L'Artiste

I am the absolute worst artist, yet I repeatedly go out for painting nights.  I don't know why, except that this time the painting was perfect for the nursery.  I customized it so that the colors and leaves matched those on the nursery wall, and the pattern on the owl's chest went with the carpet.

Tub Time

Our younger boy is sitting up so well that he can use the "big boy" side of his tub!  Here he is with his only bath toys, a set of three hard plastic boats that he got as a party favor from Lily Brocious.

A Great Friend

On 4 August, we lost the Kelly family dog, Boxer.  He was a great friend for many years and all of Gabriel's years, and we are so grateful for his companionship.

First Slide

We took Ols for his first trip down a slide on 2 August at Jump For Joey.  The slide was not very slick, so it wasn't exactly a thrill ride, but he seemed interested if not excited.  We tried a different slide next, but it wasn't much faster and we didn't get much of a reaction.  At least we know he isn't afraid of slides!

Movie Buff

We have taken Ollie to two movies, both in the past month.  The first was Ice Age:  Continental Drift on 30 July with Lisa, Christopher, and Lily.  The other was Diary of a Wimpy Kid:  Dog Days on 6 August with Danielle, Lily, and Quincy, and a whole bunch of their friends.  He did great in both movies, and it is great to know that we have more entertainment options.  

A Party For Spinjitsu Master G

We have had G's birthday parties at the gymnastics place for the last three years, so we decided to go back to the old-fashioned at-home birthday party this year.  Since the kids just want to run around and play, we invited a bunch of G's closest friends and turned them loose.  The Brociouses were kind enough to lend us their awesome water slide, and Bun and Papa brought over a pool, so they spent most of the time outside.  It took us a while to realize that we had the air plugs for the pool, so that didn't get put up until most of the kids had left, but a few of them got to use it.  We think that the simple party worked great this year, because everyone seemed to have a blast.

Afterwards, a few friends stayed over for game night, which went late into the night.  It was a long, fun day.  Here are some photos:

This happy birthday boy had a Ninjago theme for his party.

Bumblebee Bakery did a perfect job with the cake!

G and his best bud, Christopher.

This is the water slide we borrowed.

This Lego set was a hit with all the kids.