Rice Cereal.....we'll try again later!

Yes, Carson turned 5 months old on Saturday and we tried a little rice cereal!  We'll get to that in a second.  But first, a little drama for you.  Friday night at 7:30, the power went out from a storm that lasted, MAYBE AT BEST, 3 minutes.  No joke!  There was serious wind though that caused a tree to crack in half, falling on our power line.  I thought the power would come right back on (not knowing what had happened) and it didn't....and didn't....and didn't....for 20 hours.  Of course, Saturday was the hottest day of the year so far and we couldn't go to the pool because THEY were out of power too!  Not to mention, I was home alone with the boys all day because Ryan went golfing with our neighbor.  I thought I was going to DIE!  Seriously - started seeing stars I was so hot.  Just as I heard it was going to be Wednesday before the power was going to come back on, I took the boys to our basement and just as I was about to start crying - the power came back on.  I thought I was dreaming, halucinating, dying - whatever.  But it was true - the AC was on and my life could continue.  (Can you tell I was a little dramatic at that moment?).  Ryan came home about 30 minutes later from golfing to a nice cold house.  Happy Father's Day!

Here's Ryan goofing off in the dark with Carson's bumbo chair.  Michael thought this was hysterical:

Ok, onto sweet little Carson and his first food!  Well, if you call Rice Cereal food.  Smells kinda gross to me but whatever.  He was not very certain about what was going on...

...and here's what he though about that cereal.

Let's try again:

Ok, so he's still not a lover of the stuff.  I wouldn't be either!

We'll try again today.  He has no idea about the world of food that awaits him after milk!!

Too much fun....

We've had so much fun lately, with Carson (who's at the CUTEST stage!!!) and with all our awesome neighbors who love to play with Michael in the afternoons.  But, we'll start at the very beginning.  Here's the first photo of both of the boys smiling!  Woo-Hoo!  Michael loves his baby Carson.

Michael has been taking the liberty of teaching Carson various things.  Here, he's telling him all about his scary dinosaur.  What you don't know is after this picture, he told Carson that they go "ROAR!!!!!" (in his loudest voice and right in his face) and of course, Carson started screaming.

How cute is this baby?  He's constantly talk/screaming which is so cute, and smiling, and AHHH, I could just eat him up!

Michael's new thing is to run down the slide.  Thanks to the older neighbors for teaching him that one.  I'm sure a visit to the ER is in our future for a broken arm!

We went to a carnival in our little downtown and my camera battery died after this one and only picture.  Michael had a blast riding all of the roller coasters. 

Carson and Zoe today in their Cubs outfits.

Water was the theme of the afternoon apparently.  It finally made it into the upper 70's so we were SWEATING!  

One of the kids thought it would be fun to turn on the sprinkler and it was definitely that - FUN.  The kids were SOAKING wet and had so much fun.  

This might be one of the best pictures I've ever taken.  If you double click the picture, it will enlarge and you can see how happy all of these kids are.  This is only a small few of the neighborhood clan but they're all such great friends....and we're so blessed that they all love our little Michael.  We're so lucky.

A Campfire in June!?!?!

Yes, it is June but it was cold yesterday!  We were in sweats all day - except for Ryan because his sitting body temperature is something like 8000 degrees so he was loving it.  We spent all day outside, playing with the neighbors and after dinner, decided to light up the fire pit.  It started off more like a smoke pit.

We had a little dinner picnic out on the back deck
Then, in cold weather fashion, roasted up some yummy s'mores.  I think it might be my all time favorite dessert.  Notice Ryan in shorts and a t-shirt and it's 55 degrees outside!  Oh, and I should note, Michael is still in his pajamas from his nap.  He never put his regular clothes back on.  It's not like we let him walk around in bright red, plaid pants all the time!

Roasting up the marshmellows........
Perfection!  I mean seriously - it's so stinkin good.

Needless to say, Michael ate the whole thing.  He loved it.  

Now, bring on the heat and sunshine please!!!

  

We have BIG news!!!!

NO, we're not pregnant again, and NO we're not moving back to Texas.  Big news as in size, large structurally.  Every afternoon, there are about 9-15 neighborhood kids that congregate in my neighbors backyard and play on their "playground".  Their kids are in high school and college and I've always felt bad that everyone invades their backyard.  Here's a picture of the rickety old thing.  Michael has fallen through the bridge twice now, with scars to prove it.

So, we bit the bullet and bought a "playground" for Michael (and eventually Carson) in an effort to move that party into our backyard!  There were a million pieces of wood and it was the LAST thing Ryan was going to put together.  We called "Rent a Husband" and sweet Brian came to our rescue.  Here he is getting going Saturday morning.  
By the time he finished, 10 hours later, on Saturday this is what it looked like.  Clearly, still not done.
On Sunday, Brian was SUPPOSED to come back and finish but apparently had too much to drink Saturday night and "called in sick".  ha!  So, we had fun on it anyway in the mean time.

Best picture to date of my three boys....

Carson is making this face all the time lately - the tongue is ALWAYS out and he's VERY VERY VERY loud!  Lot's of talking.

So, Brian came back today and worked a TOTAL of 18 hours putting this thing together.  He wasn't even finished cleaning up before the neighborhood clan came over.

We played outside all night and it was time to come in and get ready for bed.  Somebody was a little upset:

Now to back track through the week a little bit.  Carson is so cute when he's about to go to sleep with his pacifier and lovey....had to take a pic. 
I took the boys to a precious zoo in Wheaton earlier this week and Michael fed the ducks....pellet by ever lovin' pellet.  It took a while!

Whenever Ryan mows......Michael isn't far behind.  Every weekend this happens and it makes me laugh every time:

Carson didn't seem to be as into it as Michael:

About a week ago, Michael threw the tantrum of the century because I wouldn't let him watch TV.  He cried for so long, and so hard that I just ate lunch while he calmed down on the couch.  After a while, I asked him if he was ready to eat and I didn't get an answer.  Hmmmmm.  I turned the corner and this is what I found.  Guess I won that battle!  ha!