i know i need to recap the entire week and i will, soon. but i just wanted to make sure i got this in the blog. rex was in the tub today and he randomly looked up at me and told me "my favorite color is blue". he was very serious when he told me. i love that kid! he also was asking "where's. my. cup?" making sure to emphasize the "s" sound at the end of where's. he'd usually say "where my cup go?" or just say "i want drink". he's growing up so fast!

the kids were being hilarious this morning! i was doing dishes and rex pushed his carebear into the kitchen in the stroller. he took the bear out and set it down against the door. he told it "sit down. time out. no hitting", while shaking his finger at it. i was giggling listening. then malloy comes in hold her baby and says " ugh. my baby got up too early! she's a crankypants." so she puts the baby back in her crib and shuts the bedroom door. a few seconds later, she sighs and stomps into the bedroom saying "i'm not very happy. go to sleep! it's time for bed!" and slams the door. a few seconds later, she stomps back in to yell at the baby again. she was pretty spot on the way bedtime has been lately!!

malloy had her end of the year concert and class party today. she's officially done with school! she was cute singing on stage. this time she sang nicely with her classmates, unlike the over-enthusiastic performance at christmas! she was very excited to give her teachers their candy gram gifts! at the end, the teachers gave out awards. malloy got 'most enthusiastic'. sounds about right!

this afternoon we played outside. it was hot and then kids were loving the pool! rex was actually on his belly in the pool - he hasn't done that yet this year! we moved the kids' room around a little bit so we could put the air conditioner in. it was getting way too hot in their room!!! they were excited that things were different but now their beds are closer together. they've been in bed for almost an hour and they're still chatting, singing, giggling. at least they love each other!!

candy grams for the teachers

the kids filled their happy jar! they got their watches! rex's is spiderman

malloy's is a princess watch

rex got his own table in the classroom

 mrs. mcgrath

mrs. messina

being on stage is so tiring. laying down eating lunch

was trying to get a good shot of the ringlets she had today!!

this morning we went to target, had a playdate at gianna and kenadee's and then to michaels. busy morning! the kids have so much fun at their friends' house! malloy has been really quiet lately at playdates. she just goes off and does her own thing, keeping busy with all the toys. she looks so serious when she's completing a task, i love it. we ate lunch out on the deck and then it was off to nap! not a peep from them today, they both went right to sleep! yay!
after nap, we went to the gym and then had a picnic dinner outside. the kids had a blast eating on a blanket and running around the yard. they would run, take a bit, run, then take another bite. they made up a game - malloy would go down the slide and start rolling in the grass. rex would go down the slide and say "i get you!" and run at her and tackle her. malloy LOVED this! she was giggling like crazy. it's so nice to see them play and fun so much fun together!! they're best buds!
after dinner and bath, i took a quick shower. in the less than 10 minutes that i was gone, rex took his diaper off and pooped in the playroom. he then went on to paint with it, rub it on toys and who knows what else. neal got home and rex was standing in the kitchen with poop all over his hands and feet and there was a poop trail from the playroom to the kitchen. we scrambled around cleaning up poop for a while!! what a nice welcome home for daddy!
hte kids were great tonight and went right to sleep - not a peep!

monday recap:

we had a playdate at our house outside. it was a hot and sunny morning and everyone had a blast playing in the pool, sprinkler, water table, and bubbles. the kids went right down for nap with no problem! we tried to play outside after nap, but it started raining and storming. instead, we took a bath and had an early dinner and bed time. bed time is, once again, a battle. malloy is yelling less that before, but she still will call to us and ask to go potty or tell us to put her blankets on. i'm not sure what to do with her!

rex licks the cheese out of the container - all of the cracker sticks are on the table still

we got a new toy story pool! the old one had many holes in it.

today - malloy went to school and rex and i went to the gym. once we got home, rex turned into a whiny monster! he was so miserable!!!! if one little thing didn't go his way, he was a screaming, crying, monster! he hit me out of frustration at one point but settled down after a time out. the kids did not nap today. i have no idea what was going on, but it was just not in their plans to sleep! instead, we went to the mall! malloy brought her baby and stroller and pushed her baby while i pushed rex. they were great the whole time we were at the mall! we put a LOT of happy stones in the jar when we got home!! bed time was awful!!!!!!!!!! rex was beyond exhausted and was rough-housing with neal. he started screaming when we told him it was bedtime and didn't stop for quite a while! malloy didn't go right to sleep either, but they went to sleep quicker than most nights!

my little shopping buddy

just adding a quick weekend update - pictures to come soon!

friday, we played outside and then went to dinner at don patron and then to anderson's for ice cream with uncle ryan. yum! the other highlight of the day was that malloy finally got her rulers that she's been wanting. in her highlights magazine there's a "build it" section. in the most recent one, there's a girl building bridges and ramps with blocks and rulers. she was asking every day if she could have rulers. we finally found the right kind at the dollar store! phew! she was so happy to go home and build with her rulers!

saturday, the kids went to the park with neal in the morning and then grandma val and roro came to visit for a little bit before auntie andi's wedding shower. malloy was excited to get dressed up and go to a party. she was very well behaved and wanted very badly to be a part of the action. she eventually ended up helping give andrea her presents and she was also in charge of picking up all of the wrapping paper. she did great! rex was very sad that malloy and i left him. he screamed (like nothing neal or i have ever heard before) when we left and then cried himself to sleep. he was not happy to be napping without malloy in the room!!! after the shower, we went to uncle paddy and auntie andi's for a bbq. the kids loved playing with wally and with their bubbles. malloy loves when wally licks her and encourages it! she was eating chips - getting a chip out of the bowl, eating it, letting wally lick her hand clean, repeat. rex loved petting wally and painting himself with bubbles.

