July happenings

Well....it was HOT! We spent the first week in St Louis and had a blast. Spencer missed his best friend.....it was a goof fest. However, the weather was so hot and humid. I forgot when we moved, how awful the summers are. I'm not moving back....sorry. I need a Canadian summer house haha.

My kids hate traveling

My husband does too.

We got to spend the nights with my cousin and his wife and man dog. He's a 100lb beast who insists he's a puppy...and constantly kept stepping on my toes. He was cute, but oh so heavy.  He sure loved my kids though. Dom and Ethan came back asking for a dog...but I still say no.
There's always the science museum (never gets old). My kids dont' like the zoo, probably because it smells like animal poop and it's so HOT. Nobody wanted to walk around in that, so we opted out. We also hit the new IKEA....YES St Louis has an IKEA now...and it's great. Maybe I will move back after all...haha. I've been to several and this is the first one that had an special escalator for the carts...we were so impressed haha. We had no idea what to do....what a bunch of tourists!
ONE THING you have to do if you spend the night in St Louis- is hit Pappy's. It's right across from SLU, so it's convenient to a lot of people but alsosuper busy. It has been there forever. There's only one location and they finally bought the area next door to increase their eating area. It used to be, that you had to wait for a table, which was absolutely awful. This place only serves lunch. Once it's gone...it's gone. So the line forms around 10:30 (maybe even before)...we got there at 11am....and well, you can see from the pics, we were not exactly at the front of the line. The kids were wiped out and cranky. But even Dom ate their smoked turkey and he still wanted some more. Ethan just loved having super cold soda on a hot summer day...haha...i don't blame him.
We got to enjoy the Ofallon 4th of July parade. It was good, but again, it was so hot. I was so uncomfortable. At one point, one of my kids lost his shirt and both were given popsicles to eat...at 10am!!!! seriously people?!? Dom dove right in and actually ate two. I wish he would eat healthier stuff.
We also got to see Spencer's sister and her family and they drove through. We met at a local water park, because it was so HOT, I could not think that the zoo or the regular park was enough for me...I just wanted cold water on my face. We also got to see Spencer's brother who lives really close to my cousin. In case you have not noticed, we love chick fil a....haha. It's the only place around here that has good service, nice customers, and a really clean play area. The food is way better than any fast food around, so I usually take that. I would rather have a piece of steak though haha.

Finally...MISSOURI

The house the hubs grew up in 

Dowtown St Charles

Ethan loves to collect rocks...he was making us late.

Dom is so good at mini golf! 

Ethan was keeping track of all the balls

He likes baseball too!

Family time

The water park

That night...we had a baseball game to attend

and it was star wars night...lucky us!

game time. Ethan only lasted an hour...even with the ipad.

the science museum

Ethan couldn't do the hamster wheel. 

Dom enjoyed the energy exhibition

Building blocks are all these kids know!

Ethan found this place where he could put balls in, and magically
appear somewhere else...he LOVED It. He probably spent
15minutes here.

The guys couldn't wait to do this

and YES they finished t. 

My kids were obsessed with the floor windows in the bridge (you can see
the street below). 

He was ready to eat

Took us about 45min to get here...and look at how long the
line is now!

If the 2012 gold medalist women's gymnastic team and
Nick Jonas, and Hugh Jackman can make it...so can you!

Uncle Joey from Full House was here too

the cool escalator at IKEA

we parked SO far away from the parade

Finally made it. The view was ok

Spencer's brother came to see us for a bit.

This is all the fireworks we could do, but I was ok with it.
These actually create most of the ER visits on the holiday.

