A few months ago Jamie and I took Jay and Charlie to an event called Orlando Touch a Truck. A local church, Orlando Lutheran Church, hosts an event where they get all kinds of trucks and work vehicles to come in and the kids can sit in them, ride on them and play around on them. Jay had a blast looking at all of the trucks and even Charlie got to have a few turns.
Some days are better than others. It’s true and something that I am slowly beginning to accept; along with grumpy comes joy and laughter and the opposite is true of course. This morning regardless of the tears, tired yawns, not-quite awake cuddles and the protests against breakfast my sweet boys giggled at each other for no apparent reason. These are the moments of the day that I try to remember as I say my prayers and crash for the night and I hope they do too.
Here’s the silly, the serious, the pouty and the giggles. Happy Wednesday to you.
More park pictures because they are adorable! Do you remember these photos of Jay in the swings? Well these ones of Charlie remind me of them a whole lot.
traveling to the park- these next few crack me up, they show Jay’s ever changing personality SO well… ah, to be TWO
Jamie and I have been waiting a while before going ahead and purchasing Jay his first bike. After a little bit of thought (mostly on Jamie’s part since I didn’t have many opinions on the topic) we settled on getting him a pedaless bike (also known as a push bike, balance bike, glider bike). He is getting better by the day at pushing/gliding on his bike and I am having a hard time keeping up with them now that he is really getting the hang of it. And yes this is the same bike you spied a few days ago in Charlie’s 15 month post.
Waiting for his surprise…
One beautiful Saturday afternoon I got a few outdoor snuggles with my guys and while we were out Jamie grabbed a few photos of us. I am so glad that he had the camera because I just adore these photos.
the next few photos reminds me a whole lot of these ones…
There has never been any doubt in my mind that our boys are lucky. They want for nothing, are constantly showered with love and attention and most importantly they have an awesome Daddy! The later most applies to this post specifically but the others were worth mentioning too ;)
Why is Daddy so particularly awesome these days you ask? Because after not much convincing from Mommy he agreed and almost immediately started working on their very own fort!! Let me back up a bit.. It’s no secret that our boys LOVE the outdoors. If they are sad/grumpy/bored, we walk outside and all is well with the world again. Because of their love of the outdoors we spend a whole lot of time out there. Frequently, we head out front to our courtyard (such a great area to have with little kids) to play in the water table. Jay and Charlie usually take time to “wash and rinse cars” and basically drench themselves in water while we play. However, most recently Jay has taken to digging and moving dirt with his dump truck and cars. He digs in the flower bed out front, which doesn’t bother me (I don’t have a green thumb or the time/desire to do much with it so it’s not like he’s digging up my flowers) so it wasn’t a problem until we potty trained. Prior to potty training we/I would just take off his dirt covered diaper, hose him off and then head inside. After potty training we now have this…
See the problem? And yes it is a cute tushie and yes he will probably kill me later for posting this photo but I am okay with that ;) There is a whole lot more scrubbing that needs to take place these days after playing in addition to it just being kind of gross.
So in an effort to refocus this post and brag on my ultra-talented and fantastic husband we decided that Jay needed a “clean” place to dig and hence the fort idea was born. Jamie had help from Josh and George last Sunday with the planning, initial purchasing of materials and building of the sandbox and frame and this Saturday with the help of Josh and Uncle Mark, the cover for the sandbox was built and installed. It (the fort) isn’t finished yet but I am too excited about it not to share. There is a mix of iphone photos and DSLR camera photos below to show the progress and I promise to post again when it’s finished. Get ready to be jealous because it’s cool and you know that you want one :)
purchasing of supplies
Bupper’s Big Guck helped haul home the supplies.
The fort project kickoff happened to take place on the coldest day of the year so far, hence the hats and jackets.
Using Pepere’s awesome nail gun
Charlie wanted to help with the digging. Also, he says “cheese” frequently when he sees a camera now, hence the face.
Trimming some low-hanging branches.
The day after, showing the boys the initial construction that finished after they were asleep.
One week later, adding more sand (1400lbs total)
building of the cover
finally getting to play!!
a few from the phone
When we decided it was time to go in for the night. To say that they like it would be quite the understatement.
I thought having someplace to sit near the sandbox would be especially nice and after looking around for a few ideas I stumbled upon these plans. Jamie and the guys took these plans and kind of ran with it and let’s be honest, ours is so much cooler than the original! Here’s a video of how the lid works so you can get a better idea of how it works…
In the fall I was swamped with client photos- I had the almost every weekend and sometimes both days of the weekend booked. It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but I did hate that it took away from some of our weekend family time. Either way it happened and I was busy which made it nice that the boys could join me on a location scouting trip. We made a night out of it- had a picnic in the park, ran around and ended up playing at the playground until the sun went down. Both Jay and Charlie have really started to love going to the park and up until this point Charlie had really only been on the swings; however, since Daddy was there he helped with the slide a few times and Charlie LOVED it.
I haven’t had a phone dump in quite some time so here you go. A little bit of random, a little bit silly and a whole lot of everyday love.
Charlie showing some love for his book
happy kitchen helpers
Jay has been really interested in writing his name lately- these are a few of his attempts. I am so proud of him!
kisses for the baby in the mirror
frequent view
I love these curls
family shot before heading out for a date
silly business
stories with Daddy before work
well hello little one :)
silly Charlie faces
so proud that he can use a straw
sweet brothers sharing a special treat
wrong little boy “using” the potty
happy kitchen helper
helping to take Daddy’s lunch to the car
picking out plants at the nursery
our new orange tree!
strawberries!
always more projects on the go
family portrait drawn by Jay
“cheese” face
swinging
more swinging
a certain kiddo needs a bath!
blankie is never far from reach
cool dude!
These are old, from Jay’s party, but I never got a chance to post them and I wanted to so here they are. All this sweet three year old wanted for his birthday party was to have cupcakes (with blue icing specifically) and chips (tortilla chips, the “diamond shaped ones”). We also added an ice cream sundae bar at the last minute because really who needs an excuse for ice cream? Not this girl, that’s for sure ;)
So here it is, nothing fancy but every bit as celebrated!
the perreault family 