Starting to grow-up

I have been looking forward to this day since Neal was born, the day he starts to do his own chores.  That's right I now have a helper around the house.  Neal has always loved to "help" me every time I pull out the vacuum, broom or mop but finally he is old enough to actually have a few chores of his very own.

It's wonderful to see him helping out around the house and he actually loves to be responsible for a few things.  His chores, for now, consist of feeding the dog and emptying the silverware from the dishwasher (after I have removed the sharp knives).

He is a great help!

Dress-up day

Two weeks ago was "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-fil-A.  What does that mean you might ask?  Well if you dress like a cow you get a free meal!   So, needless to say Neal and I did not want to miss out on the opportunity for some free Chick-fil-A, and Neal thought that idea of dressing up like a cow would be fun (we couldn't convince Tyler to dress up, even for free food so we went during the day while he was at work).   It was a fun afternoon trip with some friends of ours.

While we were getting ready to leave Neal was walking around the house saying "mommy you look like a cow".  I told him this was the only day of the year that saying that to me, or anyone, was appropriate (especially since I'm in my third trimester of pregnancy and feel like a cow some days anyway).  Doesn't he make a cute little cow?

Into the single digits

I can hardly believe that I am a little over 31 weeks already! That means only 9 weeks left 'till we get to meet our baby girl.

The other night baby was kicking a moving a lot and I had Neal come over and put his hand on my belly.  She kicked him really hard and he laughed out loud.  He immediately placed his hand back on my belly and she kicked him again.  This continued 5 or 6 times and Neal was laughing the whole time, thinking it was really funny that she was kicking him.  He would say "baby sister is saying, hey get out of my space."  

It's a lot of fun to see him interact with his sister already.  He loves to lay his blanket on my belly to help keep sister warm and loves to lay his head on my belly and give her "snuggles".  At night he presses his mouth to my belly and sing her "night, night songs" which I think is really sweet.  I'm sure he is going to be a very sweet big brother and I cannot wait to see how they interact together.

First Movie

Neal got to go to his first movie in theaters a few weeks ago.  His Aunt Kate won some tickets to see a previewing of the movie "Despicable Me 2" and decided to invite Neal and us to join her.  It was so much fun, especially since the movie was in 3D!  

Neal was wide eyed and excited as we steeped into the theater and couldn't wait to eat his popcorn and watch a movie on a "super huge TV."  Neal kept his 3D glasses on the entire movie, ate almost the entire bag of popcorn and laughed throughout the whole thing (not always laughing at the right times but laughing just to laugh).  

The last two weeks he has been wearing his 3D glasses nonstop.  I can't believe that they don't feel funny as he looks through them but he loves them and won't take them off.  Also, while driving in the car the other day he said :"mommy remember when we saw that movie on the big TV?  That TV was bigger then our house."  

It was a lot of fun to go to the movies with him and experience the movies in a whole new way.  Since he had so much fun we ended up taking him one more time a few days ago to see "Monsters University" with one of his good friends.  They loved this movie also and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed "Monsters University .   It has been a fun filled few weeks with two trips to the movies and lots of popcorn and laughter.

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It's also been a lot of fun to have some of these special family times/activities together doing things with just the 3 of us before baby girl come.

Our 4th of July

We hope all of you had a great time celebrating the 4th of July with family and friends.

We had a great 4th here at home!  Our day was filled with lots of relaxation and simple family time during the day.  We joined our neighbors across the street for a fun cookout in the evening and got to meet a few other neighbors while there.  We also got to see an amazing firework show right from the back yard.  (the firework pictures were taken by one of our neighbors).

Neal loved watching the fireworks and even got to experience some new 4th of July fun with "pop-its" (the little firecrackers you throw on the ground) and some sparklers.  His favorite however were the big fireworks in the sky.  He may have plugged his ears the whole time but he couldn't take his eyes off of them.

Our neighborhood has some amazing fireworks that they set off and we love that we can see them right from our front porch.  It is even better then some of the big shows they do downtown, especially since we don't have to fight traffic or crowds.

Neal got to stay up 'till 10pm which was a special treat and by the end of the night we were all ready for bed and a good night sleep.