Labor Day BBQ

We started a tradition in our neighborhood because we love the members of our cul-de-sac so much.  We host an annual Labor Day BBQ, not such great photos from the event as we were busy cooking and corralling two little kiddos but it was still a great time and we really enjoy getting to give back to our neighbors who do so much for us.

Just hanging out in the front yard

Lasso golf for the kids.

Time to eat!

'Drinking' from a sippy

We started Lucy on solids early due to all her eating stuff and she has loved it, it did startle her system a bit and we needed to buy some prunes and one recommendation was to start giving her some water, not much but a few ounces would be fine.  Ultimately, she has probably never actually consumed more than an ounce but boy does she love trying and eating the cup.  Here was one of her first ever drinking with a sippy attempts.



Jaydon's 3rd Birthday Party

I've decided summer birthdays are pretty awesome for a parent.  What to do for a birthday party? Go to the local park!  It was great, Jaydon was able to have his friends party at the park in the late morning and then we headed home for an easy sandwich lunch with family for his final party, it worked out really well.

Birthday boy wearing his party hat for breakfast, I decorated the house with Thomas birthday stuff and he thought it was fabulous.

He got a Wee-Hoo from Grandma and Gram (of course, I think they have given him something for biking at every birthday and Christmas since birth).  He enjoyed it but was a bit tentative at first and didn't pedal a ton.  He has been on in since and found it quite enjoyable.

Heading out to ride down to his party, unfortunately, they broke down and had to be rescued but it was a quick fix at the store and Jaydon made it to his party on time.

Friends playing at the playground!  

Jeremy hanging with Brenna and Uncle Greg.

Jaydon and Owen (who is only 10 days younger than Jaydon) 

The one tactical blunder of the event, at some point during the summer the picnic tables that used to be there were taken away and so we didn't have a place to set stuff up, Jeremy grabbed our card table and we were in business :)

Jackson enjoyed his cupcake.

Kiera enjoying hers

Cool man Emmett trying loved the frosting.

Jaydon was so excited for his I didn't get a chance to get the paper off before he just started eating it.

Great frosting face from Owen.

Grayden got in on the goatee action

 

After the park we headed back to our house and courtesy of Subway enjoyed some nice sandwiches with fruits and veggies before getting to have more cake!  Gram, Brenna and Jaydon sporting party hats and enjoying lunch.

We get to celebrate Auntie too!

Jaydon enjoyed opening his presents but definitely takes after Jeremy and Granny Angie, he likes to open some and then burns out and doesn't really care to open them all very quickly.  By the end of the night we had finally whittled it down and he opened everything - what a lucky well loved boy!  Thanks friends and family!!!

New rainboots and matching raincoat from Nana and Papa and Auntie and Uncle.

Cake time!

"Happy Birthday"

Building a cool rocket ship with Dad with his new straws and connector set from the Citros!  Thanks :)

Happy Birthday Auntie!

Auntie came up after work on her birthday to help us celebrate Jaydon's birthday party the next day.  We decided we had to do a little something special so we enjoyed some strawberry shortcake after a nice dinner.  Happy Birthday Jen!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jaydon!

Jaydon turns 3!

 

Jaydon is a total talker! It is funny going from his 2 year birthday when he hardly spoke at all and only signed and the Dr. was telling us that he might need to be checked for speech stuff if he didn't pick up his talking fairly soon, well as I figured around 2.25 he took off talking and hasn't looked back. He has a great vocabulary, talks in great sentences and many people can understand him quite well.  He continues to be an active guy who likes to play outside and run around inside wrestling, tackling and racing around.  Some new favorite things are playing games.  Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders have been great and he has practically worn them both out.  Luckily he got a few more games for his 3rd birthday so we can continue to expand our horizons.  He eats well and sleeps well, though he did give up his nap a couple months before turning 3.  He is an amazing little boy who has just become more and more fun as he grows older. 

 

We had a fun day celebrating Jaydon, he got a special breakfast with muffins and he even got to watch some Sesame Street (his favorite show, especially the Journey to Ernie segments!). We then opened a gift and dad did have to go to work. The nice thing was he met us for a Red Robin lunch and then we had a wonderful salmon dinner sent down fresh from AK.

 

Breakfast excitement

Opening his first gift

How many people had a Dr. set like that when they were kids?  I know I did and loved it.

Practicing being a Dr.

Fabulous salmon dinner, thanks Granny and Papa for sending us some great fish!

Special fruit and whip cream dessert

 Opening a last gift of the day - he has really enjoyed having this game.

Singing!

Lucy is 5 months

You think time flies with your first child and then you have a second and it is crazy, I can't believe Lucy is 5 months old.  We didn't get a weight update right around her 5 month mark but a week and a half later she was 15lb 11oz so that was a good weight gain in a little over a month.  Yeah!

 

Did I mention Lucy loves to move?  She went from rolling every direction to deciding that scooting on her tummy wherever she wanted was much easier.  She has been almost as mobile as a full on crawler and it is pretty insane.  She just started trying to get up on hands and knees but mostly she is content to be on her tummy and army crawl around.  It is awesome and scary all at the same time.  I still have lots of 3 year old toys all over the house that I hadn't quite planned on needing to hide and baby proof right away.  She is a content baby who loves to investigate and play with toys.  She will spend time intently lookng at and trying to eat whatever toy she happens to come across.  Her favorites this month were Mortimer the Moose, the fabric squre with crinkly stuff inside and her exersaucer.

 

As for her health issues she is doing better and really is quite a happy healthy girl.  She has a neck rash that has some major flare ups (she has just started itching at it) and it never really goes away.  We think it is some kind of reaction to a food but we just can't figure out what food it is.  I am currently off dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils and corn.  It is quite tedious to find stuff I can eat and has definitely been the biggest challenge with Lucy.  Her intolerances don't appear to be diminishing and at times it even seems she is just even more sensitive to tons of stuff.  Hopefully once we hit the six month mark it will gradually start improving.  Her spit up also goes through phases where it is ok and then at times it gets quite bad again. 

 

She is still digging her solids!  She would eat this stuff all the time, I am looking forward to when it gets a bit less messy.

Here she is working on that crawling!

Oh holy updates!

We have been so busy this summer, it has been fabulous but full and we are definitely ready to settle down and enjoy some home time.  Unfortunately, Jeremy will continue to have to travel three times a month to AK but at least the kids and I will be home for awhile now.  I think in Lucy's first five months of life we have spent 30 nights away from home and it has been fun but hectic.  Jaydon will be turning 3 soon, he starts preschool in less than 2 weeks and life just continues to fly by.  Lucy is moving around so much it is crazy, you can't leave that girl in one spot, I think she is just anxious to keep up with her big brother.  

I have been neglectful in updating the blog but here it comes.  In the next few days I will probably have 15-20 new updates so feel free to keep checking back and scrolling through the posts to make sure you don't miss something.  We are happy you can keep up with all our adventures online.