the red-headed step child and the terrible two's...

I am so behind on blogging, it's actually starting to stress me out. I will try to sum up the last few months briefly as my computer takes an hour to upload 400 pictures (I am not making that number up! 439 to be exact.) So, this summer is kind-of flying by. From the minute Jace finished finals it has been so busy and really fun! My mom came and stayed for a week at the end of May and helped me with (did everything for) Elliot's birthday. We had a dinosaur party with "Pin the horn on the Triceratops," a dinosaur cake-walk and dinosaur cupcakes! My mom is amazing and made it such a great day! And we had an awesome time with her here! Now, every time Elliot sees a cupcake he starts singing "Happy birthday to me." Speaking of his birthday, we are now embarking on new challenges with a two year-old in the house.  I've heard of this happening, but I never thought it would happen to me. It's becoming very difficult to accomplish much unless we are discussing the reasons we don't bite sister, explaining why we can't have ice-cream for dinner, teaching manners like saying excuse me and thank-you (this includes Jace) not throwing our food when we are finished, not coloring on walls, and the new extra charming one, keeping our pants on! He is so smart it's ridiculous, but he is getting a little too smart, he knows how to push all the buttons. As trying as it can be, I seriously don't know what I would do without his little curious spirit. He makes Mae laugh so hard. They are the best of buds. He will be trying to wrestle her or hitting her with a pillow and she thinks it's the greatest thing. Speaking of Mae, she is so much fun. She is turning into a little chunk, which is my favorite. I have been calling her "fat Mae," just as a harmless nick-name, but then Elliot started doing it of course, and I don't want him to start calling other people fat or get a complex so we now call her "stinky Mae" haha I think that is much nicer. She has this auburn-red hair and the prettiest green eyes. She LOVES her oatmeal, and she is a pro at tummy-time. She loves her toenails painted too, it's like she already understands and she stops moving for 30 seconds and I can paint them. Having a girl has been really fun! We celebrated Father's day for the best dad ever! Jace is currently a yard-working monster! He has had the summer off (aka been in the lab doing research and then heading straight for the yard when he gets home.) I am so glad because all I want is a backyard with grass! Luckily he is amazing and really enjoys doing it. I will post the finished product and we can all celebrate! Jace decided we should  go camping over the 4th which turned out to be quite an adventure, I realize a lot of these activities totally deserve their own blog post, especially the camping trip but I'll probably never get around to it, so I'll just say Elliot now loves roasted "marsh-moos" as much as his dad, and Mae is a pretty happy camper. We have had such  great summer with the Zoo, park, pool and all of the above, I am so glad I finally was able to stop and document some of it! I hope you forgive me for this insanely long post, and enjoy your summer as much as we have!

At the zoo!

Close... haha

Happy birthday hat? or dunce hat?

Awesome cake!

Park with Gram

Birthday present!

Gram and Mae Mae

Father's day!

Goofy faces

Typical... I'm already so embarrassing

Roasting marsh-moos!

Old man's cave

Fishing

Little campers!