It's all about ME!

I don't know where he came up with this, but as were heading to the baseball game on Ory's birthday, completely out of nowhere he tells me, "It's not all about you. It's all about me!"

What! My son had become birthdayzilla! My mom would always tell me that when kids are three, they think the world revolves around them... well, I guess so!

Maybe we did too much celebrating. While in Cincinnati, my parents bought the traditional Dairy Queen cake and he opened presents... maybe we started a bit early! :)

On Orin's actual birthday, we went to the 66's baseball game. Since you can't bring food in, we sang and blew out candles in front of the stadium. The boys enjoyed running around on the lawn area... and they even announced his name on the loud speaker and posted on the score board! So fun!

I seriously LOVE all that excitement... he's been like that since party 1!! See here.

Checkin' the stats!

It happened to be family night, so that had super cheap hot dogs... score!

And of course, we had to have a "small" family/friend party. It was Ala's (Melina's brother) birthday too... so it was good food, good times. Mese even brought his shake machine and did custom pie shakes which are AMAZING!

As you can see, in the eyes of my spunky THREE (wow) year old... "It's not all about you! It's all about me!" And Orin, I'm glad for those days that can be all about you, it's fun... for a day! :)

I love being Ory's mom! He makes life fun and exciting! He's my extra big helper boy (especially if we're cooking!) and I love that he is so expressive and verbal. He is so snuggly and loves to cuddle... I can't get enough of that or of him! We love you Ory-o!

Nothing like the Nati

Next highlight... a trip to my hometown- Cincinnati! (Yes, this was in July!)

For the past few years, while Shawn is studying for the BAR (poor guy!), the boys and I have made a summer trip to be with my family. Ory still talks about wanting to go Papa and Nana's house and this is why...

My parents house is a kid's dream... swimming

Orin even got to swim with the big boys... Uncle Jake & the football team! He was lovin' it!

Golf

Jumping or more like wrestling on the trampoline

Playing with Nana's homemade play dough

My boys were also horribly spoiled... they ate steak almost every night (one of the few things Brody would eat!) and of course, ate ice cream with Uncle Matt!

Adventures:

Papa took Ory on a few outings... my dad is such an amazing grandpa! They went to the Newport Aquarium and the Red's baseball game.

I don't think they actually were able to watch any of the game... pretty much chasing Ory!

Playing at Sparky's water park

Our other adventures were with my best friend growing up, Tiffany, and her adorable little girls are the same ages of my little boys. We had a blast swimming at their "castle" as Ory called it, going to the Cincinnati Zoo, and the Children's Museum @ Union Terminal!

Brody is obsessed with animals and LOVED the petting zoo!

The highlights for me were:

Seeing good friends from high school! Yay! They both look amazing!

Eating Graeter's Black Raspberry Chip ice cream

Going to The Gap Outlet (found a Banana dress for $20! Love it!)

Scrapbooking at my mom's store: Scraps, etc...

Going on walks

Being home

Independence Day

I know what you're thinking... isn't it November and not July! Well I always hope to be able to catch up with my life. So we'll see with a week off of school how well I do... let the bloggin' begin!

At the end of June, we took a quick trip up to St. George to stay with Shawn's parents. We swam (Brody hates to be splashed, and hates cold water!)

We chilled.

We ate frozen custard... then after Brody puked everywhere realized that it has eggs, which he is allergic too! Oops!

We did our traditional going to grandma and grandpa's house activities: riding the scooter, feeding the fish, going to the park and splash place. It is always so nice to be with grandma and grandpa Patterson!

Next stop was Viva Las Vegas... Nelson style. Which for my family meant working on the new little house they bought! We met them there and hung out at the new house, went to see Toy Story 3 (so cute, loved the ending!), and a fabulous New York pizza place! They had more Chicago style pizza there too... it was huge, but so good!

July 4th, Independence Day!

I am proud to be an American. I get the chills every time I hear any patriotic song and LOVE that I get to say the Pledge of Allegiance each day in my classroom. Thankfully I married into a family where the men are great cooks... Mason and Shawn made red, white and blue(berry) pancakes to kick off this day to independence.

The next day was we got together to have a BBQ... friends, family, food, fun, fireworks, Shawn taking a fall... everything that makes the 4th special.

(Warning: Children please do not try this at home)

Of course, it's not a party until Uncle Mese takes the toys from the children!

Ring of Fire

After all the hard work... it was time for a "Smarshmellow Party!" (Which has been happening all summer... & we have loved it... we're got Smores galore!)

How do you eat your Smore?

In my case... I am a patient roaster...marshmellows have to be just golden brown & practically falling off the stick.

Of course, there must be a good amount of Hershey's chocolate bar.

(Note: that is not my Smore... I don't do blackened marshmellows!)

After the Smore is constructed, the last step is to put it back on the fire to melt the chocolate. You know you have the perfect Smore if there is chocolate dripping everywhere!

Brick by Brick

Below is Shawn's sketch of our backyard plan.

In April, we decided to work on "phase one" of our backyard: pavers & a fire pit. We hired out some of the digging work to some guys at our church (Shawn didn't have enough time) and here is the before photo:

After the patio area was dug out, we ordered base & bought pavers from Orco block. My dad is amazing, and was in Vegas for business, and drove down to help with all the prep work. Unfortunately, it rained (which is rare here!) and we didn't get as far as we hoped, but he was still very helpful!

See photo below: pavers delivered, Shawn & dad planning:

My dad also helped Shawn with the footing for our "eventual" patio cover.

See Orin in the footing box below (what a cheeseball!):

After the base was laid and compacted, and a layer of sand was laid and compacted, (which was done with MUCH help from AWESOME friends), the "boys" (little & big) got to laying those pavers brick by brick... like I said AWESOME friends.

My boys were a big "help" too... well, not exactly... keep reading!

MEANWHILE, while all the work was going on outside, Orin had some "creative" ideas inside.

Note: that is indeed a CD in Orin's diaper.

He also decided to use my lip gloss as a face paint... let's just say I for one was not much help on the patio... had my hands full!

We definitely couldn't have built our patio without all the AMAZING people in our lives... we are so blessed.

See finished patio below:

Shawn also built a fire pit (we actually found these bricks @ Home Depot for a killer deal, so we decided to make the pit/seating square... but I love it!

We have absolutely LOVED having a place to hang out this summer & have been roasting lots of "smarshmellows" as Ory calls them. Orin has said multiple times that his patio is his favorite place to sit & he loves to tell people how his daddy made him a patio. Shawn did a great job...smores anyone?