Summer Fun!

July has been a great month at this house!  Lots of free time to have fun and explore new things together.  I had to take the kids to Brenham to see where the world's best ice cream (Blue Bell) is made.  They donned their hats and got ready for the tour.

We checked out some Blue Bell memorabilia on the way in.

 (had to include this outtake so we can always remember Ben's eye-rolling phase.  At least, I hope it's a phase)

 

Pictures weren't allowed on the tour but it was lots of fun and the boys and I all loved it.  The best part?  A fresh scoop of ice cream at the end.  

Both kids were very pleased with their Crazy Cookie Dough selection.  My Mocha Almond Fudge was a bit more to my liking.

We've had some fun in the backyard on the new Slip N Slide.  (Not quite as fun as an adult)

Alex had some great slides and loved getting a drink afterward.

We spent a very fun evening at the Woodlands Pavilion with our friend Riley enjoying the Bugs Bunny Symphony.  Live music along + classic cartoons = fun for everyone!

We even accompanied Abby and Maxwell to their annual checkup when we were visiting Grammy and Grumpy.  Alex counted all of Maxwell's meows (174 total) and Ben loved on his favorite kitty in the world.

We enjoyed a free and very entertaining lunch at Rainforest Cafe thanks to some Landry's rewards and a coupon Ben earned for making good grades at school.

I've never seen a frog with glasses!

We got to catch up with our old friends and neighbors who were back in town for a visit.  The funny thing about seeing other kids is that Ben and Alex always gravitate back to one another.  All this playtime together has made them such good friends this summer.

We enjoyed a great morning when the circus was in town.  I'll never be too old to get excited about the circus!

We have several more things on our list to do to enjoy the month before school starts.  I love summer! 

Growing Right Along

The boys had their annual well-visits this week at the pediatrician and I just realized how fortunate we've been healthwise this past year - to my knowledge, we've only seen the doctor twice since last year's checkups!  Once for a rash, once for a "breathing problem" that turned out to be Alex's habit plus a bit of drama.  We did manage to catch a few of the inevitable viruses that went around, but nothing too serious.  We are so blessed that the children have had such a healthy year.

Ben:
49" tall (65th percentile)
45 lbs (12th percentile)
BMI of 13 kg/m2 (less than the 5th percentile)

Alex:
43.5" tall (63rd percentile)
43 lbs (66th percentile)
BMI of 16 kg/m2 (55th percentile)

So no surprises there - Ben is still technically very underweight, but he continues to shoot up like a little weed.  Alex is right in the middle of the growth chart.  I hope we can have another healthy year and manage to stay out of the doctor's office until next summer!

Alex's Birthday

We spent the long 4th of July weekend in Alabama.  Unfortunately, there are no big fireworks shows in Beaver Creek for our little birthday boy, but he did have a fun day in the country!  We kicked off the big day with cards and the rest of his presents.  Only a kid celebrating a birthday could look this happy before 7am!

 

Tearing into some more presents...

Yesss!!  Every boy needs waterguns.  Alex was also the recipient of several important phone calls and loved hearing my phone ring.

Ben enjoyed some of the spoils as well.  The kids love doing playdoh in Alabama and this dentist kit was hours of fun for them.

After lunch, Alex got to blow out more candles and enjoy a cupcake (or two).

He also helped Grandpa blow out his candle to celebrate his birthday a few days prior to Alex's.  We didn't have room to fit all of his candles on a cupcake so we settled on one :)

We had gotten a few little fireworks and smoke bombs for Alex but the weather didn't really cooperate for doing them after dark.  It rained nearly the entire time we were there, which was actually very nice and relaxing, but not good for roman candles.  Houston has had some very dry months again so it was fun to enjoy the rain somewhere!  

We did go into Demopolis for dinner and Alex go the special birthday treatment.  He loved the hat, hated the whipped cream on his nose!  He looked like a little cat trying to get it off.

Happy birthday, sweet Alex!!  I cannot believe you're five already.

One other evening, we got a respite from the showers and took the kids hunting for lightning bugs.  It was so much fun for all of us!  I hadn't seen them in years and they were flying in the trees as far as we could see.

A lucky dozen were chosen to come live with us for a few days.  Nothing like a real nightlight!