Curious George at the Crown Center

When they still lived in Kansas City, my sister-in-law Jen was always posting on her blog about her family's latest adventures at the Crown Center.  They have these fun free exhibits with lots of hands-on activities for the kids.  I've always wanted to take Naomi, but we just never got around to it.  I looked online a couple months ago to see what their exhibit was this summer, and when I saw it was Curious George, I knew we had to take Naomi.  Naomi is obsessed with Curious George right now.  It's the only thing she ever wants to watch on Netflix, and when she plays, she takes all of her ideas from that show.  For example, there's an episode where George uses boxes to turn himself into a robot, so for days after watching it, Naomi was using 4 or 5 of our smaller moving boxes to turn herself into a robot.

Jacob didn't want to go, so Kalie and baby Lily came with us!  Naomi LOVED the exhibit.  It took a lot of convincing and a promise of an ice cream treat to get her to leave when it was time to go.  And for days afterward, she kept asking to "go see George".  So the Crown Center was definitely a hit for Naomi!  (Some of the photos were from Kalie's camera, and they're pretty blurry... sorry!)

Blurry Entrance Picture

 

Playing miniature golf

Playing with Baby Lily

 

 
We also went to Hallmark Kaleidoscope while we were at the Crown Center, which was pretty awesome, and I definitely recommend it.  It's free, and they have tons of materials for your kids to make various art projects.  You can paint or color and then turn it into a puzzle, which is one of the things Naomi did.  I can't even remember what else they had, but it was room after room of art materials.  I'll probably take Naomi again if we ever have the time and are in Kansas City, but I think Aleta would be too young for it right now.

Fun times at the Crown Center!  Thanks for keeping us company, Kalie & Lily!

The 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July this year!  I told Jacob it was by far my favorite 4th we've had since we've been married.  We spent the day in Marshall with Jacob's family.  We spent a good part of the day playing at the pool, which was a lot of fun!  Celeste and Kalie convinced me to go off the high dive with them, which I don't think I've ever done before.  I'm really scared of heights--it's one of my worst fears, after spiders and bees.  The high dive didn't look all that high from the ground, but I almost chickened out once I was up there.  It looks a LOT higher once you climb up that ladder!  But going back down the ladder actually seemed worse than just jumping into the pool, so I jumped. 

Naomi finally loves swimming, so that makes it so much more enjoyable for our family.  I got her a little inner tube floatie thing, and she LOVED it.  She had a lot of fun floating around and going down the little kiddie slide.  Aleta didn't hate it, but she didn't really start enjoying herself until we were about ready to leave, which was unfortunate.  Oh well.  I'm just grateful she doesn't scream and cry the entire time like Naomi used to do!  Sadly, I didn't get a single picture of our family at the pool.  Actually, I didn't take a single picture all day, which is a little depressing.  But I did enjoy my time with my family, which Jacob claims is more important than taking pictures of spending time with the family.... silly man!

I finally got my camera out the day after the 4th, but this looks like it could have been the 4th of July.  So we can pretend. :)

In the evening, we had our barbecue with LOTS of yummies!  Naomi was my little helper the day before, and we made some festive snacks (chocolate chip cookies with red & blue M&Ms, and white chocolate covered pretzel rods with red & blue sprinkles and M&Ms).  We snacked on the pretzel rods throughout the day on the 4th, and then after our barbecue, we made ice cream cookie sandwiches with our homemade cookies.  They were delicious!

Blurry phone pics!

Sorting the M&Ms

These were actually the ugliest ones we made, but it's the only picture I took.  Most of the others were a lot cuter!

The last few years for the 4th, the Romneys did their own little fireworks show at the house.  I've never been a big fan of fireworks at home... they kinda terrify me.  (To be honest, I'm even scared of sparklers... I don't think I've ever used one. ha!)  And last year, one of the fireworks accidentally got shot sideways, so instead of shooting up into the air, it shot RIGHT AT US.  It was slightly terrifying.  So after last year, I hate home fireworks even more.  Growing up, we always went to the fireworks show put on by our town, and I loved it.  It was usually my favorite part of the holiday!  So this year we all went to the fireworks show in Marshall!  It was a lot of fun, and the girls loved it, Naomi especially! 

Thanks to Kalie, there was one photo taken of us on the 4th!  Here we are, watching the fireworks show!

Playroom Project!

When we move, we are going to have a playroom!  I am ridiculously excited.  A 100% kid-proof room dedicated only to toys and play... yay!  I want the playroom to be bright and colorful and cheerful, and I got an idea on Tuesday of something I could make to hang on the wall.  I started my project that night and finished it last night!

