Summer update

I have fallen terribly behind on my Peanut blog and I apologize. We have been very busy with numerous playdates, trips to the zoo and museum, countless trips to the park and picnic lunches, and visits from Grandmas and Grandpas. We are all doing well and I'm a bit sad that August is nearly here already - where has summer gone? We hope to get out and enjoy every minute of our last month of summer! Here is what we've been up to this past month:

Enjoying fireworks in the backyard on the Fourth of July:



Christopher loved his first boat ride of the year (as long as he had his ball and a lollipop, all was well):


The Peanuts had a very fun day at the Como Zoo with their good friends Claudia and Wilson:


And ate the world's largest Bomb Pops as a finale to the day at the zoo:

The Peanut Pool

We got the kids a kiddie pool last weekend. They love it, even though it's only been warm enough on one day to use it so far. The pool + the swingset = Happy Peanuts in their backyard. We are loving summer!

And yes, the pool is even fun without water in it:

It's super fun to splash water on your sister:
And even more fun to drag Daddy into the pool with you:
And lastly, what's a day at the pool without enjoying some poolside ice cream treats?

A full day at the Children's Museum

While watching Curious George on PBS this morning, Alison saw a sponsorship ad for the MN Children's Museum. "Mommy, Mommy, can we go to the museum today? Can we? Can we? Can we see the dinosaurs?" I explained to her that the dinosaurs were no longer there and now they had the Wizard of Oz exhibit in that room (which I, a Wizard of Oz fan, was much more excited about than my children). Alison still wanted to go. I was a bit hesitant because the last time I took both kids by myself, chaos ensued with both kids running in opposite directions and me losing track of each kid at least twice during the visit. But I threw caution to the wind, packed a lunch, and decided to get my 89 bucks worth of our yearly membership.

The day went extremely well. Almost too well. It built my confidence up so much that now I'm even considering taking them to the swimming pool by myself tomorrow. Maybe.

We were at the museum for THREE HOURS, which in toddler/preschooler time is a loooong time. We (yes, including me) had a blast. I have realized lately how my children are growing up at the speed of light. I don't have babies anymore. Ali is so unbelievably grown up and Christopher is turning into such a lil' man. Time goes by too quickly and I wanted to savor this special day with my kiddos. So I said "who cares?" to paint-filled messes and "so what?" to germ-filled face paints (absolutely disgusting, in my opinion, but I let go for the day...) and let my kids have fun.

The highlight may have been the face painting. I gave up my control and germaphobic tendencies and let Ali and Christopher do it themselves. (My only intervention, I swear, was to wipe off Christopher's mouth and teeth after he tried to eat one of the crayons.) Here are the Peanuts mastering the fine art of face painting in the mirror:

And the finished products:

Then it was on to the arts and crafts room, which I have never let them go in before. Okay, that's not all true because Alison simply never noticed the room before today and I wasn't about to point it out to her. But today she saw the paint room and wanted to go in, so in we went. (Wearing the paint smocks was my only prerequisite). They had a blast doing "spinner painting" (the theme for the day in that room was tornados so it was somewhat fitting). First, use a dropper to drop watered-down paint onto on your paper:

And then place your paper in the bottom of salad spinner and spin spin spin!

And here is an example of the final product: (I have six new masterpieces hanging on my kitchen wall!)


The painting was followed by the always-popular (but always too busy) trip to the grocery store:

And then off to the water exhibit, which we had never done before. And yes, I made them wear those pitiful little aprons again...but believe me, if Alison gets one drop of water on her shirt, the day is ruined.

And finally, the Wizard of Oz exhibit. Fun for mommy, not so much for the Peanuts. Alison said it was not as cool as the dinosaurs. Here are my children being cowardly and running away from the Cowardly Lion:

But the ruby red slippers definitely caught my lil' fashionista's eye:

What an awesome day with my kiddos. They were so well behaved, respectful of other children, and put up with a lot of shoving, grabbing and taking from a lot of not-so-well-behaved children. I'm very proud of my kids and am so thankful for the wonderful day we spent together (and for the wonderful, long nap they took when we got home!)

