Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

I think I love Father's Day almost as much as I love Mother's Day! (Well, cuz that one is about me!) But really, it is such an honor and a pleasure to get to get to watch Brian be the amazing and outstanding daddy that he is and I love that we get to celebrate him and let him know how much the kids and I appreciate all he does for us!!

Father's Day weekend started with an art project of cards for Daddy, Grandpa & Papa. It was a joint effort - Austin painted one part & McKenna painted the other and Momma cut & taped it together!




Finished product! I was pretty happy with it and I think all the men enjoyed their cards! Austin was pretty proud of it too! He will happily inform you that he did the blue & green part and that McKenna painted the purple & orange!


Saturday we took Grandpa Kevin out for lunch at Outback. Such a nice lunch! Yummy food and the kids were really good, which is always a plus!

Austin showing off his french fry. Have I mentioned how much this kid likes french fries?


McKenna with a mouthful of french fry herself. She may love them just as much as her brother!


Playing "tunnels" with Daddy


Cute group shots






McKenna showing off her cutie-patootey dress!


And enjoying some Grandpa time!


Saturday night we took Brian out for dinner just the 4 of us. He had a hankerin' for breakfast food, so we went to Hoff's Hut.


And then Sunday morning the kids woke him up to give him his presents! Austin helped me pick out a new dress shirt for Daddy and the kids got him some gift cards for restaurants near work. The hit gift though was a baseball glove for Austin. It was from Austin to Daddy for Austin! Actually I've been waiting for over 2 years to get Austin a baseball glove as a Father's Day gift! I found one that almost fits Austin but he's able to work it pretty good anyway. Daddy & Austin have had several great games of catch already. I'll get some video & pictures soon!

Then Sunday afternoon was lunch at Rocky Cola with my parents to celebrate my daddy! Once again, great food, great company and the kids were great! They even got a compliment from the staff. It probably helped that McKenna was making eyes and waving to just about anyone whose attention she could grab!

Here she's playing peekyboo with Nani!


And what is Austin enjoying so much? A french fry, of course!


My sweet boys!


Papa with his grandbabies!




Such a wonderful weekend! So blessed to have these men in our lives! Thank you Babus for all that you do for us! You are an amazing father & husband!

Little Van Goghs

We've been sick all week and the kids were getting quite bored being stuffed up in the house. So I pulled out our painting supplies and let them have at it. McKenna has never painted before and she had a great time! And just as I suspected, she tried to eat the paint to. Thankfully it was non-toxic!

Runny Babbits

My child has apparently inherited what I like to call my "verbal dyslexia." I very frequently swap the 1st letter of words or swap whole words as I'm talking. (Pack Backs, run roaders, etc.) I guess Austin has the same tendency! The other day he was asking for his runny babbits and I could not figure out for the life of me what he was talking about! Daddy finally was able to translate - Bunny Rabbits! It just made me giggle so much that I had to get a picture of Austin and one of his runny babbits.

(To which he happily obliged and actually looked at the camera and said cheese! Gotta document that since it happens so rarely!)

Best Seat in the House

A few weeks ago, we sold our civic. We had an extra carseat in there that we bought so that we wouldn't have to move carseats or switch cars if Brian was taking Austin somewhere. So when he was cleaning out the car to sell it, he brought the carseat into the house rather than put it in XTerra. And now I don't think he'll get the chance to do that! It has become the most beloved seat in the house! The kids fight daily over who gets to sit in it. And you would think that I would remove such a contentious piece of furniture, but honestly I love seeing them sit in it and they are getting better about sharing it. A part of me thinks we should buy another carseat just so they can both have one! Just what my little family room needs right? Two giant carseats on the floor!

The battle




The winner! (Actually, I think Austin either was instructed by momma to let her have it, or he had to get his pants changed or something and forfeitted)




The queen on her throne


This was a sweet hug, but I think he was buttering her up for a chance at his seat back!


The next day I put it in front of the couch, so it could be a TV watching spot. It also serves as a book reading spot.


And sometimes, when I'm lucky, and there's a full moon, and the wind is just right, and all the planets are lined up, they'll happily share the seat! (Sorry for the bad quality pic - it's a cellphone pic.)

How Does Your Garden Grow?

(Caught up! I'm caught up! Although by the time this actually posts, I'll prolly be behind again! =P Still I can be proud that for at least one day I was caught up!)

Since Thursdays have evolved into a Nani Day, we've been trying to think of different fun things to do each week. One week my mom was showing Austin a tomato plant in their backyard and he was so anxious for it to turn from green to red so he could pick it. He wanted to go out every 15 minutes and check it! So my mom got the idea that he might enjoy planting a garden in their backyard and get to experience the whole process of planting, watering and picking his own food!

They have some old planter boxes on the 2nd level of their backyard that had just been sitting weedy for a while, so Nani cleared them out, bought a bunch of plants and seeds and was all ready for us to go the very next week! Austin's attention span wasn't quite there to plant the whole garden, so we did just a little bit of each task. He did a great job helping! McKenna...well, she wasn't nearly as helpful, but she sure enjoyed herself!



Apparently my parents' dirt tastes Oh-so-yummy!


So while I tried in vain to keep McKenna from consuming God-knows-what, I got some cute pictures of Austin helping Nani! (I apologize for the hat covering his cute little face in most of the pics. I was thinking sunburn, not photographic moment! Next time I'll plan better!)

Diggin' holes


Plantin' plants






Checking out the carrot seeds






Pokin' holes for little seeds


Carefully droppin' them in


And of course, waterin' them!



McKenna wanted to help with the watering. Although really I suspect she just wanted to play in the mud!



(And yes, if it looks like she's about to get sprayed in the head, you are right. She didn't mind at all though! That kid sure loves water!)

I'm hoping to post more about our garden as it grows! Some of the seeds say they only take a week to poke through in about a week, so we're hoping to see some progress this week!