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August

August has been a roller-coaster of a month for us.  We finished our trip in California, had daddy leave on a business trip the very next week, had a garage sale and birthday party, and two weeks of stomach flu for Buddy.  Whew!  We're tired, but at least we are healthy again and September doesn't look quite so crazy.

Our final days in California were nice.  We spent more time again at Grandma and Papa's, but we also got to go up to Irvine to hang out with our friend, Michelle, and have one last lunch good-bye with my brothers.  The boys really enjoyed the Irvine Spectrum with their trolley rides and carousel.


Before we knew it, it was time to go home.  Papa took us to the airport and spent some time with the boys while we waited for our flight.


Even though we hadn't started preschool yet, the boys managed to get their hands messy!

Shaving cream and food coloring

Some new maze books.  The boys are learning correct pencil grip.

Random picture from church.  We have church in a gym so we have these hand trucks around for set-up that all the kids enjoy.
A friend of ours set up a field trip to Mighty-O Donuts.  The kids loved seeing how donuts were made, and they even got to eat the ones that they "helped" make!  It was a very exciting trip.





Buddy is on a HUGE Magic School Bus kick right now.  He can't get enough of them.  He's constantly talking about volcanoes, power plants, and space.  We've picked up a number of books from the library and own some, but we've also enjoyed watching the full episodes on YouTube since we don't have a TV.

We did the classic baking soda and vinegar volcano since he had been talking about volcanoes that day almost nonstop.


Finally, it was the birthday weekend.  Button turned three(!) and we decided to celebrate Buddy's 5th birthday early as well since it's difficult to do something special for him at Christmas.

Grandma and Papa came for the weekend.

They got some really nice gifts.


Their party was Knight and Dragon themed.  I think our shield cake came out pretty nicely!


We had foam swords for all the kids and shields for them to decorate.

Then it was time for battle!

Button's shield

Slaying the Dragon

Cake time and singing

Along with Buddy's science obsession, the boys have been asking me if they could go to the moon.  We found out that the Pacific Science Center had a "Preschool Trip to the Moon" time in their planetarium, so we actually could!

Buddy and Mommy Fun

Water Wheel


Mommy on the High Rail Bike

Learning about planets!

Sadly, Buddy was very sick with the stomach flu for most of the end of August.  He spent some quality time in his bed or watching shows on my Kindle.


Because Buddy was sick, we sadly missed our church's family camp at Whidbey Island.  This didn't stop Daddy and Button from setting up the tent in the backyard for a couple of days.


And thus ended our summer!  School has already begun for us here at home although we are enjoying soaking up our last few rays of sunshine before the clouds return to our lovely home in Seattle!
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