Summer Part Uno

We have been enjoying ALL of what summer has to offer around here.  I've vowed to let go of rigid nap schedules, let the kids run and be dirty and say yes to lots of popsicles and ice cream.  I started this blog post awhile ago, but today is August 5th and sadly I can feel summer slipping away from us faster than I wish it would.  I love that we live in a place where we have seasons and truthfully, fall is my favorite but summer is a close 2nd place.  There are only so many weeks of splash parks and pools and hot evenings outside and cookouts and sweet corn and ripe watermelon... so we are taking full advantage while we can.

We enjoyed a BBQ with our community group to kick off the summer back in early June.  We are so thankful for a group of faithful 

believers and so many kids for our kids to run around with.

SOOOOO many rides home end this way and it is amazing.  He transfers nearly flawlessly to his bed and sleeps long and hard after a morning outside!

We were fortunate enough to win a summer pool pass from our awesome pediatric dentist through a Facebook contest and we have tried to take advantage of that as often as I feel up for the challenge.  And a challenge it is.  Swim suits, sunscreen, swim diapers, puddle jumpers x2, dry clothes x3, towels x3, picnic lunch or snacks x3, pool toys, etc. etc.  

But each time has been SO fun and SO worth it and I love watching my kids getting more and more comfortable in the water.

Tiegan equally loves our pool and splash park days!

Lainey doesn't transfer quite as flawlessly but every once in awhile Mom has the touch and I'm able to plop her on the couch for a quick snooze.

We have hit a few garage sales this summer too.  I usually let my kids either choose 1 book or spend $1.  This Mack truck from Cars was probably the best buy I've found so far this summer.  It comes out every day.  Lightning McQueen is huge over here.

When we added one more baby to the family, we started implementing the "divide and conquer" strategy a lot more.  I love observing the unique relationships each kiddo has with another.  They are precious all 3 together but it's fun to watch Wyatt own the big brother role a lot more when Lainey is gone.

Summer mornings should look like this!

I'm thinking we are nearing the end of Lainey napping every day.  She almost always will when we structure our day that way but many days she can go without and I let her and she is just fine.  Makes me both slightly sad but also excited to have a little extra time with just her in the afternoons.

Tiegan has gotten so good at sitting up and can do the bathtub with the big kids now!

This is how our Target trips look sometimes.  Yes, I know about the giant 2 seater carts and we use those frequently too but L loves to ride under there and if she's under there then she's not seeing the merchandise,  And if she's not seeing the merchandise, she's not asking for it.  See what I'm getting at here?

T learned to sit up early this summer and has officially entered my all time favorite baby stage.  Sitting and playing but NOT moving.  As long as she has a few toys within reach, she's happy as a clam for quite some time.

We have played a lot this summer with our neighbor and both kids just adore her.  The girls love to play pretend and dream up funny scenarios and Wyatt just runs behind and plays along and begs to ride in her giant battery powered pink truck.

Lainey had a fabulous time at the Arts Festival this year and hit all of the kids craft tents.  I hope some day she appreciates what an awesome place Des Moines is and all of the fun opportunities we have near by!

Lainey and her besties, the three musketeers who have been friends since before they were born!

After the all congregation service, Celebration Sunday, there were kids games and face painting - L LOVES getting her face painted but this was Wyatt's first time and he was so stinkin adorable and proud!

After reviewing all of these pictures, which only represent a small, small part of our summer so far I"m definitely leaning towards not wanting summer to ever end!!!!

Part II to come!

The Last Hurrah

We spent many, many glorious mornings at the splash park this summer.  If it's hot and sunny, my ideal spot is near the water.  Most of these pictures look pretty similar but I thought since we spent at least one morning a week at a splash park, I better devote a whole blog post to it as an ode to our summer.  It wasn't an overly hot summer but we managed to still get there pretty often.

Lainey love love LOVES the water.  Wyatt... not so much.  Many mornings I'd spend more time following around a wandering Wyatt, or appeasing him with another snack.  Sometimes he'd play in the water and be content, but not too often.  You might think this would hinder me from taking them, but no.  Summer is too short to not enjoy some water play time!

We planned one final splash park outing for a forecasted 90 degree sunny day in early September.  It did not disappoint.  It might be my favorite splash park day of the summer.

This happened.  Which was hilarious and reminiscent of the Wyatt we knew last summer.  I was actually a little concerned this particular morning because Wy woke up earlier than normal (and by that I mean before 8) and I wasn't sure he'd last very long, especially since he doesn't have a lot of patience for the splash park to begin with.  But low and behold, I pulled in the parking lot, parked, unloaded the stroller and all of our junk, then Lainey and went to get Wyatt and he was asleep!  He miraculously transferred from car seat to stroller and proceeded to take a good 30-40 minute nap.  This meant we lasted a lot longer than I anticipated which was great!

We enjoyed the company of many friends and familiar faces (even our dentist!) and had a great time.  But now, it's truly time to retire the swim suits (since my belly no longer fits in to mine anyway!) and pack away the sunscreen and water squirters.  Thankful that I was able to enjoy so many summer mornings at the splash park with my kids and our friends.

Until next summer!

July Whereabouts

July was all about being outside for the Johnsons.  In fact, there are only a few pictures of the indoors included in this post (and they were for a good reason!).

We haven't had a long stretch of really hot weather here in Iowa yet, just 2 days at the most.  Maybe that's coming our way in August, we'll see.  There were even many COOLER days that felt unseasonable.  This all makes it really hard for me to believe that July is already over and August has begun.  Here's what we were up to in July...

