Outdoor Fun with Mimi & Papa

Mimi and Papa were in town this weekend to keep the Fayetteville cousins while their mom and dad went on a fun trip.

Friday, while those cousins were in school, Mimi and Papa came to play with us! After we picked up Emma Kate from gymnastics, we went to the Bentonville square for lunch.

Nothing says Bentonville like the original Walton's 5 & Dime.(that's Walmart before it was Walmart, in case you didn't know)

Next, we walked a couple of blocks over to the Crytal Bridges Trail. We walked down to the museum observation deck and checked on the progress.

On Saturday, Mimi and Papa took all the grandkids over the age of 2 (sorry Zane and Zander!), to Hobbs State Park.


They went on a guided walk (which I think was a little long!)

but it was also fun!

Then on Sunday, we went to church and ate lunch with Mimi and Papa before they headed back to Texarkana. Here are all the NWA grandkids, except for Zane. He wouldn't sit with anyone other than his mommy or daddy.

1st week of ISR

When we moved here 2 years ago, I did an online search to see if ISR was offered in this area. It wasn't. I was disappointed. Both Eli and Emma Kate did ISR for 2 years in Florida. ISR stands for Infant Swimming Resource and is an amazing way of teaching swim survival to infants and preschoolers (ages 6 months - 6 years, I think). This is not your standard swimming lesson. This teaches the little ones how to save themselves if they should fall into water by using a swim-float-swim sequence.

Last week, I was looking through a local magazine and saw an ad for an ISR course in our area! I was so excited!! I immediately called the # listed and spoke with Mrs. Courtney, the instructor. She was actually starting the sessions that day. There is much paperwork to be done before starting ISR as well as approval from somebody with ISR authority, so we couldn't start that day. I did all the paperwork and we were approved to start this week.

If you've never seen an ISR lesson given, it isn't for the faint of heart. Especially in the beginning. Zane and Zander were no exception. They DID NOT like it. The good thing is that each lesson is only 10 minutes, so it isn't really so bad.

The next few pictures show Zane's thoughts:

Zander was taking it all in while he watched Zane....

Zane's 10 minutes was up and then Zander realized that he was going to have to do it too!

And now that Zane is done, he's keeping a watchful eye on his buddy Zander...

After the lesson, the child is laid down on their side and wrapped in a towel while Mommy pats them and tries to get out any trapped air....

Even though he's done, Zander still cries for a good effect!

Helpers

I've mentioned before how much Zane & Zander like to "help" with the laundry. Usually its putting clothes in the washer or then switching the clothes from the washer over to the dryer.

Well today I decided to give them a new task. I put all their clean clothes on hangers and asked each boy to take them to the stairs. I told them to lay the clothes down and I would then take them up the stairs to their closet.

Here's what I found afterwards.... Not exactly my idea of how to lay the clean clothes down. Still LOVE those helpers just as much as ever though!

My Man

All you ladies reading this, be ready to be jealous!

How many men do you know that can sport this look?
And still look this good?

I mean seriously.

Pink rubber gloves while doing dishes accompanied by an upper arm tattoo.

How cute is he?

Slip-n-Slide

Our neighborhood pool isn't open yet, but its been really warm this week, so Eli purchased a slip-n-slide. He got it out today and he and EK had so much fun with it!

I put swim shorts on Zane and Zander in case they wanted to get in the water. But, they were content just to watch from the sidelines....

Zane found these swim goggles in the pool bag....

We were having a great time, Eli and Emma Kate slippin' and slidin' and the little boys standing back and watching. However, when Daddy got home from work, he thought Zander would enjoy the slip n' slide.

Guess what?

He didn't.

So then Daddy had to hug, hold and kiss Zander to make up for his meanness!

Kupcakes & More

A week or two ago, as I passed the Square in Bentonville, I noticed a new place on the corner, Kupcakes & More. Made a mental note to maybe try it sometime. Then, yesterday as I flipped through this month's Kids Directory, I saw a full page ad for it. Moved that mental note up to a definite "to-do."

Today was the day! After we picked EK up from gym, we went to the square for cupcakes. Unfortunately, I broke Rule #1 of being a good blogger....ALWAYS carry your camera with you. After all, you just never know when a picture opportunity will present itself. So, I have no pictures of the yumminess as it happened. We did bring home 2 cupcakes though, so I've got pictures of those to show you.

