DPK with the Ewings

Amanda, Cerys, and Ace recently drove up to play at Discovery Place Kids with us. We had a blast … and I think it’s actually the longest we’ve ever stayed at DPK! After a few hours of crazy fun, they came back to our house for pizza and more fun. Based on the fact that Cerys tried to stay the night, I’d say the visit was a success! Hopefully we’ll see them one more time before the craziness of school and football season!

Alex trying out the mini climbing wall. Spencer wasn’t so sure about it (surprisingly!)

Fireman Spencer, to the rescue!

Farmers Alex and Spencer working together to harvest the apples.

Cerys and Alex dressing up and contemplating a show on the stage.

All 4 munchkins on a cow! Moo!

Super Hero Madness

The Super Hero madness is upon us! It started with the Lego Batman game for the Wii. As Alex met more and more of the characters, he became more and more obsessed. Now, he has Batman Legos, a Superman shirt, two Batman movies (not the new ones … too dark!) and an incredible memory for all things Super Hero related! He and Daddy even created a Batcave in the sandbox over the weekend.

Tim had to make 3 entrances to the Batcave … just like in Alex’s game.

Alex putting Batman and Robin in place.

Batman and Robin

The bad guys flooded the Batcave!!

Spiderman mask + Superman shirt + red t-shirt cape = Batman (according to Alex)

Spencer’s Birthday

In true Strunck fashion, Spencer was able to celebrate his birthday for about 2 weeks! What a lucky two-year-old! Celebrations started off with an early delivery of his own balance bike. He’s been riding Alex’s since Christmas, and lately there have been a few scuffles. So, Spencer has his own bike now. Problem solved! Next, we took a day trip to Lexington to share Spencer’s birthday with Great-Grandma Strunck. Then, the next weekend, we had two of our friends over for a little cook-out and cake on his actual birthday. Our friend’s dad actually shares Spencer’s birthday, so it was fun to celebrate with him too. Grandma Lisa, Papa Bob, Aunt Brie, and Uncle Jared stopped by on Sunday … so we were super busy with birthday fun! Thanks to everyone for their gifts and for sharing some time with Spencer!

Opening his first birthday present.

Helping Daddy attach the handlebars.

Getting ready to blow out candles with Great-Grandma.

Paw Patrol birthday cake.

All 4 boys in the pool.

And all 4 boys jumping in Ethan’s bouncy house.

Alex, Liam, and Ethan were very impressed by Spencer’s new Paw Patrol toys.

Alex helping Spencer blow out his candles.

Testing out his new camping gear.

That is one tired birthday boy!

Summer Camp & Bowling

Alex went back to his preschool for two weeks of summer camp earlier this month. I can’t believe it’s been a year since dropping him at his first camp and boo-hooing in the Starbucks parking lot! This time, we were both very excited for him to return to camp for a few days. I should probably say all three of us were excited, because I know Spencer enjoyed the time at home and on adventure away from Alex!

The first theme of camp was cooking. During each of the 4 days, they read books about a certain food, then cooked it! Alex had so much fun! The first day was noodles, so they cooked linguine with a butter sauce and picked fresh veggies from the preschool garden to mix in. Alex doesn’t like noodles, so he wouldn’t try it, but Spencer and I enjoyed it! Over the next few days, they made small pizzas, flipped pumpkin pancakes, and baked oatmeal raisin cookies. Each day, Alex was so proud to come home and share the remnants. The second theme was underwater adventures, so they learned all about ocean animals. He learned a ton about sharks and whales and made some cute artwork.

While Alex was in camp, Spencer and I ran errands and enjoyed our time playing at home. We did sneak to a play date with Liam, one of Alex’s friends … we actually went bowling! We tried bowling one time last summer, but Alex wasn’t impressed and Spencer was too little to really participate. This time was a blast! I can’t wait to go back again!

Alex’s noodle dish and the noodle bracelet he made for me.

Alex’s artwork from top left: aquarium, (tree … not from school), turtle, cookie, pizza, whale, ocean, and the rainbow fish.

The smallest bowling ball was 6 lbs, so I would carry it to the ramp, with Spencer “helping and holding it from the bottom. Then he’d give it a push. So fun!

Spencer is 2 Years Old!

