Keeping busy this Summer!

This summer has been busy with playing, playing and more playing. Andrew has moved up his 'big boy bed'. He says that cribs are for babies. Either way, he's very, very proud that he's in a big bed like his big sister. He loves the freedom of getting up when he wants to and that's been kind of early in the morning. He also loves to watch Thomas, especially in bed with mom and dad while we catch an extra bit of sleep. His language is incredible and is so incredibly independent, all while being still very emotional (he is 2 after all...).

Cailin has become fully potty trained! That has been a big accomplishment. We are so very proud of her and she is so very proud of herself. She is happy to be independent in that area. She is excited for her ECFE class to begin again so she can see her friends. And is always looking forward to camping, especially with her 'best friend' Caleb from across the street.

We are also excited for an upcoming visit from Uncle John, Auntie Melissa and cousin Michael. We haven't seen them in a year, so the kids are so excited to see baby Michael. I've told them he's not a baby, but they'll have to see for themselves. That should be great!

We also have several upcoming camping trips (we took a hiatus for the month of July) coming up over the next two months. So everyone is excited to go, go go. Options are greater for sleeping in the camper now that masher is in his big boy bed.

Helping in the Kitchen - Again....

We have been lucky enough this year to have a very bountiful garden growing in our backyard. So we've been spending a lot of time recently 'harvesting' the goods. Cailin loves to hunt for raspberries. Andrew likes the watering part. He hasn't completely soaked us, but laughs when he 'accidentally' gets us.
They both love to help cook in the kitchen. If we are vacuum sealing beans or making something with zucchini (we have TONS of it...) they love to help. This past weekend, we made a few different zucchini treats, including making zucchini bars. We had to make dad's favorite cream cheese frosting and the kids 'helped' with that too. After it was all done, they wanted to lick the spoons. That led to frosting everywhere. But it was fun!! The kids did help and they later ate some of the zucchini bars with the frosting. They even ate the bars, not JUST the frosting....

Masher's new haircut

Andrew has quite a thick head of hair. He was lucky enough to get the thick curly hair of his dad. Poor Cailin got mom's thin, fine, straight hair. Those boys have all the luck don't they? Well, we keep Andrew's (or masher as we affectionately call him at home - if you've seen him in action, you'd understand the nickname) hair pretty short. They even thinned it a bit the last time we were in, because he gets so hot especially in the summer. The hair stylist put a little gel in his hair and spiked it. He loves to have it spiked and will ask for it to be done. The only problem is it doesn't hold. He's got such thick coarse hair, it holds for a while, but then slowly flattens out.

So usually masher will ask for more 'spikes'.