Pool time!

Somehow we didn't make it to the pool until this past weekend......on Saturday we went to the pool across the street from our house and on Sunday we went to the outdoor pool at the gym.  The kids had a blast at both pools but I really need to coordinate with Travis' friends since he was a little bored and was forced to play with Brody most of the time.  lol  Brody is signed up for swimming lessons at our pool at the end of the month so hopefully he will get more confident in the water/want to get his head wet.  Here are a few pics that I snapped of the kids when they were both in the baby pool during a break......

SQUIRT HOCKEY CHAMPIONS!

Yes this was a week ago but other than posting the one picture right after the big victory I haven't gotten around to it.  Brody had a stomach bug the morning after so I kind of forgot I hadn't posted anything else about this game!

Travis' team went into this game as the #1 seed and had only lost one game.......that one loss was to the Grey team.....the team they had to play in the championships!  Isn't that always the way it works?!?!?  The game was definitely exciting--the teams were trading goal back and forth and being very aggressive on the ice.  Finally in the end Travis' team won 6-4.  It was a nail biter in the end since they were deep in our end of the ice.  Whew!

I couldn't choose a group shot that I liked the best.  LOL

Happy boy

Mmmmm corn.........

Seriously we now have ears of corn just sitting in our fridge for snacking purposes......he doesn't even want it heated up!  lol

Summer list 2014

Here is our list for the Summer of 2014!  We have come close to finishing our list in the past but have never done them all......maybe this is the year!?!?!  If you want to come along on any of our excursions please let me know!  :)

1.  Have a picnic

2.  Go to a water park

3.  Catch fireflies

4.  Make forts

5.  Go to Busch Gardens

6.  Go to the beach

7.  Scavenger hunt walk

8.  Make our own fruit leather

9.  Go to a "u-pick"

10.  Make something from our "u-pick" trip--maybe fresh jelly?

11.  Water balloon fight

12.  Make s'mores

13.  Go to Luray Caverns

14.  Play flashlight tag

15.  Go to the zoo

16.  Donate toys to Goodwill

17.  Have a family movie night--popcorn is a must

18.  Go to the Baltimore aquarium

19.  Make sidewalk paint

20.  Fly a kite

21.  Go to the Calvert Marine Museum

22.  Go to the movies

23.  Make ice cream sandwiches

24.  See fireworks

25.  Make bouncing bubbles

My experiment this year WORKED?!?!? Who knew.......

At the beginning of the school year this year I decided Brody would eat school lunch 1 or 2 times a week to attempt to get him to eat different foods.  I knew this experiment in the beginning would lead to wasted money and him not eating anything---which definitely did happen but sometime in the late fall he actually started to try some new foods!  They have gotten him to eat baby carrots, corn, cucumbers, mandarin oranges, green beans and green grapes----at home I have been able to get him to only eat the carrots, corn and green grapes.  lol

Fast forward to today......he isn't at school today and on our way home from the gym I asked him if he wanted to stop for some nuggets at "Old McDonalds".  In the smallest/sweetest voice he said "Mommy do we have corn left at home?"  (we made some yesterday for Travis' family birthday party)  I told him we did have some left and he said "I want some corns---do we have 5 left?"  LOL

So we got home and I took the corn off the cob from 2 ears and he ate it all.  Now if I could only get him to eat pasta, a hot dog, pizza or something else in the dinner category other than chicken nuggets or the meatballs from Costco!

TWO EARS OF CORN PEOPLE!!!!!!  LOL

What should be on our "Summer list" this year?

For the past two summers I have compiled a list of fun things to do with the kids in the summer and posted it in the mud room so we could see the items, check them off etc.  We were able to get 20 out of the 25 things listed done last summer.  Here is my list from last summer to get an idea:

1.  Make bouncing bubbles

2.  Go to the beach

3.  Ice cream from the ice cream truck

4.  Go to Busch Gardens

5.  Have a picnic

6.  Go to Pump it Up

7.  Make fancy popsicles

8.  Go to a "u-pick"

9.  Make something from the u-pick items

10.  Go to a waterpark

11.  Make s'mores

12.  Play in the sprinkler

13.  Catch fireflies

14.  Go to an outdoor concert

15.  See fireworks

16.  Go to a baseball game

17.  Make forts

18.  Scavenger hunt walk

19.  Make our own rock candy

20.  Have a water balloon fight

21.  Go to the movies

22.  Play flash light tag

23.  Go to the zoo

24.  Donate toys to goodwill (they have no idea that I do this all year-lol)

25.  Have a family movie night

So what should I add this year?  I know I want to add "Go to Luray Caverns" on the list because Travis really wants to go there and I know he would really enjoy it.  Last year when I posted about this someone mentioned going to a "u pick" which both boys LOVED doing so we will definitely be doing that again this summer.

Trying something new........

L to R:  Thai basil, sweet basil, cilantro and rosemary

Keeping plants alive has never been my strong suit but I am going to give it a shot.  lol  I am using fresh herbs more and more these days so I wanted to try and grow (read: keep alive lol) some here at the house.  So I'm starting small---one long box with 4 different herbs.  If I can keep them alive maybe I will get some other herbs or more of the ones I use a lot (like cilantro and basil).    They all say "lots of sun" so the back deck is a great place for them.  Keep your fingers crossed I can keep them alive---any tips you have would be great also.

Brody's soccer pictures

Brody hasn't been very "into" soccer this season.  In the fall he was LOVING it and I was hoping to get the same reaction out of him this season but.......no.  :(  Soccer is 45 minutes every Saturday and he is generally out on the field participating for maybe 15 minutes of that time.  Apparently this is the last season of soccer for him---next spring he will play t-ball.  :)

Here are his soccer pictures from the fall and this spring side by side.  He looks SO grown up in his spring picture----not the best picture of him but you can still see the difference.  I should note that half a second after they took this picture he flashed them an awesome smile----of course right?  LOL

"Kid pitch" baseball has begun........

Note:  I wrote this last week and kept forgetting to add the pictures and post it.  OOPS!

We have already learned after game 1 of "kid pitch" that most of the pitches are over the kids' heads.  lol  Which is why they don't ever walk in his league---after 4 balls the coach tosses a pitch from the side of the plate.   On Saturday Travis went 3 for 3 with 3 singles and one of those singles was actually off of the pitcher.  ;)  He also stole 4 bases and scored every time he got on base.  In his league they can't steal home---or he could've stolen home probably 3 times as well.

He played 1st base, 3rd base and catcher in the game and his team won 15-4 I think--well at least that was the last score I had heard and his team didn't even bat in the bottom of the last inning because they were ahead by so many runs.

A video of one of his singles---clearly it is one of the ones his coach tossed to him.  :)

New Coppertone sunscreen super cheap at Target this week!

There is a new (well it's new to me-lol) Coppertone sunscreen (clearly sheer is the name) on the market and this week at Target you can score two bottles of it for just $3.99 TOTAL if you have these two coupons.  Around a week ago I got a Target coupon in the mail that was for this particular sunscreen and it was a "buy one, get one free" offer.  I don't have a Red Card or anything so I am assuming if you are on Target's mailing list you got it too.  There is also a $3 off 2 coupon on http://www.coupons.com/ that you can print to make this an AWESOME deal!  I wish I had more of those BOGO coupons because that deal alone is really good!  :)