Weekend adventures

We were so excited to have AJ and Brittany in town for the weekend (8/10-14)! We packed in the fun in the days they were here. On Thursday we swam and played at Gigi's (pics in the last post).

Friday: Bike ride and playing at the park (for about 7 minutes because it was SO HOT), Millie fell in the pool, then we all got in, rested and watched movies, dinner at Chuy's, and games late into the night.

Saturday: Max had a rough day, my bad for keeping him up so late the night before. We visited with Nana, Brittany taught us some yoga, we swam right after because we were all so sweaty, let the babies nap, went to a trampoline park, and Willie's for dinner. Learned our lesson and took the kids home after dinner for an early bedtime!

This was the scene of one of Max's meltdowns. Poor guy couldn't go too far without me so the kids area (no parents allowed) was a no go.

She said "Millie's, Willie's!" several times when we got there.

Max fell asleep in the car on the way to dinner and slept until the next morning! So he slept through dinner at a loud restaurant, transfer to the car, and transfer from the car to bed. Pretty epic.

Sunday: Dinner and visiting after church, AJ and Brittany taught the kids some yoga moves, more games. Games are the best!

On Monday AJ and Brittany visited us for a bit. After that, everyone was so sweet to come watch Millie's gymnastics class. 

Such a fun weekend with family!

10 on 10: August 2017

1 & 2. Funny places/positions I find poor Harvey in

3. Max drawing a picture for Uncle AJ (it's him and Uncle AJ and the sun)

4. Millie and Max had their teeth cleaned. They both did great!

5. Poor Max was a little nervous and had his hands like this for the whole cleaning.

6. So many prizes make the dentist seem fun!

7. Even Harvey got a balloon

8. Finally got to see Uncle AJ and meet Brittany! Millie immediately started calling her "Aunt Brittany" haha

9. Thanks to AJ and Brittany for wearing the kids out! They jumped off the hot tub catching balls so many times. It was awesome.

10. Why are babies attracted to such tight spaces??

Little things

Harvey just wanted to be part of the action at Target one day and found a super safe way to do it.

Millie literally said "I'll never let go!" when I told her to turn around. She didn't understand why I was laughing so hard and taking her picture.

Had to document probably my best Max haircut thus far. Sometimes I want to go to hair school so it's not such a hit-or-miss thing.

Millie and Max love to talk to Alexa and add all kinds of crazy things to my shopping list. And for the record, Max told her to add "bear" to the shopping list, not beer. Max and Alexa don't always have crystal clear communication haha.

Millie got dressed one morning and then asked if I'd match her and wear "a tie-dye shirt and jiggly pants." I was a little offended by the term "jiggly pants," but then I learned that she's referring to the bottom of the pants (slightly flared instead of tight leggings) and that they move. That better be what she meant. Anyway, I will match her as long as she'll let me. 

Harvey had his mouth on the (super-clean) oven door, trying to get to the zucchini bread. It did smell amazing.

Max loves playing with the action figures at Gigi's and Poppy's house lately.

Our kids are so lucky to have close relationships with all of their grandparents. We were hanging out with Gigi and Poppy one Saturday while Tyler was working and Millie and Max just hung all over Poppy! Literally!

Some Sunday doodles from Millie. She says it's the gold plates.

Coloring with Aunt Sarah. 

Every time we see the car shopping carts at a store the kids think there must be a 3-seater somewhere. Until we find it, we improvise.

"Look Mom, I made my bed all by myself!"

Take Your Kids to Work Day

We were so excited to go to work with Dad! He was maybe going to have to stay for a meeting so Harvey and I tagged along in case we needed to bring the big kids home. I must say, Harvey looks pretty good in business casual!

We had to park a few blocks away, but we enjoyed feeling like real city-slickers!

Tyler's building is the tallest in Houston. I'm not necessarily afraid of heights, but looking down from up there makes me dizzy every time!

The theme this year was NASA. Obligatory photo booth picture with props.

Millie was most excited for face painting. She's very into rainbows and made sure the woman painting her face put the colors in the right order.

Didn't stay at the office for too long, actually. It was super crowded and once we had done a few things and the kids were ready to go, we checked out Dad's desk and rode the escalators a couple more times.

We decided while we were there and since we had time we'd show the kids the tunnels downtown. Several of the big downtown buildings are connected by underground tunnels and there's restaurants and stores down there too. Millie said she thought we'd be going into a dirt tunnel and was pleasantly surprised. Max was very into his balloon sword.

Also had to do the revolving door thing a few times

Worn out by 11:30am on our way home!

That day also happened to be National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. If there's anything I don't miss, it's an opportunity to justify making cookies.

Screenshots

Sometimes I take screenshots of things that inspire me. Not really sure why I do that because I typically don't do anything with them, so I'd like to start. These are some things that have caught my attention lately.

I follow @simplyonpurpose on Instagram and have loved her parenting advice. She did a no-yell challenge recently and while I don't think I made it very far on that, I loved her focus on it and tools to help.

Above: she talked about focusing on the good things our children are doing instead of the negative. She also talked about ignoring "junk behaviors," or the things that are typical for their age and not harmful to anyone, but maybe just bothersome. Focusing on and praising the good (sometimes pointedly in front of a child doing the opposite) will fix the negative behaviors a lot of the time! Just something I wanted to remember.

And then I loved the quote in the middle of this:

Makes me want to master something seemingly impossible. Anyway, just some good thoughts I didn't want to slip away.