malloy was eyeing this napkin for about 20 minutes. it was in a basket at another table and she was inching her way over to it. she FINALLY got it and was so pleased with herself!

being a good helper!

this morning, grandma val and roro came over for breakfast. it was another beautiful day and we ate out on the deck. then the kids went swimming for quite a while. after nap, they swam some more and ran through their new sprinkler. uncle ryan came over for dinner. we had our first strawberry rhubarb pie of the season!! malloy was VERY excited about pie. we thought that bedtime would be a breeze because the kids were outside all afternoon, however, malloy was a trainwreck because she was way too tired to function. she ended up screaming at bedtime and wasn't allowed to read books. hopefully we get the hang of this summer bedtime stuff soon!!!

just making sure he was all dried off before putting some clothes on!

malloy LOVES her new rulers!

rex's new thing it to tell us what he just said. he just looked at me and said "mommy, i say 'oweenk oweenk'" (oink oink). the other day, he peeked his head around the corner into the kitchen and said "i saying 'awesome!'" and giggled. i love it! he's also elongating words. drink = dawink. please = palease, etc.

we had a great, productive morning. malloy went to school while rex and i went to the gym. then i ran home to shower and we were off to get malloy. then we went to dress barn, famous footwear, and fashion bug (no luck anywhere) and the kids were GREAT! i did bribe them with tootsie pops if they were good. whatever works! naps were short, so we're staying home and coloring this afternoon, dinner, then bed!!

malloy's teacher handed me her placemat and her 'all about me' page that she made at the beginning of the year. it brought a tear to my eye realizing that she's done with school next week and has completed a whole year!!

we had a fun playdate at gianna and kenadee's house this morning. it started out sunny with kids in bathing suits and ended up raining with everyone inside. the kids were well behaved until we had to go - rex kept going back down into the basement! he did it about 4 times, little stinker!
malloy was beat because she woke up around 12:30am and it took her quite a while to get back to sleep. she passed out, but got up from naps too early. she was tired, whiny, and clingy all afternoon. not sure what's going on with her!!

malloy's picture of daddy, she gave him glasses and "super curly hair"

malloy's faces - one of our new favorite games!

oops! didn't post yesterday! monday update:

we had a playdate at our house. ben and cameron from malloy's class came - she was so excited!! we played out on the deck in the sun. after nap, we went back outside to play. this time we played in the sandbox. malloy claimed she saw a worm, but i didn't see anything. rex was playing, saying "i not scared. i not scared worm." he was clearly uncomfortable that there might be a bug of some sort in the sandbox. it was really cute.

"coloring" on the floor with k'nex

today, malloy had her school picnic at the park. the kids had so much fun running around - playing on the playground, with bubbles, with the parachute, buying snacks and treats. it was quite a morning! both kids were all red and sweaty and were walking slowly with me (gasp!) on our way to the van. we went to target this afternoon - i had to try on a few things and the kids were AWFUL! they were off the walls! yelling, banging on the mirrors, screaming - it was quite embarassing! not going to make that mistake again!!! malloy was complaining that her belly hurt before bed. when we told her she was going to stay up with us for a while, she said "i think i just need to go to sleep." we put her in her bed - she didn't want to sing!! - and she passed right out. let's hope she was just overtired!!!

what a great weekend! yesterday, when malloy got up, she was very concerned about where bella was and if she was still sleeping. of course, bella was still sleeping - at least malloy actually slept in until 7:00! bella ended up sleeping until 7:30 and then came out asking malloy why she was yelling and why she woke her up. the girls played all morning, watched a movie, played some more, and did a few art projects. then neal took them all to the park while i went to the gym. we had a big family bbq dinner with grandma tappy and grandpa gary, uncle ryan, kari, and bella, uncle paddy, auntie andi, wally, and uncle matt. the kids had so much fun with so many people around. they loved playing with the dogs, too! there was a fruit salad and rex was LOVING it! he ate SO MANY grapes!! and pineapple!! and then the watermelon came out and he ate a ton of that! he didn't even want cookies!

rex occupied himself while i made cookies :)

time for art!

 

mmmm homemade nutter butters!

the cookies were a hit!

rex walking around with kari's flip flops

this morning, when the kids got up, we went right to the store to get ingredients for this morning's breakfast! we had grandma, grandpa, uncle ryan, kari, and bella over for breakfast this morning. we had a french toast bake and an egg casserole with bagels and yogurt and fruit! we ate out on the deck in the sunshine and then played outside until naptime. we said good-bye to everyone before naptime - we'll miss having so much family around!! the kids love their grandma and grandpa. rex especially loves his grandpas!!! he was so excited to have grandpa gary playing with him!!! he's such a stinker with his grandmas - he takes a long time to warm up. he definitely favors the men in his life!! he did give grandma a few cuddles while she was here at least!!! malloy loves them both and had a great time showing off all of her songs, games, and new tricks!
malloy got up from nap before rex and she had a snack with daddy and then played a game with me. it's not often she gets one on one time with each of us! we had dinner and then had ice cream out on the deck before bed. malloy has started yelling at bedtime again. sometimes if i ignore it, she'll stop and go to sleep. tonight, she did not stop until i went in there. but that was it. i'm hoping it's just exhaustion from the weekend and we'll get back into a routine!

not the most appetizing picture but it was YUMMY!

playing outside

rex thought it was hilarious that uncle ryan was jumping over him!

matching numbers game - malloy can identify numbers 1, 3, 4, and 8 so far

making a pie. she was "adding some gummy bear toppings"

ice cream cones!

rex prefers to eat things with a spoon. he's not a fan of biting or chewing food.

popping bubbles with a gold club

reading at bedtime is always an adventure!