New Toy and traveling

Above is Aaron with our newest Transformer toy. It is a speaker in the form of bumblebee from the movie. It dances and lights up to the beat of the music it plays. It is very cute, Aaron and Kara love it.

Below are pictures of Aaron and Kara at the airport. Naturally our flight was delayed but it wasn't as bad as the first time, and as you can tell by the pictures the kids just took it in stride. Pretty uneventful flight so that was good. We still didn't all get to sit together as a family, so I guess that is delta policy or something. Even arriving on time to San Antonio we were still exhausted. It's good to be visiting!

Aaron and Kara reading

We haven't done anything exciting. Just more swimming lessons. Kara was swimming to get a toy and there was a guy swimming laps next to us. He popped up and said Hi to Kara and she turned on the 1000 Kilowatt smile and say a very southern "Hi-ii!" It was two syllables it was so southern. Now when I asked her to say hello to the teacher, who she has seen almost everyday for two weeks, she waved her hand at her under the water shyly. Hm..guess you have to be male to get attention. My gal the flirt. Daddy is going to have a heart attack in a few years when she is dating in Kindergarten.

Oh, the pictures are the kids reading. Now what's that Aaron is holding, you ask. Aaron created a transformer out of mega blocks that he didn't want Kara to get, but he still wanted to read. The solution, hold it up to your ear while you are reading.
:)

Pumpkin Bread and Little girls

The pumpkin bread shot is for Mike. Here is Aaron's pumpkin bread. Yummy!

Swimming lessons went great yesterday. Aaron could swim but not put his head under water so that's good. Kara did really good, she is starting to kick her feet. It was fun.

We went to Logan's' on Sunday and that's the place you can throw the peanut shells on the floor. Well, we don't, so that Kara doesn't pick up that habit. Aaron really wanted to, but we told him no because Kara was watching. So he said, "Kara look at that." pointing away from the table. So she looked away and he dumped the shells on the floor and smiled really big. She looked back at him with her eyebrows up like what was I supposed to look like. It was really cute.

Kara was playing with blocks and dropped a few so she told herself "careful." A self-correcting child what could be better? She also has a new take on a song. She sings, "Head, shoulders, chocolate milk." Then she laughs.

Kara was hiding under the table saying I see you!

Swimming, Rain, and Ear Aches

Well, Thursday was our last lesson for the week. Kara did a bit better but still didn't want to go to the teacher. She loves splashing and going under water though. Hm... Aaron also really liked his lesson and when daddy got home we went to the pool to practice. It was neat. Aaron was really excited to show daddy everything he has learned so far in swimming lessons. Kara just sat in her swim ring and observed.

Friday Aaron had a doctor's appointment for a physical. We had to do some lab work and that was an ordeal. First just walking to the lab Aaron told me he didn't want to pee in a cup. Hm...I'm thinking that's about the easiest lab work there is, but he didn't have to. He did have to give a blood sample and that was not too fun. He didn't want to and was freaking out about everything. Yikes. Poor guy. I tried to take his mind off of it by asking him to tell the nurses about Transformers but he couldn't remember anything. Then we get to the actual physical and he had to touch his nose and walk from here to there on tip toes and things like that. He told me earlier that his ear was itching so I asked the doc to look at it. Sure enough Aaron has swimmers ear and can't go under water for a week. I'm not sure how that will effect the swimming lessons next week so we shall see what happens on Monday. So our weekend plans were going to the pool to practice swimming but since he can't go underwater he didn't want to go.

We did get to do the water slide in the backyard today so that was fun. Kara loves going down her little slide and splashing. It's cute. She is saying tons more phrases which are funny. Every time she would slide she said watch this. She told Andy she wanted milk peese. O.k. then she tells him, "I get it, I get it." and waved her little hand at him. Hm.. Aaron's new thing is jigsaw puzzles. He uses pieces of paper and cuts little semi-circles out of them and glues them to other pieces to make the jigsaw connections. It's pretty clever. Of course the puzzle pieces have transformers on them but he is doing something different so that's good.

It is raining this evening and it sounds really nice. We are hoping that the rain will help our lawn but so far the red clay is making it hard to grow here.

Here is the daisy that I almost killed. I brought the plant inside and it's doing a lot better. I guess it was just too hot outside.

Aaron is reading a book to Kara. I thought it was cute.

Here is Kara being lazy.

