Summer Trip Home

What a trip! The kids and I spent almost 2 weeks in Illinois. It was a much over due trip and we got to squeeze in lots of time with almost everyone (I did miss some people...I'm SO sorry if I missed you!). I got SO many pictures that I actually need to categorize them this time LOL. So here we go-

The Trip (dun dun duuuuuun)
The trip down was rough to say the least. In a perfect world my kids would travel like this all 7 hours-

Instead it was more like this:

It was rough guys. I don't think Grandma and Grandpa Barton will EVER volunteer to do THAT again. LOL. We did have some fun moments on the way down...like Layla using a "gun" for the first time at Bass Pro. She's got a good eye.

 Jack did sleep a little on the way down. A whole 20 minutes! And he looked SO cute doing it.

They did travel well to the Workmans. In fact I'd actually say that that 3 hour drive was "fun"

Then there was the drive home from the Workman's. What was supposed to be a 5.5 hr drive was 7 thanks to construction. If I have to see another orange freaking sign or cone I'm done. The video of him screaming above? Put that on repeat for 2 hours. 

I should note that L has turned into an amazing travel buddy so there is hope for Jack. And he did sleep the last 10 minutes of the journey up. Here he is hanging out in the car while we unpack. Stinker. 

The Underwood's
The kids warmed up really fast to everyone on this trip. YAY! We spent a couple of days on and off at Grammy and Gramps house to see Dad's side of the family. We had a ton of fun planing, rolling around on the new carpet, seeing a train (L's life is complete) and eating Monical's (Mommy's life is complete lol).

Gma and Gpa Rosco
I did a little better with pictures at Gma and Gpa Rosco's house. Although I never did get a good picture of the two of them with the kids. SORRY!! Gpa Rosco was so busy and we just never went anywhere with great light and my camera. OOPS!

The kids had so much fun pointing to all the corn on this trip. They were obsessed with trains and corn the ENTIRE time. So L thought it was pretty cool that she got to pick some in Gpa's garden.

We had to make a grocery store run and the kids got to use the mini carts. These are SO fun...and Jack filled his to the brim with bacon while I wasn't looking. God love him.

When Daddy came (finally...I was exhausted, Jack reeeeeeally missed his Daddy) we took the kids fishing. We learned that the fish in this pond don't like bread and that Mom doesn't know how to take a bobber off without breaking the line LOL.

This picture. Jack's face looks a little distorted, right? It's because his cheeks bounce up and down when he runs. LOL. I haven't been able to capture it on video but here we have some cheek action.

Jack was more interested in my melted ice from Hardee's than actual fishing.

The Barton's
Like I said earlier, Gma and Gpa Barton had NO clue what they were up against when we told them we'd be staying with them the majority of the time. Poor things are probably still exhausted LOL.

Layla discovered she likes pistachio pudding. Gpa Rosco introduced her to the nuts a few years ago and she can't get enough. So Gma Barton decided to try the pudding. L think's it's pretty cool.

She also got to eat 1,000 at breakfast every morning.

And got her first pedicure!

Poor baby Jack had a rough time with sleep through out our entire visit. Another tough thing about traveling for toddlers...he's just so used to his own crib and room. I spent a lot of time getting him to sleep...and Daddy did too when he was able to join us. Here he is on Uncle Chris' bed.

Never fear. Even though J didn't get a ton of sleep, he still had LOTS of energy.

We got lots of hot tub time in. Who knew it would be so much fun? Jack really liked it too!

Jack got his first boat ride in. He was pretty chill about it...not really sure if he liked it or if he was just tired.

Layla's favorite part of the boat ride - looking for dead fish. Of course it was! Decatur, we like it here!

And the kids got to feed the ducks. They loved it!

We celebrated Daddy's birthday again with his family. And we wore the party hats for the entire rest of the trip!

Gpa Barton took Layla on a scavenger hunt during nap one day. She had SO much fun and "found" a little treasure.

And we went on another treasure hunt with both kids before one of Mommy's photo sessions.

And this happened.

The Workman's
We rounded out or trip to IL with a visit with the Workman's. We were SO excited to meet our new nephew, Braylon!

The kids had SO much fun playing with their cousins. We seriously had the best time just playing around the house. I didn't take my camera out much oops!

Daddy's birthday

We just got home from Illinois so I'm trying to get caught up on photos, blogs...life.

Bryan turned 30 on July 4th and I can't believe I didn't get these pictures up sooner. He had a great day filled with cake, fireworks (duh) and friends. We did most of the birthday celebrations around lunch time since we knew we'd be busy with fireworks later in the day.

The kids picked out an owl wind chime and a "happy birthday" balloon from the Dollar Store. Would you believe that balloon is STILL floating?! This is what happens when I try to get a sweet picture without fire-

Bryan also made pancakes with the kids. I know I already shared this but I just love it too much not to get in our blog. Such a sweet moment. :)

June

Could June really be over? It's hard to believe...it still feels like it should be April! These last few months have just flown by. I have been busy with photography, Bryan has been busy with fun stuff and the kids are outside ALL the time. We LOVE summer!

I haven't taken a single picture with my "real" camera this month but here is an update on all the Barton happenings-

Layla and Jack are starting to do things together more. It is so much fun to see them interact. Today we went to a story time at the library and Jack kept walking up to Layla, almost like he was checking in with her. It was sweet. Layla doesn't love it all the time but she does understand that as he gets older, they will be able to play TOGETHER more. She tells me she can't wait until "he can talk and not pull my hair". LOL. It's tough being a big sister!

One BIG event this month was the arrival and installation (thanks Gma and Gpa Barton!!!) of our swing set. The kids love to swing away but I was a little nervous at first. Within the first 2 minutes of the thing being up Layla tried to climb the rock wall in flip flops and got hurt. She started crying and said "I don't like this swing set, take it back and get a new one". But she snapped out of it pretty quick (and we had a talk later about how lucky she is to have ANY swing set) and we've been out there pretty much daily since then.

We did have to Jack proof it a little...he likes to try and jump off the clubhouse. Geez.

Daddy had a great and slightly uneventful Father's Day this year. The kids got him a hammock and they all like to "relax" in it together. :)

Now for Layla updates- Layla is still in tennis and LOVES it. I'm so happy we finally found something she can really enjoy. She's good at it and listens very well. I can't wait to see if she sticks with it.

Mommy and Layla got to go to a play a few weeks ago. It was The Little Mermaid put on by the children's theater. Mommy enjoyed it...Layla said in the car "well, that was disappointing". LOL. She thought it would be the Disney version. She did say she had fun being with Mommy but next time she wants to go to a movie theatre. Oh boy...at least the girl knows what she wants.

Layla will be 4.5 tomorrow! I can't believe we'll be rounding the corner to 5! :( She's so awesome. Smart, spunky and a whole lot of sassy. We are working on attitudes and wearing our "listening ears" lately. But 4 has been a really fun age so far!

This kid...I love her.

Jack updates-  Oh Mr. Jack. You are one crazy little boy. Jack is just...everywhere. He runs around the house screaming his head off and laughing, climbs on everything and is into EVERYTHING. He's a very active little boy, how else is he going to get all that energy out?

Jack has started to brush his own teeth (with our help of course) and loves to stare at himself in the bathroom mirror. He also enjoys his hair in a ponytail (a sign that he needs it cut LOL).

Jack has been crashing HARD for naps this summer. It's so awesome. Mommy is getting a lot of work done during naps. WOOO HOOO!!