Inevitable...

It was inevitable the day was going to come when Connor would pull the classic t.p. move and go for gold in our stash of toilet paper...well, today was that day. When I went to take the first picture of him in all his rascaly glory, he shot me the most devious look...that's because he knows EXACTLY what he's doing. I love these kinds of shenan's actually. :) And then to top it off, I got pulled away to help Dylan and when I came back, Connor had taken off with a roll and was having way too much fun runnin' around leaving a trail of Quilted Northern behind...

The following pics are of Dylan pulling the 'classic t.p. move' (they both ended up doing this around the same age). Gotta love the rascaly face on him as well. :)

Groovin' Cup 'O Fro Yo

This afternoon, we tried a new fro yo place that opened up near us called 'Cherry On Top'. We loved everything about the experience. The natural frozen yogurt is yummy, it's self-serve so you make it exactly the way you like, the decor is modern (complete with groovy tables and chairs, flat screens all over the walls and great beats playin') and the price for a groovin' cup 'o fro yo is only 39 cents per ounce. Fun little family outing for us today...

"Happy Birthday America"

A 4th of July children's book called 'The Story of America's Birthday' caught my eye at the bookstore a couple of weeks ago. I've been reading the book to Dylan every night this past week to help me explain to him the importance of this holiday. I found myself getting emotional a couple of the nights as I talked to him about what a blessing it is to live in America and how great it will be to celebrate 'America's Birthday' on the 4th of July. I also explained to him that the reason we made our 4th of July cupcakes in the shape of a star was for the stars on our American Flag. We enjoyed a great 4th of July holiday together as a family, celebrating our freedom, because of the privilege we have of living in this wonderful country, and honoring those who have sacrificed on our behalf.


Dylan was so happy to finally enjoy one of our 4th of July cupcakes. I made an exception and let him eat one right after breakfast, hence the fact that he is still in his Spiderman pj's. :)

We spent the day at our favorite beach. The weather was perfect, and even though it was super crowded we had a great time...

Little Bros

Just chillin'...

The boys diggin' a tunnel with Dad for

the monster truck to drive through. :)

I absolutely love candid pics of Dave with the boys, especially in black and white. This explains the following little series of 'Dave with Connor' pics...

































Cute shots of Dylio...

~I think this takes the
'Cutest Candid of the Day' Award~

Then we headed home to clean up and have dinner before the fireworks. Dylan began a hot dog obsession a few weeks ago (I think it started with a Costco dog), so needless to say he was too excited for Dad to que up some dogs...and have another cupcake of course.

We headed back down to 'T Street' to watch some fireworks from the sand; the fireworks are shot off the San Clemente Pier. The boys were giddy, it was hilarious. Dylan knew what to expect, and Connor loves to be where the action is so he was completely in his element. While we were waiting for the fireworks to start, we kept taking silly pics of each other. Our little photog, Dylan, took some of the shots...

"Hardcore" Baker

This evening we went to one of our favorite local shops and Dylan got his first hat. The hats caught his eye while we were there and he wanted to try one on. His favorite color is green so he was drawn to the only green hat in the bunch. He tried it on and was diggin' it. We have a feeling we're going to be seeing him in it a lot...I'm dubbing this the 'Summer of the Green Hat'. For fun, I told him to mug while I was taking pics of him. This is what he came up with, isn't he hardcore? :)


Dylan was excited to make star-shaped cupcakes for our 4th of July holiday today. After Connor went down for his nap, I turned on some Jack Johnson (or Jack Jo, as we refer to him as) and we began making our festive cupcakes. Right off Dylan scammed a handful of little sprinkles out of the cake mix. Here he was "being strong" while stirring the batter. :)









I then pulled out the star-shaped foil baking cups and Dylan laid out all 24 stars on the counter. He really liked pouring batter into the baking cups, just look at that concentration. :)









"Look! They're getting poofy!"



Dylan can't wait to decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles
in the morning, and then of course to eat them!

Hiatus No More

We had the Sister Missionaries from our Church Ward over for dinner tonight. Dylan was anxious for them to come, he kept asking me if they were going to be here soon. Before they came, he asked me if he could take a picture of his Spiderman plate I had placed on the table for him...I thought his pic turned out blogworthy. :)

It was great getting to know the Sister Missionaries better. We're glad to be reimplementing our goal to have the missionaries over for dinner once a month. We've been on hiatus since my last trimester with Connor. We appreciated the spirit they brought into our home, and the spiritual message they shared with us regarding the daily effort to be more Christlike.

Shenanigans!

Dave had a visit this evening so it was just me and the boys. Let's just say there were some shenanigans to be had! Dinnertime was good, Dylan and Connor very much enjoyed their meal of Trader Joe's Shells and Cheddar with a side of peas. Connor loves peas now, it's so cute to watch him pick up the individual peas (or any food for that matter) with his cute little fingers.

And then...the shenanigans began! I turned on some music and we all danced. Dylan did an awesome bum shake in his underwear (when isn't he just in his underwear?). I sat Connor on my hip, held his hand out and we "slow danced" around. I spun him around a few times which he loved! :)

Naturally, what should be next on the agenda?... Pillowfight!!!!!!!!!!!...which eventually just turned into the boys faceplanting themselves onto the pillows, jumping around, etc. I couldn't help laughing when Connor kept shoving his foot in Dylan's face. As a parent, it's your responsibility to NOT laugh when your kids do these things and take the appropriate action, but sometimes we just can't help laughing at the boys pulling classic sibling on sibling moves like this, especially when it's Connor harassing Dylan.

"Hey guys, check out my bellybutton!"

Of course the boys had to run around with their trucks, and crash them even though we continuously ask them not to.

And lastly, usually Dave gives the boys their bath (I've been having back and neck problems this past year), but he was going to be home any minute so I just got them started. I was wetting Connor's hair down then giving him little spikies all over, and Dylan decided to copy me. At first Connor didn't mind and then he's like, "Hey, get off me." :)

The evening ended with more shenan's (what else?) and silly faces...