Nice one...

Dylan kicked off our week Monday morning by putting a bunch of tiny stickers all over the front of his pj's and legs. Nice one, Dylio. :)

Genius

Last night I watched one of my favorite actors, John Cusack, in an indie film called "Grace Is Gone" (2007). John Cusack gives an amazing performance. The basic storyline of the movie is that his character's wife dies in the Iraq war, he doesn't know how to tell his two daughters, so he takes them on an impromptu vacation to their favorite theme park and we watch the story unfold from there. Although the movie is slow and choppy at times, it's worth a watch to witness John Cusack's genius and the powerful emotional story of this family.

The following are some of my favorite recent John Cusack movies: Martian Child (2007), 1408 (2007), Must Love Dogs (2005), Runaway Jury (2003), Serendipity (2001).

The following are some of my favorite classic John Cusack movies: Say Anything (1989), Better Off Dead (1985), Sixteen Candles (1984).

Also thought I'd share two recent movies I loved enough to purchase:
"P.S. I Love You" (2007) and "Dan In Real Life" (2007).

Lovin' the Water...

Well, all four of us finally made it to the pool together today. Up 'til now Dave took Dylan to help him practice during his swim lessons and then Connor got his mystery rash that lasted for 6 weeks so...yay! we all made it! It was so cool to see Dylan swimming around and having so much fun in the pool. Connor was right at home in the water, which isn't a surprise since he takes off for the ocean all by himself! Here's to lots of summer water fun...

Connor tossin' some pool balls into the pool from his float and Dylan lovin' the inner tube in his fave color. :)

Dylan was so happy swimmin' around the pool on his Spiderman kickboard...

Yay Dylan!!! Havin' too much fun jumping and swimming on his own! I love that his hair kept bustin' down the middle. :)

The Three Amigos

Dylan had his twin friends, Michael and Anthony, over today for a playdate. The day went like this: calm...crazy fun!...calm.

CALM...

(The boys enjoyed some freshly baked Chocolate Chip Cookies)

CRAZY FUN!...

CALM...

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...