StairMaster

S.O.S.

I give up. For the past couple weeks, Max has stopped napping. We went through this cycle a couple months ago and then we were back on track. And, now, we're back to square one. Oh, how I miss the days when I could just put him in his crib, with his pacifier, and he'd easily nod off. 

 Maybe he'll take a pacifier??

Bye Bye Baby

I was saddened to store these away this morning to make room for her big girl sippy cups. Even though Violet never really used them, it's a chapter in her/our life that we are closing.

I thought to myself, "will I ever use these again?" 

I'm pretty sure what Nick's answer would be, but mine isn't so clear. Bye bye to our baby bottles...for now anyways!

Pool Party

We finally got around to visiting the Milwaukee Zoo on Saturday and got home early enough to enjoy the rest of the afternoon sunshine outside. We bought a pool for the kids and set up play in the backyard (only after disagreeing with Nick that the front yard wasn't the best place!)

Perfect Evening

Both kids were asleep by 8:00pm, we enjoyed a couple beers on the front porch, and spotted a beautiful rainbow in the distant. It doesn't get much better than this!

 

Cherry Picking

We discovered we have a cherry tree in our backyard and they are good and ripe enough to start picking. And, I received a request to make cherry pie from these, so maybe that'll be a topic for another post. 

This is for you, Nani.

Riding the Potty Train continued...

No, that's not a skirt he is wearing. This is how Max puts his shorts back on after demanding, "I do all by self!"

Whatever works, right??

Bye Bye

Riding the Potty Train

We are now in our second week of Max using the toilet on his own and we are very happy with his progress. We've had a few accidents here and there, but we've even dared to take him out with no diaper and he's done great. Nick took him to a baseball game and he held it for over 3 hours! Our next mission is to get him to go in public. He's still a little gun-shy.

Football

I can deal with Max playing football...as long as he is the kicker!

BFFs

Max and his friend, Regie, have really taken a liking to each other. Here they are at dusk playing cars on our front porch. They could have sat there all night talking back and forth, crashing their cars together and just being boys. 

Firecrackers

We had a busy holiday weekend with friends and family and firecrackers! The Nichols family stayed with us for a couple days where we listened to the Summer Sounds concert at the park, played slip-n-slide in the backyard and got a little "adult" time at Summerfest while a babysitter handled 3 kiddies. We then had an impromptu get-together with Nani, Grandpa, and Uncle and Aunt J.  On Monday, we watched the longest 4th of July parade and Max and Nick stayed up way too late for the fireworks display. It was a long and fun holiday weekend to remember.

JJ loves all things water.

 

She's singing the "Star Spangled Banner" 

The blonde beauties!

If you couldn't tell, Max was not a fan of sparklers. 

Donate $1 and you get to make circles in the street where you think a horse will poop during the parade!

We didn't win...or did we since we didn't have to witness it!

Watching the parade curbside.

A very touching living memorial.

Late night firework show.