gotta love the dress-up box

another hot day

Andrew loves being outside but always wants someone out there to play with him. I caught him having fun on his own and it was extra cute for some reason. Maybe because I was so proud. :)

Today Andrew asked if we could go for a walk (that means he wants to ride his bike or scooter, although today he was actually hoping to take the skateboard to the streets). Anyway, our 'walks' always end up at a park, but today it was actually too hot to play. Andrew played for about 5 minutes then we relaxed in the shade, drank some water, stood in someone's sprinkler that was hitting the road then headed home and jumped right into the pool.

I feel like we skipped right over the summer days that I love (around 80) and jumped right into the 90's (or low 70s). I'm trying to enjoy it because it looks like we're already back down tomorrow... This summer has been nuts!

summer finally showed up!

Now for some important, but unrelated stuff.

Mason loves shoes. He brought me these ones to put on him. There's something about a baby in a diaper and converse that makes me smile!

I caught Andrew being carried off to bed in one of his favorite ways to get there. It's pretty easy to get him to bed most nights; you just have to be a little creative sometimes. :0)

Hopefully the sun will stick around for a while. The hot days have been few and far between, so we'll be sure to enjoy any that come our way!

bonfire at Alki

Here's why our Saturday was awesome:

Brooke had the great idea to round everyone up for a bonfire at Alki. The only catch is, to get a fire pit you pretty much have to get there at noon. So, Brooke got there at noon. The rest of us showed up around 4:00 and ended up being able to stay until the sun set!!

Thanks, Brooke. Same time, same place next year? :) Seriously.

Bella's birthday party

We went to our friend Bella's birthday party today. Andrew asked if we could give her some of our legos. :0) Instead we took a picture and put it on her card. He was excited about that plan.

I just happened to be walking through while the girls were all piled up. It was too cute not to take a picture of. (Bella is in the orange dress in the middle).

I always seem to get fun pictures of my boys at Leonardson birthday parties. It looks like it was Mason's turn this year.

Happy birthday, Bella! Hope you had a fun time at your party! We did!

eat pray love poop

Somehow I lucked out with two ladies nights this week. And somehow, Mason ended up pooping in the tub both of those nights! He's never done that to me. Matt has bad luck.

While Matt was busy cleaning the tub, I was enjoying dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and Eat Pray Love (a great! movie) with my friends.

While we're on the topice of ladies night, I thought I'd share a little something from a blog I follow...of someone I don't know... Anyway, a while ago she went out with her girlfriends and was talking about how different it is after you have kids. And I quote:

Can we groove to the Wiggles by morning and Justin Timberlake by night?
Can we have it all?

The answer, my friends, is...hell yeah.

I kind of love her.

pictures of the pictures

The moment you've all been waiting for. :0) Here are our family pictures famed and up above our couch!! I don't think pictures of rooms/decoration ever turn out as nice as they look in real life, but you get the idea...

A quick, delicious side note... My boss brought us back some pure maple syrup from his trip to Vermont. We had breakfast for dinner tonight so we could try it out - it is really good!! He thought he was just bringing back a treat for Andrew and Mason. Silly.

sword fight

Andrew thinks it's hilarious to carry Mason. I usually wait to see how Mason feels about it before I decide if I need to step in or not. Today Mason thought it was hilarious too.

It seems like Mason is learning to play and communicate more and more every day. Today he picked up a sword and held his own in a little pirate sword fight. It was awesome!

a song about hot dogs

Andrew pulled out the ol' guitar the other day. It's been a while, so I'm excited to see it back! Although after his first song about hot dogs (that was what he said...) maybe I shouldn't be so excited. :0)

Thanks to Tim for catching this lovely performance.

visiting Tim & Joe

We went to Portland this weekend to visit Tim and Joe. It was a quick trip, but we were able to get some good visiting and some good food in while we were there!

We met up at a restaurant for dinner (have I mentioned lately that we love our GPS?!) and had the best wings we've ever had. Andrew wasn't hungry so Mason picked up his corn dog and gave it a try. Turns out he loves them!

When Tim & Joe lived in San Diego they introduced us to the California burrito. Then, when they moved to Portland, they found the Oregon burrito. They are delicious (carne asada and fries - seriously delicious). They have a Washington burrito too, but for some reason they're not as good. Maybe because we're not on vacation when we have ours?

Here we are in line, waiting for donuts. Our wait was an hour and 15 minutes! That's us on the far right side of the picture. They have a crazy variety of donuts - Andrew had to decide between one with Fruit Loops, Cocoa Puffs, or M&M's. He chose M&M's and I've never seen him eat a donut so fast. He loved it!

Then we headed to the market. We didn't stay long because the boys were ready to run around, but we did stay long enough to find a balloon man. Andrew got a pirate sword, hat and holster and pretty much made his day.

After our little tour of Portland, we decided to head back to their house to just relax and enjoy the sun. They have a great back yard - we did our best to break it in for them. :0)

We forgot to pack swim shorts. Nothing wrong with this...

Thanks for a great weekend guys. Maybe next time we'll stay for more than 24 hours... Although this way we were able to leave without the boys going too crazy or having any meltdowns. So maybe it was perfect after all!