Ahhh...

Is how my day has sounded. The boys started summer school today for the next 4 Thursdays.

Just before the start of school.

I worried a little about John. He doesn't much care for being away from me. He, however, didn't do too badly. He cried a little after I dropped him off, but he seemed pretty happy when I picked him up. He was definitely happy to see me. Miles was my crier, but just for my benefit while I was still in his room. When I walked past 2 minutes later, he was fine.

After dropping the boys off I headed to Target to indulge in a little retail therapy and burn some time until the pool opened. Then I spent the rest of my morning poolside with a book. Lovely. I will definitely enjoy my next 4 Thursday mornings. :)

A couple of pictures of the boys from this week-

Catching Up

It always takes me a little while to catch up after being away from home for a few days. Catching up on laundry. Catching up on sleep.

Catching up on all of the little things around the house, like blogging... So, here is me catching up on the blog.

Last week John finally let go and started to walk on his own. He is already a pro going backward, forward, turning around, all like he's been doing this for months. Which, of course, he has been. Just with the added stability of something else (ie mommy's finger, his push cart, etc.). This makes my back feel a lot better.

Miles is obsessed with sticks. And around this house, we have lots.

One of my favorite blogs to read is katherinemariephotography.com. She is so creative and has so many fun ideas of great things to do with kiddos. So I borrowed her weekly theme idea and did a Fish Week. This way I could incorporate some educational things into our week without boring poor Miles too much.

{Lots of Goldfish eating, frozen fishies in the water table, chalk fish, feeding the ducks - and fish - and adding some real fish to our little pond}

{Fish books, Fish color matching and counting game}

Fish Week wouldn't be complete without a chance to swim like the fishies. This little fish preferred to sit on the pool deck and throw shoes into the pool.

While this fish preferred to practice his jumping and throwing. As if the latter needed more practice! :)

On Sunday we headed south with a big group of friends to Holiday World. We stayed in RVs and did lots of cooking out and visiting. The kids had a blast - there were 16 of them! Miles loved the wave pool best.

John loved Ruby's spaghetti the best.

Miles also adored "driving" the golf cart all over the place!

While we were there we celebrated one very special Daddy... (and talked to and thought of our very special daddies, too).

Yesterday I took the boys down to Fort Thomas for the day to visit with my parents and my Uncle Ned who is in town from Idaho. All last week Miles kept talking about going to "Poppy's house" and knew just how many nights we had left until we went. Oh, Poppy and Maggie's house (the first name thing has spread to my mom now). :)

Now we're home for awhile. Still catching up on that laundry...

A few pictures of the boys from the last week -

We've hit the splash park a couple of times...

(John loves it, too!)

Miles enjoyed a bomb pop...

And John enjoyed it after Miles was finished and had discarded it on the ground.

And my favorite - Miles has a trundle underneath his bunk which currently does not have a mattress. In our effort to find the missing computer mouse last week, Josh pulled the bunk away from the wall and found ALL THIS STUFF behind the bed. You know, lost books, pages from books, underwear, wipes, etc. Miles dug right in to reading some of the missing books.

We also had a special visit from Lolly on Saturday. And due to predicted bad weather along her route home, she spent the night, too! Such a treat to have my mama here for part of the weekend, although we missed having dad along, too.

Grown-Up Getaway

Josh and I had a little getaway last week to Washington, DC. His company sponsored a table at a big Marriott fundraiser so we attended on their behalf.

We stuck around for a few extra days and enjoyed the sites and eats.

It was so nice to have a few days of just the two of us, but we sure did miss our boys. They stayed in Berne with Grandma and Grandpa, and I'm not sure that they wanted to come home. The acted appropriately enthusiastic to see us when we picked them up, though.

This (Memorial Day) Weekend

This weekend started off with Miles' last day of school on Friday. A little first day/last day comparison (and seriously, what's with needing a jacket on May 27th?). The kids were supposed to have an outside water day, but those plans were changed to outside games sans water and inside movies.

We capped off the special morning with a trip to our favorite cupcake place, The Flying Cupcake for a little treat. The boys loved it, of course!

I had to make a trip to HC for some end of year responsibilities. Can't make it down there without seeing the Point.

This weekend my very most favorite flowers of all came into bloom. Our kitchen smells so good, and they make me happy to look at.

This weekend the temperatures soared to perfect summer hot ones. Sunday the boys played outside hard in the fountain. No water table needed. Sunday night some friends came over and the kids went through 175 water balloons and 3 boxes of those pop-it things. No pictures, but they sure did have a blast!

And this weekend on Monday we made our first trip of the season to the pool with the Luke Habeggers. We just stuck to the baby pool since there were a lot of us, but the kids had so much fun. I see a lot more of this this summer!

Growing Boys

The boys turned 3 1/2 and 16 months last week. Wow, how quickly the time passes. It's such fun, though, to see how their little personalities continue to develop. They continue to grow into such amazing children!

John had his checkup last week and all looked great. He weighed 25 lb 9 oz (55%) and was 33" long (90%). Funny, I looked back, and Miles was exactly the same height and weight at 16 months (+ 1.5 oz, though). Miles charmed Dr. Bergstein by continuing to refer to her as just Bergstein.

Johnny's favorite things right now are running around the house pushing his little card around (He still won't let go. He's getting really heavy), kissing on Archie, blowing raspberries back at Miles (they think this game is hilarious), eating anything, and playing outside with his brother and friends. He, like Miles, loves trucks and buses, and the two of them make quite a sight every Tuesday standing against the back of the living room couch watching for the garbage truck.

Miles' favorites include trucks, balls, gummy worms, and anything to do with school. He so wants to ride the bus, and I'm told he loves to learn and encourage his classmates. So cute! He is so enthusiastic about going to school and coming home, and loves to see his friends there. He jumps or gallops around most places (he gets so excited), likes to call Josh Josh and me Sarah or Bearsie (what Josh calls me). He also loves to say his prayers at night and gets really excited to snuggle up in bed to say them.

Both boys love to play together and it makes us so happy to watch the two of them together. They are also both really funny and have a great sense of humor. Miles cracks us up with some of the things he comes up with.

And while we don't know whether baby 3 is a boy or girl, the ultrasound yesterday showed us another perfect, healthy baby. What more could we ask for?

Summer temps last week made for lots of fun outside time. We hit the park to feed the ducks

and to play a little.

We were able to play in the sandbox again since it had dried out a little. More sand eating .

Then we spent the weekend in Fort Thomas with my parents. Josh and I saw the Reds beat the Cardinals on Friday night. Then we all hit the zoo on Saturday to see the elephants and the new baby giraffe (Miles' two favorite animals). He even got to feed a giraffe. Think it startled him a bit.

We celebrated my dad's upcoming birthday and headed home (in the rain) yesterday. I think we'll be more cooped up inside this week as it's supposed to be cool and rainy all week. Summer, come back soon!