Summer Recap {2012}

It's official. Summer is over. womp.womp. On a happy note though, pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks today. (yay!!)

I created a little to-do list for our family to work on when summer first started. I thought it would be fun to look back and see what we were actually able to accomplish from the list. I was surprised. We did more than I thought we did. However, not everything got crossed off the list but who is able to accomplish everything on their to-do list? Certainly not this girl. Although, I secretly wish I could.

Here is a reminder of our list:

1. Go to the Farmer's Market in Madison
2. Brewers Games
3. Camping with Aidan (even if it's only in our backyard)
4. Fishing
5. Trips to the zoo
6. Bike Rides
7. Travel Up North
8. Boat Rides
9. Fireworks
10. Enroll Aidan in t-ball and soccer
11. Watch Tommy's baseball games
12. Go to the beach...build a sandcastle
13. Take family pictures
14. Host a book drive
15. Go on a picnic
16. See a parade
17. Go to a fair
18. Attend Jazz in the park
19. Participate in a 5K
20. Catch a sunrise
21. Run through the sprinkler
22. Learn to golf 

The things in bold, we didn't get to. Kind of a bummer BUT there is always next summer. We could still do a few of  these things too as long as the weather stays nice (like camp, see a sunrise and golf). We missed our chance to see a parade and go to Jazz in the Park. Even though we didn't get to everything on the list, we did a few things that weren't on the list. We grilled pizza for the first time, I planted flowers in my garden for the first time, we had lots of smores and celebrated veterans. We managed to do all of this with record setting temperatures here in Milwaukee.

We went to several Brewers games. Uncle Danny took Aidan fishing while we were on vacation. We went to the zoo a few times. Road bikes almost daily. Went Up North for a week in July and went on plenty of boat rides. Saw fireworks on the 4th of July. Aidan played both t-ball and soccer. Auntie Lindsay took Aidan to the beach on his birthday. We took family pictures in June. We collected books to be donated on Grayson's behalf for his first birthday. We went on a picnic while on vacation. We went to state fair and had a blast! I did my first 5K a couple of weeks ago and Aidan loved running through the sprinkler. We also celebrated all of the boys birthdays. I'd say it was a good summer! 

How did you spend your summer?! 

4th of July {2012}

Typically we celebrate the 4th of July Up North in Rhinelander but with our week long vacation coming up, we knew we had to stay home. Both Tommy and I had to work on the 5th so we didn't have big plans. Plus, we just celebrated Gray's first birthday and I was looking forward to just relaxing. We planned on attending the parade in our community, swimming at Nana and Papa's house, grilling out and going to the fireworks. Except that isn't exactly how our day went. First, one of the legs on our dining room chair broke. One of the bolts was stripped, which made the leg loose. Not a super huge deal but nonetheless, still something to fix. Grayson wanted to help Tommy fix it :)

Then our back screen door ripped. Most likely from little hands pushing on it. It was inevitable really. 

Grayson was fussy majority of the morning and by the time we were getting ready to go to the parade he spiked a fever of 102.4. Poor little bugger is still on antibiotics for another ear infection and now he has a nasty cough and boogers. I feel so bad for him. At the same time Grayson was fussing, Aidan had a MASSIVE meltdown. I wish I had a picture. I think the heat was getting to him but he came in the house crying his eyes out because one of the neighbor boys "stole" one of his Nerf gun darts. We promptly took him to his room to lay down. He napped for two hours. We didn't go to the parade and we never made it swimming. Both the littles needed to rest up.

I decided to go grocery shopping and fill our fridge. All we had was condiments. No joke. We've been so busy that I don't think I grocery shopped in three weeks. Once the babes were up, my in-laws came over and we grilled out. Steak, corn on the cob, water melon and potato salad. I, of course, forgot to take a picture. (I blame the heat!) Its been so warm here that we didn't even eat outside, we stayed in and watched the Brewers.

After dinner, Mike and Cathy went home and Aidan and I headed over to the park to watch the fireworks. Tommy stayed home with Gray so he could get some extra rest.  Even though our day definitely didn't go as planned and kind of felt like a typical Sunday it was still really nice to just hangout with our little family.

Linking up with Scottyboy and Katygirl

InstaFriday

Summer has been keeping us very busy lately but we've been having a blast. Here is a peak at how we've spent the past week... 

Holy hotness!  It has been ridiculously hot here. In fact, I believe we set a new record yesterday. I am ready for it to cool off just a bit. We haven't been doing much of anything but laying low inside. Its just too hot for the littles. 

We did get Aidan a slip and slide a couple of weeks ago though so he spent a day breaking it in. We had so much fun watching him run and slide.

