Pictureless Post

You will notice my last two postings are lacking pictures of the boys. That would be because I lost my camera charger. Well, maybe I didn't lose it. It could be cleverly stowed away in one of my many boxes of stuff :) Josh ordered a new one so we should have pictures up next week.

Last week Josh and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! Yeah!! It's been a pretty crazy last couple of years. Two kids, two candy stores and a cross country move. We are planning a little anniversary celebration when our babysitter returns from vacation. We are looking forward to the next big milestone, 10years!

Bug update....The ant farm is still going strong. We've had a couple of casualties but the colony is still building tunnels. Josh continues to check on them about 5 times a day. They get food and water on a regular basis. We had 4 butterflies hatch on Friday. I say "had" because I had Josh and the boys set them free today. They only live for about 2-4 weeks so I figured they needed to experience some real flowers and sunshine.

Water park! Took the boys to a water park this past weekend. They both loved it!! We've determined that it has to be over about 85 degrees in order for Blake to really enjoy himself. He tends to get cold and and shiver like he has hypothermia if not. We had a couple of shivering episodes and "I need my towel" requests but overall it went well. Ralph was an animal. He was jumping in all the sprinklers and going down the kiddie slides with no fear. We took them on our laps down a couple of large slides too. Blake was having fun until his daddy capsized the raft they were riding on (accidentally). Oops! No more slides after that. The worst part is everyone at the bottom of the slide was saying "Oh how cute" referring to Blake riding on Josh's lap. Then everyone gasp in horror as the raft suddenly flips and they both go under. Blake held his breath like a big boy but erupted in tears once he exited the pool at the bottom of the slide. I just ducked and pretended I didn't know them!

Funny quotes:

Ralph: "Are you kidding me".

Blake: "I need my OWN milk". (refuses to share with Ralph these days)

Ralph: "I need eat McDonald's". I jog past it everyday. He asks me everyday if we can eat there.

Creepy, Crawling BUGS!!

First off let me say that I have spent the last 30 years of my life keeping bugs OUT of my house. I try not to kill them and usually catch them in a cup and put them outside. They can flourish outside while I enjoy my clean bug free house! Well today, we have a small ant colony on my breakfast bar and 5 caterpillars on top my kitchen cabinets. The really sad part is I paid money for them. Yes, my boys love bugs!! In order to support their interests we recently got a butterfly house and an ant farm. The bugs we ordered for them finally arrived. The caterpillars arrived in the beginning of the week and they have already made themselves into cocoons. They are Painted Lady butterfly larvae. Josh and I are pretty convinced they are actually clothes moths by the pictures that accompanied them. They came in self contained habitat. We put them in a safe spot and they hung themselves from the top of the cup. We will transfer them to their "house" tomorrow. The "house" is basically a small enclosure made out of netting and currently hanging in the boys room. In case your wondering the boys can't get to them. They were swinging swords as we were hanging it, so it's nice and high!!

The ants, ugh, I hate ants. They arrived today. Not the small black ones I usually find roaming outside. These are big red ants with jaws of steel. Josh had a couple escape while transferring them to their farm and I almost had a seizure. Well, they happily made it in their new home and are excavating as we speak. Josh loves them!! He was ever so careful when transferring them making sure none got injured. He has even given them their first "dinner" of cookie crumbs.


So....here's to our new house guests. May they have a long and fulfilling life living in MY house!!

Favorites

Ralph's anwsers in Red

Blake's in Blue

Favorite Book The "Hot" Book 100 Trucks

Favorite TV Show Wonder Pets Wonder Pets

Favorite Food Strawberries Avocado

Favorite Toy Plastic Tool Set Train Set

Favorite Person Mom Dad

Favorite Sport Basketball Soccer

Favorite Animal Rhino Elephant

Favorite Treat "Pop" aka lollipop "Pop"

Favorite saying Mommy pick up Lili* Not nice bubby

Favorite Game Wrestling Chase (us chasing him)

So here's a look at RJ and Blake's favorite things. They share a couple similarities but are pretty different for the most part. In spite of their differences, they are the best of friends. They play well and share a passion of exploring and discovering. They can count to 10 and know their colors. ABC's are still a work in progress. I'm loving this age. They communicate so much better and I love to see them learn. I wouldn't consider us at the terrible two's yet. We do have meltdowns but nothing out of the ordinary. Josh and I love being parents and feel so blessed we have 2 little guys!!



*Lili is Ralph's nickname. It stemmed from Lion (he used to have a crazy hair that looked like a lions mane)

Ralph (Left) and Blake (Right) 11 months. Check out that crazy hair!!!

The 4th

We had a blast this past forth of July. We went to a local festival called the Chil-E (pronounced chili) that was within walking distance from the house. This allowed us to come home for meals, naps, and avoid the horrific traffic usually present on holidays. The boys and I went early in the morning for farmers market and to play at the park. We came home had lunch, a nap and headed back down with Josh. We walked through the vendor area and then to the kids play area. They had lots of bounce houses and activities for the kids. Ralph and Blake each took a turn at "putting out a fire" and driving the fire truck. The much anticipated parade was suppose to start at 5pm but really started at 5:30pm. It was a cute little community parade. Much to our delight there were some kids throwing....can you guess...?.?.? Yes, more shiny necklaces!!!! Not as fancy as our Chumash ones, but they got 2 each which was really cool to them. The boys enjoyed the firetrucks, tractors, and animals the best. After the parade we headed home for dinner and a bath. Fireworks didn't start until 10pm (it gets dark late here). Ralph passed out cold in the middle of the fireworks display. We joked we should get his ears checked since we were really close to where the fireworks were being launched. Blake watched them half awake with his blanket over one eye. This was the first fireworks display they were old enough to really watch. They were not scared at all so let's hope next year is a success too!!

Just some memories from our first 4th of July.... Can't believe it's been 2 years!!