Ten on Tuesday

1. Yesterday the Blakley cousins were reunited, after more than a week apart, and they were all very excited. I am not sure I've ever seen Brendan so pumped up. They came over to swim and watch movies while their parents tackled new house stuff. Zane finally got to show them the Penguin Movie, complete with lots of penguins for everyone to cuddle.

 

 

2. I forgot to mention in my fourth post that Zach and Zane camped Friday night in the tree house. They didn't make it very long, because Zane got too hot, but they did have this mosquito net tent to keep the bugs off of them. In cooler weather the tree house is going to be perfect for camping

The other favorite tree house activity is building castles with the scraps of wood leftover from construction.

 3. One of my favorite parts of the lake is the wonderful view of Oklahoma's gorgeous July sky. Saturday there was quite the cloud show during the day followed by a lovely sunset on the lake, my favorite!

  

4. While looking through my pictures I also found this classic shot of Rowan, enjoying his, very American, chocolate covered Twinkie. One of the perks of Daddy doing the grocery shopping for our 4th of July celebrations!

 5. As I mentioned in a previous post I have been out my gym routine, but life is kind of back to normal which meant off to the gym we went yesterday afternoon. The boys were strangely excited and I was really not. I had to stop halfway through yesterday's run because my feet hurt. This morning I went and bought new shoes and today's run which better, hooray!!

6. I am starting to really want to go to the ocean. I get this itch every few years, but can't quite figure out how to make that happen now. Zane really wants to see the ocean, but I'm not sure we can float a family vacation to the ocean right now. Maybe just Zach and I could go for a little bit, hmmmmm. Probably not a reality but I would really like to sit on the beach a read book right about now. 

7. Snap shot of Zane: Now that he is five I hear this sentence at least five times a day,"Mom, I'm five years old I can do (enter whatever I have tried to help him do)." Five has come with kind of a rude change in attitude, which is not ok, and we are working on that and not whining (How are we still working on not whining or throwing fits???)

8. Snap shot of Rowan: Rowan is talking up a storm, mainly saying any and everything his brother is saying. Currently Rowan makes all words at least three syllables and ends most words with a e sound, such as "insidey, outsidey, juicey, and my personal favorite fireworkies. He does have moments of quite, playing by himself, which is still a strange thing to see in my house.

9. Today the boys spent all the time we were at home playing "huggies" which involves hugging each other until they were in a pile on the floor giggling. I was trying to find a recipe for dinner and was attacked from both sides in a game of "huggies." Lots of laughs at our house today. 

Side note for anyone with a garden full of zucchini you are trying to use up, I made zucchini turkey taco boats tonight for dinner and they were amazingly good. Zane ate his hole boat and loved it. I'm sure you could use ground hamburger if you don't have ground turkey. 

10. Yesterday, while I was getting ready in my room, I began to wonder why there were no little boys at my feet and I didn't hear any screaming. Strange on both fronts. When I came out I found Zane and Rowan having a pretend book signing in the living room. Zane was signing every page of his big science book that he got from Grammie. Rowan was signing every page of the Pirate potty book. It was so random and hysterical. When I asked Zane who he was signing it for he said, "For the people who are going to buy my book." Obviously!!! No we have never been to a book signing so I am not sure where he came up with this idea, but I love his lofty goals!!

July 4th Family Fun 2015

The Fourth of July could be my favorite holiday. It's summer time, there is all my favorite food, there are fireworks, and swimming, everything that I love. Growing up the 4th meant the all my cousins descended on Crystal Lake in Ames, Oklahoma and it was days of summer fun! We haven't had a lake 4th in years, but this year, after lots of work from Able and Kari, the lake was up and running again, ready for another 4th of July celebration!!!

First up, buying lots of fireworks with Daddy!

 

The festivities started at the farm on Friday. Zach worked on the tree house, adding more windows and the long awaited slide. We did a few afternoon fireworks and a few warm up fountains in the evening.

 Smoke bombs

 

A pile of snakes!

 

 Happy Fountains for days!!

 Tree house fun!

 This slide will make for hours of cousin fun!

 Saturday we headed to the lake for hours of swimming, paddle boating, napping, eating, and fishing all ending with the big firework show. The boys had a blast and I loved getting to show them a 4th of July straight out of my childhood. 

 

Anyone who has been a part of the Dotter 4th knows the importance of floaties and life jackets. This year was no different. The boys loved all of it!

 CANON BALL!!!!!!!!!!!

 Uncle Able showed up and taught Zane a thing or two about jumping off the dock.

   The lake was so clear we could see the fish swimming around under the dock and we even caught a few.

Rowan had no problem kissing our little fish friend.

 This blue reclining chair has been around for years. There have been fights over who gets to sit in this amazing plastic chair. This weekend another generation was introduced to it's wonder! I am sure my Grandma Dotter was smiling down from heaven at these two blonde headed boys enjoying her favorite chair!

 It wouldn't be a weekend at the lake with lots of sibling love. The end of the dock is where the best sibling photos are taken. These two were no different, so much cuteness and so much love!!!!

  Ready for the firework show. There may have been a small brush fire, but it was quickly put out and the show went on. There were multiple cabins doing fireworks so it was a wonderful show! The boys stayed up hours past their bedtime and actually  handled it rather well. There was the classic drive back to the farm with fireworks filling the skies all around us.

Uncle Scott, Uncle Jim, cousin Kathryn, Michelle, and Kristen came out for the show as well. Yes of course we had patriotic music playing as well.

 Sunday we came back out to the lake for another day of fun. Uncle Able and Aunt Kari were there for all the fun too.

 Uncle Able introduced Zane to Watonga cheese curds, another staple of the Dotter's 4th celebrations.

