4th of July

I think this might be my favorite picture I've taken this summer. I took this at Jackson Park while we were waiting for the fireworks display to begin. Hunter and I went alone this year because Tyler and Brody are too young to stay up that late and so Daddy stayed behind with them. Hunter went with John and his friend Adam last year so I got to take him this year. We brought all the essentials; blankets, mosquito repellant (Off fans), sparklers, lighter and camera. Unfortunately I melted the lighter shortly after arriving trying to light too many sparklers at once so we had to borrow from someone sitting nearby. Hunter was very excited to light sparklers this year. We've of course enjoyed sparklers with him in years past but he was a little more cautious than he was this year. We had lit some sparklers in our yard the previous night when John's parents were visiting and Hunter seemed more interested in attempting to set fire to things with the sparkler than with the sparkler itself. He tried the grass, the fence (which we had to put a stop to immediately), the tree, sidewalk, you name it. Luckily, he didn't try any of these shenanigans at the park. My main concern was keeping the sparklers a safe distance from other people and their blankets/chairs. Once the display began it took some convincing to stop with the sparklers and enjoy the actual fireworks. I snapped a few pictures in the beginning and then he took over. He's a little camera bug. He took the next 50 and I got in a few at the end. I don't think he saw more than seven or eight fireworks with his naked eye. He was obsessed with capturing his favorite fireworks on film. We had a lot of fun together just the two of us.

I'm a goofball!

Love, Tyler

Locked out!

This incident happened a little over a month ago but I still wanted to blog about it because I still can't believe it happened. Hunter was at school and Tyler & Brody were in the family room playing with some toys. I ran downstairs to throw some laundry in (usually takes less than five minutes so I usually sneak away before anyone even knows I'm gone). This time one of the boys (I suspect Tyler but I can't really blame him because I didn't see it happen) walked over to the kitchen door that separates the basement stairs and back door and locked me out! The door was already closed because I always close it so they can't walk up and down those stairs by themselves so all he needed to do was turn the deadbolt. Little stinker! I could get outside and had access to the basement but I couldn't get back into the rest of the house. I called both boys over to see if they could unlock it for me and could hear them trying but they were unsuccessful. I left the house and started knocking on doors. Nobody was answering (it was the middle of the day on a weekday). The fourth house I tried was Dick's. He's like 80 years old and (obviously) doesn't work anymore. He lives kitty corner from us. I asked to borrow his phone to call around. I called my brother Mark because I thought he might have a key. No answer. I called my friend Shelly, who is also our realtor, to get to the code to the lock box on our front door (which has a key in it) but no answer. I called John at work to see if he knew the code. He didn't and started panicking. He suggested I call Joan (the owner of the real estate company Shelly works for). I said, "I don't have their number. Would you look it up for me?" Then felt really stupid when he told me to just look on the sign in our yard! I called Joan and she knew it right away and one minute later I was in. I was gone for probably 20 minutes total and it was evident that the boys had their own little baby party while I was away. Woo hoo!!! Mom's gone!!! They had climbed up on their high chairs to get up on top of the buffet to get a box of Cheerios down and proceeded to whip the box all over the floor. They dumped their entire laundry basket of toys all over the floor. They got into some of my potted plants in the kitchen and dumped dirt all over the floor. They also got into a container of monitor wipes and pulled every single one out and distributed them all over the living room floor. I took this picture only after I had cleaned half of it up (the thought hadn't occurred to me to take one right away). You can't see it in this small picture but there are Cheerios all over the hardwood floor. Thankfully everyone was safe and unharmed.

Little pro

Hunter learned how to ride his bike a few days ago (July 5th). YAY HUNTER!!! The evening of July 4th John took him out in front of our house on the sidewalk and ran with him several times back and forth and said the last couple times he was barely holding on. We told Hunter that we'd take him to the park to practice on another day because it would be easier for him to learn there (more space) and of course, he wanted to go right away. Being that it was the 4th of July the park was jam-packed full of people for the fireworks display that evening so we told him we'd try on another day. The next day he asked to go so I took him (and Tyler and Brody) down there. I had to put his bike on top of the stroller in order for it to happen. Thankfully we have a heavy-duty stroller that could withstand the weight!

We found a great spot to learn that had a gradual downhill path with an incline about 150 feet long. I parked the stroller at the top of the incline so Tyler and Brody could face Hunter and watch. I ran alongside Hunter only three times (round-trip) and he got it! A car drove by on the grass (not sure what that was all about because cars aren't usually allowed in the park) and a man shouted out the window, "Now that's a great Mom!" It's not everyday you see a woman 7 months pregnant running alongside her six-year-old on a bike but that thought didn't occur to me until after he had said something. It was a really good thing that it only took him three tries though because I don't think I could've run a fourth time. I even told him, "Mommy needs a break after this one." He continued to ride by himself five more times down and back while I let the boys out of the stroller and allowed them to roam. They were cheering for Hunter saying, "YAY!"

I honestly didn't expect him to learn so fast...I didn't even have a camera or videocamera with me to capture the moment and it was KILLING me! I thought it would take him at least a week of practicing. He's a pro! Since then he has been trying some "tricks" like riding only one handed and riding while standing up on the pedals. I wish our neighborhood had less traffic so that he had a bigger area to ride. If only our house would sell!

Happy birthday boys!!

Well I am finally getting to this post almost a month late. For being on summer break, things around here have been hectic. I haven't made time for my blog. But I plan on doing some serious catching up this week so expect to see more posts soon!

We decided on a combined birthday "bash" for the boys this year since last year was such a lot of work planning two separate parties only a few weeks apart. To help make it extra special we bought a bounce house as a gift to the boys. We've gotten our money out of it already. They've bounced almost every day since we got it. Tyler and Brody especially love it and everyone is getting a whole lot more exercise!

The theme this year for the party was "Star Wars" per Hunter's request. I made Yoda ears for all the kids at the party (mostly Hunter's friends from school) and put them in their goody bags. They were all pretty cute wearing their ears while playing the games. The kids were Jedis in training at our party as they had to complete several different challenges to become fully trained. They started out by pairing up and attempting to keep a balloon off the floor for 30 seconds using only their light sabers (also part of their goody bags). Then they moved outside to destroy the Death Star (drawn in chalk on the sidewalk out front) with black water balloons. The next challenge was to destroy yet another Death Star by throwing popsicle stick bombs at large bins. The winning team was the one that got the most shrapnel in their bin. They won pop rocks. Luckily, Hunter was on the winning team!

After the games we all ate, opened presents and had cake (like any other party!). We had a few Star Wars-related food items such as Yoda Sodas and Wookiee Cookiees but other than that it was your typical party fare. Hunter had his name on the big cake and Tyler and Brody each had special cupcakes they devoured after most of Hunter's friends from school had left. They opened their presents at that time too.

Hunter whispered to me later that he liked this party better than his Scooby party last year so I guess it was a success! The weather was better last year for both parties, a lot cooler, but at least it didn't rain.