Cousin, friend, teacher

These two are buddies.
Ellery has always loved playing with Mr B...
But sometimes its not so easy to get "Breck time" when her little brother is around and they play "boy" things.
But when Calvin leaves to bike around the block,
Ellery becomes number one! And she is in heaven....
And so am I.
She's calm, sweet, motherly, and loves to teach Breck new things....
Then beams with joy!
T-1.5 years till she can babysit for us alone

Silly boy

Breck loves to do it all on his own lately "no mamma, I do!!"
Usually when he's being to quiet we know something is up...as usually he doesn't stop talking (just like his father...err mom)!
And when he does appear its usually like this....

Happy happy birthday

Grandpa Tom celebrated his sixty third birthday...
-with a few of his favorite grandkids.
-with most of his favorite children.

We celebrated his birthday like most families do....
-taking turns shooting a pellet gun in the rain.
-seeing who has the best aim at the white box with tin cans on it.
(Who won? You would think grandpa Tom, right!?   Nope, grandma Shirley 1st and Ellery a close 2 nd....but who's counting!)

Then us wonderful daughters made chicken fajitas for dinner
And Ellery and I made his favorite strawberry cake for dessert.

Perfect evening of celebration!!

Happy birthday dad!!

Tie dye

Yesterday the kids and I tie dyed beach towels!
It was my first time in (maybe forever) that I have done it...let alone a towel,
But they turned out fabulous!!
And it was a blast!

Now Breck has a new towel for vacation. Thus week we leave for our annual Park Rapids vaca.....
Relaxation and beach fun!

*Walmart has white all cotten towels for $3.98 and packets of dye for $2.98
Cheap entertainment!!

Too early

This little boy thinks he needs to jump in bed with us the morning...
Sometimes morning being four am, sometimes six, either way...
To early!
It would be different if he acually snuggled,
But nope
He's a wiggle worm!

So question....
How do you get your toddler to stay in his bed ALL NIGHT LONG?
(Without caving in because of there cute faces and sweet whispers of "daddy, daddy,daddy along with thier little fingers tapping you on the arm).

GREAT reasons why I don't want to go back to work :(

This summer has been a BLAST!  I'm afraid to blink because it has gone by way to fast and soon enough (17 days..but who's counting) I will be back to work.  This might be the hardest time yet, leaving my boy & the other kids, to go back to work.  Can I PLEASE just stay home 24/7, all year round?

I think it's because I realize how quick they are all growing up! And I want it to stop for a little while and let me enjoy it.

Breck has defiantly turned into a little boy this summer.

He plays, talks, and acts like a big boy...

sometimes a great thing

and other times not.

GREAT:Usually at the park he sits on the "big" swings and not the baby ones.

He rides his tricycle on his own up and down the street.

NOT SO GREAT: The other day he ran into the curb with his bike and said "oh God damn it"

*his "dad" has to stop cursing ;)

maybe his mom too.

GREAT: He is friendly and always smiley.  At the grocery store he has to talk with everyone.

He uses please and thank you and even says bless you when you sneeze AND cough :)

NOT SO GREAT: See above. He is a parrot and repeats EVERYTHING sometimes getting his parents in trouble. 

I called our cable company the other day and he was repeating everything I was saying to the lady.  She was laughing and I said "yeah I have a little parrot" and she said "YOU HAVE A PARROT"!!! I had to explain to her my parrot was a two year old little boy :)

GREAT:  He's a free spirit ;) Loves dress up and does whatever the "big kids" say or do to/with him.

He is easy going:  Stopped using a bottle no problem, got rid of nuk no problem, sleeps amazingly in his new big boy bed no problem.

NOT SO GREAT: Potty training is a problem. uggg...im just trying to be patient!

 He is a determined young fellow who already insists on picking out his clothes and dressing himself (good right?!) The bad part is he also knows how to undress himself and that is how we find him very often..  He would prefer to run around naked! (without being potty trained, this isn't a good idea....trust me) ;)

GREAT: He's funny. Or so we think!  He always says and does the darnedest things (like most kids do)!  In the picture above he is wearing a dolls bloomers. 

He has always had a way to make you smile and laugh with his funny expressions and looks from batting his eyes to those gosh darn dimples that just kill me.

One of my favorites things is every morning Jerod leans over to give Breck a kiss goodbye and Breck says "now mommies turn" awwwwww.  At least I'm guaranteed one kiss a day :)

All in all...

he's simply the best.

And THIS is why it makes it harder for me to go back to work :(

30 + 2 = old man!

Jerod just celebrated his thirty something birthday!!

The day started out with Jerod taking the day off
Kind of...he had to go out of town to take a work for test, but still got to sleep in.
But before he left he opened his gifts
A ThirtyOne leather money clip wallet to replace his big ugly wore out one,
A card signed by yours truly Breck James,
A snickers and pack of gum for his drive,
And a FREE glass of lemonade and cookie complements of Ellery and Calvin's lemonade stand.
What a great start to the day...

Later that night we were joined by a group of great friends for dinner out and a bonfire to follow! He received some pretty "special" gifts, from an oven mitt, president trivia cards, to the lovely puppy shirt made by a friend who also made a shirt for himself for the party thy said "I heart Mexico"!!! Sooo funny!
Since we had a sitter overnight (thanks to g'ma Nina) we had WAY to much fun....
Good thing it only happens once a year because these two old folks can't handle it ;)
Happy birthday!!!