Sometimes I wish I could carry around like a mini key chain that had a button on it, and every time I pushed the button, the theme song from "Dora" would play "We did it, we did it, we did it--HOORAY!"--that's what happens when you're the parent of a 4 year old and a 3 year old! For some reason, that song always pops into my head when I feel we've accomplished something fairly big....like....drum roll please...........BEING DONE WITH DIAPERS!!! Ethan has done amazing--praise God!! He hasn't had an accident during the day for 3 days in a row now, and has only had one accident overnight. We're going to let him try to go without a diaper overnight the rest of the week and see how he does (he does NOT want to wear a diaper anymore, but if he can't hold it that long yet, we're going to have him wear one overnight). Anyway, the first day he went accident-free, that song was playing in my head every time he went potty! Way to go Ethan!!!
From the end of one phase to the beginning of another--we hosted our first sleepover this week! It was "Camping Week", and we were thrilled to have our friends Aubrey, Reagan, and Cameron Carter over to "camp in" (I don't do camp outs!). The day of the sleepover, I was both super excited and also pretty terrified, though I tried not to show it! I don't know what I was worried about--it went off without a hitch, and all the kids were really well behaved and had an awesome time!
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| The set-up, before the chaos began! The girls loved their new princess water bottles, and I loved that everyone had non-spilling cups to drink out of!! |
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| We rented 4 movies, but only ending up watching the 2 on the ends "101 Dalmations" and "Curious George" :P |
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| The Carter Family has arrived, with a huge tent in tow!! |
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| Have a relaxing, peaceful, and QUIET night, Leslie and Seth!! |
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| First things first--s'mores trail mix! |
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| First book read--inspiration for our craft! |
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| Cameron, Reagan, and Aubrey did a great job on their firefly crafts! |
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| Ahhh, the differences between boys and girls...Daddy is trying his best to get the boys interested! |
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| Cameron definitely wins the award for most creative! |
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| And, nearly 6 year old Aubrey definitely "got it" more than everyone else (as her fireflies actually looked like they were supposed to!!) |
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| Honey badger got to work on his s'mores trail mix, served up in waffle cone bowls! |
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| The kids decided to test out their sleeping arrangements a little early, and Tommy wanted to Daddy to camp out too! |
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| "Hey, you're in my spot Daddy!!" |
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| "Ohhhh, it's dinner time--let's head to the table for hot dogs, hamburgers, and tater tots! |
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| Yum Yum! |
After dinner, it was time to burn off some energy outside!
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| Reagan modeling her new glow-in-the-dark bracelet! |
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| Haha, this looks like Rea is trying to kiss Tommy, BUT she's actually just trying to stay on the back of the scooter! |
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| I love Cameron, and her cool new glasses! |
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| She is quite the little artist! |
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| Tommy, on the other hand, much more interested in bubbles :) |
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| The twins had a good time silly-swinging! |
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| Sisterly love <3 |
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| Aubrey leading the "pirate" charge.... |
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| and, Tommy more than happy to follow!! |
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| Cameron is an airplane!! |
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| cute little Reagan :) |
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| My girl Cam about to hit that ball...from the left no less!! |
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| A girl after my own heart...next sport up--soccer! |
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| Haha, kid tracks = fun :) |
After we came back inside, I was able to rally the kids inside the tent to read a few books and cool off!
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| Haha, at least my tooter was listening to me!! |
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| Aubrey did a great job reading "Fred and Ted Go Camping" |
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| Tommy wanted to "read" after hearing Aubrey read, so he "led" us through one of his old favorites, "Counting Kisses" |
After we read the books, we put on "Winnie the Pooh" (a movie we already had that was specially requested by Ethan and the girls), and let the kids go ahead and settle in to their sleeping bags inside the tent.
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| Ethan wasn't quite ready to go to sleep yet--he kept saying "Hey guys, why so sleepy?" |
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| Donna Howard--look at that beat up Teddy and Monkey!! |
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| The twins went down first at 8:30pm!! |
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| 10:00pm--LIGHTS OUT!! |
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| The next morning--WE DID IT, WE DID IT, WE DID IT--HOORAY!! |
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| Ethan coming out of hibernation--btw, the boys LOVED the tent! |
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| Breakfast anyone?! Everyone had pancakes except Reagan, who told me she liked eggs. So, I scrambled up the last 3 eggs we had in the house with cheese and proudly presented them to her. She responded with an adorable, "Ohh...umm...I don't like that kind...I like the oval kind." aka--hard boiled :) |
After breakfast, we kind of let the kids run wild upstairs in the playroom!
