Mines Falls

Mike bought a new bike seat for Keira and since he was eager to go for a long bike ride and I was eager to go for a walk we headed to Mines Falls this am for some outdoor exercise. Huge thanks to the Sullivans for informing me of this awesome set of trails. Its cool, wooded, minimal bugs, easy to get too and you have your pick of paved and unpaved trails. Great place!

Cute kid pics

The hot and humid weather continues so we have been living on the deck or inside with the AC running. The kids love the pool and the sand so the deck is a good place to get messy.

This is one of Israel's favorite spots. He loves to look out. Here he sees Mike getting home from work and he gets super excited. He loves daddy!

Keira likes to sit at the back steps and eat her post dinner ice cream and Israel likes to watch that as well.

Keira eating like a baby. Notice the food taken off the plate and placed directly on the table. Notice the 2 utensils and yet she is eating with her fingers!

eating sand of course

Princess stories and playdough. A few of Keira's favorite pastimes.

Funny face!

Israel as mess maker!

Keira as princess, wedding girl as she calls it.

Israel eating some of my balsamic chicken and noodles complete with broccoli, carrots, garlic, onion powder and lots of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. So far he is rejecting fruit and going for everything else. His highlight of the week? Adding cruising to his list of accomplishments.

Applesauce

Newfound Lake

One good aspect of Mike not doing any house projects on the weekends is it allows time to explore. Being home all week I am always ready to something fun come Saturday. Since I failed to convince Mike that another trip to the freezing ocean would be fun we decided to check out Newfound Lake after a friend mentioned that it was clean and pristine. I am not a lake fan in general and prefer the ocean- cold or not. Lakes seem dirty to me. But I am happy to report that Newfound Lake was super super clean and clear. You could see the bottom very clearly. Great beach and picnic area too. I think its our new favorite lake. Keira had a blast which means we very successful in planning a fun day.

Odds and Ends

Keira and I made some cookies as an early Father's day gift for Mike. Keira had a blast pouring coloring sugar "glitter" as she called it all over them.

I can't believe June is half way over already. This summer is going by fast. The kids have reversed rolls lately. Israel has become easy going, happy, and super content. He amuses himself most of the day by either watching Keira and or crawling all over the house and standing and climbing on everything. Such a turn around from what he was like as an infant. He has become pretty routinish to his sleep as well. He takes 2 naps daily and goes to bed for the night around 630 pm. He usually wakes up once to nurse and sleeps till 6am. He is very active and def more adventurous than Keira was as a baby. We have already dubbed him our climber. We are wondering how soon he is going walk. Keira walked at 12.5 months so it will be interesting to see when he walks as he was mobile wayyyyyy before Keira was. He loves daddy and is a definiant daddy's boy already. Keira has always prefered me and although she loves daddy she is a mama's girl for sure.

Keira has become our high maintenance child all of sudden. I guess this is the dreaded"three" that my friends have talked about and I am experiencing for the first time. She is extremely indecisive and has multiple tantrums daily over the weirdest things which she has never done! She was always our laid back kid. Hopefully this too shall pass. In the meantime I could use some prescription strength patience.

On the home front there is nothing going on. Mike and I are bummed that activity on the house is pretty much non existent lately. The market is so slow. We just want to make plans ( and put up the mammoth swing set we spent an arm and a leg for) and of course Mike is anxious to have some home improvement projects to do. Not to mention that we( and me especially) are big plan ahead type people. Alot of our stuff is being stored at Mikes brother's house and its rather frustrating to me. All the kids fall clothes are there as I had hoped we would be moved before then and I find myself forgetting what they have for clothes and what they need. Lots of the kids toys are in storage as well. Its rather frustrating! We are thankful they let us use their basement so our house can be uncluttered but Ill be happy when all my stuff is under one roof again.

Strawberry creations

Step 1- Pick lots and lots and lots of fresh strawberries, bring them home and wash them.

Step 2- Make strawberry glaze

Step 3- Make sugar cookie crust and cream cheese sauce

step 4- assemble strawberry pizza and enjoy!

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Strawberry-Pizza

Its strawberry time!

We picked 30 lbs! I should probably say Mike picked 30 lbs while I watched the kids.

Messy

Israel grabbed my cup of fruit shake this afternoon and stuck his fingers in it and then in his mouth. He gasped because it was so cold and then went back for more. Surprising since after demanding food and tasting it he pretty much turns his nose up at everything. He made a huge mess and Keira decided to eat fruit shake with her fingers since Israel was doing it. I think I need to stock up on paper towels!