Pump It Up Party

Sometimes I feel guilty that we go to awesome birthday parties for kids' friends and have fairly lame, and certainly tame, parties for our kids. Then I realize I am cheap and enjoy cooking so we settle on something very low key for our kids. I like that we can experience super awesome parties but that my kids have (thus far) been very receptive to their small, at home or at the local park, affairs. This year for Noelle's 5th birthday, we are having a few little girlfriends over for a glorified playdate. They will dress up, string necklaces, and eat. The end. Kellen is having chick fil a or pizza with his favorite three people when he turns three. The end. But this week we had some awesome party invitations for friends - Pump It Up and a pool party. We can't actually attend the pool party due to work and a previously planned mommy and daddy triple date for restaurant week, but we hit Pump It Up on Tuesday after work and the kids had an amazing time.

We hadn't been to a bounce house in quite some time. It is hard to get there with my work schedule, and as you may recall, small Kellen was very susceptible to eye and ear infections, many of which seemed to get there start after bouncy house adventures. Kellen's immune system has definitely improved over the last year so we journeyed over to Elkridge and had a fabulous time jumping around, sliding, playing tug of war, and eating rainbow cake. Neither of my kids have any fear when it comes to these types of things, and despite being an entire head shorter than everyone else there, Kel had no qualms keeping up with the big kids (or holding them back as he climbed up the inflatable stairs).

These crazy kids are hilarious.

Bryan looks like this is the most fun he has ever had, right?

Kids, you also shouldn't expect a carefully crafted layered rainbow cake. Maybe you'll get something that didn't come out of a box, but only because that is cheaper :)

We had a great time. Thanks for inviting us friends!

The Fruits of our Labor

Yesterday was an out with nature kind of morning. Minus the cell phone attached to me as our surprise camp health inspection occurred the day I had off and my regular nurse and health assistant were both on vacation. Oh well, they made it through with only about 27 texts and calls.

The kids and I headed early morning to Larriland to pick blueberries and celebrate Kellen's little friend's third birthday. It had been almost a year since the last time we picked fruit and it was the kids first time picking blueberries. Kellen put exactly three blueberries in our bag and about 2000 in his mouth. Noelle was more disciplined, and had more like a 1 to 1 ratio between her mouth and her bag. We ended up with about two pounds of blueberries which was perfect since I had a fridge full of fruit already.

After picking, we celebrated the birthday girl, checked out the few animals at the farm for the summer, and had our lunch. Noelle also somehow sat on an ant hill or something and I had the pleasure of picking like 50 of them off her and her clothes. She was obviously super calm as this was happening. I might not have been as calm as a cucumber either...

We ended the morning with a stop at my friend from CTY's house. He was my first ever site director when I worked for the program, and a chemistry teacher, albeit know retired. He now works for me as an academic dean which is awesome. He is spending his 48 weeks a year retirement growing 80 ginormous tomato plants so we went over to grab a few. In true fashion, he handed me a page-protected sheet explaining the various types of tomatoes in his yard. He also sent us home with a very cool patriotic bird feeder that the kids are so excited about.


Today, Noelle and I made two batches of blueberry scones and I just finished a batch of lemon blueberry muffins. We also have already had grilled cheese with tomatoes and tomato and basil salad. Yum! We'll be back to pick apples this fall!

July Check In

This is the time of year I really getting bogged down and the blog goes to the major back burner. All is pretty good here. Work is busy. Our family is busy. Nothing really new there! Since the weekend of the 4th we have been busy with jobs, birthday parties, time with friends, and eating ice cream! We still haven't had Maryland crabs but I am optimistic that will be soon!

One of my CTY programs finished up last week and the other started its second session over the weekend. That meant the kids and B had some quality time at the B&O Museum, as well as some major playtime and hiking fun. We have spent lots of time at the pool when our schedules allow and Noelle finished up her first set of swimming lessons. I hit 300 miles run for the year but then succumbed to the plantar fasciitis that has been nagging at my foot for weeks. I hate not being able to run, and since this is my second injury of the year, I have big plans for how to do things differently after I am fully recovered. Thankfully both injuries have just resulted in rest needed and stretching exercises and nothing serious but I am learning I need to be more kind to my mid-30's body.

I am looking forward to a little down time later this week. Friday I have off from physically reporting to work and the kids and I are supposed to go berry picking in the morning. The weather looks great for a late afternoon/early evenings at the pool as well. This weekend we have brunch with friends Sunday morning but things are otherwise looking good for simply relaxing.

