Zoo Classes! We love them. The kids make a costume, learn about and go visit the animal of the month. Each child got to pick one zoo class this summer. Clayton learned all about HIPPOS. His favorite thing was to demonstrate how they scare the alligators away...by opening their mouth super wide. Brooke learned all about how to be a zookeeper and what hard work that can be. I love to watch them playing with the information they learn. The other day they were out playing in the pools. Brooke had the hose and was pretending to be the zookeeper while her friend Reed pretended to be the alligator waiting for his cage to be cleaned. Clayton the hippo came over to scare the alligator away with his wide open mouth.Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!!
We had lots of fun celebrating many friends and family birthdays. Grandma Nancy started off the summer. I asked each of the kids what she would want. Brooke choose a necklace and Clayton was convinced that she wanted a transformer (a blue one!) Turns out grandma DID want a transformer and at Clayton's suggestion, she thought it would be a great idea to leave it at Clayton's house so that she had something to play with when she came over. It was SO funny to listen to how serious he was with his explanations - he couldn't have been more excited to present his gift.
I have many, many stories that made me laugh and big bummer that I didn't get myself to write them down more often! One of my very favorites from the summer was one afternoon when the boys were napping and I was trying to get the "business of the house" taken care of downstairs - fun stuff like bills, e-mails, etc. Brooke found our birthday tote with all the wrapping paper and gift bags in it. She got to work decorating the table with all the leftovers from the years (eclectic would be a huge understatement) and also put together a gift for Clayton. She must have worked for a full two hours preparing for when he woke up. So Clayton comes down the stairs and Brooke announces, "Clayton, LOOK it's a party for YOU!" (Mind you I have slowly lost all patience hearing about their birthdays and their endless thoughts of what the day will look like...it's a long way until October and November folks! Regardless, Clayton is in his element when he is imaging how great his birthday will be this year.) Back to the story - Clayton is THRILLED to say the least...and probably doesn't really have a clue that it's NOT his birthday...nor will it be for another FOUR months. Brooke can barely contain her excitement in presenting him with his gift. He is even more excited to accept the gift. And he begins to unwrap the bag filled with Christmas themed tissue paper. "OH WOW BROOKE" he says. Up until this time I haven't been paying too much attention to the "party" going on 3 feet behind me, but I turned around at his last exclamation trying to figure out what his "gift" would be - knowing Brooke hadn't left the unfinished basement in preparing his gift. Out of the bag Clayton pulls out....5 random markers, a half used package of crayons clearly labeled with Brooke's name on it, 15 green straws that have been mummy wrapped in scotch tape, and a well-used text book that was Aunt Laura's 15 years ago. He paraded around with those items for the rest of the day more grateful than I have seen him for anything before.
Grandpa Mark's birthday was next. Brooke was adamant that he would want a necklace with his name on it. Again, turns out that is EXACTLY what Grandpa wanted.
AND, last family birthday of the summer - DADDY's.
Strawberry picking - Annual tradition, but lesson learned this year to make sure we get there earlier in the season. It was super wet a couple days prior to going, so we ended up pureeing most of the strawberries because they were less than the sweet, juicy flavors that we love!
Art Projects
Both kids love to draw, color, and paint. It's usually a HUGE mess, so it's not every day that we do projects. (I've found that preschool is great for messy, messy projects.) We had a lot of fun painting pots and decorating paper the size of the whole table.
Fourth of July Celebrations
I think our biggest adjustment this summer with our new house was not having our annual 3rd of July party with the Menomonee Falls parade and fireworks. Brooke asked what we could do instead - so we invited friends over to decorate bikes and have our own mini parade around the cul-de-sac. Maybe an annual tradition....we'll see.
Daddy's Helper
We got many items crossed off of our to-do list for the house this summer. Mike put ceiling fans in the upstairs bedrooms, framed some of the basement, built the swingset, and several smaller projects. He could have knocked some of those out much faster without his "helpers" but I was so blessed to see what a great dad he is to include the kids while he worked. He made them feel like he couldn't have gotten the project done without them....yeah daddy!
Okauchee Lake
Temperatures this summer have been much warmer than last and we enjoyed several days out on Okauchee Lake. Even Lincoln loved the water and the boat rides.
Uncle Chris & Brooke
Crazy Sleepers
Busy summer days apparently make for some dead-tired kids that are so funny to check in on at night. We never know what we'll find!
Governor Dodge State Park
With Lincoln being so little, temperatures being super hot and mosquitoes that could have carried us all away, we decided it best for our family to join Change-Pointe for the day at Governor Dodge rather than overnight. We had a great time swimming, hiking and hanging out with great friends.
Baby Lincoln
He has changed SO much this summer and not so much of a baby any more as he approaches one and learning to walk, talk, and express his own little personality. This little man LOVES to smile and laugh. It's fun to watch him play games with us and participate more in our daytime fun.
Driving the Bus at Betty Brinn
My Fragile Flower
Clayton is all boy - lots of energy...and loves to stomp, wrestle and out-run anything or anyone that will allow for it. Many times we've reprimanded him for being too rough with Brooke or mommy. The reason...we are "fragile flowers" and can't handle all of his boy energy. We have this flower towel that it typically Brooke's. Clayton requested it and when I asked why he wanted it, he says, "BECAUSE mom - I'm a fragile flower too!" OH, how he makes me laugh!
Helping Hands
Many of the things that we did this summer would not have been quite so enjoyable (or even possible) if I hadn't had the help of one amazing young lady. Madison helped us out so much this summer. She was game to participate in anything - she loved on the kids and they LOVE her. Any morning that we were involving her in our activities they could not wait to see her. One day we picked her up and randomly stopped at Basse's farm to do some raspberry picking. 
Time flew....but what fun!!
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