Riley's new friend. Andrea???

Phillip and Andrew came to our house for a playdate the other day and Andrew wanted to put on one of Riley's barbie dresses. At first Riley DID NOT want to share her dress with a boy but then she seemed excited to have another person to play dress up with.

At least he was still playing with some trains.

I hope Jen doesn't get mad at me for putting this picture up, if she does "I guess" I'll take it down.

Alex's real birthday!

Monday was Alex's actually birthday and Ian's last day home before leaving for Japan for a month so we decided to spend the day at the pool at Frank Brown park. The kids really love it there and they have a kiddie pool that is set up like the beach with a shore and only gets about three feet deep so its easier to let them swim around since they can reach everywhere. On all the hot days we have been having its much more refreshing to go there than to go the beach. Of course the beach is free!

Alex loves to jump into the water. He's becoming quiet the swimmer.

A couple months ago when we were here for a birthday party, Riley went over to where the big slide is and jumped into the water where it in 4 feet deep!. The lifeguard had to jump in a pull her out. Needless to say, she's been a little less daring since then , at least in the pool.

Evan had fun in the pool too but I think he was just as happy sitting on my sisters friends lap and playing with these sunglasses.

Watermelon Time!!

It just wouldn't be summer without some nice cold watermelon. Last Saturday we went to our friend, Madison's , first birthday party. The kids swam and ate their weight in watermelon, especially Evan.

Evan kept trying to eat the green part (sorry, my brain is not working so I can't remember the actually name). Yucky!!

Happy 4th of July!!

This year we went to the navy base where Ian works for their fourth of July celebration (even though is was actually on July 3rd) and had a blast. Everything was free which is always a good thing and the fire work show was amazing. The kids both got their face painted for the first time which was a big hit and they had a lot of fun jumping in all the different bounce houses that were set up.

Evan was upset that he couldn't get his face painted too!!

Alex loved getting his picture taken in the big red chair especially since he got to hold this guitar. Riley's in the picture too but you can't really see her since she's hiding in the shadows.

Riley got her face painted like a "princess" and Alex was "batman".

We waded in the water a little bit while we waited for the fireworks to start. Of course Riley was dancing around for everyone!

Here's Riley trying to take off her dress. Shocking, I know!!!

They had this little swing ride there and daddy was nice enough to take them on it a few times.

This is my hubby and kids just waiting for the firework show to start.

Evan eats Mexican!!

We were eating tacos and faijitas the other night for dinner ( I couldn't decided which one I wanted so I made both) and I had Evan in the high chair next to me at the dinner table. Everytime I took a bite he stared at me wided eyed with his mouth open and literally had drool coming from his mouth. When we started laughing he started screaming " Mama!". By the sound of him you would have thought he had never eaten. Finally I gave in and let him have some plain rice and black beans. I actually just put in on his tray b/c I thought that it would make him feel like he was eating "real food" but at the same time I knew most of it would end up on the floor or on him so I wasn't worried about him eating too much grown up food. He was as happy as could be and loved making a mess.

Alex turns 4!!!!

I'm actually teary eyed as I write this blog. My first baby is now 4!!! I can't believe how fast time flies by. I know that everyone always tells you that but it always seems to be on those days that you feel will NEVER end.

We decided to have Alex's party at a nearby park this year and of course the theme was buzz lightyear. The party was set to start at 10:30 in the morning and of course it being Florida, at 9:30 the skies turned black and it started to rain. I started calling everyone to let them know that plan B for the party would be to have everyone come to our house. So I quickly started cleaning up and trying to think of games that we could play with 17 kids inside and was freaking out a little bit. But at 10:20 my weatherman husband said that we should just go to the park b/c the storm was moving quickly away from us and that the weather would be fine. I was very skeptical but decided to have faith and so we went to the park and began to set up. We got there at the same time as all the guest but that worked out for me b/c I had so many extra hands to help me set up. All in all, it was a great time. The weather turned out to be perfect and all the kids had a blast.

We had a kiddie pool,

a slip~n~slide,

a whale pool with slide,

and bounce house!

Rather than spreading out, the kids did each activity together. It was so funny seeing a dozen and a half kids in a little pool or all taking turns on the slip n slide

We ate hamburgers and hot dogs!

And had juice and chips.

Then had cake!!

Alex loved the buzz lightyear cake that I made for him and was adamant that he get one of the wings.

Even the adults had a fun time!!

Buzz One and Buzz Two!

Many of you know how much Alex loves Buzz Lightyear. For his pre-3 graduation present (yes, I know, Ian as already told me that I'm crazy) we got him a new, "fancy" buzz lightyear costume.

One day while Alex was at VBS, Riley found his old buzz lightyear costume and put it on. I was cleaning the floors at the time so when she came into the kitchen I saw her out of the corner of my eye and wasn't really paying attention and starting saying "Alex, don't come in here b/c the floors are still wet." Of course this made Riley giggle and I realized that it wasn't Alex , it was Riley disguised as Alex. Now when she wants to play "pretend Alex" she puts that costume on. If you ask her if she's Buzz she says, "No, I'm Alex!"

Here's Riley the first time she put on the costume.

Here are my two Buzz's!