Fun around the house

It's blurry - but check out my car thermometer from the other day.  Yep - at 2:20 on Aug 5th it was 109 degrees.  I know there are parts of the country that are hotter and maybe drier than we are, but I don't know anyone who is 9 months pregnant and chasing two small kids around in this repressive heat.  So, hey, I win the misery contest. 

But just because the weather is miserable, doesn't mean we don't find ways to have fun around here.  A few weeks ago my friend Julie and I spent the better part of the kids naptime (our free time) filling up water balloons.  It took me 2 hours of sitting at the sink to fill up 70 something balloons, and she was just as "productive."  Her kids came over and mine waited patiently staring at the water balloons until their friends arrived.  It took less than 7 minutes to extinguish our entire lot of balloons.  The kids had a blast, but Julie and I looked at each other and said "Really - all that work and it's over in minutes."  Next time, we learned, we don't set out the entire bucket of balloons.  We will dole them out one at time so they can learn to savour the moment.  That was the middle of July, we haven't done this again.  Not sure if we plan too ...

One of the boys' favorite activities to do with Brian is a Monster Truck Rally.  Brian yells "Lets 'em up" and the boys come running with their big climbing blocks and 30+ Monster Jam trucks.  This addiction started back in February when Brian took him to see an exhibition at Reliant.  We're waiting for them to come back next year.  In the mean time, they make their own competition of racing and freestyle moves.

We are also doing lots of crafts.  This is Carter's tin foil hat with feathers, pipe cleaners and Star Wars stickers.  He was very proud.  Not sure what it's for, but it was fun nonetheless.

One recent Friday night Brian went to a lot of trouble to get this tent up in the backyard for the boys to camp out in.  They watched a movie with the portable DVD player and then star gazed.  The red ICEE popsicles were quite a mess, and thus made them come in for a bath.  They didn't make it back outside that night, but have plans to return when it's cooler.

Cole is a big banana eater.  Nothing special to say other than I think he's just the cutest 2 year old ever.

We spend alot of time at Mom and Dad's pool.  The two big contributors to the fun factor - contained children and shade - which means I don't have to chase them around a public pool NOR do I have to lather on the sunscreen.  They like jumping off the rocks. 

Cole got up early one morning and came and snuggled in our bed. He slept until 8:30 this way, I guess the pillow over his eyes blocked out the daylight.  Brian does the same thing.

You'd think that in a drought our grass wouldn't need mowing so often, but I water pretty frequently.  Which means Brian has to get out there and mow it.  Carter LOVES to help, it's one of his favorite things to do.  On yard duty days, I can get him to cooperate so well by using that as a bargaining chip.  Hey Carter, if you take a nap you can mow the lawn.  Hey Carter, if you share/eat your lunch/pick up your toys/etc - you can mow with Daddy tonight.  Yet another reason I keep the yard looking nice - it's a great bribery tool in my arsenol of parenting skills :)

I used to help out with the trimming/edging and blowing while Brian mowed.  But I just can't anymore.  Too hard on my body.  I'm anxious to have the baby so I can get my trimmer duties back - I'm a little picky about how I do my yard, but when Brian does it all I can't complain. 

Brian had a great idea last weekend.  We took the boys to their first Astros game.  It was a Sunday afternoon game and they had bounce houses, face painting, balloon animals, wax hands and other fun stuff in the lobby of the stadium for all the kids.  PLUS, if you bought an adult ticket, your kid ticket was free.  While we only spent $14 for entry - I think we spent another $40 on food and foam fingers.  But hey, we had a great time.

Here is Carter doing his wax hand.  The hand crumbled before we got home so I have no picture of it.

We were up high, but it didn't matter to the boys.  Glad I didn't pay for close seats. We got there two hours before start time to do all the free family activities, that they were so exhausted and ready to leave by the third inning.

And proof that Cole was there.  He just wanted to eat ice cream and play with my iPhone after awhile.  Speaking of iPhones.  At one point my phone jammed up and Cole got frustrated that his game stopped working that he threw it down over the balcony.  Fortunatley it wasn't from the 300 to the 200 section.  It was 400 to 300, which is only 10 feet down.  It survived thanks to my $50 Otterbox.  It was painful purchasing it (at the time), but has saved me on many MANY occasion.  So lesson to all you iPhone users, if there is a child nearby (or if you're like me and drop it sometimes), spend the extra cash for the Otterbox Defender case - it's worth it!