~Aunt Tessa in Town~

Have you ever experienced the feeling of getting a new pair or running shoes? 

All you want to do is put them on and wear them everywhere. 

And you still love your old shoes, I mean, they were there for you first...

... but those new shoes... 

Travis and I are those old shoes, and Aunt Tessa is definitely the cool new pair of shoes;) 

Those boys just think she is the BEST and want to hold her hand everywhere we go.

On the upside, Travis and I get to hold hands now, which we don't usually get to do! 

Needless to say, we've been enjoying our time having her here.

Week of June 17th-25th

Saturday: We drove to Minneapolis where we picked Tessa up from the airport and then took her to the Mall of America. For some reason Aaron was wimping out from every ride (which was frustrating) so we thought we'd try the Ferris Wheel... the first few times around were NOT successful and I thought his poor little heart would beat right out of his chest!! By the end he was better! 

Later we picked out Trav's Father's Day Present and then settled into the hotel before snagging dinner.

Their reaction to Aaron's blood curdling screams

By the end of the ride

Sunday: Happy Father's Day Travis! You are the best, and we love you! 

We explored the Como Zoo; our favorite part was the Sparky the Sea Lion show. Then we played at the Hyland (chute's and ladders) Park. Back at the hotel, the boys requested to snuggle Tessa during a movie, so Travis and I went out and walked around IKEA for a bit. 

Monday: While Travis took a test, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and swam in the pool. While swimming, Aaron was pretending to be a baby shark and Maddix was his big brother, who carried him all over the pool; I love those boys.

A quick Costco trip on the way home, and then we came back to find a giant branch from our front tree had snapped off. Travis and the neighbors used a rope to yank it down, then a saw to chop it all up; meanwhile, the boys made Tessa color and play ball with them. We then went to the boys' ball games and FINALLY called it a night! 

Tuesday: We showed Tessa around our Library, the McNider Art Museum (Bonus: the giant blocks were out on the front lawn so the boys got to play), over Music Man Bridge, and down to East Park before heading home. It was nice knowing that while I made dinner, the boys were having fun out front with Tessa, and not just watching a movie.

At night Tessa and I went to the R.S. Volleyball game & had a blast, then became so sad at finding out the Sister's are being taking out of our area and we will no longer have female missionaries in our ward (boo!!). Then we perked up again at Culvers where we ate some ice cream and had lots of laughs with Arianna. 

Wednesday: Left Tessa at home (needed break), and took the boys to the library's reading/craft hour. The boys went to play at Arianna's while Tessa and I went grocery shopping, then I ran to do Visiting Teaching. That night we watched Passenger while Travis was at YM/Basketball. 

Thursday: Rolling Thunderstorms= reading and deep cleaning... all day. Plus video games with dad at night;) 

Friday: We went to an activity at the Clear Lake Gardens where the kids made rainbows out of fruit and explored the plants/dirt with magnifying glasses. We quickly played at the Main Park and walked the pier before it was too cold and we had to go home. The boys were invited to Arianna's for a picnic lunch so Tessa and I took that time to watch a cheesy chick flick:) 

It was a wonderful day. I got to see Travis for awhile at work, and chat with he and few of his co-workers, and then Tessa and I made dinner together: Tacos, spanish rice, and fruit; yum! 

We then became horses for Maddix and Aaron's jousting tournament, played Nala tag out front, and a game Maddix invented "Hide and go Boo!" 

Saturday: Started the morning snuggling the boys and reading scriptures (see? They still love the old shoes...). In the afternoon we celebrated Cannon Days over at East Park. There were bouncy houses, treats, train rides, and best of all, dad showed up just as we were about to leave so he got to be with us during the celebration!
That evening I went to a baby shower for a friend (wife of one of Trav's fellow residents) and in those hours I was gone the boys NEARLY broke Tessa. I came back and could see a twitch in her eye. As soon as Travis walked through the door we left the boys for him to put to bed and we got some time out of the house ;)