I started with a broken cardboard box that looked something like this:

Then I measured/cut/folded/stapled and made 4 square cubey things like this:

And then I made them pretty with scrapbook paper and mod podge, so they looked like this:

I am pretty happy with it!  They turned out almost like I had pictured in my head.  The broken box was free, obviously, and the scrapbook paper/cardstock only cost me a few bucks, so it was a super cheap project!  I can't wait until we move!!

Naomi is potty-trained!!!

We were finally successful in potty training Naomi!  She's been potty trained for about a month now, but I'm behind on blogging as usual.  Anyway, I'd tried two or three times before this last attempt, but I never even lasted a full day before giving up.  This last time, I was determined, and Naomi finally seemed ready.  The first day sucked, and half of the second sucked, but by about noon on the second day, she had it!  We used a sticker chart to motivate Naomi, and it was all that was needed--that girl LOVES stickers!!

I made it myself... it's so pretty, right???

She was pretty much potty trained in a day and a half--I think she had maybe one accident the third day, and that was it.  It took a few more days to fill her sticker chart, and then I took her on the carousel at the mall as her prize.  Another thing Naomi LOVES is riding the carousel.

Naomi has stopped being good at posing for pictures... she won't smile anymore.  She will usually say "Cheese", but then the pictures turn out like this. haha

I didn't have my camera along, so a blurry phone pic will have to do!

Yay, Naomi!!  And hooray that we don't have to deal with potty training & accidents after we move into our place in St. Louis with its brand new floors & carpets...until we potty train Aleta, that is!

My husband, the college graduate!

Jacob graduated from the University of Missouri in May!  He got his Bachelor's degree in Nuclear Medicine Technology, and he also took and passed his boards in the beginning of June.  Jacob has worked SO hard to get to this point, and I am so proud of him!   I have been putting off posting about it because I wanted to add pictures, and I wasn't able to take any pictures of my own, so I had to wait until I could get the photos from Jacob's mom.

The kids and I had to drop Jacob off at the arena and then park (at the very back of the farthest parking lot), so I had to walk for about 20 minutes in the heat by myself with the kids to get to the arena.  It was terrible... after 30 seconds I was definitely re-thinking my shoes and wishing I had worn flats.  Luckily, I had thought to bring our monkey-backpack-leash thing for Naomi (yes, I am one of those moms) so at least I didn't have to worry that she would run out in the road by herself and get hit by a car!  Because I had to carry Aleta and our super-full diaper bag, I didn't even have a free hand to hold Naomi's hand.  When Jacob graduates from his graduate program next year, I will find a better way to do the whole graduation ceremony thing... maybe just not bring the kids.  I was super hot and tired and frustrated by the time we finally got in and sat down, so I didn't enjoy the ceremony, but you better believe I yelled as loud as I could for Jacob when they called his name.  And at the risk of sounding ridiculous, I will admit that I teared up a little.  He's been working towards this for basically our entire marriage, and it has been super hard for all of us.  I was so proud and so happy!!  Now we've just got one more year of grad school before he is hopefully done forever.

Naomi loves playing on Nanny's ipad!

Me & my baby... she is so big now!

My beautiful mother-in-law!

Elizabeth, my sister-in-law Sarah's baby, looking up at Granddaddy.  All of the babies just ADORE Granddaddy.

Naomi loves sunglasses!

 My favorite moment of the day was when I was feeding the kids chips to keep them happy and occupied, and Aleta grabbed the bag out of my hand, flinging chips everywhere, and one landed right on the head of an old man sitting in front of us.  Jacob's mom and I were laughing SO hard that my eyes were watering.  It was so funny.  And even though some of the people sitting by the man stood up and walked right by him at various times throughout the ceremony, no one ever noticed the chip!  So it stayed there the entire time.  We even got a photo.

Potato chip on old man's head... I believe it was sour cream & onion.

Jacob was not in a picture-taking mood after the graduation ceremony (ok... he is NEVER in a picture-taking mood!), so he wouldn't smile for a single picture.  The only one of us together where he even looks decent is this one, but I hate it of me. Oh well!

For me, this photo was a little better, but Jacob looked terrible, so I covered him up so he wouldn't get upset with me for posting it!  But now you can pretend that he is smiling... :)

Jacob's parents & us

The 4 of us... apparently I was the only one who knew this photo was being taken

I like this one even though none of us are looking.

I guess I was mistaken!  Jacob did smile in one photo!

Jacob's sister Sarah was visiting from Utah, so she was able to come to Jacob's graduation!

My sister-in-law Sarah... isn't she so pretty?

 

Congratulations, Jacob!!!