But we want to go outside, too: Day 173/365

One of my husband's best friends has a son 6 months younger than our son and they came over for a play date and dinner. They were so pitiful staring out the door while the dads and my daughter baked in the heat.

Playing in the pine straw: Day 172/365

My son isn't really fond of being in the grass, so I was really shocked that he had a blast playing in the pine straw at the park.

Drums on your head: Day 171/365

Loaf pan drums are nothing new in our house. Playing them on your head, however, is new and fun.

Bubbles: Day 170/365

She loves blowing bubbles and I love trying to capture the light captured by them.

Climbing on up: Day 169/365

My son loves to climb on anything and everything. So it was no surprise that I caught him trying to climb on the plastic tub.

Watching it rain: Day 168/365

Afternoon rain showers are so common in the summer that I often don't even think about them. But, I guess they are pretty neat things to watch for the under four set.

Silly on the couch: Day 167/365

I love when I catch the family being silly and my camera is nearby. These are things I want to remember when my kids are older.

Tea time: Day 166/365

My daughter attended a tea party themed birthday party over the weekend and she loved it. It was perfect for the little girly girl that she is. The girls wore hats, boas, and pearls on top of their fancy dresses and my daughter was in heaven.

Covered in blue: Day 165/365

My daughter came running up to me, proud as punch that she was covered in blue. Her happiness didn't last long because I scolded her for making such a mess right before we were about to leave. However, I was laughing on the inside because it was kind of funny.

He has a thing about shoes... Day164/365

...in that he doesn't want to wear them. We are just past the point where he would scream the entire time he was wearing shoes. Now, he just tries to take them off. It takes a lot of effort to get one shoe off so he gives up and leaves the other one alone.

This is a constant view in our house for now: Day 163/365

Poor little guy is working on his bottom molar so he is constantly chewing on something. So this is what we see most of the time.

Rinse, wash, repeat: Day 162/365

Now that he doesn't need the walking toys to walk, he loves to just push them around. This particular toy has a seat he can use to sit and ride on. I heard him laughing so I turned around to see what he was doing and watched him get on the toy, sit, stand up, get down and repeat dozens of times.

Just pushing the buttons: Day 161/365

My son loves to push buttons of all kinds, the remote, the iPhone, his toys, etc. So, it was no surprise to me that he was fascinated with my daughter's Leap Pad. Even though the batteries were dead and he could do nothing but push buttons, he was happy as a clam.

Eating like a big girl: Day 160/365

I bought our first watermelon of the season and my daughter was pretty happy that we let her eat it like a big girl instead of chopping it in baby pieces.

I think he likes ketchup: Day 159/160

We went out to eat dinner as a family and I noticed my son was starting to throw food on the floor, a sure sign he's bored. So I gave him some ketchup to dip his fries in and he loved it.

Bright point of the day: Day 158/365

Severely crappy day at least ended on a high note with a glass (or two) of one of my new favorites.

Cloth diapers: Day 157/365

While I can't really say I enjoy cloth diapers (I mean, they are just diapers) I do enjoy when they are clean and neatly folded. Makes my OCD very happy.

Again, more water fun: Day 156/365

I took the kids to the children's museum and it was my son's first trip where he could actually play and enjoy the exhibits. Of course, his favorite of the day was the water. I can't say I was the least bit surprised.

Her aunt's mini me: Day 155/365

We often say that my daughter is my sister-in-law's mini me and this picture makes it even more real. My daughter was showing off her new cowboy boots and I laughed when I realized she was wearing a favorite outfit of her aunt's. They are so much alike its scary sometimes.

First carousel ride: Day 154/365

Concord Mills mall has a great carousel in the food court that my daughter loves to ride. I took Mason for his first ride on it and he was so fascinated with the lights and colors.

So proud of her trophy: Day 153/365

My daughter had her first gymnastics exhibition and received her very first trophy during the show. She was so proud of her trophy that she carried it everywhere with her once we got home.

But, Mom, I can carry him: Day 152/365

My daughter is not that much taller than my son, but insists that she can carry him around everywhere. Poor little guy.

New pool time: Day 151/365

We bought the kids a new baby pool this year and they were both pretty excited to try it out.

Trying to escape the mess: Day 150/365

My son has way too many toys and loves to pull them all out on the floor at one time. Then, he usually decides to try and escape the mess but is usually blocked in by toys.

More water fun: Day 149/365

More evidence that the little guy loves to play in the water.

Little guy loves the bath: Day 148/365

My son loves to take a bath and recently started soaking himself with the water toys while he's in it.

First fish of the season: Day 147/365

My daughter "caught" (with some assistance from Daddy) her first fish of the year on Memorial Day and she was quite proud of herself.

Bachelorette: Day 146/365

This was the lady of the weekend before our "surprise" event (nope, not a stripper) at her bachelorette party. There is no photographic evidence of that surprise that I know of, but fun was had by all.

Besties: Day 145/365

This is my SIL and her bestie/maid of honor after riding one of the bike taxis in Charleston. The driver was nice enough to let us pose on the cab before he took off for his next fare.

This is all I saw of the ocean: Day 144/365

We stayed at an awesome beach house (despite the looks of the house across the street) for my sister-in-law's bachelorette party. Sadly, this is all I saw of the ocean and we were only 2 blocks away. We spent most of our time lounging on the rooftop patio, shopping, or eating/drinking and some of us never made it to the beach.

Preparing the snacks: Day 143/365

In preparation for my trip to Charleston, I made some yummy treats for the ladies to eat. This was my kitchen counter before I started all the cooking.

Pretty flower: Day 142/365

My daughter received some beautiful flowers at her dance recital so I decided to get out my macro lens and play with depth of field for a while. Its amazing how detailed the different parts of the flower are and we sometimes never notice more than the petals.

Please let me stay: Day 141/365

My spaniel always jumps in the bed with my husband, who gets in bed before me. When I come in our room to get in the bed, she always gives me the saddest puppy dog face as if she is pleading with me to let her stay in our bed.

Very special ladies: Day 140/365

These 2 ladies were Aubrey's 3-year old preschool teachers. Aubrey loved her teachers and was so glad to see them everyday. I can only hope she has as special a relationship with all of her future teachers as she did with these 2 awesome ladies.