Quick Catch Up

John had preschool summer camp all this week. He got to go with 2 of his best friends Nicholas and Adam. They had so much fun and came home with tons of projects. I am contemplating redoing the wall in my kitchen with a bunch of frames and filling them with the kids artwork that I can change out as new things come in. I think it would be cute, but we'll see if I actually get around to it.

Tonight John has his next promotion test in Tae Kwon Do. If he passes he will be a green stripe. Good luck baby!!

The girls have most definitely hit the terrible 2's. It is super fun! They have become very independent and don't want help with anything. They don't want to hold hands in the street and definitely don't want to leave anywhere until they are good and ready. It would be a little easier if they had the verbal skills to tell me what they are thinking, and their reasoning for certain behaviors, but instead we just have a lot of high pitched little girl screaming. On a positive note, they are saying "I Love You" a lot, so that pretty much makes up for everything. :)

I haven't taken any pictures in forever. Hopefully I will get some this weekend at my cousin's wedding reception to share.

Neat Blog

If you have kids, you have to check out this blog.
http://filthwizardry.blogspot.com/
I seriously want this lady to come to my house every day and do "projects"

6 Flags

Last Friday my grandma took the girls, and John and I headed off to Six Flags. And yes, there really are six flags. We had to count them. John told me next time we don't have to count because he already knows how many there are. After paying $15 to park, we bought tickets for a mere $72. I didn't realize how expensive of a day this was going to be! Luckily, the tickets we got are good for 5 more visits, so hopefully we'll use them and get our moneys worth.

We started off at the Colossus. It is a huge ferris wheel. John was very excited for it while we stood in line.As soon as we got locked in our little cage to ride he freaked out. He had his head burried in my lap the whole time and was just shaking! He kept asking me to tell him when it was over. Not a very good start to the day.After the scary ferris wheel we decided to stick with the kids area. This he loved! The parents can go on all the rides here or the kids can go by themselves. I rode the spinning hot air balloons and after that he was fine on his own. He rode the train a few times and was super excited when he got to sit in the engine and "drive". After wearing himself out on those rides we went over to Hurricane Harbor, the waterpark. The weather was so beautiful and perfect for going on rides and standing in line, but it was a little chilly for swimming. John played around in the kids area for a little bit while I hung out in the sun, or what there was of it. He really wanted to do a waterslide, but was too short for most of them. We found one he could go on. You sit in a big raft that holds 4 or 5 people. Well, I guess there was some issue with weight distribution because John was always on the side heading down, which meant he got drenched at every turn. This would have been fine except he kept turning around to see where we were going and the water would shoot up into his face. At the end of the ride he asked if we could go again, so I guess it didn't bother him too much. After Hurricane Harbor we grabbed a popsicle and headed home. It took about 2 minutes for him to pass out in the car on the way home.

First Haircuts

Today the girls went to the salon and got their 1st real haircuts. They have had their bangs trimmed before, but this was the real deal. Natalie went first and had hers cut to her shoulders and Rebecca then got a bob at her chin. I kind of wish Rebecca would have gone first so I could have seen how cute the bob was and gotten the same for Natalie. I think when we go back for trims I may have to get Natalie's shorter. What do you think?

Natalie Before

Natalie After

Rebecca Before

Rebecca After

VBS & 4th of July

I was reprimanded for not keeping up with the blog, but there hasn't been a whole lot going on. We have been going to the pool a lot so far. The girls are much better this year. Now that they are more steady on their feet I think they are more comfortable walking in the water. I definitely need to look into swimming lessons for next summer. I'd like to find an outdoor pool for them, so mommy can get a little sun while waiting for them.

John attended Vacation Bible School at church this year. I asked him if he was learning about Jesus, and he told me, "Jesus wasn't there today, but I think he's coming tomorrow." He got a CD of songs they learned and we have been listening to it a lot. He sits in the back of the car, singing along, and doing all the motions to the songs. Even the girls are starting to. After the 1st day of VBS they had a family bonfire and the kids had their first taste of s'mores..