For the most part though, you'll just have to imagine how this all went down:

Eli chose Berry Berry Strawberry....

Me and EK chose Chocolate Peanut Butter....

and I got a Party Cake flavor for the Z's.

We also got a Berry Berry Strawberry to bring home to Daddy and because a "special" was a 6 pack of cupcakes, we bought another additional Berry Berry Strawberry. (This seems like a good time to talk about the price of cupcakes. Why are they so expensive? These were $2.75 each. Apparently that is the going rate because its the same price as the cupcake place in Fayetteville. At least these at Kupcakes & More are bigger. But still, that's a lot!)

As we sat down outside to eat them, we saw several classes of school kids walking to the square for lunch. Emma Kate recognized 4 friends from gymnastics but we were across the street from them so she didn't get to talk to them.

We all took our first few bites and oh. my. goodness. Pure enjoyment. I was helping the little boys with their Party Cake kupcake because it had a heaping mound of icing on it and I knew that was just going to be a big mess. So I took one for the team, and ate most of the icing off. I am a self-proclaimed icing connoisseur and let me tell you, this icing was DEEE-LISH!!! The little boys ate the "cake" part of the kupcake, with the exception of one bite I took, it was so moist...mmm, mmm, mmm!

I looked over at Eli and he only had one bite of his left, so it was apparently equally good. Emma Kate dropped 1/2 of hers on the table, but I know she liked all that topping (as seen in picture above), because it was all over her mouth! (don't you wish I had my camera so you could SEE all these visuals I'm giving you?)

The owners/workers were so very nice also. When they found out we were going to eat outside, they went out and cleaned the tables and chairs for us. Great customer service!!

While we were outside eating our kupcakes, 3 firetrucks with their lights and sirens on came barreling down the street. That was super exciting for the little boys. They, especially Zane, love "fifa-truks."

Impromptu times. Fun times. So thankful to be able to share them with my Busy Blessings!

2nd Birthday Party

We celebrated Zane & Zander's 2nd birthday on Saturday May 8th. (one day before their actual b-day).

I wanted to do a cute Mod Monkey theme party like this....

But I went soft and did a party from the boys current fave character....ELMO! Here is a scanned copy of the invitation I made and sent out to a few family members....

My friend Bridget, who I didn't think was crafty but has clearly gotten that way, made these shirts for the boys to wear for the party. She is truly a remarkable friend!

Wouldn't you know that it was a bit cool the day of the party??? Everything was planned to be outside, so I had to layer the boys so they could still wear their awesome shirts!

Here's Mimi and Papa with birthday boy Zander before the party started...

Daddy with his birthday boy buddy Zane....


We opened presents first!

Grandmother and Granddaddy got the boys their own Bibles that were just the right size for their 2yr old hands....

A soccer goal and soccer ball for each boy from Grandma and Grandpa....

Eli picked out "big balls" as his gift to the boys....

Aunt Kim sent them each a T-ball set....

Mimi and Papa got the boys a fun Roller Coaster....

After opening presents, all the kids played for a while. Here is Eli with cousins Cole and Haley....

Elmo's favorite food, as well as the birthday boys, is pizza! So of course that was our party food!

and Elmo drinks....

Mimi, Aunt Katie, Papa and Daddy getting their food....

Zander and Zane enjoying their pizza....

Grandma and Grandpa also bought the birthday boys this picnic table which came in very useful as all the cousins sat down to eat....

Absent from the picture above was my sweet Emmy Kate. She had a scary fall off the trampoline right before the party started. She wasn't feeling too good afterwards, so she stayed out of the middle of the excitement and hung out on Momma's new swing.

We came inside for cake & ice cream. Grandpa is always such a good sport at parties. Joining right in with the kids....

The cake table....

The Elmo cake that I paid WAY TOO MUCH for and was SO DISAPPOINTED with.

Singing Happy Birthday....

The boys were amazed with the smoke that went "up to the sky" after we blew the candles out...

So, we lit the candles again and did it all over a 2nd time so they could see more smoke. There are 2 birthday boys after all, so it only makes sense to sing the song twice!

Happy 2nd Birthday Zane and Zander!