Sprinkler Squealing

The VanSickle girls came over for a fun afternoon of sprinkler screeching--a new sport. It involves running through the sprinkler very quickly and screaming in your highest pitch scream. :) What fun! We love these girls.

Denim and Diamonds

Last night I took a little sniff of the 2 oz. sample of Red Door that I keep in the bathroom drawer, and instantly I felt G'ma Caroline's hug and sloppy kiss on my cheek.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Grandma. We still miss you. Can't wait to hear your "Isn't that just AWESOME?!?" stories when we meet again.

Summer = Swimming Lessons!

There's no better way to kick off summer than by spending TEN MORNINGS in the POOL! Gracie is getting to experience swimming lessons for the first time this June. Hannah Davis and her daughter, Kendall, are teaching Gracie all sorts of fun water activities...

...blowing bubbles during "airplane rides"...

... "reach and pull" with her arm muscles during the dog paddle...

...and kicking while driving her motorboat.

She is quite talkative in the pool. (surprised?) I laugh as I overhear her telling Kendall that she likes her new swimsuit or that she has braids in today and she shouldn't get them wet. :) She's quite concerned about getting her eyes and face wet, so every day she tells them that she doesn't want to jump in today. But she'll slip in off the edge from her bum!

Hannah and Kendall do such an amazing job with the kids! We are so grateful for their sweet attention and care! One of the special games they play lets kids earn pennies to put in their cup by blowing bubbles, and then at the end of the lesson they trade their pennies in for three tootsie roll candies. This is quite motivating for Grace! :)

Thank you, Davis family, for giving so much time and energy to our kids! They're more like fish than when they began! :)

The Bink

...and their parents are so grateful! :)

Misplaced Toys

We have been working on "cleaning up" at the Lochhead house. Gracie is singing and counting while picking up, and she's earning stickers when she does it JOYFULLY and QUICKLY--a work in progress! :) Joshy is VERY good at throwing trash away--so much so that he often extends this skill with items that aren't meant to be tossed, so throughout the day you'll see Jeff and/or I glancing in the trash can. He also loves to take dirty diapers to the Diaper Genie--I need to get a picture of him crawling up the stairs with a wadded diaper under his arm...

G'ma Joan says that she always laughs when she sees toys out of place (when they're supposed to be put away) because she can almost imagine what her grandkids were thinking when they had to leave their play hastily. I have to admit, dollies found sleeping in my bed, magnets stuck to the washing machine, and dinosaurs found in the dishwasher have made me chuckle, long after kids have been put to bed for the night. I'm pretty sure Josh thought that this was the perfect cage for a Tyrannosaurus Rex--that, or perhaps he needed a bath.

Red Sauce is ALWAYS a Good Choice...

...just remember to strip down, first.

That's My Dad.

Wrestling. Snuggling. Riding bikes. Laughing. Hugging. Adventuring. Praying. High-fiving. Eating cereal. Reading books. Getting the mail. Reading the newspaper. Eating more cereal. Napping. Going to the park. Swimming. Bedtime routining.

The Lochhead 4-Generation Dad-Chain. :)

Happy Father's Day!

(next year MY dad isn't escaping the camera! Be warned, Papa Greg!)

It's SUMMER!!!

Today was the last day of work for the school year! Gracie's been asking for weeks if it's summer yet, so today when I picked her up from G'ma Dianne's house she squealed when I told her it was officially summer. She knows three things about summer: 1) Mom doesn't have to go to work (neither does Dad)... 2) she gets to go to swimming lessons, and...3) we get lots of days that look like this:

WALKING!!!

June 1st was the day Josh decided to walk by himself! Fourteen months was the magic age for him. He's been cruising around furniture (and walls and clinging to pantlegs) for months...and at our small group barbeque, he decided to casually walk around the kitchen as though he's been doing it for weeks! This fuzzy picture shows how he doesn't hold still for long! He's busy!

He is such a lovey boy. He took this baby out of Gracie's stroller and walked all over the living room saying, "Ba-by! Ba-by!" over and over. He gives fierce, quick loves. Don't ask him to snuggle long. He's busy!

Tough love, being toted by the arm. On to the computer. He's busy!

Classic June...