I was lucky enough to get a night out with my besties. We had free tickets to Summerfest and we had a blast. Maybe even too much fun.

I learned this week that is darn near impossible to take a picture of fireworks. Either that or maybe I'm just not good at it. In fact, that is probably the more likely answer.

I know I'm a bit biased and all but aren't his eyes to die for? I just love them. I think they are so beautiful. I told him I was going to cut them out so I could keep them with me. He thought I was serious and was not happy with me. Ohhhhhhhhhh to be five again and believe everything anyone says.

This child LOVES blueberries. As in, would eat an entire container if I let him. He has a new technique. Before he eats them, he smooshes all of them and then eats them.

Apparently, we are also learning how to be more independent. I tried feeding him ravioli for dinner one night this week and every time I got the spoon to his mouth, he would shake his head "no" and take the ravioli off the spoon to do it himself. I'n not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing but this was the aftermath.

I can't help but smile when I look at this picture. Isn't he just the cutest thing EVER?! Great Grandma Gloria got him this little chair for his birthday and he loves it. The chair is perfect for him...its just his size.

Me and Aidan in a nutshell. He definitely gets his silliness from his mama.

We also enjoyed a family outing to a Brewer game. I think there were fifteen of us and we had an absolute blast. We grilled out and watched our favorite team win! So much fun! 

We've been so busy lately with Grayson's party, the Brewer game outing, and getting ready for our vacation that we are planning on just hanging out this weekend. I am definitely looking forward to some down time. Have a great weekend! What are you doing?!

Linking up with Jeannett at LifeRearranged

Easter {2012}

Since Easter was already last weekend, I thought it might be time to share how we spent our day. For the first time ever, Tommy and I decided to hide eggs for Aidan. We decided just hide them in the house; mainly because I was lazy and didn't want to go outside in the dark and try to hide them. Target (where else?!) had the most adorable little signs that said things like "this way" or "getting warmer." Of course, I had to have them for our hunt. I hung the signs up around the house and proceeded to hide 18 eggs. Some were easy to find, some weren't so easy. (read...eggs in the oven and in the hanging pot rack) Then Tommy and I assembled the boys basket. I decided to do one BIG basket instead of two small baskets. We don't go overboard for Easter. We just do candy and a couple of small toys. Aidan is REALLY into baseball so the bunny brought him his first set of baseball cards, a movie and a water gun to use in Nana and Papa's pool this summer. Grayson got a little giraffe that plays a few different tunes because he can't sleep unless there is background noise (oops!). Now he has something we can bring with us when we are out and about.

As we were assembling the basket, I noticed that the garage light had come on. The light has a motion sensor and only comes on if someone or something is back there. I got up to look out the window and noticed a sign on our back door.

"Happy Easter! The candy is safe to eat. PS. Check the deck box for Grayson." 

~Signed, the Easter Bunny 

Weird. I started racking my brain trying to think who would do that. I called Tommy over and we looked outside. Somebody Easter Bunny-ed our house! There were Easter eggs all over our deck and in the deck box there was a gift bag filled with Puffs and yogurt melts for Gray. Naturally, I cried because that's what I do. In all seriousness though, I was blown away. I couldn't believe that someone would take the time to go out of their way for my boys to make their Easter that much more special. I was so happy. I went to bed excited to see what the morning would bring.

Aidan was up SUPER early as expected but we made him wait until Grayson woke up before he could find his eggs. Apparently to torture Aidan, Gray slept until 8 am, which NEVER happens. Aidan found all of the easy eggs right away. He was so happy the bunny hide some this year. We did have to give clues to help him find the other eggs. Once the inside hunt was done, I started opening up the blinds and was shocked! The entire yard was covered in eggs...I'm talking hundreds of eggs. Not an Easter egg hunt, more like an Easter egg pick up.Whoever put the eggs on our deck the night before must have also managed to do the front of the house as well. We hadn't bothered to check anywhere else the night before so I was as surprised as Aidan was. Lets just say we picked eggs up for an hour. Thankfully, not every egg had candy in it. In fact, I think Aidan was more excited about the eggs that had a quarter or two inside. After our hunt was over, we got dressed and headed to church. This year, was our year to spend Easter with Tommy's family so we spent the day with his parents. Because his Grandma had just passed away, the day was very low key and casual, just the way I like it. We spent the rest of the day eating, drinking and enjoying each others company.

 ~Enjoy the photos!

The obnoxiously large Easter basket

Aidan found the sign right away...

Grayson loved shaking the eggs

Really Mom? In the oven?

See what I mean?! Eggs. Everywhere!

Aidan with all of the eggs picked up... (finally!)

PS. Thank you to the anonymous Easter Bunny! You made our day extra special. I definitely have some pretty big shoes to fill next year!