4th of July Crafting

I'd been wanting to make his 4th of July caft for a while so finally one afternoon Mike, Wes and I went to Home Depot for supplies and during Wes' nap, Mike helped me make these Firecracker Garden Stakes.

As you can see, we had several other projects going on at the same time...some gardening, some bike cleaning and some garage organizing!

I had purchased a similar garden stake at a boutique a couple of months before Wes was born and thought it would be a fun project to duplicate. It only took me two years to get to! These are just some wooden dowels, and a cut down clothes bar for a closet. (And I know Michael loved having a reason to get out his table saw!)

I had fun painting them with different patriotic designs and then Michael drilled a small hole in the top and I hot glued in some wire garland with stars I got at Michaels (and some I found on clearance at Target last Christmas. I am the consumate bargain shopper! I knew they would be perfect for this project, I only had to store gold, silver and red garland for six months!)

Some glittered red and silver ribbon resemble the fire.

Michael and I had fun spending the afternoon together making these and I had fun giving them away to some family and friends! Pics from our 4th of July celebration to follow :)

First Trip to the Dentist

Wes had his first dentist appointment at the end of June (but I'm just getting to it now :)! I picked this pediatric dentist because it was in my insurance network and it was close to the house, but as soon as we walked in the door, I was very impressed! They had this super cute sign welcoming Wesley to the office and there were lots of toys and even some video games (in a few years I'll appreciate those!) in the waiting room.

Thanks for being a good sport Michael!

Since this was a race car video game, Wes had to check it out.


Taking it all in.

Wes did amazingly well! They hygienist told us to expect some tears and if she wasn't able to do the cleaning the dentist would just come in and look at his teeth. But he had no problem sitting in the chair and opening his mouth! He listened so well and opened wide whenever asked, we were so proud of him! Dr. Lopez and the hygienists were also very impressed, plus no cavities! Dr. Lopez was a little concerned with the finger sucking and what that was doing to his bite, so (as I write this) we are working on breaking the habit, and he's doing very well with that so far too :)

I do think the cooperation may have stemmed, though, from the television on the ceiling that was playing Toy Story! After the appointment, they gave Wes a coin so he could pick out a prize from one of the toy machines. He picked a big purple bouncy ball which he's had lots of fun with. Plus he went home with a balloon attached to a giant toothbrush. It was definitely a good visit and we'll be back in 6 months for his next cleaning!

A Visit from Grandma Missy

Grandma Missy and her cousin Barbie came to visit us last week and brought several birthday presents for Wes along with them! We had such a nice afternoon visiting, having lunch and playing with Wes' new toys!

Thanks Grandma Missy, we love you!

Thank You Everyone!!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family and are so thankful to them for all the wonderful gifts Wes received for his birthday. Here's a few of my favorite pics of him tearing into all those fun packages and bags!

After his party and a nap at Grammy's house, Wes came home to his assembled tractor! Unfortunately the battery needed to be charged, so he had to wait a little bit longer to drive it (which resulted in a few tears) but he settled for sitting on it and working the loader.



(Here's Wes, the next day, getting the hang of being a tractor operator)

And here's the aftermath! What an amazing birthday this 2 year old had! Thanks again everyone!! (Thank you notes are on their way :)

Wesley's 2nd Birthday Party!

Though we absolutely loved celebrating Wes' 1st birthday with ALL our friends and family, we decided to just have a smaller(er) party this year with some of Wesley's close friends. We were able to have it at the same park as last year by Grandma Susie's house and the kids had a blast with the Slip 'N Slides, water squirters, water balloons, and of course hot dogs and clown cones!

I found these water squirters at my Dollar Tree store and they were a big hit! I had them all out so the kids could squirt each other (and the adults!) during the party and then they got to take one home as a little favor.

And Michael filled up 200 water balloons for the kids to throw around. I was originally thinking it was going to be a big pain to collect all the popped balloon pieces, but the kids just preferred to take them out of the buckets and throw them right on the grass. So luckily for us all the pieces were pretty much in one spot. It took Michael about an hour to fill up all those balloons and aproximately 3 minutes for the kids to pop them!

Wesley's friend Jessie

Cody getting some distance on one of the balloons

And we had two Slip 'N Slides set up for the kids. I wasn't sure if the kids were going to be too young for these, but they loved the spraying water and with a little help from the dads, a lot of them were really able to slip and slide! Here's Wes getting some help from Daddy.

He really liked sliding, he just didn't like all the grass accumulating in the pool at the end :)

We were so thankful for the warm day and the beautiful weather!

Our good friends Amber, Evan and Jason. Evan's little brother or sister is due any day, so we were glad they were able to celebrate with us!

The cake for the adults...

...and here's the clown cones Grandma Susie and I made for the kids!

We had a lot of fun making these, though it was so hot the day before the party and we were making 22 of them, so we had to make them all in shifts so the ice cream wouldn't melt while they were out of the freezer. They weren't quite as cute as the ones from Baskin Robbins, but they tasted just as delicious!

Here's Wesley's clown cone with two candles!

He was definitely a fan!

Thomas and Nora

Aaron

I'll save the gift opening for my next post, but Wes had to open this one from Papa Ron at the party!

It's a ride-on John Deere tractor with a loader and back-hoe!! Michael had a pedal car tractor when he was little, so Ron wanted Wesley to have one too. He was a little upset that he couldn't ride on it right then and there (darn that assembly required!). But pics to follow of Wes on his new tractor!

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate Wes' 2nd birthday, we love you all so much!

Wesley is Two Years Old!!

Happy Birthday to my 2 year old big boy! We had a busy day planned to celebrate Wes' 2nd birthday on Friday July 1st. Mike had to work, but took a couple of hours off in the morning so Wes could open his present and we could all go to breakfast together.

A few new books and a big red present from mom and dad.

Waiting for dad to put together his new t-ball set! It's supposed to grow with him, so right now it's a t-ball set, but when he gets bigger, we can add batteries and it will pitch to him.

He seemed to get the hang of it right away! Little League here we come!

Wes definitely woke up a 2 year old - that internal clock of his is right on time! So after a little bit of a struggle over what to wear (see the next picture). We headed to Knowlwoods, my, I mean Wesley's, favorite breakfast spot. :)

You might not be able to tell, but this is a pajama shirt that Wes just had to wear (it has a fire truck on it of course). He wasn't going anywhere unless he could wear that shirt! It was just a glimpse of 2 year old attitude but enough to make me leary of what was to come.

After breakfast we watched for the train to come by...

...and boy are they loud from a few feet away!

Afterwards, daddy headed to work and Wes, Grammy and I headed to the beach to meet Grandma Susie, Auntie Jessica, Haley, Gia and Cash for some playtime. Unfortunately the beach wasn't such a blast.

Wes just wasn't a happy camper but did relax for a little bit during lunch and a few minutes of playing in the sand. But after about an hour and many tears we headed home for a much needed nap.

After a good nap, we went to Grammy's house for a BBQ dinner and some more cupcakes!

Grammy did it right and gave Wes his 2 candles!

A little help from Bampa blowing out his candles. (Bampa is the way Wes pronounces Grandpa, which is pretty amazing to me because that is what the rest of my family called my dad's dad while he was alive. I never knew where that name came from until now. Now hearing Wes say it, it makes perfect sense. I think it's kind of neat for my dad too.)

What's a cupcake without sprinkles?

Happy Birthday Buddy, we love you so much!!!

(sorry for the open mouth shot, it's the only one I could get :)