Summer Lovin' - Had me a blast!

Summer lovin' - happened so fast!

With promises of sunshine and near 80 degree temps - we decided to setup the pool on Friday.  I started out filling it with bathtub-like warm water, and the boys had a BLAST slippin' and sliding their way around.  Preschool is over, soccer is over but nothing says SUMMER like the pool in the backyard. And the boys are definitely NOT afraid of water.

 After a little while, I said ENOUGH of this city boy stuff - cold water it is (I don't want THAT gas bill!)  So as the pool was filling up, we had a late night-after what should have been their bedtime-smores roast.  Mmmm.  The first of the season!  The boys were so good - it's like they know it's past their bed time, and at the slightest fussing they are going to be sent to bed.  I wish they thought that all day long!  :-)  Weston was so excited to do his own marshmallow this year.  And he got to roast it in his Super Man jammies!

On to Saturday... I know, I bet you can hardly believe all the family fun we had this weekend!  With Tyler off work, and the sun shining, there was no holding us back.  This was the very first event we've ever attended without a stroller.  Weird!  Strange!  AWESOME!!!!  The littles rode well in the wagon, the BIG pulled it fairly straight, and Tyler and I just strolled along doing nothing.  Okay, so Tyler actuall carried the basket of snacks and treats, and I snapped pictures the whole way, but anything beats pushing a stroller around.

 There was a bit of a misunderstanding on the parade time.... We thought we'd get there at 9:30 for a 10am parade....  and were VERY prompt arriving at 9:25 for a 10:30am parade!  With time to kill, I let the hoodlum's run free.  These two cousins stopped running long enough for me to get their picture, but what you can't see is how much they are huffing and puffing from all the running.

 Wyatt was oh-so-content with Brenna.  The Silves boys LOVE them some Brenna, that's for sure!  She is ADORED by all three of them, and I can't blame them.  She loves on them like crazy!

 Hmm.. Bet you wish you knew what they were all looking at!

 That's my Wayne....  anything UP must be JUMPED from.  Oh WAIT.  That's Weston.  When did he get that big????

 Miss Maddie came and joined us for a snack and a drink, before heading to the shady side of the street.  Too bad to, because she had some HIP sunglasses. 

 The "backstreet boys" plus Trisha, Paig, Emma Rae, and Wyssa.  I mean Alyssa.  We like to think of her as a Silves sister, so we call her Wyssa.  Her sister is Wrenna, and her brother is Wethan!

 The marching band from Meridian was the BEST!  Can't believe I just typed that.

Whew!  Would you believe.... there's MORE????  More Silves Family FUN to come!  It's only Saturday morning!!!

Pizza Party!

I can't think of a better way to spend a Thursday night with ALL of our husband's working, than with Kelli, Amanda and ALL of our EIGHT kids (and Kelli is expecting in July!)  It went way smoother than I thought, but was WILD nonetheless.  Whatever - it was FUN!  Here's the crew.

 We had pizza and ice cream cones, the kids played and played and played and when it got a little dicey, I declared MOVIE TIME!  Monster's Inc. rescued us and gave us moms the chance to chat for a bit.  I love catching up with these girls - we have three very different parenting styles, lifestyles and approach to things, but we get along so well and respect the differences.  That's friendship!

 Here they are, all ready for the movie.  Grace was just a little bit excited!  Wayne insisted on sitting next to her.

 Wyatt saw everyone all snuggy under the blankie, and took the opportunity to lay down right in the middle of them all.  Such a character these days.

 This cracked Amanda and I up - Wayne suddenly declared, "You are a girl and I am going to kiss you!" and proceeded to chase Grace.  She ran away, until she realized she could chase him back, and that she did!

 Here they are later on... Wayne was playing his DS and Grace was playing a toy cell phone.  Happy as a clam together, these two are!

 Wyatt was just having a blast - up past his bed time and getting a little delirious - can you tell?

Can't wait for more pizza partying in the future!

Memorial Day Partaaaaying

Cost Cutter holds their Lobster Fest every year, and while I'm way to cheap to PAY for seafood (I pay enough for Tyler to CATCH the stuff for free) I thought the boys would enjoy looking at them.  They did!  No fear hear, they each wanted to hold them, and the store employee was nice enough to let them.  To whoever did eventually pay to eat these babies - don't worry, we didn't hurt them!