Here are my cuties on their Saturday field trip with Daddy. I was happy to hear they were well behaved for the weekend excitement!

My Fishies!

Noelle is taking her first ever set of swim lessons right now. Pool membership in our area is expensive, but at least it comes with super cheap lessons! Noelle has thirty minutes for 6 evenings over two weeks. I signed her up for level one out of necessity (level two was full!) and within 1 minute of the first lesson they moved her up to level two which made me happier. Now she is in a group that is a good fit as they practice strokes, back floating, kicking, and even try a little breathing. Honestly the lessons themselves aren't the best but Noelle loves the opportunity to go in the deep pool to do the diving board, water slide, or try diving each time. She also has gotten a bit better with her stroke. She does better working with B on their own generally because there are less distractions but the lessons are definitely good for her confidence if nothing else!

Here is my big girl at her first attempt diving:

And her swimming with her daddy today:

Kellen is also doing great with his swimming. He is still confined to the baby pool (bud, you can use the potty every time any time now!) but has no fear. He jumps off the side and dunks his face in all day long. Here is my little guy in action:

I think both my little people will be swimming like crazy by the end of the summer!

Friday the 4th

This year the 4th was on a Friday. That meant I actually got a four-day weekend since I had some time to take off of work, and the whole family got to spend three whole days of gorgeous weather fun together. As we now are pretty much Catonsville townies, we repeated the tradition we started in 2013 for the 4th. Parade at 3, BBQ with friends after, and firework viewing by the community college. Bryan and his dad friends got our seats all saved and set up weeks ago it seems, and we again had an awesome viewing spot. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we didn't even need our shady seats which was crazy for this time of year, but we had plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the fun with friends.

After the parade we headed home and enjoyed food and friends. This was the only family shot we got that day - Kellen is looking for a balloon in the sky and the light isn't great but we are smiling. And I think all four of us are wearing the exact same thing as last year. With the exception of Noelle who is way taller, we all are the same size which is good I guess for at least me and Bryan! Kellen, grow son, grow!

Kellen didn't really nap and actually wanted to go to bed on time that evening so Noelle and I hit our friends' house for popsicles, flag snacks, and beverages and then walked/rode in the wagon to our firework spot. There were some technical difficulties with the fireworks this year with high altitude winds (I am blaming Hurricane Arthur off the shore) which meant the show was a little touch and go and cut short but it was still a great display. Noelle didn't quite make the end and fell asleep to what she described as the peaceful sounds of booming fireworks. I put her back in the wagon and pulled her home. She then rested on the couch as we waited for traffic to clear out to head home.

Can you believe we needed long pants and jackets on July 4th? Crazy!

I am hoping all four of us will finally be able to celebrate the whole day in 2015 once Kel has another year under his belt, but it was still a fabulous fourth. And an awesome start to the long weekend!

Waterfall Fun

Since we started hiking all the time with the kids, they have often begged to play in the waterfall. Last weekend their dream came true.We met up with our friends Angie and Eric and their two boys and hiked down the trail near our house, over the swinging bridge, and up to the waterfall. I came prepared with towels, a daughter in her swimsuit, and a change of clothes for Kellen. The kids played for about thirty minutes in the water (which was actually pretty darn cold) before stopping to eat lunch. We then hiked a bit more before heading home for Kel's nap. I am pretty sure the kids will be begging to go back here again soon, and I know that they are dying to go in the river the swinging bridge crosses over as well.

Our New Backyard

When we moved in to the house four years ago, it was listed much lower than the comps in the neighborhood, and for good reason. The house was pretty much a mess, and besides the decks that had been built years ago, updates weren't in the previous owners budget or vocabulary. We loved the location and the low price let us swing a dream neighborhood so slowly we have been making the house the one we want to live in for years to come. In previous years we worked on an updated first floor bathroom and a finished basement. Of course there are many projects still on the docket - the whole first floor renovation being the big one - but those take time and money. This years big project was the backyard. We had steps built from the front of the house down the steep backyard, a patio put in to connect the steps and decks, garden boxes built in to the side of the house for future years of fresh vegetables, and a fence put in to make the yard more private and safe for the kids and Maddie. Everything got finished this morning (yes, they came to finish on a major holiday since the storms stopped them early yesterday!) and I absolutely love the work that was done!

It is hard to get good pictures that show a lot of the work at once because of angles, but here is a compilation to show everyone the new set up:

 

 

I am so excited for future parties back here. In fact, I am having a hard time not inviting friends over for an impromptu girls' night tomorrow...