Dom finally finished all his summer activities. He finished t-ball with flying colors. He hit several runs and caught the ball at least twice per game. He was really into it. He did level 2 swimming lessons, but I wasn't as impressed as I was with the level 1 lessons. He rocked level 1,but  he had trouble with level 2 and I felt like his teacher didn't help him as much as she could have. I don't know if I will go there next year, we may switch. He loves it and he needs to do it again. Maybe the YMCA will have open spots in the winter.
I tried a little more with Dom this summer to keep his school skills up to date, so he wouldn't have a hard time going back to routine and school. He hates to write, so unfortunately, that did not get a lot of attention. But he loved to draw stories. We created  several books he drew (and wrote his name) but I had to write out the story. We tried to read, but he didn't like that either. One thing to note about Dom- if he's not into it....it's a freaking pain the butt to sit with him...so I just avoid it. Good thing he goes to school. He needs someone else to push him. And I've noticed that having other kids there, makes it sort of a competition, which he loves. We went to the library and figured out they had tablets there to bring home with educational games. So, both kids picked one. I also figured out that Dom does better trying to read when the early read books come with a CD to follow along. So, we did that too. The only thing that I really pushed this summer....was sight words. I know in K, they push sight words and early books....so I was hoping he would learn to read in the summer....Clearly, I had high hopes. I think there's a 100 sight words...and Dom gets more than 80% of them. That's pretty darn good for a kid his age. So, I think they're divided up between K and 1st grade, so I think he's up to par on those.  We'll keep practicing when he comes home with them. I bought him a sight word book on Zulily which is incredibly detailed, so we only did the best we could. I'm sure Ethan will get to use it...it's HUGE. Aldi had some workbooks for kids and I got those, but the kids only did a few pages. Ethan rather color, and Dom rather do stories...whatever. As long as the TV was off, I'm okay with whatever. If the TV was on, it was only on educational stuff like nick jr, leapfrog, meet the sight words, and meet the mathfacts. I love those meet the math facts! dvds. Dom loved them, he sat through all three levels. He figured out how to do addition with 1-20 in any combination. Sometimes, instead of drawing, he will just write down additions...it was awesome. The kids also learned the states. I bought a magnetic map of the US, and they had fun with it. Dom was able to memorize a lot of the names of the states and where they went.

white cap....that's my kid

 Dom also learned how to ride the scooter and bike in the street and Ethan learned to ride his scooter. Dom definetly needs a higher scooter, he was using his quads way too much, he got tired so fast haha. Dom is also getting better at not being so cranky when it's time to go to church. He hates "collars" he says. So, even polos are a NO for him. It's taken him quite a bit of time to just accept the fact that once a week, he'll just have to dress up. As soon as he gets home, he undresses and walks around in underwear. 

swim lessons round 2

tball team pic

it has only happened like 3 times, but they got
a happy meal. Dom loves the food....Ethan
not so much, just the soda. 

Ethan had surgery early in the month to fix his eye infections. Both eyes received a stint and seriously, eye infections have not come back. Im super impressed.

He is a freakin mermaid. He missed the first session of lessons, so I signed him up when Dom went back. He's nuts- he splashes, he doggy paddles, he jumps in the deep end, he loved the lazy river- all without a life preserver. Someone needs to watch that kid all the time. He loves the backyard. He goes out all by himself, climbs for a few minutes, and then comes back in "mama...it's so hot"....and he will do that maybe 3-4 times a day. he has also fallen from the top of the slide into the mud a couple of times head first. No concussion yet, thank goodness. He's a little rough. 

He loved cheering Dom at t-ball, and loved to yell "good job buddy!". It was  cute.
Ethan learned the states (in the same magnetic map of the US) this summer. He learned all the shapes and where they went, and learned maybe about half of the names. he did it all on his own. He loves that magnetic map. I actually found a montessori app US map for the ipads and bought it and he does it almost every day. He loves it that much! He also knows how to count from 1-30, 1-10 in Spanish, knows more shapes than he should know (the other day he said "trapezoid"). he loves to repeat words in Spanish (WAY more than Dom ever did. So I let him watch Dora ...my mom helps me too) He loves to play hide and seek and loves to sing and dance. Anytime Paw Patrol comes on, he does a little dance, and it's so cute. He likes to make up his own songs and dances to them, which I think is so funny. Reminds me of his dad.

