Family Time

We had a lot of fun family time today since daddy got home from working at the farm early (shhhh don't tell his boss). So we went to the pool after naps, had supper then washed the car. Perfect summer family fun!

The good picture of Reese

The good picture of everyone but Reese

Fruit Snacks for Daddy

Mommy's silly Boys

Happy 4th of July!

Little Helpers!

Clayton loves to work and help! Monday, when daddy parked his wheel barrel next to this fence post (to dig out the dirt and add concrete) Clayton right away parked his right next to daddy's and dug right in to help (pun intended).

Reese helped to and they actually did help scoop out quite a bit of dirt!

Happy Father's Day!

Reese's new Bike!

I hardly know where to start, I haven't made a post in so long. It's getting harder and harder to find time on the lap top, and making blog posts from my phone is not ideal. I guess the biggest news recently, is that the ripe old age of two, Reese has mastered pedaling his bike! So we did have to go buy him one (I was secretly hoping we could wait until Clayton needed to go up a size in bikes, but that is clearly not ever going to be the case)! It is really nice having both of them on bikes to go for bike rides around the block, or even just in circles around the backyard!

Friday Night with the Branz's

After a long day with an extra 2 year old (filling in as a day care provider for a friend since my neighbor who does daycare took Friday off). The boys and I headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a little fun and relaxation. (Daddy was at State Track for the weekend). After a delicious supper of chicken strips, applesauce and pudding, the boys went outside to play. Clayton started off by watering all of Grandma's plants up on the deck, and when that was done, when I went to turn off the water (which is on the side of the house, but below the level of the deck, so you have to reach down into a little cutout to turn it off), the local cat, Bootsie, was under there to surprise me (and I mean I jumped and yelled a little out of fright!) So Reese being the brave hero that he is, thought about it for a while it seems and then decided to climb under the deck to shoo the cat out of the way for mommy.

Reese under the Deck

Working his way out!

His escape:

Then he joined his brother in his adventure making mud in Grandma's day lilies! Here is an epic video of their adventures!

Here is an un-edited clip so you can hear Clayton sing/chant his "makin' mud" song

Reese taking a seat in the mud, oops!

Unfortunately, Reese got his feet full is stickers and slivers we noticed the next day. I guess it was from tromping around in this muddy mess. He hasn't complained about them, so we are just trying to get them out every now and then and hope they don't get infected.

Paint The Road

Clayton likes to ask to "paint the road" (probably because of this book) which is just a simple cornstarch paint with foam brushes on our driveway! I mix equal parts of water and cornstarch (1 cup of each is about perfect for their attention span) plus a tiny squirt of dish soap (to keep the cornstarch from sitting at the bottom)  in a measuring cup in the house. Then once we are outside I separate the white liquid into little paint cans that I got with some actual sidewalk chalk paint.

When I bought them there was colored powder inside to mix with water - it was probably colored cornstarch, LOL

Then I add several drops of food coloring to each can and stir with the end of a paintbrush. The sidewalk chalk paint came with two foam roller brushes and these trays so then I pour each color in there. 

Then the boys have at it and paint away! 

Clayton likes to put all the paint in one spot!

Reese made lines and dots!

They worked together on painting "Piglet" here

Then they began happily digging in the dirt!