It was funny to see the different toy preferences of all the kids!
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| Ethan's favorite--"Toy Story box!!" |
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| Reagan not only made me these lovely cupcakes, but she brought me an entire "platter" of breakfast made out of our plastic food supply. Then, all of the kids very generously threw me a birthday party!! |
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| Tommy, right as he's about to play tag with Aubrey throughout the entire upstairs! |
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| My little artist, back hard at work! |
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| Work hard, play hard...time for a pirate's life! |
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| Aubrey was "walking the baby", and Tommy decided to "walk the dog" with her :) |
After a fun morning of playing inside, the kids were so excited to go to the neighborhood pool!
As soon as Mrs. Leslie arrived, we all headed out!
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| Tommy's blue lips are a direct result of my pretend birthday party, where he decided to eat the cupcake Reagan decorated with "blue icing" (or, perhaps blue marker--whatever!) |
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| Tommy and Aubrey--attached at the hip! |
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| A rare moment where all 5 of the kids were together in the baby pool! |
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| Reagan...I'm pretty sure! |
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| Ethan had fun splashing! |
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| The twins were so stinkin' cute together in the pool!! |
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| So sweet <3 |
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| Best friends for life! |
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| Tommy getting in on a little bit of splashing! |
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| Haha, Leslie and I had to laugh at Reagan's dejection as she watched Aubrey and Tommy holding hands yet again :P |
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| My little Ethybear would only hold my hand--turning into a Mama's boy! |
After that busy night and morning, the boys took over a 4 hour long nap! Thankfully, they were fully rested to go over to Grandma's house for two of their favorites--a basketti dinner, and a surprise visit from Granny!!
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| I love my Grandma soooooooo much!! |
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| The boys each got a really special treat from Granny--new phones! |
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| Ethan talking on his new "Cars" phone... |
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| and, Tommy giving someone a ring on his new "Spiderman" phone! |
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| Just chilling on the phone, pretending to text (notice the big boy undies!) |
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| Cheeeeeeeeesssseeeeeeee! |
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| My cutie-pie! |
After a late night, it was nice to just relax at home on Saturday morning together as a family <3
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| I'm so thrilled the boys are actually playing on their play set almost daily now! |
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| Tommy wanted to play some ball with Daddy... |
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| and, a good Daddy like Davey never says "no" to that kind of request! |
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| hehehhe--my big kid <3 |
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| My silly, sweet tooter! |
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| I love to see him trying to figure out how things work :) |
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| My 3 guys <3 |
We had one more camping craft to take care of too--and, painting is ALWAYS a fan favorite!
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| campfires! |
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| Tommy did the entire thing by himself... |
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| I got Ethan started by painting the wood at the bottom for him :) |
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| "Dad, I got this!" |
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| Haha, Ethan fleeing the scene after he finished! |
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| Ethan's campfire (with a little help from Mommy)! |
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| Tommy's campfire--haha, I might have a little pyro on my hands! |
After nap, it was time to head back over to Grandma's for a yummy steak cookout and some personal pool time!
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| Granny and Granddaddy having a few laughs :) |
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| isn't she so pretty!!! |
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| "Gotcha!" |
Okay, the following five pictures are one of my favorite sets of photos of all times now! Ethy wanted to get a closer look at Granddaddy's fire, so he had to go with the aerial view! I love all of these pictures!! <3
When the food was almost ready, Tommy decided to get out of the pool and dry off.
He thinks he is "Sully" from Monsters Inc in his towel!
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| "RRROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAARRRRRRRR" |
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| A fun time was had by all! |
Another late night meant Mommy was scrambling to get ready for church in time, but I made it!
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| I love the simple but powerful truths the boys are hearing and learning every Sunday! |
A perfect end to a busy week--a little more downtime at our lovely home <3
