One fish..Two fish...

Another fun day! (But seriously, when are our days not fun with 2 little boys!)

We started off our day bright and early with 7am mass then home for breakfast.

Yesterday, Daniel had mentioned something about taking the boys fishing but we never got around to it. While we were walking home from church we were talking about it and thought it might be fun to do this morning. The boys were excited and couldn't wait to go. Zach was so excited he didn't eat his breakfast (not that that is really any different than normal though!).

Both boys caught 2 fish and I caught one (with Jacob's fishing pole after he decided he was done). Daniel had a hand in all of them--he baited the hooks every time (and the fish kept nibbling our worms off before we could hook them so it happened A LOT!) and also had to take the fish off the hooks!

Zach was the first to catch one today. Here he is with his first fish:

 Jakey caught the second one...

Then Jake caught another one...

Then Zach...

Jacob was done fishing and was busy telling us he wanted to go home. It was getting warm out and he was done!

I finally caught one! Here I am posing as close as I wanted to be to my fish.

Daniel thought the boys should pose with me too. Now I have all of 3 pictures with both of my children from various things we've done...although this is the first that'll prove I was actually fishing with them.

We packed up all our fishing gear and found some food in the car for the ducks at the pond...cheez its! The boys had a blast watching the ducks fight for the food! We named one of them "the Ringo duck" because he reminded us way too much of our dog Ringo. He was definitely the pig of the group!

What better way to end a 95 degree day than to have a little fire pit and roast hot dogs and toast marshmallows? Yep, we're that nuts.

We got to spend another few hours with Aunt Celia and Uncle Marc this morning before they left. After some fun filled playing with trains we went outside for some fresh (warm) air. Zach asked if we could get the moonbounce out so I did. I got the hammock out to relax in while they were busy jumping and almost as soon as I sat down Jake said "Aren't you going to get your camera out so you can take pictures of us jumping?" I told him I would in a few minutes and continued to lay there. Maybe 30 seconds later he asked me about my camera again! I decided it was hopeless and I should get up and get it. Anyways, when I got back out with my camera, this is what I found:

They had a plan all along to steal the hammock! They were supposed to be "sleeping" but everytime one would close his eyes, the other would open theirs. Regardless of wether their eyes were open or closed they were making snoring sounds.

Jake had to help Daniel remove old straw bales from our garden...

 Zach was still sleeping to avoid working.

Jake was back for more straw!

Ringo thought he would end up going home with Celia and Marc. . . . .

he's still here.

They're not.

I'm not really sure what he was doing when he ended up this way..but I had to snap a picture before helping him back up. Thats what a good wife does.. ;-)

 posing.

 still posing.

jumping.

mid-bounce.

cheeseball.

After naptime Daniel thought it'd be fun to get the baseball stuff out to play....

Look at his face!

serious about baseball.

my little cutie pie.

we had our first week of doing our chore chart end successfully! The boys got their allowance but were less than thrilled when I told them they were putting their money in an envelope on the fridge to save up for whatever they wanted! I'm also happy to report that Zach got his toy last night for going 5 days without any accidents! woo-hoo!!! Let's hope he keeps it up...I've already threatened to take it back if I need to!

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

I was trying to think of something fun to do while Celia and Marc were up on Friday. Everything I thought of (or the boys suggested) involved being outside---it was too stinkin' hot to be outside for any more time than it would take to get in the car though. Just before we ate lunch I remembered the "Choo Choo Barn" and decided we should go there. It's this huge model train setup in Strasburg, PA (about an hour from our house).

 So, Celia looks bored in this picture but she really did enjoy it!! I think we had just seen the area that has a little fire in a house and a firetruck that comes and shoots water on it to put it out. Marc liked that part!

 Of course my Jakey would like the construction area of it!

 Zach liked the construction area too though he was probably looking at the model of the baseball game at this point! (It was just past the construction site.)

 I just thought this picture was neat since it got his reflection in the plexiglass.

 Being silly outside the Choo Choo Barn!

We would've ventured to this fun little market in Bird in Hand, PA while we were there that sells amazing kettle corn and woopie pies but everyone that knows me knows that I'm directionally challenged and we would've never made it. (even with the GPS!)
Daniel missed out on the Choo Choo Barn thanks to a meeting at work but the rest of us had a great time. (And lucky us, Daniel was working on dinner when we got home!)

I made limemade pie for dessert and while we were eating dinner Daniel said "I Know you made us dessert but ya know what would be really fun? Ice cream in Chesapeake City." So, after we all finished (and by all I mean Zach because he's my pokey pokey eater) we headed to Chesapeake City to have ice cream along the canal. Jacob ordered mint chip and Zach ordered bubble gum. Mid ordering Daniel asked them what their prices were for the ice cream and decided since he had only grabbed a 20 dollar bill that he wouldn't order anything and he'd just eat the boys' leftovers when they were done. 3 small cones/cups and 2 baby cones totalled $19.03. And lucky Daniel, he got to eat bubble gum flavored ice cream. I guess included in that price was 1 swedish fish also. They have semi-open candy bins in that place and Zach helped himself to a swedish fish...that he dropped on the floor...and then shoved in his mouth. yum.

 posing by the water

 about to jump...

 Another picture I love...I have a picture of Daniel and Jacob just like this from when Jacob had just turned 2.

