A Busy Friday

Last Friday, we woke up early and met Diane, Olivia, and Jackson at a local strawberry field. We had a blast running up and down the rows, picking tons of strawberries.

 

After going home to drop off the strawberries and take potty breaks, we went to another local farm for their annual butterfly garden. There's also a carousel, playground, animals to pet and feed, games to play, crafts to make, and an awesome tunnel slide.

 

Diary Queen for lunch and then back home for Paxton's nap and an afternoon movie rounded out the day. Oh yeah, and I finally got around to staining a picnic table we got a couple of weeks ago (post to come).

Two Brothers & Shi-Shi

A couple of years ago, my mom made the twins an awesome "We Are Twins" book, which included tons of photos and information about them being twins. They love it. So, I recently made a "sibling togetherness" book for our children. It's titled, "Two Brothers & Shi-Shi." Inc ace you don't remember, Shi-Shi is what Paxton lovingly calls his sister, Vivian (and the rest of us do it sometimes, too). I took screenshots of the pages to share here. I'll type out the words for each page, under each page (in case you can't read the words on the pages).

"Two Brothers & Shi-Shi"

By: Mommy & Daddy

My name is Gavin. I have one brother and one sister. My name is Vivian. I have two brothers. My name is Paxton. I have one brother and one sister.

 We are all best friends!

Gavin and Vivian are twins. They like to...

color and draw together, play with toys together, get their faces painted together, and play outside together.

Paxton and Gavin are brothers. They like to...

watch TV and snuggle together, build together, throw rocks together, and explore together.

 Vivian and Paxton are brother and sister. They like to...

eat popsicles and play with Legos together, watch Frozen and sing together, and play dress-up together.

Everybody likes to take baths together!

Everybody likes playing with sand together, playing in the rain together, washing Daddy's car together, eating cookies from the Farmer's Market together,

and blowing bubbles together!

We go on fun adventure together!

We try new things together!

We are never lonely.

We always have each other to play with.

We love everything about each other!

We love being in our family!


I made the book in Walmart.com's photo center and it was only $26! Bedtime just got more fun in our house!

First Real Haircut

Vivian got a trim (about 1 inch) cut off her hair about 8 months ago. In recent months, however, she was asking for a real haircut. She would say things like, "I hate how long and tangly my hair is." and "I want to cut my hair short like Mommy's."

Well, I took her to the salon last week and she took the plunge! She loves it!

Daddy's Day 2014

I couldn't have asked for a better daddy for my children. He teaches them how to do all kinds of interesting things, he talks with them in a way that makes them feel respected and loved, he is willing to read them their favorite books 492 times in a day if they want, and he deals with the day-to-day bullshit with a smile on his face. Oh yeah, and he's here. He spends a significant amount of time with each one of them; you can't put a value on that! He really is THE BEST daddy in the whole wide world!

Our Daddy's Day started off with homemade cards and t-shirt gifts. Each child got a t-shirt that said "i love my dad." and Wes got a "eat. sleep. drive." shirt. Everyone wore their new shirts all day.

Among other things, we shopped a bit, went to Dairy Queen for lunch, played in the backyard, ate ice cream on the front porch, and played in the sprinkler.

It was a GREAT day!

Trying to Catch Up: Some of June 2014

In the beginning of June, Wes went to West Virginia for the day. The kids and I bought some sand for the sand table and got a cheap sprinkler for the day.

 We even had a McDonald's picnic lunch for dinner that night!

We also attended the Taste of Soul (a new food truck in town run by the twins' old teachers) grand opening in the beginning of June.

 We went to a free summer fair at JMU. The kids painted tumblers, made swirl paint frisbees, played some games, and we all ate lots of free food!

 National Donut Day was in June.

 As usual, we went to the children's museum the first Friday of June (because it's free, lol).

Wes took the twins to the Home Depot workshop for kids one Saturday (also free!).

We went to a model airplane show (free) in Harrisonburg. While Paxton slept in the car, the twins walked got to look at the planes not he ground and watch them fly.

 Vivian drew more beautiful pictures.

Paxton ate popsicles for breakfast.

Wes caught a few turtles at the arboretum.

Vivian got to go to the paint-your-own-pottery place with her BFF, Olivia. It was Olivia's 5th birthday and Vivian got her a best friends necklace (and one for herself, too). She also gave Olivia a mounted photo collage of picture of the two of them.

Some roofers came over to nail a few loose shingles onto our roof and Gavin had to watch. Wes and Gavin must have sat outside on the tailgate of Wes' truck for 30 minutes talking about everything going on.

 One day in June, I came home to see Wes reading Paxton his favorite book: "My Truck is Stuck!"

I took the kids to the farmer's market and Art in the Park (a free monthly outdoor art project). This month, they were painting a real truck!

We all went to Olivia's 5th Art-Themed Birthday Party! The kids painted canvases, got their faces painted, and decorated their own cupcakes.

 Stay tuned for more of our adventures this summer! I hope I can keep up!