Soren is Two!

Grandma and Grandpa spent the day with us at Zoombeezi Bay to celebrate the momentous day.
Then it was home for Harry Potter cake and presents. Will did his big brotherly duty of "helping" Soren open gifts.
Happy Birthday, Darling Soren!

We love you!

Christmas in July

The 6th Annual Christmas in July came and went in a flurry of snow cones and pinata candy.

The new addition to this year's festivities was an idea supplied by Grandma: make your own ice cream. You fill a little ziploc baggy with half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla. You put that inside a larger ziploc baggy filled with ice and rock salt. Then you shake it up for 5 minutes. The ice cream is really yummy and you can eat it right out of the little baggy with a spoon. Plus if you do it right, you can burn calories shaking up the baggy and it is less of a sinful treat.

We enjoyed the traditional favorite of Pass the Parcel. And Soren experienced a couple of firsts:

His first snow cone

and his first Brain Freeze

Oh What a Weekend

I'm not sure what Will and Soren thought of the Fourth of July festivities this year, considering that in years past they were usually tucked into bed long before the fireworks started. This year it seemed like we couldn't get enough of fireworks displays.

The first one we enjoyed was Columbus' Red, White, & Boom. Children's Hospital hosted a great reading themed fundraiser called 'Read, White, & Boom', complete with music, hot air balloon rides, City Barbeque, balloon animals, and a great view of the fireworks.

The next day we were off to Grandma's house where the first fireworks we enjoyed were in Altoona with our fiends the Prezlocks.

On the actual Fourth of July, we enjoyed a lovely picnic on the farm hosted by our friends the Hites. My city boys reveled in the country pleasures of hunting tadpoles, picking blackberries, and feeding goats.

The reason why Soren isn't wearing a shirt in most of the pictures is that, within 15 minutes of arriving at the picnic, he fell into the pond.

That evening we were back in town for dessert on Grandma's porch, more amazing fireworks, and sparklers.

I can tell you what they thought of the car ride home: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Oh, You Meant That Peace Sign

Early in July, Will attended day camp at Balletmet with a Time Warp Theme. Each day for a week the kids spent the morning across the street at Young Chef's Academy, preparing a meal that they would eat for lunch. Then they trooped back across the street to spend the afternoon at Balletmet, playing games and learning dances that coincided with the decade that was the theme for the day.
On 70's Day, we picked Will up at the end of the day and had the following conversation on the car ride home:

Mom: "How was 70's Day?"
Will: "Good"
Mom: "What did you make for lunch?"
Will: "I made a pizza with a P made out of pepperonis"
Dad: "Why didn't you make a pizza with a W or an S on it?"
Will: "Because it's 1970's Day and the teacher said to make a pizza with a P sign"

The Saga of The Fence

In April, I was in Arizona at a Meeting when Rick sent me this picture with the caption 'Need for a new fence'. Apparently a whole section of our fence had blown over in a wind storm the night before. Rick spent the rest of the day propping up the fence as best he could, creating this lovely ghetto effect:Did I mention that the day all this was going on also happened to be Rick's birthday?

I wasn't exactly surprised or sad to see the old fence fall over. It was an ugly fence that we had casually discussed replacing... at some point. The fact that it failed catastrophically simply forced Rick to spend most of his free time this summer turning this pile of woodinto possibly the loveliest fence in the city.

(Rick chose Red Cedar so the fence also coincidentally smells nice).Another wind storm not long after snapped our patio umbrella right in half.

Thank you, Mother Nature (and my endlessly hard-working husband), for the Extreme Backyard Makeover this summer.

Father's Day Picnic

We celebrated a couple of awesome fathers in our family (mine and Will & Soren's) with a picnic at Shawnee State Park. As is typical when we go to Shawnee, a great time was had by all. We enjoyed, of course, eating, but also strolling, geocaching, swinging, throwing the frisbee, and getting soaked from head to toe in the water fountain.

Soren also enjoyed casting spells with his stick wand.
It's probably time to pull Harry Potter out of the car DVD player. I'm almost afraid to tell you that he also speaks Parseltongue.

Bravo!

Earlier this month, Will performed in his first piano recital.
Since March, he's been taking lessons at Atkinson Piano Studio. We adore Miss Liz and admire her boundless patience. She also knows of some magic spell that enabled Will to overcome his stage fright (as much as we have enjoyed watching Will just stand there during his last two Christmas Programs at school) and perform lovely renditions of 'Twinkle Twinkle' and 'Two Lady Bugs'.

Maybe she whispered to him ahead of time that there was a gift card to Graeter's Ice Cream waiting for him at the end of the show.

Thanks, Miss Liz!