post- op...he was so cranky for a couple of days

he loves that helmet

watching the game...requires LOTS of food

The hubs has been involved in landscaping way too much haha. We're finally ready to move on and move our projects back inside here in the next couple of months. He has made a list of at least 10 projects to tackle before winter is over- involving finishing the fireplace, changing closet doors, refinishing the cabinets in the laundry room and getting hardwood throughout.
He is working on his last days at his current job and is so excited to be done with nights. We are so happy he will only work days and work two weeks a month. Yep, you read right. He will only work every other week. Hence, the big list of projects. He's super excited to spend more time with us. Ethan will surely appreciate that....he's too attached to me and sometimes when I need to leave with Dom, he will cry a lot. I can hear him all the wait out to the mailbox...it's really sad. He eventually gets over it, but still. He needs to spend more time with his dad. 

They were so tired on vacation

I....still work around the house haha. I still coupon and am buying much healthier choices since Dom refuses to eat anything besides corn dogs, hot dogs, and sandwiches these days. You will no longer find snacks, cookies, or junk food here. I will not reward bad eating habits. I am actually not sure what I will pack for lunch when he goes to school full time, because I fear he will probably not eat it.

I still go to the gym 4 days a week an hour a day. Recently, I feel my energy giving out too fast. I think my thyroid is acting up again. Waiting on those results. But I do the best I can, and after 2 years, one year of lifting weights, I can see my traps and my triceps taking shape. No more wobbly arms for this girl. Squats, push ups, and lunges have become my frenemies. Its amazing how the basic moves, were the ones that transformed me the most. By the way, those 30 day challenges SUCK. For the longest time, I believed they would change my life. You don't work out for 30 days and look like the girl in the picture (in my case, Jillian Michaels). And that's why people quit. It's a way of life- like eating healthier. You can't just eat healthy for 30 days and expect to keep the weight off. The sooner you realize it, the happier you will be. I have found that slow and steady wins the race, and I'm seeing the results for it. My health numbers are great (lower end of normal range) and I feel great. I can lift and run with my kids. We climb trees together, play tag, give them piggy rides- each weighs a little above 30 lbs. I'm so proud of myself. I wish my weight was a lot less, but I'll take the smaller victories as they come.

Date night. Hubs picked it out and we got
to go painting

Clearly, I didn't get the genes for it. 

The garden has been doing great! Our cucumber vines gave us at least 10 cucumbers. It was awesome. Spencer made cucumber water, which was okay. He remembers it from his mission days. Our tomato vines, out of the three, only 2 gave us tomatoes- big and grape tomatoes. The grape tomatoes were delicious. At one point, I was grabbing like 6 a day! Ethan kept taking them from the plant and eating them (he figured out red ones were the ones to get) ....he doesn't like them. He kept saying "grapes" and would eat one...and then spit it out. It seriously happened like 5 times. I am not sure why he didn't learn to leave them alone. We hardly had any pests with any of our vines this year. The tomatoes were plumpy and full. The cucumbers were big and perfect. Unfortunately, our third vine did great, but never produced anything...not sure what happened. We also lost our watermelon vines very early on. I made the mistake of putting them next to the pumpkin vines....and they absolutely took over!!! So, I had to move the watermelons somewhere else....and I guess we forgot about them...and they burned to a crisp and died. The summer sun is just too much for them. Even though it sayd they're full sun....I don't think they mean it for here. Here in the middle of the US...it means partial shade haha. So, our pumpkin vines are under the shade of our neighbor's tree. They get morning sun and then they get shade in the awful afternoon sun. That's probably why they have been doing so well. We got four vines total- and all have survived. Big green leaves and great yellow flowers. NO pumpkins yet though. Recently, I noticed that the jalapenos and the sweet bell peppers plants are getting a lot of flowers...so they may be ready for some veggies soon.

       Pumpkins + PM sun = sad leaves
OH august...please be a little better than July...