Beloved mother and loving grandmother

There are no words…

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a “transportation” themed play date at our house.  This just meant that I strategically set out toy trucks, cars, trains, planes, etc. for the kids to play with.  Thanks to our son, we have no shortage of such items around here!  I even went so far as to fill our wading pool with pinto beans so the construction trucks would have something to scoop and dump.  As you can see below, it was a big hit (and yes, I am still cleaning up rogue pinto beans around the house).

How many toddlers can fit in one pool?

The other day Lex and I went to a local farm with our neighbor across the street.  It was pouring rain, but we had a good time seeing the farm animals and buying some fresh apples.

And yes, there was a tractor!

My mom continues to ride the ICU roller coaster by getting better and then worse and now better again.  She stopped breathing a few days ago after she was taken off the ventilator and moved from ICU, so that scared all of us.  But she has once again made a come-back and is now off the ventilator for the second time.  We continue to hope for the best!

Here’s some more random pictures that were taken over the past few months.  (I swear I’ll catch up with this blog eventually.)

Lex and Sam: (apparently clothing was optional in the ball pit…)

Lex and I took Grandma Weaver along with us to this next particular play date.  My friend Jen froze a bunch of toys and candy into ice molds and then the kids sprayed water on them in order to retrieve the goodies.  It was a fun project, but it ended up taking way too long.  Eventually we were sprinkling rock salt and pouring hot water on the ice to melt it faster.

A recent trip to Pump it Up Jr:

Watching Sesame Street with Bear:

This last picture is a wasp’s nest that we found in the tree in our front yard.  The nest itself was an incredible work of art.  It was really big and very intricate.  HOWEVER, we didn’t feel comfortable keeping it around with all of us nearby, so we called an exterminator and had it taken down and destroyed.  Sorry wasps!

See, I told you we clean up nice!  (and this was in ten minutes or less)

Tim as the debonaire groomsman:

That was one big chair!

The wedding cupcake tower:  (mmmm…)

We spent the next two days after the wedding doing touristy things in Minneapolis.  We walked through a famous outdoor sculpture garden:

And fulfilled my dream of going to the Mall of America:

We had a great time, but we did discover that our shopping stamina (and roller coaster riding tolerance) is not quite what it used to be:

All in all, the trip to Minnesota was a blast, but we definitely missed our little boy.  We were very ready to come home and see him by the last day.

Whew!  I’m back.  August was just plain crazy.  First there was my trip to Oklahoma, then our family vacation to Hawaii, and now Tim and I just returned from a weekend in Minneapolis.  One of our friends got married there and Tim was a groomsman in the wedding.  Meanwhile Grandma and Grandpa Weaver got to take care of Lex while we were gone, and the whole thing went really smoothly.

I promise to try to be more consistent with my blogging, but with my mom still in the hospital, my heart just isn’t into it (since she’s not seeing any of this).  But rest assured, I shall carry on for the rest of you faithful readers out there.  And on a positive note, my mom did finally get taken off the ventilator.  She has a long way to go in her recovery and is currently trying to relearn how to swallow properly, but we’re grateful for this step in the right direction.

Too much has gone on for me to be very detailed with pictures, so I’ll just pick a few from different occasions.  I actually went to three birthday parties in one weekend recently.  Lex’s friend Colby had a construction-themed 2nd birthday party.  As you can imagine, Lex was in heaven.

The cake was very cool, and Lex stared at it the entire time until it was cut and shared.

Taking a turn at the bulldozer pinata with a plastic bat:

Lex’s friend Clara had her 2nd birthday party at a place with a climbing structure and a ball pit for the kids.

This next random picture is one I took at Costco, when the boys developed “brain freeze” after gulping down a smoothie:

And here’s two pictures of Tim that I took with an underwater camera when we were snorkeling in Hawaii:

And finally a picture of my young budding astronomer: (his dad is so proud)

There are more pictures to come, including the ones from the recent wedding in Minnesota. Stay tuned, because you don’t want to miss seeing Tim and me all dressed up.  We actually clean up nice!