Swimming DAY 3

Kara did a little better at swimming lessons today. At the end of class she would actually go to the teacher, so I guess that's good. She really wants to do her own thing rather than whatever we are doing at the time. Oh well. Aaron is doing really good with the lessons. He is going underwater, opening his eyes underwater and jumping into the pool. Today they finished early again so he got in with me and Kara so I had two hanging on me today. It was only for about five minutes but I was tired. I wanted to nap in the parking lot instead of drive home but the kids are too noisy for that! :)
Well, the teacher has been saying that swimming makes them tired but so far my kids are all fired up. Kara is taking shorter naps and sleeping less at night. They are both really hyper in the afternoons running around the house chasing each other. YIKES. I am ready for a day off from swimming so they will calm down.

Swimming Lessons

On Monday we started swimming lessons. Aaron is in the beginner class and Kara and I are in the parent/tot class. It was interesting. Aaron is at one end of the pool and Kara and I are at the other. Kara's class was interesting, it is mostly getting them used to the water and playing games to get the basic movements down. Also, the teacher stressed telling them about floating with a little song so that's nice. Aaron really liked his class the first day and was trying to tell me about it while I was still finishing my class with Kara. He was talking the whole way to the car and all the way home so he really liked it.
Today's class was good for Aaron too. He really enjoyed it and we are hoping to go to the big pool this weekend to practice. Kara was a bit tired today so she was kinda cranky. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow will be better.


Last night Aaron put on this hat and it made me laugh.
He looks like a trail guide or something.



I finally got a picture of the swing.
No Andy in the picture but the kids enjoyed it.

Happy Father's Day

We had a nice weekend.
On Saturday Aaron and I helped Andy wash the car and truck. Andy did most of the work while I was trying to avoid getting squirted with the hose. Aaron has pretty good aim. I think I almost got all the tree sap off of my truck so that's good. Saturday afternoon we went to Lowe's and bought a swing for the front porch. It is really nice and relaxing and Kara can climb up by herself so it makes us even lazier! It was about to rain so Andy and I quickly put it together, which again was mostly Andy working and me cheering him on! Then we all sat on the swing until it started to rain. I will hopefully post a picture of the swing later today, first I need to take a picture. :)




Sunday we went to Logan's steakhouse for lunch and it was tasty. We also had a really good waiter so that made it even nicer. We did some shopping but poor Andy didn't get anything. I got some flowers and Kara got some clothes and a new swimsuit! Aaron got a book and a free backpack from Toys R Us. I was going to get Andy a new tea holder for work but of course they were totally out! Oh well.



Kara is still keeping us busy. She has figured out how to dial the operator so she is grabbing the phone and dialling. Not sure what we are going to do about that. Hm..also, at Barnes and Noble there is a Thomas table and the child that was playing there was moving his train close to Kara's so she said, "uh oh, train coming!" It was cute.

Aaron is still obsessed with Transformers so if he does something other than transformers I will let y'all know but for now it is all transformers.

TGIF

I am beat! Kara is really into everything and I am trying very hard to keep her out of everything. She is also repeating tons of stuff which is funny, mostly. She now walks up to us and says, "Hi five, too slow!" She learned this from Aaron but doesn't know all of the phrases to the joke.
She is definitely a girl because she loves trying on shoes. She has been walking around in Aaron's loafers and it looks funny. I need to get a picture, but as soon as I get the camera she is off doing something else. She also likes my purse. Although I have already given her one of mine she needed another one the other day so I found another for her. So she stuffs the purse with her books and walks off happy. Another time she had her purse and her play phone and was talking to Ava. She would say, "Ava", and some baby talk I didn't understand, then "purse" and more jabbering, then "bye!" It was adorable. I know that when she sees Ava they will probably just stare at each other, but in her own home Kara is certainly comfortable chatting with Ava on the play phone. Adorable!
Kara also loves to do whatever Daddy is doing. When he gets home it is like a rock star has arrived. They run to give him hugs and Kara usually says "Up with Daddy!" Poor daddy, Kara is usually swimming when he gets home so he gets a soggy hug from us all!
Here is Kara trying out one of Aaron's toys. She runs over to what Aaron is doing and says, Kara's turn, peese. It's cute. She rarely uses please so Aaron always gives in. He's such a sweety. The other day she took her step stool over to the phone alcove and used it to get the phone and the pens that are nomally out of her reach. She has also figured out how to turn on the laptop, so we have to keep that closed now. This morning I had the laptop closed, so she grabbed the phone instead and started dialing. And this evening she discovered the joys of the open toilet. Someone left the lid up so she was splashing. YUCK!
Did I mention her new word, sucks. She was in her crib and didn't want to nap and was saying sucks, sucks, sucks. I was thinking surely she doesn't really mean that? Can she possibly know how to use that word already? Then I noticed she was holding her feet. She wanted socks. I was afraid she had learned that her crib sucks and then I was going to hear that about my cooking and anything else that bothered her but fortunately she just wanted socks.

