Beatin' the Heat

We've just been trying to keep cool around here, as I'm sure most everyone else is. I do not like these high temps with all of the humidity, but sine we've barely gotten any rain, we went weeks without mowing our yard!

Here's what we've been up to:

Domer sunbathing!

Working hard, learning to pedal.

Yep, Spencer learned to drink from a straw the same way Avery did-Starbucks' strawberry lemonade, of course!

We got the kids this cute little set and since it was too hot to enjoy it outside, we used it inside for awhile:)

A little computer wars after bath time.

Avery found a unique place to keep her Dora sticker safe!

Avery taking charge at the train table when cousin Garrett got to come over and play with the kids for a bit.

We've been heading to the pool on Fridays to beat the heat. Spencer usually falls asleep for awhile!

This girl adores the pool. Such a happy princess in the water AND out getting ready for a snack.

Grandma with the two kiddos.

Mommy and Avery during one of the pool's rest periods.

Snack time! Enjoying some baked cheetos. Might I add that Spencer climbed up to the table by himself!

We were at Jefferson Pointe (our outdoor mall) this weekend and discovered they were having a mini carnival. Spencer, sadly, was too little to ride the rides so he waited patiently while Avery rode:)

Riding the mini "ferris-go-round," as Avery calls it:)

The airplane ride...Artie and I melted standing in the 100 degree heat watching her, but it was worth it for free rides and one happy little girl!

This weekend we also took in our first TinCaps (Fort Wayne's minor league baseball) game. Artie got tickets from work from someone so we decided that it would be a good time to take the kids and see how they would do. I'm happy to say they did pretty well. The new stadium is incredible. Unfortunately, a storm was rolling in with some crazy lightening so we only stayed for an hour, but it was fun. Avery was yelling to the players "you can do it!" and "focus!". She was quite the motivator:)

Daddy and Spencer. As long as I had snacks for Spence to munch on, he was good!

Downtown Fort Wayne from our seats-pathetic, really. The stadium is really nice, though, and the games are packed!

Hope everyone has been finding fun ways to beat the heat!

And a congratulations to Jake who finished his classes last week for AIT! He's currently on field training for a week and then he graduates and heads home for a few weeks before heading to Korea for a year. He received a follow-on assignment for after Korea that will put him at Fort Dix in New Jersey for at least two years! So proud of my little brother:)

Spencer's 1 Year Pictures...Finally!

We finally got Spencer's 1 year pictures taken this morning...he'll be 14 months in a few days:) He got his haircut last week, so we decided to take the opportunity to do it this weekend. He did pretty well and I think we got some good ones. I just can't believe how fast my kids are growing. Spencer still won't stand on his own and prefers crawling over even attempting to walk (except when he's on his walker-which is rarely and only if we put him on it). I'm enjoying the fact that he's taking his time, but part of me is kind of hoping that he starts doing this stuff soon! It would be much easier to do a lot of things if he could just walk a bit on his own, plus, he's getting pretty darn heavy to lug everywhere! We had a few pictures of the kids taken together and Miss Avery had one pose to herself, but other than that, this was all about Spencer:)

Brother and sister...I think Spencer is going to pass Avery in size pretty soon!

A little kiss from his big sister:) The best part is she loves him this much at home too!

Such a big girl!

I just love this scrunchy nose.

Scrunchy nose again:)

He saw his blanket and started signing for it and whining so we let him have one pose with his beloved possession:)

This picture gives me flash-forwards of what it will be like with school pictures, he looks like such a big boy here!

Probably one of our favorites! He looks so darn good in hats:)

Had to sneak some ND in these pictures somewhere. LOL!! He looks pretty serious here and the funny thing is, he was babbling away while looking at the book.

They had some bells they were using to get him to smile and he was signing to the lady that he wanted them:)

We really enjoyed this experience a lot more than the last-if you remember the horror we had with doing both of their pictures just before Christmas last year! They are both growing so fast and it's nice to capture these moments. When we brought the pictures home today and started switching out the old pictures (from when Spencer was 6 months and Avery had just turned 2) Artie and I couldn't believe how much they had changed in such a short time!! Kids grow fast, I guess that's just the reality of it:)

I will end this post with a BIG congratulations to Beth and Dave who welcomed their son, David III, yesterday! Mom and baby are doing great and hopefully they'll share pictures with us soon:)!!

Kate's Kart Update

I know a few of my blog followers used the code I provided on here back in June to have a portion of their purchase from Barnes and Noble go towards the Kate's Kart organization...

Thanks to you and all the others that used that code on your B&N purchase, Kate's Kart received $650! That's pretty amazing considering the small portion percentage from each order that went to KK! By the way, Kate's Kart is spreading as more and more hospitals are getting word of the wonderful gift they provide children. A hospital as far away as Cleveland has even shown interest in getting a cart! I'm just completely taken by what a mom's love for her child can do for others. What an inspiration:)

Thanks Everyone!

4th of July Weekend

We were very busy this weekend, but had lots of fun. My brother came home on leave Friday for the holiday and we got to go running together, play tennis and enjoy conversation, just the two of us, at Starbucks. It was so great to get to spend so much time with him in the two days he was home:) Sunday, we had a cookout at our house so family could come over and see Jacob since we're unsure if he will be coming home before leaving for South Korea next month after he graduates AIT. Good thing we had so much going on to keep me busy since the Wimbledon finals were such a letdown after a great two weeks!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

The kiddos being silly together. Spencer has gotten so good at climbing on/in things. He's also giving high fives and blowing/giving kisses:)

You all know I've been doing Spencer's haircutting...but, Saturday, Artie went to get his haircut and we decided to have Spencer's professionally done since we are about to get his 1 year pictures taken (finally).
He did so great-much better than when I cut it:)
To celebrate Spencer's 1 year anniversary from being released from the NICU (Friday, July 2nd) we got some cake...the kids love the ice cream and cake cakes from Baskin Robbins!

4th of July Cookout

Jake and his girlfriend, Natalie. Since Jake's away all the time we don't get to spend much time with his girlfriend so it was nice to get to sit around and talk to her this weekend:)
My mom doing a little posing with Jake and Natalie.
Then it was Avery's turn-this girl loves her Uncle Jake...and her "friend" Natalie, as Avery thinks of her!
Two of my favorite guys...sadly, Spencer slept for most of this cookout-darn teething-so I don't have pictures of him with anyone:(
And finally, my dad and Jake. I wasn't very good about getting pictures this weekend since I was doing more chatting!
I snapped this one of the kids before bath time on the 4th. Avery was attempting to hug her brother even though it looks more like a choke hold...and the look she has on her face is because she had a huge cut on the roof of her mouth from a sharp piece of chex mix!! I think Spencer is going to outgrow his sister really soon if he continues to grow like he is! We had someone ask us at Target today if they were the same age!!

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!