HOT Summer Days

The summer of 2011 will be one that I definitely won't forgot.  Not that there was anything monumental that happened, but the fact that it was sooooo HOT!  So many days of triple digit temps was brutal!  (plus the fact that I was prego through it all...ugghhh)

Anyways....when the evenings cooled down a bit we did have some fun outside.  Here are some cute pics of Eli and his friend Kinley playing in the water one evening....

Kinley...isn't she a cutie!

Hot days also mean that the grass grows fast...thus Ryan and Eli have spent a lot of time outside mowing...here is my little cutie taking a break from helping daddy... 

The Big Boy Bed

The Big Boy Bed...

Being prego, and getting farther and farther along, I knew that we really needed to get things moving on Eli's new room and big boy bed.  I had been looking online at cute bedding, trying to find something that was fun, very boyish, but not too "little boyish" so that it could grow with him.  I knew we were going to spend some money on this stuff so I didn't want to get something that would need to be replaced in a few years.  After much thought and consideration, we picked a super cute set from pottery barn kids, of plaids, and stars, in khaki, browns, and reds that makes a very cute bed!  I also wanted to paint the room in a brown or khaki color....who knew there were 13 million shades of khaki out there! HA! 

The bedding and paint color were actually one of the easiest parts of his room.....the furniture was the problem...I looked high and low to find exactly what I had pictured in my mind for his room.  I originally wanted a bed with a trundle, but all the beds that I found I liked didn't have that option.  BOO!!!  Oh well, I guess his friends will just have to sleep on the floor with an air mattress.  :)  We decided on a cute twin bed, night stand and chest of drawers from Weirs.  I love that store!  Next was the "theme" of the room...Ryan had his opinions, and I tried consider what he wanted, but again trying to stay away from the toddler themed rooms.  I decided on vintage baseball.  Hobby Lobby is one of the best places to find decor and they had some great stuff to put in his room!  I haven't gotten pics yet of the finished product, I guess we will have to save that for a later blog.  Here is E the last day in his crib...

Here is Eli checking things out the day his furniture got delivered... 

Getting ready for his 1st night as a big boy...daddy reading him a book

6 months prego

Well how far behind am I....Ha!  One of my goals for the new year of 2012 is to catch up on my blog...so here we go!  This is a quick post from this past summer, when I was about 6 months prego with miss Emma.  Starting out with a cute pic of Eli kissing his sister one afternoon when we were playing on the couch.  

Such a sweet big brother!

Now here are the belly pics...sorry Emma I didn't do as well with you as I did documenting the belly pics with Eli...

4th of July 2001

4th of July 2011

We spent the 4th out at Ryan's parents house, like we usually do.....it was as everyone knows very very hot this 4th, so much of the time was spent inside....but we still had some fun!  I did take my camera, but I didn't take many pics that day.  Here is Ryan and Eli taking out the jet ski, to check it out for Denise before the boys borrowed it for the summer.  

That afternoon we started getting ready for the golf cart parade.  We always try to make it look super cute, and this year was no different.  Jenn had some great ideas this year for the the theme...."Let freedom ring".   She brought over some supplies and we thought it would be cute to make hats for the kids to wear for the parade!

The boys helping decorate

Cute Hats!

Cuties!

 Our little Firecracker...he was having a blast!

1/2 way point comparison

I felt really bad that I hadn't taken any belly pics with Baby Girl #2...so around 20 wks I tried to get my act together and start the belly pic process...at least to have for future reference!  I thought it would be fun to try and compare pics of each time I was prego to see what a difference there was.  Besides the fact that I feel like a total beached whale this time around, and I am swelling up like one in this heat, at this point I don't feel like my tummy was too much bigger @ this point in the pregnancy....

A small celebration...

June 12, 2011 marked our 6th anniversary!  Happy 6 years Ryan!  We had decided to save some money this year and go to a movie and dinner with some gift cards we already had.  A couple days before our "date" Ryan had just lost his job, so we were trying to keep it cheap!  Gi Gi was nice enough to go ahead and keep Eli overnight since we would be out late.  I only took pics before we left for out fun evening, and Eli was sure being a ham for me!  Love it!  Maybe next year I will have a post from a trip we will go on for our anniversary...(hint hint Ryan)  :)

Eli getting ready to head over to Gi Gi and Pa Pa's House

Happy 6 years....here's to many more together...love you!

Swimming Lessons

As summer was approaching I was super excited to get Eli in the pool this year.  The last few years he has been "swimming" in my parents, and the gym pool and loved being in the water, but I was ready to start some lessons and hoping that he would love those too!  I feel like he is a little fish at heart and hoped that instructed lessons wouldn't change his mind, but increase his love for the water.  We signed him up for lessons for 2 weeks at the beginning of June, right before it starting getting super hot this summer.  I picked a recreation center close to our house, that had an indoor pool, and it was perfect!  Here is my big boy on his 1st day of lessons...

I had several days off in the middle of the 2 wks, so it worked out well that I could attend most of his lessons with him!  Here we are, right before we got into the pool for the first time...I think I was just as excited as he was!

Eli was very excited to get into the pool every day that we had a lesson, and I had a lot of fun too!  I think that he was one of the oldest kids in his class, so he was a little more adapt to the water.  He learned so much in those 2 short weeks, and he have been practicing all summer long!  Yeah for swimming!!!

Here is E showing off his "swimming muscles"

Swimming with Gi Gi