I found a really great deal on a patio table at Target and we have enjoyed many meals and activities on the deck.  I bought a few learning activities for Lainey and I to do together since she and I usually have at least a good 1-2 hours to ourselves in the morning before Wyatt wakes up.  She is loving it.  I, on the other hand, love it too but it has tested my patience in incredible ways.  There was a reason I chose to teach upper elementary.  As you can see, she's over the moon proud of herself.

Most evenings we meet Daddy outside when he pulls in.  Lainey's been practicing riding her bike more and more.

You know how you "pin" all of those great ideas on Pinterest but you rarely follow through with them?  At least, that's how it is for me.  This one was a fun one thought we'll definitely do again.  Sidewalk Paint is 1 part corn starch, 1 part water and then a few drops of food coloring.  I NEVER let Wyatt do crafty things because they always end up in his mouth or on the floor but he had a BLAST with this.  They started painting the sidewalk, then went on to decorating the rocks in the landscaping.

Wyatt has indeed mastered the "cheese"... and being ridiculously adorable.

The highlight of July for Lainey was Princess Camp.  I signed her up for this 2x/week for 2 weeks dance and gymnastics camp to see how she'd do and how she'd like it because we had talked about enrolling her in a dance class in the fall.  Turns out, she loved it.  She wasn't always super keen about me leaving but every time I picked her up and peaked through the little viewing window she was having an absolute blast.  There's just something about watching your child enjoy something, all on their own, apart from you and having so much fun.  It was so great and a little bittersweet.  I'll be the first to admit I don't love being away from my kids.  I was so thankful she loved it since dance was a huge part of my life growing up.

Each day included a different Princess.  Let's just say she loved that!

She was beyond excited to put that leotard on for each day of camp.

What says "summer in Iowa" more than sweet corn?!?  We've gotten it twice now and each time it's delicious!

We've enjoyed discovering and exploring so many new parks this summer.  I can't say for sure since I don't know much about other big cities parks and rec systems, but Des Moines has really gotten it right.  There are TONS of parks with family friendly features for all ages ALL over in different metro neighborhoods.  We never have to drive very far to find a new adventure.  This picture above was from McHenry park on the north side.  There was a fun splash pad and a little man made creek.

We had a great time with some friends at the Indianola Balloon Classic.  There's something magical about hot air balloons!  The kids loved it and we had a great time.

Since it's August now, there are really only a few more weeks to enjoy pools and splash parks since school starts soon here.  We are going to take advantage every chance we get.  This particular day we went to "tot time" at the Indianola Pool with a few friends and it was so great!

Lainey's turned in to such a little fish.  I love watching her enjoy the water.  I don't usually get any pictures of Wyatt because most of the time I'm chasing him down.  He likes to explore everything BUT the water usually.

Loved sharing the summer fun in July with my family!  Looking forward to one more month of summer, then my absolute favorite is just around the corner... FALL!

June phone photo dump

A random (and kind of large) assortment of pictures from June... I sadly only got out my real camera two, maybe three times all month long, so these are once again, all from my phone.  My goal for July is to take a somewhat meaningful picture every day with my camera...we'll see how that goes!

We have found a new favorite park, Wilson Park in WDM, thanks to my good friend Julie.  Just loving being outside on these beautiful days.

Our church hosted a free concert on the steps of the capital with The City Harmonic and Leeland.  It was an awesome night in so many ways - great weather, great music, great friends and most importantly the message of gospel being shared looking over the city of Des Moines.  We had a great time.

Oh my poor son, I'm so sorry that your sister loves you sooooo much.

Reading her Bible and journaling in the morning just like Mommy!

There have been a handful of days when, for whatever reason, Lainey doesn't think she needs a nap.  She usually does pretty good but then hits a wall and passes out on the couch.  Not ideal, but pretty cute.

I know I say this each and every time I post a blog, but he is just the SWEETEST little boy in the world.

We have enjoyed lots of lunches in the back yard!

Learning the blow bubbles!  I was so impressed and she was SO excited she could do it!

On our 3rd anniversary we packed up the kids, picked up a pizza and had a picnic at a park.  We got to celebrate just the two of us a few days before so this was a perfect family night.

This is Wyatt's preferred position lately - he's mastered the sitting-to-belly move and will be cruising around in no time I'm afraid.  I just love the "sitting up and playing" (and not moving) stage - it's so easy and it seems like it has gone WAY too fast!  Crawling is exciting but it changes EVERYTHING!

He's easily amused.

Most days around 5:00 PM you can find us out here waiting for our favorite guy.  (See the lovely blue sign in the background?  Does anyone themselves or does anyone know anyone who wants to buy a well loved, great little house in an awesome neighborhood? :) 

The result of a fun morning.  Love her little clasped hands.

I know I'm biased but I think she's such a beauty!  She was having the time of her life at the splash park with this empty fruit cup.

The perfect afternoon!

He loves sitting and watching all of the action at the splash park!

We've had a lot of showings during the first week our house has been on the market and a few have been around nap time... sigh.

Puzzles are one of Wyatt's favorite toys these days.  Obviously not putting them back together but throwing around and chewing on the pieces... naturally.

We were on our way to Target on Sunday night and it was a little too close to dinner time.  It's dangerous (IE expensive!) to grocery shop on an empty stomach (and with a hungry toddler) so we stopped at our favorite Mexican place first.  YUM!

June totally flew by!  Excited to enjoy more of what summer has to offer in July with my sweet family!