Tyler's room redo

We've never fully decorated Ty's room since it was a nursery so we thought it was time. We wanted to make sure it was something he would like so we let him decide the theme. He & I looked online at tons of bedding sets & he fell in love with a pirate set. Stu decided it would be easier to just take the kids to grandma's & pop pop's & let me work on the room in quiet. It was tons of work but I definitely think it was worth it & best of all Ty loves it.

Here he is enjoying his new room. His favorite mural is this one of him & Alvin in the crow's nest. I painted the walls a lighter blue also.

Another mural. It's hard to see, but it says Tyler's treasure.

You can see the curtains mom worked so hard on. I told her I wanted to make something that looked like a sail with rope going through it out of a drop cloth. She totally pulled it off for me. So glad she was there to help or I would have never gotten it all finished.

This is a quilt mom made for Ty. It has pictures from his pirate party & all kinds of pirate flags.

A little fun time.

Tyler sleeps on the bottom bunk so I thought some portholes beside his bed would be kinda cool.

There it is, I still have a few small things to do but it's pretty much done. Maddie kept saying "ooh ooh let's go to Maddie's room". LOL I had to explain I only had time to redo brother's room this time.

Celebrating the 4th

We left Friday night to head to Raleigh to spend the 4th with Grandma & Pop pop. We got there late, played for a while then headed for bed. Saturday started with bright skies, low humidity, and cool air. We loved it & headed outside for some playtime. Stu & pop pop took the kids to the park while grandma & I headed to the store to pick up some necessities for the grilling activities later.

We had some snacks & started the grill. Pop pop & stu were in charge of the grill while we got the sides ready inside. The kids loved running in & out.

A little tickle time with Grandma.

Man talk out by the grill.

Trying to quiz pop pop & loving that he can't remember.

Mmmm.....

The feasters. We're hungry & ready to eat. We had quite a set up & grandma decided to get out the china. It was a beautiful & delicious dinner.

After dinner, grandma & pop pop set up dessert while we headed down to the pond for a little fun.
It's hard for me to get shots of both kids looking at me but I'm always trying.

Our soulful boy.

The rebel.

We ended the night by driving to the end of the road & watching some fireworks. The kids loved them. The kids love going to grandma's & pop pop's they know it will be a fun weekend of playing. This weekend was no exception.

Memorial Day

We really didn't have any plans for this memorial weekend, but it turned into a couple of fun packed days anyway. We started in Topsail with some giant inflatable slides & jump houses. Of course, the kids loved it & after eating some cheeseburgers we headed home.




Our next stop was the splash pad. This is a new spot the city opened last year but we haven't tried out until now. Most of the time, we had the place to ourselves. It's full of all kind of spraying water. The kids had a blast (so did Stu).

We ended up at Nash & Da Da's pool. It was a little cold 74 degrees, but you get used to it quick. The kids spent the entire time cannon balling in. Ty can finally walk around the shallow end really well by himself which is great. Maddie just likes to do whatever big bro is doing.

Maddie crashes

Lately, we've been busy & it seems like we're hardly home at nap time. Unlike Tyler, who gave up naps as soon as he turned two, maddie still needs her 2 hour afternoon nap. So, she's been falling out all over the place. I'll look over & she's just out.

This is Maddie asleep in her chair at dinner. Nope, she didn't finish eating just leaned back & fell asleep.

Here she is asleep in a storage box.

Her favorite position seems to be this one. She's been leaning over the arm of the rocking chair & going to sleep. So, her feet are still touching the floor & her head is in the seat of the chair. I'm amazed at the places she can go to sleep. Tyler never did that, he just didn't sleep.

Camping out

We've been talking about camping out & decided this weekend was the time. So, we got the tent out of the attic & put it up in the back yard. It was a brand new tent we've had for about 4 years but just never got around to using. The kids helped clear a spot for the tent. They were very excited about camping out.

This is where we started. A tent in a bag & no clue how hard it would be to get up.


















We really lucked out it was a really easy tent to put up. It was about a 20 minute process from start to finish. Not too bad for some newbies. Of course, we had a lot of help too.

Finally, it was up. Of course the kids jumped in right away. Ty spent most of the day inside it arranging & rearranging his sleeping bag. He even set a place up for his water cup & flashlight.

Here they are getting ready for bed at 1pm. Yea right.













Now, we're ready. The tents up, beds made, dinners grilling, and night is falling.

My sweet boy finishing up a hot dog dinner. Thanfully, we had a little wind blowing so the bugs did bother us. It was a perfect night for camping.












Maddie getting ready for bed. She was concerned it was getting dark but was still excited about sleeping in the tent.














Tyler informed us that all camp outs have ghost stories. So he held the flashlight up to his face & told us a spooky story about a monster who eats
tents. It was one of my favorite parts of the night.











We made it. It's about 7am (which is our usual wake up time). Everyone woke up happy & excited to still be in the tent. It was a very quiet night except, of course, for Stu's snoring.











A little fun with daddy before we take the tent down. I think everyone had a good time. Stu & I discussed maybe doing it again soon. It was a great family adventure.

Beach day

It was so nice Sunday that we decided to head out to the beach. The kids had been asking when we could go so they were excited about our trip. We packed up, grabbed some lunch, and headed out. It was nice out & the kids had a great time. Of course they ended up soaking wet so we didn't stay too long.

We took Alvin with us to see if he'll be going out with us this summer. He did a good job. He just wanted to check everything out so we need to get a longer leash.

We strapped the power wheel on top of the car & drove it down too. The kids love driving it all over the beach. The tide was going out so we found this cool little spot that was hard sand with water on 3 sides of it so they could just ride & ride.

Alvin is such a lap dog. He loves to sleep on someone. This was his favorite spot.

Oysters

My dad dropped off some oysters for us. I'm not a big fan but Tyler & Stu like them so we set up the big pot.
Ty dove right in & started eating as soon as Stu could shuck them. He loves the big juicy ones. I don't know how he eats them that way.

Madeline's first look at an oyster.

She kept saying they were "ummy" but she only licked it. She would never bite it.

Stu did manage to get some in a pot for some oyster stew. Ty & Stu almost ate the entire pot when it was finished. Guess I'm odd man out when it comes to oysters.