Sad Hawken

This little boy gave me a run for my money today. He had a screaming meltdown fit at the POOL today. While I cruelly asked him to swim with me, and gave him the lunch he requested, and his friends were there waiting to play... What a rotten life he has. Later on, after at least 10 straight minutes of 4 YEAR OLD tantrum, he said he was 

1. Mad because I forgot his floatie (even though we were only in the baby pool and he didn't need it)

2. Mad that the "fun" pool was closed (I was surprised too, and didn't let him know in advance)

3. Mad that Matix is in Kindergarten and he can't go (me too)

4. Sad that Matix is gone all day and can't play with him (poor thing)

Then we came home and he fell asleep, and I forgot all about how frustrated I was with him this morning. Sleeping babies have the magical power of erasing bad thoughts from parents minds. I think Matix going to kindergarten is hard on everyone, except Matix, who loves it.  Poor Hawken is missing his best bud, his partner in crime, his big brother... :(

this face

Why, when I ask for a smile, do I get this face first. Really? 

Then, after lots of prompting do I get this face... finally. This little doll that Lullaby is holding, is called a "Snap 'n Style" doll. They don't sell them in stores anymore, and of course, it's Lullaby's favorite thing ever. It comes with hard plastic snap on and off clothes. She has a couple dolls and a few clothes, and is in love with getting them dressed and undressed and plays SO creatively with them. If anyone sees these at a yard sale ever, please buy them! I'll pay you back!

Ikea

Ikea gives away free breakfast on Mondays, and free lunch or dinner (kids only) on Tuesdays, no purchase necessary. I'm not one to pass up on FREE, so whenever I want to visit Ikea, I make sure it's on one of those two days. Hey, if I'm going there anyway, I might as well get a free meal out of it, right? 

Solace only liked the eggs, but was looking extra cute in his crab pants and making the monkey face. He only makes that face when he's frustrated. Apparently, an abacus is hard work for a baby.

trouble.

This blog is all over the place lately. I have a few more camping adventures to post, along with a few forgotten July things, and all the other everyday stuff that's been happening. Most importantly, Matix started SCHOOL. I have a kid in school. Weird. More on that later. Hopefully over the next few days I will be able to catch up on things. Check back often. :)  Here is something that Mr. Sully figured out last month... Not even 1 year old, and he's scaring me to death.

Great. Now he can only go outside WITH me. No longer are the lazy days of me making dinner in the kitchen and only occasionally glancing outside to see if everyone is okay. Now Sully screams at the door, as I hurriedly make dinner so I can go out with him for a few minutes before we eat. Poor thing. He wants so badly to run with the big guys...

Now, if he could only learn how to get down...

Solace's birthday party

Solace's birthday landed on a Sunday. He looked so handsome in his little outfit, but by the time church was done and we were back home, he was covered in bananas... So these phone pictures are all that I got.  Still cute as can be.

After naps I tried to get some cute pictures of him in his birthday onesie... No luck. He was completely distracted by his balloons and wanted nothing to do with taking pictures. Of course. "Ball", by the way, is his first and only word, and he calls balloons "ball" too. He was in heaven.

Opening presents was more fun for the big kids, but everything Solace got, he loved. Thank you to the grandparents and great grandparents for their presents. :)

His birthday "smash cake" didn't go as I figured. He is crazy for candy and sweets (the big kids sneak him licks every once in a while), but this cake, eh. He didn't love it.  Once we gave him a fork, he dug in a little more, but even then, he went right back to eating more cantaloupe. Good boy.

Everyone else got a cupcake. They turned out cute. The missionary couple came for dinner (before the cake), and stayed with us to help celebrate this sweet little boy of ours.  They taught us a lesson on kindness and honesty and watched the kids play for a little while. Brian came over too, but the rest of his family were still on vacation. Later on in the evening, Dale and Vanessa came. Solace went to sleep, but the big kids got to enjoy their cousins and watch a movie together. The ending credits of the Lego movie has a fun dance song on it and the kids had an impromptu dance party. This happens a lot with our kids but is even more fun with cousins. :)

Midway

Bryan and Kimberly met us at Midway for some fancy food truck food. There was a lot to choose from and we had fun trying all the different things. The goat milk ice cream sandwiches were amazing and probably my favorite thing from there. The avocado fries with jalapeño sauce were really good too... 

Lullaby and Evie are cute little friends. Evie doesn't talk much, which Lullaby doesn't mind, she likes to be in charge. :)

Solace and Luke are close to the same age too. So far they just look at each other and occasionally Luke will steal Sully's paci, but that's about it.  When they grow up though, they'll be friends.

Pedernales State Park

We went to Pedernales and decided we needed a waterproof camera again. The one we had in Dominica lasted until we got to Georgia, but died without warning. This adventure was floating and swimming up and down the river, through the rapids, through the shallows and the deep areas. The kids seriously had the best time. We built little makeshift dams to force the water to go through a narrow area to make it FAST. We found an old rope swing tied in a tree pretty far down river and played there for a while.  The memories are visible in my mind, but I wish I could share them with everyone, it was so lovely.

After hours and hours of river adventures, we hiked back up to the car to change and go on another hike, down to a different area. After a medium hike, we got to this point. Breathtaking.  When there's lots of rainfall, this is rushing with water. The area can sometimes get flash floods, so there is no swimming allowed in this part, which was understandable, but too bad.

Then Paul took the kids down lower, while I stayed on top to get some pictures. I thought they were just going down and back up, but they stayed down a little while.

Then Lullaby decided her legs didn't work, and Sully passed out... making Paul's job that much harder. Paul got the gold medal in parenting this afternoon. :)

There are several other hikes here, but the kids were tiring, and so were we.  Some of the hikes to hidden waterfalls, which looked beautiful from the pictures, were too hard of hikes for little kids. Maybe we'll try them in a few years.