I love Summer!

Summer is my FAVORITE time of year! I love warm weather and hate the cold. Even with having a newborn we have found some fun things to do. I have really appreciated being able to get out even if I can't do much.

We took the boys out to the lake for a dinner cruise and swim. Neither one of them were big on the idea of jumping in off the boat. But eventually they warmed up and loved it.
Blake and I hiked the waterfall here by our house. I ended up taking the young women for our activity. Not a good idea 5 weeks post C-Section. I paid for this one!

Blake LOVES this hike to the waterfall. I love taking him because he gets so excited!

Luke loves to swim. He thought he would try out the snorkel this time.

There's nothing better then food, sun, and water!

I wish summer would last forever!

Swim Lessons

I have to say we were all sad to see swimming lessons end. I bet Austin was happy to not have to sit in 95 degrees for 30 min. The boys loved it! I could not believe how much the boys improved just in the 2 weeks! Luke loved his teachers and would do anything they asked him to do and then would do it 2 or 3 times in a row...kind of a lesson hog.

I was not sure how lessons would go (having a 4 week old was not going to help). Luke really wanted to take them, but Blake was not big on the idea. I kind of forced him to do them, but with love. After the first day they both could not wait to go again. Blake always complained that they were not long enough. I think we might sign up for another session next week!

Luke with his swim class Luke getting ready to do his back float

Blake & his kick board skills

Blake mastering his arm strokes

Money Saving Fools

For a while now it has bothered me how much we pay for the basic "necessities" like our TV, Internet, home phone. Things that I have wanted to cancel or go without, but we enjoy them way to much. I hate when it comes time to pay our bills and I see all our money disappear. So I decided that I would make some phone calls to see if there was a way we could save money on these things.
To my surprise these companies were more then willing to give us a discount. All I had to do is ask for it! We did not have to change any of our services or down grade on the options we were already enjoying.

Here's the wrap up:

SAVINGS

• Home phone $10 a month
• Customer loyalty credit for 3 months $30
• TV $10 a month
• Internet $17 a month

We were also able to refinance on the car loan we have to save us another $50 a month.

Total Savings $117.00 a month!

Wahoo!!! I love keeping the money in my pocket.

He's A Runt!

The little man is now 2 weeks old and is now a whopping 7lbs 2oz! We barely made it to the 10% on the charts. They must have measured him wrong at the hospital because he is 21 1/2". I doubt he grew 3" in 2 weeks. This little guys is so skinny that his skin just kind of hangs on him. I told Chad that his skin is one size too big!

Austin is such a good baby and the boys love him. Blake cant seem to get enough and wants to be involved in everything. He even wants to change diapers. Luke just swings by him to rub his head and tell him he loves him. Luke only wants to hold him if he can burp him. We are all loving our little runt.

Baby Austin

7lbs 1 oz

18 1/2"

Baby Austin made his arrival on June 21! It was a bit of a rough start. He spent our whole hospital stay in the NICU. A few breathing and blood sugar issues but nothing too serious. We were excited to find out that he was going to be able to come home with us. Something we didn't think was going to happen for a few more days.

Happy Birthday Luke!

My little man is now 3!! Although he is still insisting that he is 2. Luke has been so fun and keeps us on our toes, we never know what we are going to get with him. He is either making us laugh or testing our limits. He is sweet and sassy! He is very social and everyone is his friend! We love him and the fun he brings to our family.

We had a little party for him on Friday night. For months now he has had his Birthday Party all planned out. All he wanted to do was have a surprise party at "Chubby Cheeses" and have all of his friends come and yell surprise!! Well, he didn't get exactly what he asked for, but we did take the boys to Chuck E Cheese for dinner, then home to celebrate with cake and ice cream with our families. As always, he got way too many presents and was in heaven.

Library Day

I love Fridays for more reasons than one. But lately why I love Fridays is that it's Library day for Blake's class. I love to see what books he has picked to bring home for the week. You never know what he is going to bring home. It usually has something to do with animals, bugs, or motorcycles and cars. These are all fact books--no fiction for this kid.

Last week he did bring home a TEXT BOOK about Weather and Climate--it was even published by Prentice-Hall. He looked at it every morning during breakfast. Not too out of the norm, he usually "reads" the weather page out of the newspaper with his breakfast. Chad and I got a good laugh with that one.

But this week he brought home this beauty!!
And could not wait for Chad or I to read it to him. This was pretty much an information book for someone who has lice!! (must have been pre-internet) It covers everything from how and where they lay eggs. To how to treat your lice problem, what special shampoos and combs to use, whatever you need to cure your lice in more areas than one. I got to about page two and could not stop itching!! We quickly finished the book, I put it back in his backpack, and told him he had to return it first thing on Monday. I don't know why, but I felt like we were going to get lice just from having the book in our house.

Why can't he bring home books like: The Diary of a Worm, or If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? These still have to do with animals. Apparently someone needs to show him that there are other sections of the library.

I cant wait to see what he brings home today.