Ten On Tuesday

1. The boys both did well on our flights, but with much less sleeping than I had hoped. Rowan was having none of cuddling on our way home, standing up in my lap the whole time. He kept his knees locked even while he dozed off for a little bit, as if to say "I'm not cuddling you, I'm standing up." Zane played the iPad the entire way home and loved the whole airplane experience. He did yell "we're going down" as we landed, which probably wasn't the best choice of words. Also, randomly yelled "fire" which he does from time to time when playing Fireman Sam, again not a great choice of words on the airplane.

Here is Rowan on his first flight, wide awake, taking it all in!

Daddy and brother on the other hand snoozed the whole way there.

 Toddler cave, key to airport success with a three year old.

2. Rowan is growing up too fast. He is now in the phase where every time you set him down he rolls over on his belly and is immediately miserable. He has figured out how to get his other arm out from under him and even pulls both arms up under his belly and scoots around (being mobile at all is really not optimal). He gets himself off his gym with his scooting and rolling and hates his life the whole time he is on his stomach. However he refuses to stay on his back. I have seen him roll back to his back from his stomach, but he doesn't do this very often. This means I have to rescue him, but really this is a lose lose situation. He hates being cuddled, can't stay on his back, and is offended by his bouncy chairs. So funny, but gets frustrating quickly. He also has found his hands and feet and mastered sucking his tiny tiny thumb, which is by far the cutest thing I have ever seen.

This is his most frequent position as of late; on his belly, crammed up against the side of his gym, half off the mat.

 Not a great picture from my phone, but you get the effect of his adorable thumb sucking. I should really get my good camera out of the suit case.

But don't worry still a very happy, adorable, tiny boy!

3. We are getting our house pulled back together after being gone for a few days. This process is exhausting. I clean all day, unpack, put away, and it is still a mess at the end of it. I am so glad I had yesterday and today off before heading back to work tomorrow. This is a much better set up than flying back one day then going to work early the next morning. I'm way to old for that :)

4. For those of you who scrapbook or use to scrapbook and have supplies you don't use anymore my sister has teamed with a local scrapbooking store in OKC to collect scrapbooking supplies to donate to the victims of the May tornadoes in Oklahoma. All the supplies collected will be distributed to victims of the tornadoes in hopes of helping them heal through the therapy that is creating and recording memories. This would be a great time to go through all your scrapbooking stuff and donate the stuff you don't use anymore or is no longer your style. Follow the link to my sister's blog for more information on how to donate to this great cause. http://athomewiththerichardsfamily.blogspot.com/2013/06/healing-scraps-for-oklahoma.html

5. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous the past couple days with highs in the low seventies, no much humidity, and a wonderfully cool breeze. I am loving playing outside without having a heat stroke. Yesterday the boys and I took a walk around the neighborhood and finally figured out how to get into the little park with only having to mildly trespass in someone's yard. There are swings and slides and it is within walking distance of our house. Surely the nice people whose house is in front of it won't mind us walking through their back yard just a little to get there.

Zach and Rowan hanging at a park in OKC before our flight home. I can't believe these overalls fit him. Zane wore them when he was about a month old. Rowan remains a tiny little guy.

 Zane enjoying perfect park weather in OKC.

 Zane learning how to swing himself in our new found neighborhood park.

6. Our family photos have been moved to Thursday, but I have found adorable outfits for both boys so we are ready to go. Not the exact same outfit, but everyone will match and hopefully get some good brother pictures. In the mean time here is the brother picture from this morning when Zane wanted to hold Ro. He still is working on being gentle and not getting in Rowan's face, but I think getting a little better. For some reason Rowan looks really fat in this picture, but don't let it fool you, he isn't chubby at all.

7. Zane has officially decided that he wants a Spider Man birthday party. I offered everything, fire trucks, Toy Story, Pirates, you name it, but he has decided on Spider Man. I'm making a spiderweb cake with a Spider Man candle and that's as far as the planning has gone. We are planning on a lunch bday party here the Sunday after his birthday and hoping to take him to his first movie that Saturday, the new Monsters movie. We shall see how that goes. He is very excited about his birthday "coming up." I can't believe he is going to be three, time is flying by.

8. Zane and I have been talking a lot about mountains since we got home. We are preparing for the Dotter reunion in the mountains. When we said good bye to everyone in OK they told him they would "see him in the Mountains." Cue Zane asking "what is a mountain mamma?" and "what do mountains eat?" Turns out mountains are hard to describe to a three year old. But never fear Amazon is here. Today we received our C is for Centennial book that shows mountains and all sorts of other fun Colorado things that he can look forward to seeing on our mountain get away. I might be trying to psych myself up for this event as well. I'm currently thinking it might be the most stressful vaca ever.

9. Today, while trying to find a cute shirt for Zane, we went to Wal-Mart to spend a gift card I had. Of course there were no pollo shirts there but there was this awesome horse ride which made it all worth while. The ride was set to the Bonanza theme. Zane loved it! Best fifty cents I ever spent.

 Look at that perfect horse riding posture. 

10. Last, but not least, the honey suckle plant on the fence in our backyard is in full bloom, giving our patio a wonderful sweet smell. I love the smell of honey suckle and if I was planning on living in this house forever I would plant it along all of our fence. Mom has it growing on the end of her big porch as well, it's the perfect smell of summer!! Here is Zane in front of our beautiful patch of honey suckle. 

And that is the weekly round up from the STL. Have a great week!