When the Cat's Away...

When Tristan is away, I am all too aware of how understaffed I am around here...but sometimes something happens that makes it VERY clear.  Like this:

 Yep, that's ACRYLIC paint on my RENTAL house carpet.  When we put the boys down we read scriptures together and then Ethan has about 10 minutes of quiet time while I get Carter settled and in bed.  Well, I had been crafting and put the unopened bottles of craft pain on the table in the playroom.  I even noticed them earlier that day and thought about moving them, but they were unopened and had a plastic seal so I figured it was fine.  Ethan, however, knows how to unscrew lids now...and apparently all the plastic seal was good for was keeping the flip top closed.

Now to be clear, Ethan doesn't do stuff like this just to be "bad".  He loves, loves, loves to paint.  When I came out of Carter's room he had poured paint onto one of his coloring books, so I'm assuming that his original plan was to paint in his book.  Then some of it had run off the edge of the paper.  That's when he decided it would be a good idea to drive his CARS through it, leaving car tracks all over the carpet.

When I discovered it, I was beside myself.  I was totally in a panic.  I mean, how do you clean up ACRYLIC paint???  I made phone calls, searched the internet and ultimately decided I had to at least try cleaning it.  My ever-so-level-headed friend Kelly arrived without me asking with carpet cleaner--got to love best friends.  She just happened to read the back of the bottle and it said that while it was wet, clean it with soap and water.  That's when I started to have some hope.  I ran and got a carpet cleaner from QFC.

And here is the result:

I couldn't believe it!  I actually went over it a few more times and it looked even better.  I'm so thankful for friends who come to rescue without being asked!

Damon Point and Pacific Beach

Our friends Brian and Denise invited us to come to beach with them in July as well...man, July was a busy month!  We had a great time.  The weather wasn't the best we had had, but that's kind of how the beach goes in Washington!  We headed down to Damon Point when we first arrived and spent some time making a plan for the day.  

Seagulls in the surf

 Ethan and Caitlyn couldn't wait to break out the beach toys

 Carter's first trip to the beach!  He spent the first part of it snuggled up in the Ergo and taking in the sights.

Carter finally wanted down and started exploring this wet stuff we call "sand".  I expected him to hate it, but he actually did really well with it!

Digging in!

The first of, what will probably be many, brother pictures at the beach.

Ethan's turn to dig in!

Ethan and Tristan trying to get their feet stuck

Ethan watching the seagulls fly off after he ran over and scared them

 I love this crazy kid!

We found a little shrimp...too bad more of his buddies weren't around.  That would have been a yummy dinner!

Carter exploring the COLD water with dad--he didn't even get upset over the water.  He was a trooper!

Tristan and I are still debating who took these pictures of Ethan, but they are some of my favorite that I have of him.  What a cutie!

After playing for a bit, we packed up and drove out to Pacific Beach to play for a bit.  I put Ethan into his swimming clothes so we could get serious about playing!

Every time we go to the beach Ethan loves to push this dump truck.  He just runs up and down the beach pushing it.  It recently broke, so my dad is going to have to search some more garage sales to find another one for him!

Caitlyn running and playing

Ethan hitching a ride from Brian

For some reason, the sand was really green and staining everything, so I finally changed Carter and put him in the stroller for a bit.  He had been crawling around in it and was wet and getting cold.  I love this look on his face...it's like he's waiting for us to stop watching so he can plan his escape!

More fun getting stuck in the mud

 The waves are always so beautiful.

The beach is one of my favorite places.  I love the sand and the waves...I just wish we had a little more sun!  But we still had a great day playing, snacking and visiting friends!

The End of July

We really were lucky to get to spend so much time with friends in the month of July.  It just seemed like there was always something going on!  The Hands On Children's Museum brought in a helicopter from the Olympic Flight Museum for the kids to come explore, so we headed down to the capitol campus to check it out!

Ethan loved exploring inside!

 In the pilot's seat!

 I ran out real fast to get a picture from outside

 Being the co-pilot this time

 It ended up being a lot prettier of a day than it looks like in the picture, but I still thought this was a nice picture of the state capitol.

 We saw Anderson, Vinny, Skyler and Dylan down there, too.  I was able to snap a few pics of the Marlatt boys.

 Allisha and Dylan

 I was trying really hard to get a picture of all the boys together, but this was as good as it got...Ethan was being a little rascal!

 We also just let the boys run around at the campus to burn some energy!

 We also continued to go to our ward park playdates on Tuesdays.  This was a new park for our family and the boys had a blast there.  Carter  really started getting mobile and exploring right around this time.

Chewing on a stick--all boy!

 Scaling the wall

 Happy little grin!

 Crawling around the playgroud...this was the first time that he left the safety of the blanket.  Usually I will set up a big comforter for him in the grass to crawl around on, but this day he decided enough was enough and he wanted in on the action!

 Tracked down Brother!

 We ended the month by celebrating Anderson turning 3!  How did these boys get so big so fast?

Ethan watching Anderson with his birthday cake

 Birthday boy

 Carter even explored the bounce houses this time and loved it (as you can see)!!

Random July Pictures

As July wrapped up, we were still busy doing lots of little things:

Ethan had his first dentist appointment with Dr. Cramer

 I included both of these because in the first one you can see that he's definitely nervous and the second one is a cute smile!

 Our garden kept going and we got some nice heads of cabbage out of them in addition to our lettuce, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower and peas.

 Carter kept eating like he had a hollow leg!  And this is what I DISLIKE about self-feeing babies--the huge mess!!!

 Carter started playing with cars as avidly as Ethan does--sound effects and all!

 Ethan and Carter discovered that they love to look at books together--love this picture!

 Carter kept exploring and making messes:

 Love this little face!!

 Carter loves this pop-up tunnel and even when it's snapped shut he will pull it out and sit inside it!  He is such a happy, silly boy.  We are so glad he's a part of our family.