My babies

This has been a great summer.  Even though my kids can be a bit challenging at times I have truly enjoyed the time we've had to play and have fun together.  They are so cute and sweet.  They get along pretty good too.  Lauren loves flowers.  Lukie loves fruit snacks....which is why he actually stood still and smiled for me!  I love in the morning when they come in and snuggle with me.  I love the conversations I have with them.  When we were driving through the Smokey Mountains Lauren says, "The clouds are touching the mountains.  We are really high up.  We are almost to Jesus!"  When we stopped to stay at a hotel in Lexington we were chatting with a man from Canada.  As we walked away I asked her if she knew where Canada was and she said "no".  I said "it was really far north" and she said "oh like where Santa lives".  I love a sweet innocent 5 year old mind.  It's so precious.  My conversations with Luke are pretty one sided.  I ask all the questions and he says "uuuhu"  (meaning yes) or answers with yuck!  Luke is still really cuddly.  He doesn't sit still for very long but he will sneak a quick hug or kiss throughout the day.

My kiddo's and their quirks!

This guy makes me laugh.  One minute he is crawling on the floor barking like a dog and licking me and the next minute he is wearing a princess dress and high heels.  We found this airplane at a garage sale.  It will be his Halloween costume.  He loves airplanes....always has to point them out and when he puts the costume on he make the sound affects.

We call her the hoarder!!  I have just recently put her on a sticker chart for keeping her room clean so she can earn an american girl doll for her birthday.  She has to play until the second she falls asleep.  She hates having her door closed at night and she will play in the hall and sleep in the hall if we let her.  She has so many toys but she does play with all of them.  I have tried to have her fill a box for needy kids but she just finds the crappy Mc Donald's toys to donate.  So I have to down size the toys when she is not looking.

Our Trip to NC

We had such a nice vacation.  The 12 hour drive was not so fun but the kids were great once we got there.  We were busy but relaxed.  We all had a great time together.  One afternoon Luke refused to nap so he hung out with Jared.  He thought it was fun to run cars over his belly and watch sponge bob together.  He must of wore Jared out!!

Lauren was so excited to see Brookie.  She is still talking about the trip weeks later.

You can't really see Coalie in the picture but he is right between the kids.  They loved playing with him.  Luke liked him so much he started acting like a puppy and barking and chasing toys.

It was so nice spending some quality time with my Brookie.  We have missed each other so much.

They had to take turns walking Coalie.

Making stepping stones

We were planning a trip to go see my good friend and her husband in North Carolina so we decided to make a gift to take with us.  They just moved into a new house and we thought they would like some stepping stones.  Lauren did a great job.  Her hand print was perfect and she placed each jewel just so.  Luke well we had to do the hand print 6 times and we basically ended up with a smooshed up hand print and the jewels were pushed down as far as they could go.  They turned out great and Brooke and Jared loved them.

Lauren's first sleep over

4th of July night the Cunningham's decided to spend the night.  It took the girls a while to settle themselves but finally about midnight they fell asleep.

Family photo shoot

It's really sad when you can't even get one good photo.  I posted these because I actually found it a little funny to see what a hot mess we are.  Luke's poopy swim diaper leaked on Craig pants.  Luke pulled Craig's glasses off his face.  Lauren kept leaning back as far as she could and about broke my back holding her up. Craig's trying to talk Luke into smiling at the camera and he is not having it!!  So this is it this was the best we could do for our summer family 4th of July photo.

4th of July

We had a great 4th this year.  Parade out at my sister's, hiking and park playing at Dawson Lake, and then great party at our friend Megan's house.

Discovery Museum

Luke is at a perfect age to really enjoy the discovery museum.  Lauren still loves it too.

Making pizza!  "It's ok that it fell off and touched the floor...I'll still serve it!"

Patient Lukie!!

Dada Truck

About a month ago Craig and I got new vehicles.  Craig got a truck.  We all love it especially Luke.  He calls it "dada truck".  Every time Craig pulls in the drive way he runs out and yells "dada truck dada truck".

I took him off the bed of the truck and put him into his carseat....that's why he is frowning.

Lauren like it too.  She can roll her own window down.  She thinks she is pretty cool hanging in dada truck.

More summer fun

I find that in the summer we are a little more layed back.  This is a picture of the kids eating on their trays in the living room.  They love doing this.  Luke is starting to not like wearing his puddle jumper in the little pool. That is why he is pouting.