grey has not yet mastered the art of blowing bubbles, but he sure tried! Here was his best attempt, although no air came out and he wasn't holding a wand. Typically he likes to stick his tongue out and spit at the wand.

Swimming fun

The other day we tried out Skylar's swimming cast cover, praying that it would stay dry… and it worked! And to our amazement, her cast also seemed to float instead of sink to the bottom! Skylar was so ready to get in the pool and adjusted quite easily to her new situation. She floated in circles around the baby pool the whole time. She was hesitant to get in the big pool, and seemed afraid of what would happen since she couldn't use her leg to help her, so she stuck to the baby pool for the day.

But just because she has a broken leg does not exempt her from getting splashed. That's how we roll. Toughen' em up.

Grey did much better this time than the first couple of times he went to the pool this year. He was all smiles and attempted walking on his own most of the time. He even learned how to squat in the water and spent most of his time squatting down and standing back up.

And he loved the bucket of water.

And this is what dad's are good for: roughhousing. Anyone else think we should buy stock in medical supplies?