Hooray for summer fun!

Summer is off to a great start in the Peanuts' household. The other night we attend a "Trucks and Travel" event in the parking lot of a local high school. The kids got to explore fire trucks, police cars, tractors, semi-trailers, an ambulance, and Alison's personal favorite - a school bus! Unfortunately my camera's battery died after only a few pictures, but here are the Peanuts (and daddy) in the back of a police car. Alison assured me that this will be the ONLY time she will ever be in the back of a police car.


The Peanuts are also really big into "watering" mommy's flowers and plants with their two little squirt bottles I got at Dollar Tree. Notice how they're both yellow? (The bottles, not the kids.) Exactly the same with exactly the same amount of water in them. So far, they haven't fought over them...yet. Well, Alison actually sprays the flowers. Christopher, on the other hand, likes to spray himself (no matter how many times his mommy turns the bottle around...)

This was the end result...just strip him down.

And the Peanuts also have their very own new swingset in the backyard! Our dear neighbor Rodney helped Bryant build the swingset last weekend and it is a HIT with the Peanuts. We've been spending LOTS of time in the backyard lately. Yes, the kids are outside in their jammies. They are so excited about their swingset in the morning that they don't want to take the time to get dressed before they go out to play.

And the day wouldn't be complete without a mid-morning snack outside at the picnic table in our jammies:

Hurray for summer!

Cuties

Not much new here and not much time to blog this morning, but since it's been nearly a month since my last depressing post about being sick, I thought I'd kick off summer with a few semi-new pictures of the Peanuts. We are looking forward to some sunny summer-like weather at the end of the week (finally!!) and will hopefully have some summer-fun-filled blog posts for you soon!

Christopher being cousin Mitchell's "tail" at Marissa's graduation party (also know as Christopher playing "Chugga Choo Choo"):

Riding the horses at Luverne's city park:

Christopher's new favorite activity - riding the tractor with Papa Harley:

Alison sitting on top of the old elephant slide (my fave when I was a little girl) at Luverne's city park:

Christopher zoned out in the car:

Alison modeling her summer clothes - finally (it took me nearly two weeks to get her out of her flannels and sweatshirts):
And believe it or not - she now will wear a ponytail!!

The zoo, sickness, and yogurt.

That pretty much sums up the last few weeks for me and the Peanuts.

The kids and I are all sick again. Colds, stuffy/runny noses, coughing. Yucky. But hopefully this will be the last of it. We have been sick three of last four weeks and we're ready to be healthy again!

Since we've been so under the weather, we really haven't been out and about doing much. We were able to go to the Como Zoo last week when everyone was still feeling better with our good friends Angie, Coco and Elliot. Everyone had a blast on a gorgeous spring day (and yes, Ali picked out her outfit):






Other than that, we've been stuck inside. The kids are into yogurt big-time these days. I learned to never turn your back on a toddler and a preschooler with yogurt cups:






Hopefully we are all feeling better soon and we will have more fun, healthy pictures and stories to share in the days to come.

18 months old!

Christopher David turned 18 months old yesterday! I can't believe my lil' baby is already a year and a half old. The Peanuts had their well visits today (18 month for Christopher and 3 year for Alison). Both did pretty well and here are the stats:

Christopher:
24 lbs. 10 oz. (40th percentile)
34.5 inches long (95th percentile)

Alison:
39 lbs. (95th percentile)
38 3/8 inches (90th percentile)

The doctor commented on how tall both of my kids are, which is funny since their mom is 5'4. :-)

Not much else going on here. I haven't posted anything forever because the kids and I have all been sick since the weekend of Ali's birthday. Didn't think it would be too interesting to blog about snotty noses, ear infections, coughs, pink eye, crabbiness, and LOTS of television.

Hopefully by next week we'll all be back to 100% and there will be more fun things to post then.