Tractors! Bulldozer! Backhoe! Construction Site! Hay Bales!

I love Justin's enthusiasm for tractors and construction equipment of all sorts. It's fun to just go for a drive with him because there is always construction equipment along the route! I really will be incredibly sad the day he stops shouting about equipment from the back seat of the car.

We had a bulldozer on the street behind us leveling a house last week - we stopped to see it on our walk. It was not easy to convince him to go back home!

He looked back to be sure it wasn't moving ;)

Yesterday it was hot and gross out and we were trying to decide what to go do. Grandma had suggested the John Deere store when we were FaceTiming with her - and well that's where we ended up after a stop for cheesesteaks at some fairly authentic place in the burbs.

The tractor store is about a 40 minute drive from us so we don't do it often. Justin was SO excited. They have a bunch of equipment outside and then inside they have more equipment AND a ton of toys. He just ran in circles you will see in the video below.

He wouldn't look at me cause he was busy trying to decide what to run to next.

We decided Grampa should upgrade. Justin liked the back seat.

There is a Rita's Water Ice place in the burbs (it's a Jersey original) so we stopped there too.

And both boys took a nice little nap on the way home!

Week of single mommyhood

Dave left Saturday and doesn't get back until next Friday..lucky me! We had an okay weekend minus one cranky Kyle on Saturday afternoon.

This was my attempt to pass some time on Saturday. It was 100 degrees and Kyle was super cranky and this ended up with my pulling a wagon and holding a baby under my arm. It didn't go so well.

And breathing treatments...THREE TIMES A DAY for both of these guys. Thankfully their coughs are getting better so hopefully two times a day will suffice this week - so I don't have to haul both nebulizers to school.

Here are some videos:

Kyle is officially crawling. He's everywhere and putting everything in his mouth. It's hard to leave a room with him on the floor. He manages to find something he shouldn't have!

We made a new game on Saturday..I drew shapes and Justin ran, hopped, skipped, jumped on them. I was doing my best to wear him out.

Grandma had put some longhorns in the box she sent us. Justin had them eating my hair. I said "get off me - cows don't eat hair - they eat grass." Next thing I knew he was packing up his longhorns and taking them outside.

Fun with puzzles while Kyle was napping. He did this every time he found the next letter..

Kelly did come over for a few hours today so I could go meet Sandy for lunch and run a couple of errands without dragging children with me - which was lovely. And I'm not ashamed to say it - I have help coming Monday and Wednesday night after work. I figured - why torture myself all week. Noemi is coming over at 5:30 and will likely beat us home and can start dinner and help me with one of the kids so not every night is a total chaotic race to get children in bed. 

Happy 4th of July!

Well - I've had better 4ths. We invited a bunch of peeps over to our house before the neighborhood parade so we could all walk over together- and then have lunch at our house afterwards.  I have zero photos because I was sick. It's super fun to get ready to host people at 9am when you don't feel well. Maybe I had a touch of a stomach bug that perhaps sent Kyle home from daycare on Tuesday? Who knows. But it was the longest 6 hours from about 7am - 1pm when the guests left. I love hosting people - but it's not easy to do when you'd rather curl up in a ball and sleep.

The kids were cute anyway:

See my tooth?!

Riding his bike!!

A few more Sunday Funday pictures..

He was filthy..

Kyle is not enjoying the breathing treatments these days..
tried something new tonight! It worked..we'll see if it works tomorrow!

Houston - we have a tooth..

Finally - there is a tooth! It's still not all the way out - so his smile is still nice and gummy- but finally a tooth has surfaced. I feel like he's been working on it for ages!

We lowered the crib this weekend...I was afraid I'd find him on the floor some morning if I didn't. Once this kid figures out how to get around he's going to be on the move constantly. He isn't quite crawling yet but he's so close. He scoots a bit and then gives up and just rolls wherever he wants to go.

Thankfully- Justin has come leaps and bounds in the potty training arena. He still has some accidents but things are SO MUCH better than they were. Hoping they stay that way! He has started not wanting to nap on the weekends. I think I'm close to losing my only shot at "my" time on the weekends. Between Kyle's short naps and Justin's lack of one - I guess I'll just have to send them off with daddy if I'm to get any time to myself at home!

First time swinging last weekend!

Why hello Miss Lauren..

He's such a sweetie

Haircut!!

Vacation?

Well - while it's always nice to be home...it wasn't the most awesome visit we've ever had. Between Justin throwing up Sunday morning, Grandma being sick most of the week, Kyle eating baby powder leading to a call to Poison Control and Grampa AND Grandma being so sick they couldn't even get out of bed one day..well..we've had better visits.  Oh and the gnats..the gnats are EVERYWHERE and sort of ruin the fun in being outside. Did I mention Justin was fairly terrible most of the time? 

Despite all that- it was great to see everyone and we are looking to coming back in October. We're hoping for a better trip next time!

People - I'm busy here..

A natural..

Lunch with cousins!

Mule ride fun

Sharing a snack with Walker

Andrea came to visit!

Back to Texas

Cousins 2013

Fun in Iowa

Here are some pics from our Iowa trip. More to come - it's been an interesting trip!

Driving the Old A

Madi loved baby Kyle!

Meeting Great Grandma

Meeting Auntie Karen!

Parker was so fun!

Planting beans with Grampa!

Hanging with Uncle Josh

7 months!!

Kyle hit the 7 month mark over the weekend! Here are a few photos to commemorate the occasion.

Fun with boxes!

Justin at 7 months!

A few more of Justin at 7 months can be found here. I don't think they look anything alike! But maybe it's just because Justin was SO MUCH bigger!

One proud daughter/sister!

I just wanted to take a moment to say - AWESOME WORK to Mom, Dad, Tara, Jeff and David. They helped organized a tornado relief effort for Moore, Oklahoma and filled two trucks with supplies for the area. Dad and Jeff drove HawkOne and HawkTwo down to Oklahoma where the Sooner football team met them to help unload.

I am super proud! What a great effort!

One of the things that gives me chills about this whole thing is seeing these two trucks go down the road together- I'm not sure that has ever happened! Dad was in the lead in the "old" truck and Jeff behind him in the newer truck. I have watched this video of Mom's a million times.

This blog post has a link to David's interview and an article.

So proud - good work family - good work Iowa.