 The boys took a long, much needed nap and then we headed back home after dinner. We are ready for another lake weekend next week.

Why I Never Get Anything Done

On any given day, if you were to walk into my house, you could expect to find quite a mess. There will probably be a fire truck blocking the hall, rain boots, tennis shoes, and saddles will be strewn about, multiple bags with varying degrees of my life can be found lining the doorway. My floors are swept at least once, if not multiple times a day, but you couldn't tell it because pieces of lunch and snack time are strewn all over my kitchen and dinning room. There are piles of books here and there, lots of play food from various pretend meals laying on the floor. There are usually baskets of clothes, dirty, clean, and folded waiting for the next step of the process. And don't even think about taking a peek into my bedroom, which is always last on the list to be pulled together.

I often start my day with visions of getting everything organized, cleaned, and put away. Then something wonderful happens. I feel little hands on my legs or he climbs up into my lap, with the sweetest little face he says, "Cuddoo me Mamma. Holda me Mamma. Singa me mamma. Lova me mamma." One or more of these cute requests and my plan is shot. I find myself sitting where I was with one or two little boys, blonde heads on my shoulder, and a heart spilling over with love.

 The only time I use the selfie mode on my phone is to take pictures of these perfect cuddling moments that I want to remember forever!

Little Rowan is getting quite smart about it. When push comes to shove and I have absolutely have to do something, say cooking dinner, Rowan says, "Cuddoo me a little bit first!" Smart boy, but usually ends with him on the counter, as close as humanly possible to me, while I'm trying to cook dinner.
I'm not sure when Rowan became such a cuddlier. As a little baby, and as recently as about six months ago, he had little desire to cuddle. Now he needs lots of hugs, kisses, and cuddles all the time. Our night time routine has been greatly extended as of late with little Rowan needing lots of cuddles, lots of songs, and really having a hard time laying down by himself.

 

And that is the beautiful struggle I find myself in. If I had all the money in the world I would have someone clean my house, do my laundry, and cook our meals so I could spend all of my days cuddling, singing, and playing with my sweet boys. I know that the time in which they want me to cuddle them is going to end soon. They will be big kids before I know it, most likely not wanting a lot to do with me in the years to come. The idea of hours of cuddles with soon be a distant memory. So for right now I try to not let the mess of my house bother me, I soak up every minute that there is a little blonde head on my shoulder. It is my greatest joy!

  

 

Family Vacation 2015: St. Louis Zoo

Thursday evening I got no sleep as the lightening crashed and the thunder roared in St. Louis. I was up all night looking at a radar covered in red and green, trying to figure out how I was going to break the news to Zane that we weren't going to be able to go to the zoo on Friday. It rained all night and into the morning, I worked on alternate plans, and tried to think of ways we could at least sneak in to see the penguins and polar bears in the midst of a huge thunder storm. And then, as we were leaving the store after buying ponchos, the clouds broke, and the sun shone on our zoo wishes.

We went ahead with our original plans and it was one of my favorite zoo days ever!! There were a few sprinkles at the beginning, but nothing that our $0.97 ponchos couldn't handle. We spent a solid three hours seeing all of our favorite animal friends. We went through the new elephant trails and saw all the new bear exhibits. We didn't get to see the Hippos, but we did get to see scuba divers cleaning up the hippo poop, which was just as interesting. Turns out a lot of cleaning goes on at the zoo on drizzly, cloudy mornings. All the animals were out and playing in the cool June weather.

Of course the Wamser clan met us there and everyone was so excited to be together again. I miss them dearly!

 Best buds!

 While we waited for Michelle we took Jangle into the bug house to see some creepy critters.

 The new bear exhibit was lots of fun and the bears were out playing in the rain.

 Family photos with the elephants is a must!

Once we had been through River's Edge we met up with Aunt Trina and her kids. Then it was time for the main event, penguins and polar bears! The penguins never disappoint. The pure joy on Zane's face when he sees the Rockhoppers, and as he gets splashed by stinky penguin water, is worth all the struggles to get there. He absolutely loves it and I love seeing him so supremely happy. This trip he had Jangle with him, who needed lots of photos with the penguins. I think our family photo with the penguins might just make the Christmas card this year, is completely sums up our life.

 In his St. Louis Zoo penguin shirt, in front of the penguins, BEST.DAY.EVER!

The brand new polar bear exhibit is right outside of the penguins and thanks to the cloudy/drizzly day there were no lines. Kali was out and playing in his big habitat and Zane could not believe he got to see a real life polar bear, "just like in the Arctic." The exhibit is huge and lovely, so glad we got to see it.

From there we headed to the carousel then on through the chimpanzee exhibit, where everyone was out and running about. The sea lions were all swimming, except the one who was napping underwater.

Of course we had to make our way up the hill through the snake house, by the lions, tigers, and zebras before calling it day. Rowan had no fear putting his head up against the glass beside a boa constrictor, but don't get him near a dog, silly boy.

 

Before we left it was time to get the last penguin in Zane's penguin set, a St. Louis Zoo Humbolt Penguin. He has been patiently waiting since our last trip for this guy so he could have one of each kind of penguin from the St. Louis Zoo. He knew just which one he wanted and quickly named him Gru because he had a long nose like Gru from Despicable me. Rowan was persuaded into getting a polar bear, instead of yet another penguin for our house. It was bitter sweet walking back to our car as I knew how much Zane would miss his penguin friends. We had lunch at one of our St. Louis favorites, Rigazzi's, with the Wamsers before saying our sad good byes and heading on down the road.

 Gru and Jangle were fast friends.

Happiness is new stuffed penguin!

We stopped by Allie's house for a brief hello and good bye there as well. Miss my St. Louis friends oh so much!!!