While I was making the limemade pie, Jacob asked me if I could make him some limemade...he got to squeeze all the limes with help from Aunt Celia. Zach came over after they were done and insisted on squeezing more limes---with the help of Daniel. His expressions were hilarious.

Don't worry, I know you're all concerned that we didn't eat the limemade pie since we went out for ice cream... we did. It was a good 10pm, pre-bedtime snack. mmmmmmm.

Yay for Aunt Celia & Uncle Marc!

 Is it just me or does Zach look like he's playing dodgeball and about ready

to pummel the ball at Abby's head?

We've had LOTS of excitement today! The boys started out their day with "Breakfast with Poppie!" Poppie is our neighbor's grandpa. He comes over Thursday mornings with breakfast for the kids; they invited Jacob and Zach over one Thursday morning and they've been regulars ever since! Poppie always brings something fun with him for the kids (other than the donuts) and today it was balloons. Needless to say, the balloons are upstairs sleeping on the boys dressers right now while they sleep in their beds. I'm glad we didn't have an argument about the balloons needing to sleep next to them in bed!

After playing with friends for the next few hours it was finally lunch and nap/quiet time. Zach earns a sticker on his chore chart for taking a nap (stickers are awesome motivation at our house!) so he was good about laying down knowing his Aunt Celia and Uncle Marc were probably going to be here when he woke up. They made it and he was happy to see them through his grumpy grogginess from being woken up by a momma who wants him to go to sleep at a decent hour at night and won't let him sleep past 4pm (but seriously, he laid down for his nap at 1 so it was a super long nap).

Celia and Marc were lucky enough to go to Jake's soccer game tonight. Marc kept score even though they don't keep score (there's also no goalie but we do have a ref). I think they're glad they only have nephews and not children of their own that would torture them with sporting events like this. I obviously love watching the little sports events since I keep signing the boys up for stuff!

 Headed for water break number three hundred sixty two. He was thirsty.

 Yes, I'm "that mom" who distracts her kid for a second or two in order to get a picture. 

I'll always be that momma too!

 me: "GO JACOB GO!!! KICK THE BALL!!!"

 me: "GOOD JOB, BUDDY! NOW KICK IT AGAIN...INTO THE GOAL!"

(really, I was just glad he was getting to kick the ball!)

 My little ham, Zachy. He's such an adorable little stinker that can drive me nuts!

 Playing soccer with the spiderman ball.

Zach takes his soccer very serious. 

Don't mess with him without shin guards on.

Daniel was on his way back from NY so he missed Jake's game...good thing I took enough pictures to document the entire thing for him. I'm betting after 181 pictures from a 30 minute game he's kicking himself for buying me my super wonderful DSLR camera. 

Fun times today!

I am exhausted! The weather was so much cooler this morning than it has been in a while so I decided instead of just taking our normal walk around our neighborhood we'd go to a nearby park with a long walking path. We normally walk around 7am....for some reason we couldn't get out of the house today until almost 10 today. We still had some good exercise and fun playtime at the many playgrounds there. The one thing Jake wanted to do was get on the seesaw. It took a lot of patience since it was the popular toy today but they finally got their turn!

They love playing there and we rarely seem to go...I'm hoping to take them at least once a week while the weather stays nice! Maybe we'll get there more often! (we have a few other playgrounds that are closer though!)

My sister and brother in-law are coming up tomorrow! Yay!

It's way too late now and I'm tired! Daniel's out of town so I had to pretend to be him and sit on the couch and be lazy with Zach and watch The Simpsons.  I've only gotten up twice since then--once to put Zach to bed and then again to get Zach back to bed when he decided he should sit at the top of the steps.
I'm exhausted! hahaha

He shoots! He scores! well...almost!

I think my new goal is to fit as much into our last month of summer break before preschool starts back up as possible. Today we went to our local zoo. It's not a big zoo but the kids love it. They have a few animals that you can feed (llamas, goats, donkeys among others) but neither Jacob nor Zach ever wants to feed them so I almost didn't buy any animal food. Thank God I did...or I would've missed out on this:

 
Jake wanted NOTHING to do with feeding the animals but he did pet a donkey. As soon as he pet it he quite excitedly said "did you see me pet it, mom???? are you proud of me???" Of course I was. And as always, I captured the moment.

The kids all saw the giraffe and wanted to go visit with him so we started walking around the areas that they have turkeys, a few different types of donkeys, a bear, a siberian tiger, a couple wolves and a few other animals....of course it took some time because we had to stop and oooh and ahhh over all the animals we saw. By the time we got to where the giraffe HAD been, he was back in his little house. bummer. I did manage to get this shot before we got distracted by the sleeping wolves. Yep, they were THAT exciting.

Look closely over Jacob's left shoulder, you can see the giraffe.

There are random peacocks all over the place at this zoo.

Before we had our picnic lunch we played on the playground that we never knew existed before. The kids all had a blast (I know, I keep referring to them all as the kids..there was a bunch of us today. My neighbor, Megan, and her 2 kids, Connor & Abby, were there. My other neighbor, Nikki, and her cutie patootie daughter, Emma, were there. My neighbor at our last house, Allison, and her two kiddos, Russell & Brett, were there. Add the boys and I and there were 11 of us!)

This picture just cracks me up:

 
He made it to the top!

 
We finished off our day with Jacob's soccer game.
I'm pretty sure this was right after he did a somersault on the field, mid-game.

 Obviously we take our soccer real serious. (wink!)

Brotherly love...