Although summer 2013 has been cooler than the past few summers, (like 2011 when I was pregnant with Gwen - ICK) we've still be trying to figure out way to keep little miss occupied and cool.
One of Gwen's favorite games to play lately is "wing wosie". Like most toddlers, Gwen basically wants to spin a few times and flop on the floor -- she tries singing the song with you, but the only words you can really understand is "all fall down"!
Here's Gwen and daddy in action.
Gwen's favorite part-- she gets up a little faster than daddy does. :-)
Mike worked during the day on the 4th of July, so Gwen and I went over to the Hutts' to BBQ and play during the morning and afternoon. Here's the girl all decked out in her 4th of July outfit -- thanks Aunt Nancy! She insisted on wearing the firefighter hat . . . at least she kept the color scheme going.
Saying CHEESE for a quick picture we sent to daddy while he was at work.
Later, all the kiddos swam in the pool with their pudding pops.
We were pretty sure our extra cautious little girl would not like the fireworks and we were right. She did NOT like the loud daytime fireworks. She did however surprise us and like the night show at Wall Park. Our little group packed up around 8 pm (typically Gwen's bedtime) and headed over to Dennis and Steph Kieffer's house -- they have a perfect view of the annual firework show and were nice enough to invite all of us over. The fireworks ended shortly after 10 and Gwen was still going strong! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of her cuddling up with us watching the fireworks, but she really like the show and kept saying "more pretty".
On Friday, the 5th, Gwen's daycare was closed I took the day off to hang with my girl! Grandma Rita (Mimi) also took the day off so we loaded up for a girls' day in Wichita.
Here's Gwen prepped for the trip, she has Haley (her baby), her sunglasses, her blanket and Dora on tv!
Chowing down at Chuck E Cheese.
I'm not sure if Mimi or Gwen had more fun playing the games, but we had a great day shopping and hanging out -- I see many more days like that in our future.
Our little garden is doing quite well this year. . .Gwen's favorite part is the balls (peas)! She likes to go out there each night and eat the balls, she likes them so much we haven't had any peas make it in the house yet.
Eating "balls" with daddy.
Here's an updated picture of our garden area -- it's been such a great use for the space between our shed and fence and we've really had fun with it.
Little Miss is also having big fun helping water flowers each night.
Helping Daddy.
CHEESE!
Another thing that's kept us busy this summer is . . .
We were kinda dragging our feet with the whole potty training thing, but in true Gwen fashion she's pretty much doing the work for us -- kinda like she took herself off baby food and the bottle (the paci was a different story!). Gwen starting telling us she had to potty a couple months ago but it wasn't consistent at all -- then she had a few weeks where she cried when we put her on it. The last couple weeks she's really picked it up though -- I'm convinced the Reese's Pieces are the ticket -- we are not above bribing. When she's home with us she probably goes on the potty over half the time, she's better at going #2 on the potty than #1 -- she gets two treats for #2 and only one for #1 -- oh yes, she's working the system. She's 21 months and we're just taking our time with it, we've already learned if it's Gwen's idea it's much more likely to happen!
