Dress up for boys

We have a boy that loves dress up.  It's like Halloween every day at our house.  He dresses up as a firefighter, construction work, a combo of the two, and any superhero he can think of.  

This is serious business.  Haley is giving him some pointers.

One day I might look back at these photos and say, "What were we thinking with that long hair?!", but right now we absolutely love it and it seems to get crazier and curlier as he gets older.

Reesie strikes a pose!

Pretending his drill is a gun.  Not sure where they learn this stuff because we don't go around pretend shooting stuff at our house.  It's like boys are hard wired for some of this stuff.

Oh my goodness.  What a little hot mess!  Love him to pieces.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the most amazing father ever.  We were so excited to wake Cory up and surprise him with all of our gifts and yummy breakfast.  Reese & Ryan were chompin at the bit.  

Ryder thought sleep was more important.

 We made Daddy a yummy breakfast of egg in a hole, bacon, fresh raspberries, & mango juice.

 Yum!

He was still waking up when we brought it all in.  I know he'll love me for posting this photo.  

The kids were couldn't wait to give him the tiles we created with hand prints (see below) as well as a new Triumph motorcycle Tshirt and some homemade cards.

 The best part was giving him these sheets we filled out.  I interviewed the kids one on one and they came up with the funniest answers.  Ryder said his dad was 2 years old and he likes to wear mommy's clothing.  Reese said that she loves her daddy because he chose Risen Savior as her preschool. Ryan said her dad is smart because he knows magic.  All of their answers cracked me up.

Cory, I hope you know that you are the most wonderful father in the world. I've said it before but our family is so amazing and it's because you are the rock of it all.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and we love you so much!

Turtleback riding

We spent some time with Holly & Andy this past weekend and they have an amazing backyard that's on an acre but it's still in city limits.  Their tortise, Sherman, was out and about and the kids loved him, especially Ryder.  He was climbing on his back as he cruised around and Sherman didn't seem to mind. 

The kids have now requested that we move to a property that has a desert tortise, chickens, goats, a black horse with long curly hair, and a BIG garden.  It sounds lovely and I hope we can find a property like that someday.

Today's outings

Mondays are usually a work day for me because for the past three years we've had Bogusia, but today was our first day without her.  She's starting some new adventures with other families and we're excited to begin our summer of fun.  Today we went to go pick up our pottery that we painted last week at As You Wish.  It turned out SO cute and the kids had such a great time.  It cost a small fortune to take 5 kids there but it was totally worth it.  Reese painted a dog all different colors, Ryan & Haley painted a peace sign jewelry box, Romelo painted a penguin, Ryder painted a small dog blue w/ brown eyes, and I panted three tiles with the kids' handprints for Father's Day (same as last year).  Here is our loot that we picked up today

 Then we headed to Bookman's to buy some new (used) books.  We have read every book in our collection multiple times and it was time for some new inventory.  We scored on some pretty good books. There was a Goodwill store next door and we had to go check it out.  That place is pretty crusty but we found some more good deals on books and a few other misc. items that we couldn't live without. (Here's the part where Cory starts calling me a hoarder :)  Total out of pocket for all the books and Goodwill finds was $20 and I am happy as a clam 
Ryder fell asleep in the car on the way home.  Reese & Ryan had some nice quiet time in the family room with their new books.  They love sitting on our new inflatable raft that has yet to make its maiden voyage in the pool.  It's been a great day and I am looking forward to more summer fun days.