When both of your parents are teachers, you can expect to grow up with some crazy times of the year: namely September, End-of-March (conferences!), and June. So things are a bit crazy during these first two weeks of June--blogs, house tidiness (forget cleanliness!), laundry...they all take backseat to report cards, end-of-year assessments, and getting grades in. Currently, I'm even working full-time to cover for my teaching partner, Melissa, who is on maternity leave after just having Baby Amelia. So we're living day-by-day, er, moment-by-moment and are finding joy in our moments of togetherness, knowing that MID-JUNE (aka SUMMER BREAK!!!) is almost upon us. Here are some sweet pictures and tidbits about our kids this June:

"Viva la Mexico!!!! GOOOOOOOOOAL!" Drew and Annie snagged this soccer uniform for Joshy when they were in Mexico for Spring Break. I don't think a cuter soccer player exists.

Joshy loves to snuggle/tackle his blankie. But only for brief moments. After 5 or 6 seconds he's revived and ready to play again.

We are LOVING outside! The weather is finally AMAZING and Gracie can't wait to eat on the deck. She asks every night.

This girl loves fruit. When asked what her favorite fruit is, she's been known to answer, "Fruit Cocktail." Silly girl.

The Unicorn Party

The year of the unicorn! :) Gracie has been talking about her party for MONTHS! We're not sure when the love for unicorns started--was it the plastic unicorn toy found in the "free" bin at Other Mothers? The prized toy that she and Brooklyn cherished? The unicorn among the "My Little Ponies" that was found at the farm? We're not sure, but the love has lasted several months--that's standing the tests of time for a 3-year old!--to her May 27th birthday!

Jeff and I were up until 2AM attempting to create this unicorn cake. Around 12:30AM it suffered a severe stroke and half of its head fell to the cake sheet. It took a major surgery, involving handfuls of toothpicks and massive amounts of frosting, to bring this creature back to its (somewhat faded) glory. (Look closely to see signs of stroke on its saggy left side...) After the party we realized that it was the spitting image of a mountain goat with a horn on its head. Gracie thought it was amazing! :)

The weather was beautiful! Jeff quickly moved the party outside to our backyard.

Bubbles and unicorns--that's all she asked for.

We were so blessed to have so many of our family and friends come! From L to R: Papa Greg, Brady, Katie, Brooke, Ben, Kelly, G'ma Joan, G-G, Granny, Scott, Drew, Annie, Pappy, Randy, Debbie, Cassie, Shane, and Melissa. Colleen, Jen, Ang, and Ryan up and about. Kids running around: Abby, Megs, Janers, Anthony, (Baby Lauren not running yet!), Grace Fuller, Elyse, Lilly, and babies Fuller and Showalter almost here! (Amelia Violet Fuller arrived 3 days later!)

The Day She Turned THREE

Both Mom and Dad stayed home this Friday

to celebrate Gracie's birthday with her.

We started at Krispy Kreme.

And drove all over the Valley looking for the infamous stuffed unicorn

that was replacing the binky. After a morning of searching,

White Elephant held the treasured, newest stuffed member

to be adopted into our family: Sam.

(I suggested Raina, Mystic, and One-Horn, but Sam won out.)

After naps, G'ma Joan and Papa Greg arrived and we took them,

along with Papa Scott and G'ma Colleen, out for pizza.

Joshy went home early with Dad (and Jeff's boxed-up dinner)

when he attempted to sabotagethe birthday fun

at the restaurant. Silly Joshy. Too much birthday excitement.

Overnight Growth

She goes to bed TWO...

...and wakes as THREE!

What a big girl! Happy Birthday, Gracie!

(notice the binky at age two and NO BINKY at age three...)

Dad's Cereal...

...is no longer...

...his own.

Bite, Dad! Please!

[bounce, bounce on toes,

milk dribbling down their chins,

eyes light up as flakes fill their mouths]

The Creek

The kids and I went down to the farm in mid-May to help my cousin Megan celebrate graduating from U of I--Jeff had district track meet, so we were husband/daddy-less--and we had a great weekend seeing the Moser clan...but the highlight of our whole trip, according to Gracie, was throwing rocks in Papa's creek. Fifteen minutes of pure toddler heaven. :)