What were we thinking!

With Sean's new schedule, he now gets a three-day "weekend". We decided to take this weekend and do some work in the backyard. Our original plan was to remove some rocks and tear up our overgrown garden. Somehow our project changed to removing our gazebo. We loved our gazebo but unfortunately it was leaning to the right, the wood was buckling and we were afraid of it coming down on its own. The project took two days, eighteen hours and three dump runs! Nate was such a trooper through it all! Here are some pictures, I took video of it falling down and will post it later.


Nate and his hard hat.



The dilapidated gazebo.

Sean on the roof taking off shingles. He HATED this! Our original plan was to remove the structure in portions. After 30 minutes on the roof, the plan changed to destruction. We cut breaks in the support beams and let it fall!

I think we did a fabulous job bringing it down. It fell exactly where we planned for it to go. Not bad for two people with no engineering background!

Dismantling it. This took forever!

The new "patio". We decided to keep the deck and use it for our table and fire pit.

Sean, you did a great job! Thank you!

Park with Dad

Just some random shots of Nate and Sean at the park.

A Season of Change

Since moving to Oklahoma, Sean has worked M-F 6:30 am - 2:30 pm. These hours are hard to come by in his profession. After a lengthy discussion, Sean decided he wanted to go back to shift work and started this last Monday. We were a little concerned because Sean will now miss three family dinners a week and once a week will go 24 hours without seeing Nate. I wasn't sure how little man would do this first week. Nate is not a fan of change. I am happy to report that he did great! For the last several months, Nate has been getting up very early so he can give his dad a hug goodbye. Yes, he somehow managed to set his internal clock to wake up. Now that dad is home three mornings a week, we are all sleeping in until around 7. It is fabulous! Sean is much happier at work and Nate and I love having him home more in the mornings!

It's time to learn to cook!

Yes I know, he is only three! Nate LOVES to help in the kitchen now and really wanted to help mom cook his eggs. He cracked the eggs, whisked them, and added the seasoning all by himself. I put a stool next to the stove and hyperventilated while he carefully stirred the eggs! He did a great job and we had the best eggs ever!





Yes, he dressed himself that morning!

Nate and Ella in the bath

The other night as I was giving Nate a bath, Ella decided she needed to get clean as well.


Ella "I really want in that tub"!


"I am NOT getting out"!

Nate and Ella "sharing" toys.

"I'm all clean now"!

I am not really sure how clean little man was after this bath!

LETRA Lake with friends

On Sunday we loaded up in the truck and headed to Letra for a picnic on the lake with friends. This was our first excursion to Letra and not knowing the gate schedule, a 20 minute drive turned into almost an hour! Poor Nate kept saying "we are never going to get there"! We finally made it to our destination and had a great time.


Nate building sand castles.

Doing the doggie paddle

What goes up.....

Must come down!





This was Nate's first time on an adult size water slide. All summer he has been wanting to go on one! He did a great job holding his breath and going underwater!

Dinner With Friends!

I am soooo behind on my blogging! Sorry guys.

Last Saturday, our friends the Arnolds held a fabulous BBQ. We had a great time!

The grown up table. I have not eaten on such fine china in many moons! It was great to have dinner with fantastic friends!

The kids table. Nate LOVED eating dinner with his friends!

After dinner, the kids and mommies played in Miss Lily's room. Nate found the purses and makeup right away! He loaded all the makeup in his purse and proceeded to take it to the living room so he could doll up dad! After dad's makeover it was my turn! Thanks Rikki for encouraging him in his purse pursuit! I hope you realize you now have to go see him on Broadway with me! LOL!

Many, many thanks to the Arnold clan for having us over for a wonderful evening!

Rodeo!

On Thursday night, we all headed to the rodeo. This is by far one of Nate's favorite things to do. All week, we had been talking to him about how all the kids would get into the ring and chase baby calf's. He informed us that he was a big boy and was going to do it. As soon as we got to the arena, Nate wanted to get into the ring. "Is it time yet mom" was a constant question! Here are some pictures of little man!

Every year the calvary comes out onto the field and shoots off a canon. We opted to keep him away for the blast.

Little man enjoying an icee.

Running out to get in line.

It's like Where's Waldo! Nate and Sean are in there somewhere!

Rodeo Parade!

I am not sure you can even call the event a parade! It consisted of a few fire trucks, a couple of horses, one bull rider, a John Deere tractor and a few classic cars. Hmmm....... Anyway, Nate LOVES parades so we decided to go. The temperature outside was a balmy 108 degrees, so of course, we fried! Here are a few pictures of our time at the "parade"!

Nate and Ella

Let's see if this works!
Woohoo, I think it does! Let me know if you guys can't access it.

Water Park Fun!

Sunday afternoon, we all headed to the local waterpark. I didn't think it was going to be hot enough but boy was I wrong! Sorry for the poor quality pictures, I had to secretly snap the photos as they are not allowed inside the park.

Little man is doing so well in the water! He now puts his face completely underwater and opens his eyes! Woohoo, go Nathan! Here are some shots of him playing in the wave pool.

Let's go to the park!

On Sunday morning, Nate and I headed to one of our favorite parks so daddy could sleep in.

Happy Birthday Uncle Kevin

Last Wednesday was Uncle Kevins birthday (Sean's brother). Since the boys had to work during the week, we decided to do a birthday dinner on Saturday night. He requested his mom's chicken recipe (it is delicious) and we made him a snicker ice cream pie. After dinner, the boys stayed up well into the night playing PS3 games.

Happy Birthday Uncle Kevin!