July 30

We hit the pool this afternoon for a few hours. Riley's been having a tough time getting adjusted to his swim class, so I wanted him to try out some of the things they're asking him to do with us before his class on Tuesday. He did great! They wear noodles during his swim class, so we got him one for him to wear in the pool this afternoon. He's very excited to go to class on Tuesday and show off some of his skills!

Snack time...

Using his noodle and doing the monkey walk:

Scooting around the pool!

And in big, exciting patio news... IT'S DONE!! The sand was put in between the stones today and we just have to wait two days until it sets up and then we have our patio back! We're already planning to have burgers on the grill the first night it's back in action!

July 29

Pretty average day for us... trip to the gym in the morning so I could run, lots of playing and dinner out with Abe. I took a quick video today of Jonah walking - he's just the cutest!

July 28

I realized while driving to Book Club last night that I didn't take pictures today - hate when that happens! But I do have a few updates:

Jonah had his first physical and speech therapy appointments this week. Even though he started walking since his eval, we're still going to continue PT every other week because he could still use work on his balance.

Jonah liked both of his therapists, but he was over the moon for his speech therapist. She just had him in stitches laughing, and had him saying "more" within a few minutes of being at our house! She gave us some things to work on during the week, and I'm hopeful that he'll be talking our ear off in no time.

We decided to head to Wisconsin in September for the annual Wo-Zha-Wa Festival, and this week I registered for the 4-mile run on Saturday morning of that weekend. This will be my first race since the beginning of June, but I'm also training for a 10K in November so it will fit in to that plan nicely!

July 27

This morning we hosted an outdoor playdate and the weather was just downright delightful! We set up our splash pool, the water table, and our new sprinkler ball and put out a bucket of bubbles and everyone had a great time.

July 26

After dinner today we took advantage of a nice evening and played outside for a little bit.

Abe's garden is coming along nicely... we've already picked a TON of cucumbers (which I will be pickling and canning for the first time!), and there are more goodies to come like...

... pumpkins...

... tomatoes...

 
and beans!

July 25

This morning we hosted a playground outing for our playgroup... it was a "cool" morning (you know, only in the low 80's!) and the kids all had a great time!

July 24

Tonight we had dinner at Nanny & Poppop's house - Jonah was more than happy to walk around checking out the toys tonight!

He signaled us that it was time for dinner by walking over to his chair and trying to get in!

That lump in the blanket is Riley...

July 23

Hot, hot, hot!! It's our third 100 degree day in a row, but this afternoon we attended little Grady's second birthday party! Grady's parents Kim and Dave are friends of mine from Ursinus, and it's always fun for our families to get together. The party was in a park near their home, and Kim covered the tables with butcher paper and had crayons & markers out for the kids to draw on them... so smart!

Baby's first ring bologna!

July 22

Today was our second 100 degree day in a row, so we decided to beat the heat by hitting the Please Touch Museum! We met up with my friend Kim and her three boys and had a great time! Lots of other families had the same idea that we did, so the PTM was a bit more crowded than we were used to.

Car repair time!

Jonah was more than excited to get out of the stroller and enjoy the action.

Playing some music...

Jonah chilling with his buddy Quinn:

Grocery shopping (if only he was this focused and helpful in the real grocery store!)

Train time!

July 21

Tonight I helped at VBS again - I taught the pre-teen class for the evening. Luckily Abe was home from his trip so I could leave Jonah with him and he could get to bed on time for the first time all week!

Riley's preschool class:

Working on another craft project - he loves to color and use stickers!

July 20

This morning we went to an outdoor playdate at my friend Emma's house. Emma had lots of water toys out for the kids to beat the heat!

Emma has this cool motorized car for the kids to ride in... I wouldn't let Riley drive, but his pal Eli gave him a lift!
 

Jonah stopped for a snack with his pal Arthur.

 Riley working on his craft project at VBS:

I helped with snack tonight, and Jonah was more than happy to be our taste-tester!

July 19

Riley started Vacation Bible School this week. I had run VBS at our church for the past 6 years, but decided to not run the program this year because I knew the boys were going to be a lot to handle on their own and I really just wanted to focus on them and enjoying our summer. I am helping a few nights this week - tomorrow night I'm helping with snack and then I'm leading one of the classes on Thursday night.

I don't have pictures from today, but I do have a video that I took a few weeks ago of the boys playing in the driveway one afternoon.

July 18

Up until today, Jonah had only been taking about 2 - 3 steps per day. He'd do them on the sly, when he thought no one else was watching, and when he didn't really realize he was doing it either. Today, however, he decided to walk a LOT more! I swear that today he was walking almost as much as he was crawling. I was completely amazed!

Jonah would take a few steps...

...lose his balance...

.... and get back up and keep going!

Riley had school today - I left him in the living room watching a show while Jonah was napping and I was putting laundry away, and I came downstairs to find this!

July 16

We've been talking about getting a mini van for a long time - during the week we test drove a few, and Abe found one that fit all of our needs and our budget online last night! It was on the lot at Brown-Daub Chrysler, so we headed up there late this morning to check it out. We ended up being there for a few hours, so we had to be a little creative with entertaining the boys!

Jonah crawled under all of the benches...

Riley ran around with these huge balloons for a while...

And then Abe had the genius idea to put them in the bed of the truck on the showroom floor!

And here's our new addition - a 2011 Chrysler Town & Country!