day 12

That's right, almost half-way there and the hardest, longest alone stretch is about behind me! Here's a recap of the last couple days.

Shep's project while I made a meal for a friend last Tuesday.


How fun is that for a little boy??

Too hot to do it outside, so yep, we had beans ALL over the kitchen.

Gotten to have some movie time since daddy is away. Aunt Nancy sent the boys some way cool truck movies, so we have been enjoying those! So cute all snuggled with his bear!

"Cheeeetthhh" as he would say it.

Yesterday was a full, fun day. Bible study in the morning, lunch at Chick-fil-A with friends and church community group dinner last night. Some crazy hair after bath time!

Conner had a rough morning, so I was glad it was school day=) After we dropped Conner off this morning Shep said, "Where are we going to go Mom?" We are loving our time! First, Whole Foods for some coffee beans and, of course, a muffin. He said, "I'm cookie monster!" I think it's funny that the boys' favorit muffin is the vegan chocolate chip muffin.

Next we hit the library for awhile and got to pick out two free books for completing one of our summer reading clubs.

Look what Conner got to do at school today! Woohoo for bounce houses. Wish I had one and could just turn them loose every afternoon to bounce their energy out.

Every Thursday, they kids get sno cones afterwards. Always one of the highlights of their week!

Shep is not yet bigger than Conner, but is getting close. As they were eating their sno cones, Shep turned to Conner and said, "What did you learn today, Donner??" LOL! Love that boy.

Started packing today. Lots of fun plans coming up!

that was a rough bedtime. one of those times that I really didn't know what else to do. i hate battling a 2 year old for an hour. (said stubborn 2 year old refused to take a nap this afternoon, too.)needless to say, i'm exhausted.

here's a few cute things the boys have said lately:

conner's prayer request tonight: "pray for my grandparents as they travel to texas to pick me up with my luggage." (big emphasis on luggage)

conner has started saying, "first of all..."

shep when trying unsuccessfully to use the potty last night: "the tank is empty, mom." then turning to me, "i like your shoulders."

shep has started to say "either". sometimes he uses it correctly, but he usually uses it in the place of saying "too". like, "i went there either."

shep yesterday morning: "go wake up that lazy 'donner'!" it was only 7:05 am, but that's late for my boys.

zack's blog

here's a link to Zack's blog while he's at the music festival, if anyone wants to see what he's up to.

https://atlanticmusicfestival.org/blogs/zachary-stanton/2011/july/16/beginnings

wow, shep is having a rough time napping this afternoon. can anyone say, early bedtime?!?!

so different

It's so funny to see how different my boys are at only 3 and 2. Shep's fashion statement this morning: he VERY intentionally wore one blue Croc and one black Croc. Conner was mortified. It surprised me how much Conner reacted to it. "Mom, make him put the same color croc on!!"

Conner is rocking the climbing web! We went all the way to the top. Conner would much rather play alone at the park. Do his own thing and not have anyone else around to mess it up. He'd much rather interact with adults.

Shep, on the other hand, loves to socialize. He's funny and loves to play silly games. Conner can be wild, but Shep is definitely the more aggresive one. He doesn't always like Shep's wild games. Shep hit it off with a little boy from church! His Mom and I found them under the slide (poor boys were trying to find some shade!) eating their snacks. They where poking each other, exclaiming "Ouch" very dramatically and laughing. They played together the whole time we were there. It was pretty cute.

pizza party

Had a little pizza party tonight, complete with Tom and Jerry cartoons! I let the boys put the pepperoni on.


Shep is actually removing pepperoni here.

"Mmmmm....yum," he said.

My dinner.

When I told Conner we were going to make the pizza he said, "And we can invite lots of people over for a party!!"

our week in phone pictures

Here is a snap shot of our week from phone pictures I've sent Zack, so he can see what the boys are up to!

Monday morning we headed to the park for awhile. The boys are making parking spots with the mulch.

Conner built NYC with blocks. He's very specific about the city he's building.

Tuesday morning Conner had school. Shep and I went to a friend's birthday. Check out these awesome monkey cupcakes my friend Leslie made!

Conner's school project for Tuesday. He learned about the first church in Acts.

Wednesday we went to story time and then got Shep's hair trimmed.

He was so good!! It's only his 2nd cut, since he still doesn't have a whole lot of hair. He didn't like the clippers, though=( Right after this picture he burst into tears.

There is a Wendy's across the street. We don't eat much fast food (except Chick-fil-A!), but have occasionally gotten a frosty there. Shep pointed and said, "Mom, I want to eat there!!" They were so cute and so excited to go to Wendy's and eat INSIDE! Yay for lemonade! They ate every last bite, too.

