Blow Des, Blow

Desmond is getting good at blowing balloons. Here he is in action and these balloons are pretty difficult to blow, even for adults...you know the kind that needs to be broken in and stretched out a little bit before you can blow them up easily.

Step Into My Shoes

Last week, Mama caught Stella trying on one of Mama's dressy shoes. She loved these shoes because of the beads and the iridescent sequins...she is such a girlie girl already!

Slip-N-Slide

When we got home from dinner, we set up the slip-n-slide we had purchased this weekend. The sun was not blazing but it was still hot to enjoy the cold, cold water! The kids loved it.

Stella was the first to slide down.

Then it was Gup's turn.

The kids had an awesome, fun-filled day today from Chuck E. Cheese and the park to Pet Smart and the slip-n-slide...all thanks to their amazing Dada who just wanted to spend Father's Day playing and having fun with his kids.

Puppy Love

Before dinner tonight, we went in to Pet Smart just for fun and the kids had a howlin' good time with all of the animals there!

Stella & Des looked at birds...

...and fishes..........................................................and kittens.

But the best was when we came across a litter of puppies they had there for adoption.

After watching the puppies from outside their fenced in area, Des and Stella wanted to go inside.
Des is an animal lover so it was no surprise that he was eager to go, but we were surprised that Stella, who is normally apprehensive about dogs and cats, wanted to go in as well. We were even more surprised when Stella petted and held the puppies.

The nice lady there gave Stella and Des dog biscuits to feed the puppies in an attempt to wake them up since they were all sleeping despite being petted by Stella and Des. Some puppies woke up for the biscuits and others did not. For the persistent sleepers, Des tried to wake them up by placing several biscuits on the puppies' faces while saying "Here, eat it doggie, biscuit." So funny!

Des tried to eat the dog biscuit himself, but luckily we stopped him in time. Then he picked up the puppies' water bowl from under a chair and brought it over to them saying, "Here doggies, drink!" Then came time to hold them.

Des was surprisingly gentle with the puppies while holding them.

When it was time to go, Stella and Des didn't want to leave. Can you blame them?

Visiting Chuck E. Cheese, Take Two

As faithful readers of this blog might recall, Des did not at all like his first experience at Chuck E. Cheese. He was crying pretty much the entire time he was there. Ever since that time, we have been asking/teasing him about what happened at Chuck E. Cheese and Des would respond "Chuck E. Cheese crying" meaning he was crying at Chuck E. Cheese. The more and more we talked about Desmond's first experience at Chuck E. Cheese, the more Des would laugh at the mention of Chuck E. Cheese. This then progressed to Des saying that he wants to go see Chuck E. Cheese. We finally honored his request today and we are happy to report that all went well and we all, including Des, had a great time.

At the end, when Stella and Des were redeeming their prize tickets, Des picked out the ugliest plastic bug in the case...a big, black cockroach!

He didn't even want the bright green grass hopper that Mama pointed out to him, and he loves grass hoppers. Is he a boy or what?!?! Stella picked out a crazy purple straw and a lollipop.

After Chuck E. Cheese, Dada took the kids to a nearby park, while Mama went off to do some errands. Here are some pics from the park.

Date Night Afternoon

Stella and Mama went on a date this afternoon while Dada and Des went on a date of their own.
Mama and Stella went and had lunch at Steak-n-Shake (we both love their mini sliders) and then went to see the movie Up. It was Stella's first time seeing a movie in the theater. Overall, Mama thinks Stella liked it. She at first didn't like the fact that the bottom of the seat wouldn't stay down when she sat down and leaned back. So she said she'd rather stand. Mama told her that it was a long movie and her legs would get tired. After some time, she sat down but only on the edge of her seat, so as to ensure that it would stay down. Mama tried several times to get Stella to scoot back telling her that Mama would hold down the seat for her, but she refused. Finally towards the end of the movie, Stella sat back and was so proud of herself for being able to keep the seat bottom down with her legs.

At the entrance to the movie theater.

Inside the theater, waiting for the feature presentation.

After the movie, we went to the dollar store nearby and Stella got a hula hoop (we got one for Gup too!). Mama and Stella had a fun time on their date!

Spoon Savvy

Des is getting very good with the spoon. He had mastered the fork a long time ago, but now he is getting the hang of the spoon. For lunch today, he ate an entire container of yogurt straight from the container all by himself without making a mess except for the little dribbles on the corners of his cheeks.

Having learned our mistake with Stella, we are a lot better about letting Des feed himself and the results are great!

Stella's First Visit to the Dentist

Stella had her first visit to the dentist today and surprisingly, she did well. She let them do everything to her except take x-rays, which is fine by us because we don't think there is a need for x-rays at this age considering she doesn't have her permanent teeth yet.

She first watched Dada get his teeth cleaned and then it was her turn. She sat on Dada's lap and leaned back while they examined her teeth and polished them. She didn't want them to floss her teeth when asked. She even let them put Mr. Thirsty (aka, the suction hose) and Mr. Spray in her mouth without a fight! Considering her last few experiences with doctors and her refusal to have her blood pressure measured (because she doesn't like the cuff squeezing her arm), Mama was very surprised how well this first visit to the dentist went. She is due back in 6 months!

She left with rings for her fingers and a Princess Ariel toothbrush in pink and purple, her favorite colors! She liked the visit so much that she didn't want to leave and was in a bad mood when they got home and sat on the steps of the garage sulking, refusing to come inside. Too funny!

Unfortunately, Dada forgot to take the camera so we don't have any pictures of Stella at the dentist office, but Mama took a picture of Stella modeling the rings she got from the dentist's office when she got home (see pic above).

Jammie Twins

While at the beach one night, Stella and Desmond wore matching jammies and engaged in some wrestling fun! Of course, we could not get a picture of them sitting still!

Home Sweet Home

We left the beach house yesterday around 9:45 am and drove straight through with the exception of lunch and dinner breaks and made it home around 1:30 am early this morning.

After lunch, we stopped at a mall so that we can walk around and exercise our legs. Des and Stella were so cute, walking hand in hand in the mall. The kids then stopped at the spot with all of the ride on toys and had some fun on them. We didn't have our camera with us, unfortunately, but Dada took some photos with his iPhone.

Our plan was to stay somewhere outside of Memphis for the night and drive the remainder today, but since we made such good time and made it to Memphis around 6 PM, we decided to keep trekking on after dinner. We are all happy to be home.

An Early Birthday Celebration

While at the beach, we celebrated Stella and Eli's upcoming birthdays. Eli is going to be 3 in a few weeks and our little Stella will be turning 4 on July 15th!

Stella getting all shy while everyone was singing Happy Birthday to her and Eli.

The Gup looking on and wanting to blow out the candles which we indulged him with later on.