For the 4th of July we went to a BBQ at our friends house and had a 4th of July / 1st Birthday Party for their son. The kids had a great time playing with all the other little ones there. They even got to stay up super late to watch the fireworks and play in the rain. Natalie was not very impressed by the display. John liked it, but covered his ears the whole time. We'll have to try ear plugs next year. Rebecca loved every minute of it.
I completed my 1st sewing project. I made John a pair of pirate boxers. He loves them, and this pose was all on his own. I made a few mistakes along the way, but I guess practice makes perfect. Next up, nightgowns for the girls.
General Updates:

John is doing well in Tae Kwon Do. He will have another belt test (green stripe) at the end of summer. He has some major issues with impulse control, but in general is very helpful and sweet. He got to go to the circus with Maw Maw and the transportation museum with G.G. recently. He seems to do better on outing when it is just one on one. He has a new favorite show, Make Way for Noddy, and unfortunately has started calling people by one of the characters names....Big Ears. We had a talk today about how people might not like being called that, and he was very confused and kept telling me, "But Big Ears is nice!"

Rebecca is a total girly girl. She has taken over all my chapsticks "chap-chick" and is always carrying a purse, usually mine. Every time I walk into my bedroom, she is right behind me on a mission to get into my jewelry armoire. She still carries her blankey everywhere and even a short car ride without it results in tears and screams for her "kay-key". She has also started copying John. Everything he does, she has to try and she is even repeating phrases, like Big Ears.

Natalie is very into singing lately, mostly the ABC's. They aren't always in the right order, but she has the tune down. She also really likes counting, but it is mainly just a random order of numbers with just a few in order. She is getting much better at sharing, but has also discovered the word no. She will tell me no even as she is doing what I asked. I guess she just likes the way it sounds. She loves having her picture taken and gives the biggest cheesiest smiles, and as soon as she is done she says, "let me see!" What did kids do before digital cameras and their instant gratification?

Our fun weekend

We have had a busy couple of days, and some super tired kids. I thought summer was supposed to be relaxing! :) Mike left town early Friday morning for a fishing trip to Canada, leaving me to plat single mom for a week. Right now it is Tuesday and I feel like he's been gone for a month. Friday John had his last day of summer camp and one of his friends mom's offered to pick him up for me and take him to her house to play for the rest of the day. Woo hoo! Thank you Shannon. So with John off to Nicholas' house, the girls and I spent the morning at the office and then had a fun filled day of errands. After a quick trip home to let the dog out, we went to pick up John and headed to my mom's house for a going away party for my cousin Liz. She left this weekend for 3 more years in Japan doing missionary work. It was nice having everyone together since all the cousins have gotten pretty spread out across the country (and world). John had a good time playing with my cousin's friend's son Eli, and everyone had fun playing with the bubble machines. I don't think I will ever understand the utter fascination kids have with bubbles, but I won't complain. It certainly is a cheap and easy thing to keep their attention. We ended up staying later than expected and got home and went straight to bed.

The next morning we had a date with Mike's sisters and mom to go to the Zoo. His sister Lori and her family were in town from Kansas City, and unfortunately Mike didn't get to see them due to his trip. We ended up getting to the zoo around 10:00 and went straight to the new stingray exhibit. We missed the feeding, but got to stick our hands in and pet the stingrays. Well, John and I did. The girls were pretty content with just splashing. We checked out the bears and penguins, took a train ride and a carousel ride, and had lunch. By that time the kids were getting a little cranky due to lack of sleep, so the 4 of us took off for home. Even with as tired as they were, they still didn't nap well.

Well, that's all for now. We have a date with some friends at the park tomorrow, but it is supposed to rain, so we may end up at the train store that John loves. Other than that, no real plans...just waiting for Dad to come home.

Natalie, looking a little intimidated by the huge meatball sandwich on her plate.

I seriously cannot believe she ate that whole thing...and she's the little one! That girl must have one heck of a metabolism.

Yellow Stripe

I forgot I hadn't updated about John's promotion test. He passed! He is offically a yellow stripe and he is SOOO proud! He was called on to count in Korean. He got 1-6 by himself, but need a little help on 7-10. I thought the testing was supposed to be really quick, so I took the girls with me. Unfortunately he was in the 2nd group, so we ended up having to wait over an hour to see him. I was going crazy trying to keep the girls entertained and quiet. Had I know about the wait I would have brought some raisins and coloring books. Instead they passed the time cleaning their dolls with wet wipes and climbing all over me.
Here is John (in the middle) receiving his new belt. He seems to really like his class...as opposed to his hockey lessons. Summer session starts back up next week and he is already talking about everything he needs to learn to earn his green stripe.