Thursday was school day again for Conner. Shep and I went to Barnes and Noble to play trains and read books. Gotta get those 600 minutes in...lol!

Bath time! Shep pretending to drink coffee.

Monster truck rally.

Special Saturday morning breakfast! Big decision.

"Sweet face" Shep does.

The week went by pretty fast! One down, three to go!

target here we come!

The boys got a surprise in the mail from their Great-Grandma in Iowa! Seven whole dollars each to spend on cars and trucks! Conner can hardly wait for Shep to get up from his nap, so they can go pick something out. He didn't want to pose, so this is the best shot I could get.

The boys and I have been reading a lot. We just started our 3rd summer book club. I'm all about setting goals, reading books and getting cool prizes! We have to read 600 minutes for the one at Half-Priced books, which isn't a huge deal, except that we only have a few weeks to do it since we came in half way through the dates for the club. We're on track with about 300+ min. The prize is a $5 giftcard!

day 2 of 28

First of all, thanks for all the prayers! Keep them coming. Today was a good day, despite the fact that I probably only had about 25 min to myself the entire day. We went to the park really early and played for awhile. By 10 am it was too hot and we headed home. The boys played well together today. THAT.IS.HUGE. Hoping this is a new trend;)


Every summer I stock up on all the little preschool books in the Target $1 bin. Conner can really do them this year.


Every page gets a sticker, of course!

It sure helps the afternoon pass a little more quickly.

It's funny how much more fun something is when it's in a new location. I moved the car rug into the living room and it was a big hit!

I think Shep is getting much closer to being potty trained. He went in the potty 3 times today and before bed last night. He's very aware of when he's going and he'll say, "I just had an accident in my diaper." He's gone off and on since before he was 2, but I think we're moving in the right direction now. He likes to go whenever Conner does. Speaking of Shep, that kid can talk! Tonight he said, "Look what I found. It's my little tiny car I was missing." I think that's pretty good for a boy at 2 yrs, 2 mo! And of course, it's super cute with his little lisp.

Time for a coconut popsicle and my book. Pray for good rest tonight. The last two nights I have not gotten a lot of sleep.

sea world, yummy find and a music festival

After the conference, we got to take the boys to Sea World. I was a little anxious about the trip because we were going to be arriving smack in the middle of Shep's nap (so he wouldn't be getting one) and to make matters worse, Conner had woken everyone up before 6 am that morning. After a pretty rough morning around the hotel, we made it to Sea World and except for a few meltdowns, it was a blast. I'm so glad we went.

Here is Conner enjoying the new Sesame Street Bay of Play area.



The boys had their first carousel ride. I think we ended up riding it 3-4 times.

I think Conner is going to be a roller coaster fan!

They had four killer whales, including a baby.

Waiting for the Sesame Street musical to begin.

Shep was pretty much in awe, but had a huge meltdown we he didn't actually get to meet Elmo. I was afraid it ruined the trip for him;)

Yikes!

Sooooo...now the yummy find. In the last Real Simple magazine they were rating different real fruit Popsicles. I LOVE anything coconut, so I was dying to try these AND I found them at Whole Foods last night AND my husband bought them for me. They are DIVINE.

Zack left super early this morning for a music festival in Maine. He will be gone for an entire month! Though neither of us are crazy about the separation, it's a great opportunity for him! He has never participated in a festival before and many of them are only available for students, so it's his last chance. He'll have lessons, go to concerts, have a piece performed and compose like crazy. If you think of us, pray for our family during this month. Pray that Zack will have a productive time, I'll have patience and energy!

4th of july

Happy 4th of July from San Antonio! We had the amazing opportunity to spend 4 days and 4 nights in San Antonio for free! A friend of ours asked Zack to play keyboard in his band for a youth conference. Our hotel was on the River walk AND we were on the 17th floor. The boys were in heaven about that last part. Unfortunately there were no fireworks in San Antonio (or Austin) because of the extreme drought/heat this summer, but we still found some fun celebrations. A few of my pictures wouldn't load, but here's a peek at our fun day!

Not shown is a picture of Shep sitting on a helicopter! He loved it.

Here we are getting all decorated up. We didn't last until the parade...it was just SO hot.

Shep loves paint, so when he saw kids getting their faces painted, he wanted to also.

Then Conner shocked me and wanted his face painted, as well! He usually doesn't like that kind of attention.

The celebration was at park with a nice lake. The boys enjoyed chasing the ducks.

After the park, we had a very 4th of July kind of lunch of BBQ and ice cream. After naps, the boys and I hit the pool for awhile.

Happy 4th of July!!