Sunday: Aaron quietly came out of bed, snuggling his puppy. As he rounded the corner his eyes brightened, and he was instantly awake, happy to see we were celebrating his birthday! Paw Patrol Style this year.
Travis was able to sneak around for a minute after church, we invited our honorary grandparents over, and we opened Aaron's presents, then I ate some cake.
Aaron's food requests: Puppy Chow breakfast (reeses puff cereal), traditional bday nachos, and corn "dogs" for dinner.... and the cake was to be a chocolate/strawberry Everest (from Paw Patrol) cake; he's been including this cake in his prayers for ALMOST a whole year now!
Happy Early Birthday Aaron! One more celebration to come on the actual day ;)
(Lucky boy gets two bday's this year: one with Daddy, one with family in Utah on his real bday)

The beginning of Summer Catch-up posts

I already know that I'm going to be posting weeks behind all summer long as we fall behind from doing so many fun things; however, some of our favorite posts to pull up and reflect on (especially during the long months of winter) are our summer adventures, so I'm going to do my best stay caught up!

So... since my family left, we've had long days where every moment seems packed in with something fun. We've had days (more recently, and thanks to the summer thunderstorms) where we're inside and we clean and read books most the day (the boys love their summer reading program through the library where they earn stickers and prizes for reading). Either way, it's just so nice to make the days our own. The day isn't broken into chunks due to school, and the weeks are hardly any different than our weekends since every day is play day together (and because Travis works every day so that never changes). We love it. I live for summer. And it's weird to think that by this time next week we'll be starting our second day of driving and rolling into Utah, where we'll spend the rest of our summer. 

Weeks of June 12-18th

Moments to remember: 

While doing yard work the wind picked up and blew the bag of grass into Maddix's face while we were dumping it and he went inside rubbing his eye vigorously. Shortly after, Travis arrived home and had to remove several blades of grass that were gooping to his eye, and after that his eyes were so swollen he couldn't open them. We had to use ice, medicine, a shower, and lay him in bed the rest of the day!

Having a group of friends over for assorted water games in the front yard! 

Library reading/craft hour

Summer nights at ball games

To always use Neosporin! While playing in the yard with the boys, a stick popped up and scraped the top of my toe; I thought nothing of it. By the next night my toe had a staff infection; it was painful. I was on crutches, antibiotics, and we had to keep slicing/draining the toe. Never again, please! 

(However, Maddix and Aaron shown through as little gentlemen during my time of need, and Travis got to use his wonderful skills to keep up from a giant hospital bill; tender mercies)

Haircuts! Believe it or not, Aaron woke up every day and crossed off another day down on the calendar until his haircut. At the salon, he spun in endless circles in the big chair talking about how he'd get a sucker at the end and have a cool haircut like Krew and Nash (two of his friends)!

The "Zoo Man" show at the library: The boys got to learn about animals, then hold a giant python, which they LOVED!

A special outing to the park: Maddix ran into a friend from school at the park, and instead of leaving Aaron in the dust (which sometimes happens in the excitement of a new friend), I watched him tenderly grab his brother's hand anytime he fell behind. He'd help him up any play set that was too steep, and included him in all their games; my heart soared to see their love for each other.

THE YARD SALE: This was the mother of all events. The previous week our neighbor Susan and I somehow came to talking about the boys perhaps selling some of their things in her garage sale. The boys quickly went through their room and toy room to collect a few boxes of extra books and toys we didn't use/need, as well as took a small "business loan" (we even shook hands) to purchase lemonade mix so they could sell lemonade:)
I agreed to sit with them as long as they'd like to run their stand and make money. I figured they'd stay to maybe lunch (we started at 9am). Maddix diligently sat at his post until 4:3pm when a storm moved in and we were forced to clean our stuff up for the day... he was amazing.
He started out shy, and unsure about the whole thing, and by the end he was yelling across to ppl, "would you like to buy some lemonade??" and always ending in, "Thank you; have a nice day!" And people here were so generous. Even Aaron stuck around most the time, either in his chair being in charge of the money box (his very important co-captain job), or on the blanket coloring next to us.
The next morning Maddix even set back out to sell for an hour before we had to leave to the airport to pick up my step-sister, Tessa.
Tell you what, the boys worked hard. They learned about loans, change, having customers, and now they get to learn about tithing (a little money we pull aside religiously), savings, and the joy of spending... they loved the whole experience!!