Carnival Party

Yesterday we went to a Carnival Birthday Party. "Miss Reese" as N calls her and her parents had a party for her nephews who are visiting them for a month this summer. We had a fun time and the boys had a blast. Miss Reese always does a great job on party planning and this was no exception. There were games, a clown, a popcorn machines, hotdogs, and the boys even could win tickets and buy goodies at the end of the party. It was a beautiful afternoon and luckily, since they live on the lake the 97 degree Texas heat did not feel quite that warm!



M had a great time with the animal balloons and went through about 6 of them!

N waited very patiently for cake and enjoyed every mouthful!

Markers

I am not sure what I was thinking when I handed the boys a bunch of markers and a coloring book and sent them into the playroom earlier this evening. N is able to handle such a task of course, but sending him on such a dangerous mission with mischievious M along was obviously too much to bear!

This is M's new "I know I'm in trouble, so I will avoid eye contact" tactic!

Wow Week

The boys have had Wow Week Camp at our church the past 3 days and have had a lot of fun. They went every morning until 2 and even got new t-shirts (which was a big highlight for N of course!) They had Cowboy Day, Splash day, and Jungle Safari day and seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves.
Mommy in the meantime got some much needed alone time. I ran some errands, got to eat lunch in peace, and most importantly did some spring cleaning... I realize that I am a little late! Some of my friends thought I was nuts to clean on my break, but I really enjoy a clean house and being able to clean without 2 boys underfoot is actually kind of fun! I got to do some of that deep down dirty cleaning that a busy mom never gets to do.
Tomorrow... Back to reality!

What a Week!

This week was an exhausting week in the Jones house. Daddy went to San Francisco on a business trip. N finished up swimming lessons. Mommy had an ear infection from all my swimming.... and M, well M was just exhausted from all the activity:



I walked in Thursday afternoon to check on M who was being very still and quiet and found him like this. Poor thing had just worn himself out! He was a trooper though, and did a great job watching N's lessons and hanging out on the sidelines. To say the least, it was an exhausting week for all of us!

Thankfully, Daddy made it home safely and we have had a fun and relaxing weekend catching up! Daddy and the boys swam Saturday and had a great time. N and M have become little fish and loved having their Daddy back home. Meanwhile, I was very happy to have a little break and watch them play!

Balloon Wars

I have been trying to think of some fun and easy entertainment ideas for all of "my boys" this summer and this week I hit the nail on the head. I found some water balloons in the dollar section of "the red store" and they were a hit! We had so much fun Monday having water balloon wars. M did not want to join in the action and prefered to stay in the neutral zone with Mommy. The big boys however, had a great time! Hayden and Cam tried to work out strategies, while N prefered to just pop the balloons over his own head... Boys will be boys!

Happy Father's Day

Today we celebrate Father's Day and we are so thankful to have such a wonderful Daddy! The boys gave their Daddy a concrete stepping stone with their handprints on it and a cute card that N picked out all by himself. Daddy liked the stone and put it in the yard already. We went to church and out to lunch and then spent the afternoon in the pool. I have found that the boys much prefer Daddy to Mommy for pool time. After all, he can throw them, swim with them on their backs, and N's favorite... standing on Daddy's shoulders and jumping off! Weak Mommy just isn't as fun in the pool! They are really so cute playing. M in particular gets so excited when Daddy is going swimming... He just cannot get in the pool fast enough and giggles the whole time!

Tonight, we are going to grill hamburgers and just have some family time. Daddy leaves tomorrow for a business trip all week, so we will be lonely!

I am very blessed to have such a wonderful husband that is such a fantastic father. He adores the boys and always makes an effort to spend time with them even when he gets home from working all day. He sets a great example for them and they admire him so much. N is always telling me things that he is going to do "when I gwow up and be jush yike my Daddy!"
Happy Father's Day!

Swimming Lessons

Our week has been busy with swimming lessons. N went the first day to the beginner class and after class, the teacher told me he needed to be bumped up to level 2. He has done so well and improved so much! He is swimming on his own and not needing floaties which he is so proud of. Of course, we have to be right near him and I will only let him swim in the shallow end, but he is so thrilled. He loves swimming and has had so much fun.

This summer I am keeping my friend Jennifer's 2 boys 3 days a week. It has really been fun so far and my boys love having them around. They are 5 and 7 and great with the "little" boys! The 5 year old is taking lessons with N, so we practice a lot! I think I am going to be very tan by the end of the summer.

M has taken to the water also and really enjoys it. He is so funny because he loves to just float. He will get in his floaties and just hang out and take it all in. He smiles the whole time and giggles... He's such a mess!

Here are some pictures of this past week's lessons:

N and Hayden

Swimming like a fish!

Pool Fun

For those of you that do not know, we have a pool. We waited as long as possible before letting the boys realize that it was in fact warm enough to get in since Mommy and/or Daddy therefore has to get in too! However, the time is upon us and we are having fun. N is a fish this summer and the first day we let him just jumped right in! M has been more timid and has prefered to sit on the side and kick his feet or just watch from a chair. (This is not typical for either of their personalities, but we are going with it!) Swimming lessons start next week and I am eager to see how N does. He seems ready to swim on his own, so hopefully by the end of the summer that will be the case. M did get in on Sunday at a friend's birthday party and at our house yesterday and had fun, but would probably prefer to just eat popsicles!