Wyatt is becoming a MAJOR Daddy's boy.  Tyler worked nights the past few weeks, and so he'd leave for work around 4:30 each day - not good for Wyatt!  He cried and cried when he saw Daddy's lunchbox sitting out.  All the crying and carrying on made Tyler a pile of mush - it was worse than having a newborn around!

We also busted out the bubble ball that Wayne got for his birthday - with the weather starting to take a turn for the better, it was time for some outdoor F-U-N!

Seriously , where were toys like this when I was a kid?  Oh yeah - NOT INVENTED!  I do recall playing baseball with a rock and a stick.  Well, we had a real bat and ball, but we'd misplaced somewhere along the way!

You should see the look on Sadie's face when this rolls by.

And on Monday night we had a BBQ up at Vanderpol's.  It is so beautiful up there, looking off the mountain at the wide open views.  Truly amazing.  Also a lot safer, now that the deck has been enclosed!  We ended the night with a dip in the hot tub - Wayne and Weston were so excited.  They've been enjoying swimming lessons, and are doing "swimmingly!"  Wayne even swam by himself for the first time at his last lesson.  You could've knocked me over with a feather, I was so surprised. 

Wayne did get some baby Kallen cuddles in, just before it was time to leave.  He is SOO STINKIN CUTE!  Wayne AND Kallen that is!  :-) 

The days
finally feel like they are getting longer, and slower, and warmer.  It is LONG overdue, and I plan to squeeze every drop of fun out of this summer as I possibly can!

Wyatt the Explorer

There is no inch of the backyard that has gone undiscovered by Wyatt this Spring. High, low, North, South, under, over, and in between EVERYTHING in the backyard.  I'd like to tell you that even though he's everywhere, he stays clear of the bird bath and would NEVER be caught taking a drink from it, but...  

A favorite place to play is on the swing set and especially down the slide.  He's fearless!

I just can't believe that baby Wyatt will be TWO in just 6 short weeks.  He is still our baby though!  He has changed over the past few months from our sweet easy going baby, to an opinionated almost toddler - he walks around here shaking his hands and saying, "no, no, no!" when he doesn't want something.  Who knew?  Wy-wy has ideas of his own!

And on to these hoodlums...  Chasing each other around the back yard with a rope, taking turns being the good guy and the bad, tying each other up with a rope, and getting loose and escaping.  Sounds like a good afternoon to me!  Whatever keeps them busy.

Remembering our Grandpa in the Ground

With memorial day fast approaching, on Saturday afternoon, we piled into the car and drove up to the cemetery.  We normally try to go earlier so that we are the only ones there, but time got away from us.  It's such a natural thing for us to go up here - once we put out flowers, we are at the cemetery every 3 or 4 days all summer long, and the kids are very comfortable - they run, play, and leap frog headstones with joyful abandon.  When other people are there, I never want to distract them or want them to think that we are being disrespectful.  It's just that they have been coming here ALL of their lives.  Hey, I've been coming here for half of mine!  To us - it's normal, and a fun thing to do together as a family, and to remember their Grandpa.  He is still known as the "Grandpa in the Ground" by Wayne - if we just call him "Grandpa" then Wayne gets pretty insistent on heading up to my Dad's shop to make sure that he's okay, and that he's not the Grandpa that ended up in the Ground.  Kids!  How their little minds work always amazes me.  

Wyatt was really into helping this year, and we put him right to work.  I used to work, but now I get to just take pictures! 

 Dad and his helpers.

 I still have no idea how Wyatt managed NOT to pour this whole can of water on his head.

 A mole came up through the hole, so they were clearing it out.  All eyes were on the hole, they wanted to see if the mole was still there!

 My niece Megan is buried next to her Grandpa, and Wayne has taken it on himself to always handle her headstone.  He's getting pretty good!  Trims the grass, sprays the stone, scrubs, and rinses it all away.  No help needed.

 Weston got a little distracted with a sword fight with an imaginary bad guy.

 Awww... Dad and all his boys!

 And there was a family about 50 feet from us, watching and pointing and talking about how cute it was that all the boys were helping.  When I took the above picture of Tyler and the boys, they insisted on taking a family shot of all of us together- how sweet! 

I hope you all have a memorable Memorial Day!