Aaron is just as exhausting only he is mentally draining. It was raining and windy one evening, o.k. every evening here and he was talking about tornadoes. Ughh. Whoever first mentioned that to him is on my list now. GRRR! Anyway, he was asking why I was not worried earlier when it was windy and rainy, about tornadoes. So I told him that normally we will hear a siren or a warning on the t.v. or radio when the conditions are good for tornadoes. He then asked, "If there is a tornado and I'm sleeping will you get me?" Of course I will. And do you remember what room we go to. He said, "
Downstairs bathroom." So I said yes, daddy or I will get you and Kara and go there to wait out the storm. He then brightened up and said, "if I'm pooping i can just stay there." Yes, you can. Then he asked, "What if we die in a tornado." I said that everyone would probably be sad about it, but mama and daddy will do everything we can to make sure you and Kara are safe. Then he said, "O.k." Hm..so I changed the subject. Very deep stuff for right before bed.
Other exciting Aaron news is that I was taking out the diapers and felt something on my foot. Fortunately it was a frog and not a leaking diaper like I first thought. So I ran up to get Aaron and Andy out of bed and we went to the front and searched for the frog. Aaron actually caught it and then was jumping around after it trying to catch it again. It was really cute and he was excited about catching his first frog. Pretty neat.
Another cool thing Aaron and I have been doing is I found some of the chapter books I read as a child and started reading a chapter a night to him. They are the Cam Jansen mystery series so there are cliff hangers at every chapter. It's kinda neat. Tonight he let Daddy read the two chapters for the night since it is close to Father's day. It is a happy way to end the day!

Wabash Cannonball?

Aaron's loves his new water slide. It goes really fast. I wish we could ride it but we are over the weight limit. Oh well. Only the little ones get to have fun anymore. He wanted everyone to see a picture of it so here it is:

Summertime

Well, we found some little pools for the kids so most days in June, so far we have been in the pools in the afternoon. The first day I, of course, got a horrible sunburn so I have been wearing a shirt with my swimsuit. They are hilarious in the pool though. Aaron's has a water slide and he goes all over the place with it. Kara's we got her little slide and put it next to the pool so she could slide too. It's interesting. Aaron likes the water more than Kara.


When we are done swimming Kara likes to have her hair blow dried, but only by daddy!





Kara has been saying new phrases. "I see you" on the playground and "I need it" when she wants something. It's funny because Aaron was telling her the difference between need and want. "No, Kara you don't really need this book, you just want it." However, does he remember his own lecture in the toy store, of course not.


Some afternoons if Daddy is going to be late we turn on the music and dance. They have really interesting dance moves. Aaron even does the robot. I think this is his air guitar below.




Kara has also become a little mama. In addition to repeating Stop it Mama, if Aaron tells me that, she is also diapering her dolls and animals. She goes to her diaper bag downstairs and gets out the changing pad, diaper, wipes and Desitin. Then she puts her doll on the mat and tries to diaper. She also tries to get her dollies to wear shoes and hats. It's very cute. The other day she even went over to her bear and said, Up and held out her arms like I do, then picked up the bear and told him something. Hm...

Aaron's Birthday Party

Well, we had Aaron's birthday party with his school friends on the 31st. We went to the bowling alley and it was really fun. The kids did really good bowling and they were talking in between their turns it was cute.






We had an ice cream cake which was really yummy. Darson said he was going to blow out the candle before Aaron could, so the whole birthday song Aaron was really watching Darson.



Kara really enjoyed the ice cream cake. I'm not sure she ate any of it but she really like swirling it around on her plate. She was in awe most of the time with all the kids there.

Update

Kara has given up naps, Yikes. Not sure why, but I haven't been able to do anything the past week because she won't nap. Today she finally took a two hour nap so I got a few things done but am too tired to blog. So I apologize for the lack of blogging and hopefully I will be able to continue tomorrow. I leave you with a view from the backyard. I was trying to get a picture of the kids and missed so here is the view from the backyard. The house in the picture is not ours but that is almost exactly what the back of our house looks like.