Hello, again.

I haven't written in over a month, not because I haven't been doing anything, but because I haven't felt the desire to share my life with everyone who reads my blog.  This month has just been one of those months. 

I've really been enjoying watching Gabe and Lilli interact and letting Gabe experience new things now that he's a little older and loves to play with other kids.  I was never good at play dates, probably, because its been my experience, I didn't like chatting with other moms.  It's so hard for me to build new relationships; I need to be better at that so I can have a more full-filling life, I suppose, but it's a struggle.  Gabe always loves playing with Xavier, so I've taken them to Monkey Joe's a few times to run off steam.  It only takes about an hour of playing on all the inflatables to get tired.

I also always try to do some type of art project with the boys.  I think my persistence with Gabe sticking his hands in paint is finally working.  He's not afraid to get them dirty like he was before, but the mess doesn't last long before he tells me he needs to wash his hands.

Speaking of telling me things, he's gotten quite the personality this past year.  He's learned that when I say "No," he should respond with "yes!"  Or, the latest and most annoying and cute all at the same time is "What is that?" and "What you doing?"  The things children learn amazes me. 

Other than that, we go to Xavier's baseball games once or twice a week.  I started a boot camp class at the Y that kicks my butt every time and we bought Gabe a swing-set.  That's about the highlights of June.  July will be another story, hopefully.  I can't wait to let the month fly by so I can see the man of my dreams and get a vacation of total bliss. 

Memorial Day: Part 2 and Our Weekend Adventures

I finally am a little caught up since our vacation so I wanted to post some more pictures from our trip as well as the past weekend.  Since my last post we had taken down the flags at the cemetery and went back to my grandma's for our last dinner/get-together with the family.  Gabe was so sad to leave the next day, he even said he didn't want to go to Paw-Paws, which never happens.  I'm glad he had such a good time and is able to meet and get-to-know his extended family.  It was a long road home but we were all glad to be back.

Grandma with the grand and great-grandchildren

What we weren't glad to come back to was the Kitchen.  A few weeks ago we had a leak under the sink and we thought we had fixed it but not before all the wood tile was soaked and now starting to smell like mold.  Yuck.  So, after spending eight hours in a car driving home Dad and I spent a another two tearing up the kitchen floor.  What fun!

Fast-forward to this weekend which was jam packed with outings, just the way I like to spend my weekends!  Friday I took Gabe to the Y to swim.  I knew the trip would be difficult since he had skipped his nap but it was so hot I wanted to go anyways.  We got there around 2:30 and quickly changed, showered and jumped in.  The day camp kids were there too, so it was a little rowdy and super loud but it didn't seem to phase Gabe - he loved it.  He saw another little boy jumping in from the side, probably 18 months old, and decided he would like to try that.  So, he did, and LOVED it!  He kept saying "Ready?!" and he'd jump, sometimes before I actually was ready but he didn't mind going underwater.  He actually go so brave that he told me not to hold him and he would swim to get the ball we were playing with or he'd jump in alone.  It was so cute to see how brave he was.

Needless to say he didn't want to leave.  Thankfully there was only one other person in the locker room when we went to change that had to listen to his temper tantrum and constant screaming about wanting to go back into the pool.  Once his clothes were on he was good to go.  All in all it was a pretty good trip.

Saturday while I was working really, really hard, I found a few festivals in the area I wanted to attend.  So, after work we headed out to the Horseradish festival.  We only stayed about an hour since it was really too hot to walk around.  Gabe played on the playground a little but agreed it was time to go.  Then, we headed across town to the Pig-A-Palooza, a charity event for Jacob's Ladder Foundation.  They had BBQ and a few inflatables for kids.  Gabe slid down the large inflatable slide all by himself.  I was so proud.  They also had a silent auction, I tried to win the Hubby a Yankee's something-or-other but I didn't win.  My friend Pam also met us out there so it was nice to catch up and chat with her that evening.  It's so hard to meet new, good friends that it makes me very thankful for the friends I still have from school that I can call anytime and everything just clicks back in place as if I never moved.

Today, we finished up our weekend with the Strawberry festival.  This takes place about an hour from the house in an old town.  There are tons of booths set up with crafts and food.  They also had a petting zoo and rides for kids.  Gabe, Xavier and I fed all the animals: a camel, a cow, some goats, sheep and chickens.  Then the boys rode in the airplanes (Gabe's favorite part of the day) and the mini-train.  We were all tuckered out by the time we got home.  In fact, this is the first night since we've been home from Oklahoma that Gabe is asleep in his room before 9PM.  Let's just hope he sleeps in too!

Edit Me: Week 3

I'm a little behind my regular schedule due to our vacation but here's the week 3 Edit Me challenge.  This adorable little girl made it easy for me to decide what to do! 

Here's the before:

 

And my after:

I didn't know how to do this effect with Picnik so I had to brave my Photoshop. 

Here are the steps I took:

-Created a background copy

-Used the selection tool to select the balls in the background

-Enhance tab, then Convert to Black and White

-Zoomed in to correct the edges and Viola!

Enjoy and check out the other great edits!