Color Commentary

 Spencer ran in The Color Run last Friday. It's a 5K where they throw powdered color at you as you run, a different color for every kilometer. They are gaining popularity across the country and I have worked on a few (marketing/design) myself. I planned to sign up as well, but when I went to register a while back, Milwaukee was sold out:(

Runners are encouraged to wear white. Spen and his friends created team t-shirts for the run.

They had a blast. I will definitely do it next year.

My weekend was fairly ordinary. We went out for frozen yogurt together.

I went shopping for baby food produce. Claire was delighted when she discovered these kiddie carts. She was positively beaming as she pushed around fruits and vegetables. And she narrowly managed not to knock anything over.

Here's a shot of Kyle up on all fours. I'm amazed at the ground he can cover without officially crawling.

Yesterday I brought the kids to the library after daycare. Claire and I have been talking about it for a while. She can finally read paper books without tearing pages, so we picked out a few stories and a movie (Pinocchio). She was thrilled to find her favorite book from daycare: The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear. It's great to see her so excited about reading.

It seems like I end every post with a shot of these two. Claire loves to hold Kyle and Kyle adores his big sis. They give me lots of opportunities for great shots. Claire often asks for me to take their photo, as well.

On the Go

My little Kyle Reed is rolling and pivoting and rocking on his knees. I see crawling in his near future. He is also displaying more complex babbling as of late, including "da da."

Over the weekend, my parents were in town, so we packed them in the van and headed to the zoo. We saw some animals, fed the goats...

 and rode the train...

Saturday we headed to a baby shower for some friends. It was co-ed, and Lucian's first shower. I thought Lucian looked funny sitting under this branch. Can you tell these two are related?

Lucian had some photography gigs planned Sunday, so I took Claire to the park to play with Sydney. They hit up the sand box.

And we wandered down to the beach. It was a beautiful morning.

Claire has a big imagination and very much likes to direct people. Here, she had Nana and Papa taking naps. She drove them in a "car" as well, where she assigned seats, buckled us in and told us where we were going. Unfortunately the wheels broke and she informed us she had to go shop for another blue car. I believe the game ended there. Nana and Papa were good sports.

My babies in the morning. Love these two.

Air Show

We were fortunate to go out on some friend's boat and watch the air show on Saturday. The weather was great and you couldn't have a better seat. Claire was a bit shy/nervous at first, but was running around with the other kids in no time.

Spotting some planes

 

We made a little nest for Kyle to nap, but he was more comfortable being held. He hung out here for a while looking around, but only slept while in a carrier.

Our friend Chris showing off his mariner license. He can do charters on his boat.

The boys comparing camera equipment

I am not an aviation buff, so this was probably the highlight of the air show for me:)

There were a lot of cool planes, however.

And just a cute shot from the grocery store yesterday. This was Kyle's first ride sitting in the cart. It's almost time to ditch the infant car seat!

Seventeen

Spencer's birthday was August 6th. He is now 17 and entering his senior year of high school. His summer is winding down and he is cramming in some required reading before classes start up Sept. 4th. We went to a Cuban restaurant to celebrate and eat. And the little kiddos were very well behaved, you just never know:)

Party

Friday evening we attended a little party with Lucian's family. It was a carnival type theme that was supposed to take place in July. With the drought, fireworks were banned so the event was rescheduled to August. We used the opportunity to celebrate Spencer and Aunt Sarah's birthdays.

Claire and cousin Lydia with snow cones

Not sure what this is called, but it was sure fun to watch Spencer on this bungee contraption.

Claire in a bounce house

 

Kyle watching fireworks

 

Lucian's brother Jesse is home, visiting from Vancouver. He and Kyle have been bonding. And, as of Thursday, Kyle sucks his thumb. It's so funny that it started abruptly, but it's very intentional.

 

Sunday's weather was beautiful. We spent some time at a park in the morning before Lucian headed to an afternoon golf round.

Busy Bees

Claire and Aunt Mimi had a 'Big Girl Day' last Friday. They went to the pool and hung out doing big girl things (like eating sandwiches:). I've learned it's best to talk things up with Claire so she is prepared. We talked a lot about the day in advance, and she was ready to go bright and early Fri. morning. Mimi says Kyle will get his own special day when he is older.

On Sat. morning Lucian and I went out for a bike ride with some friends. We did about 25 miles and stopped at a cute coffee shop. I have no pictures of that, however, in the afternoon we headed to the Chicago suburbs for a BBQ with my college friends. We did manage one group photo of the kids.

And lastly, Lucian was photographing a friend's family on Sunday, so I popped in with the kids for some updated shots. Kyle was very cooperative and looking quite strong.

 

The other family had brought a few flowers so we sprinkled them on the ground...

until Kyle started eating them.

Such a happy guy

I love their expressions in this one

Sweet siblings

We did manage a couple shots of Claire, but she was not in the mood for photos that day.