Today was Spencer’s 2 year well check. My baby is getting old! This was the first time I didn’t take the stroller into the doctor’s office, so that’s a big milestone in itself! Both boys walked on their own to the exam room, read the books and magazines by their chairs, then colored with the little books I brought for them. I was a proud mommy! When Dr. Webb came in, he asked Alex to be his helper. Spencer smiled and let him check him out. I smiled when he said there were no shots this visit. Woo hoo!

So … here are Spencer’s 2 Year Stats! Once again, he and Alex are so close!

Height: 35 inches … 75 %ile (grew 1.5 in since Jan) Alex was 35 inches, too!

Weight: 32 lbs, 3 oz … 90 %ile (gained 32 lbs since Jan) Alex was only 27 lbs

Head: 51 cm … 95 %ile (grew 1.5 cm since Jan) no measurements on Alex at 2

My good boy!

My other good boy!

Alex, 2 years old.

Spencer, 2 years old.

Spencer Helping Mommy

Spencer loves to help around the house … just like Alex did at the same age. To see some of Alex’s helpfulness, click here. Oh, my sweet boys!

While I was unloading the dishwasher, Spencer put all the silverware away.

He spent 10 minutes with the vacuum hose on, trying to get up all the dirt.

Zootastic and Gramajos

Our Charleston neighbors drove up for a quick weekend visit and a trip to Zootastic, a fun little animal park up the road from us. It was fun to see our kids play together … and they got along really well! The last time Alex had seen them was when we sold them our boat when we lived in Wilmington. Marcus was just a baby and Spencer wasn’t yet a twinkle in our eye! Hopefully we’ll make it down to Charleston sometime soon and let the kiddos play again.

The whole reason we went to Zootastic was because the Gramajos had purchased special tickets to meet a baby tiger and a baby kangaroo.

Spencer loved feeding all the animals on the safari ride.

My twins!

Watusi … Tim’s favorite!

Petting the tortoise.

Crazy kids … delirious after Zootastic and Mexican food.

A Day With Clifford

There’s a Clifford traveling exhibit at Imaginon, the children’s library in Charlotte, that is here for the summer. I took the boys for story time and to explore the exhibit a few weeks ago. The exhibit is definitely geared more towards the 2 and 3 year olds, but we all had fun. Actually, I think Alex enjoyed story time the most!

From the pictures we found on their website, we thought the Clifford tail slide would be a bit larger.

Alex loved posing with Emily Elizabeth.

Alex dropped the “dog bones” out of the dish. Spencer carried them to the bottom of the conveyer belt, and our new friends rolled them back up to the dish.

Before we left, Spencer and Alex put on a puppet show.

Zoe!

Grandma Lisa and Papa Bob brought Zoe up to meet Alex and Spencer last week. The boys (and Kovu too!) had a blast playing with her! I think Alex really wanted to keep her at our house!. Zoe, come play again soon (and bring Grandma and Papa along with you)!

We played lots of blocks and “talking”

Kovu and Zoe were fast friends.

I think Alex was trying to steal Zoe away.

River Jam

Since the weather was a bit cooler last week, we decided to get out of the house and attend the River Jam concert series at the National Whitewater Center. The concert series goes on through the summer on Thursdays and Saturdays, so hopefully we’ll go back for a few more. We love going to the NWC - you don’t have to even get in the water when you go. You can just watch everyone else, listen to the live music, drink good beer, and eat good food. The boys’ favorite part is climbing on the mini rock walls:

The evil look is because he was trying to climb on the highest rock there.

“Ta-da!”

Alex’s “strong” face

Kings of the mountain

This is probably my favorite picture ever!

Bye-Bye, Rubbermaid!

It’s been a month since my last post - oops! Tim and I have been super lazy in the evenings, which is the only time I really have to blog. We decided to enjoy some quality time with the television after the kids were in bed before the chaos of starting a new job. What? You haven’t heard? Tim is no longer working for Rubbermaid. He is now working for Bosch as the Software Engineering Manager for a “smart” lighting project that will run off solar power. It’s a great step up in his career and it’s a project he’s truly interested in. I know he’s going to be great! Bosch is in Mooresville, which is further north up I-77 than where we are now. It’s a bit of a commute, but doable until our lease is up and we start looking around for another house closer to Bosch and closer to Alex’s preschool and other good schools. It’s good timing, since we need to move before Alex starts Kindergarten anyway.

As our lives fall back into place, I hope to get back into blogging. I have some posts from June to catch up on … and Spencer’s birthday pictures to post next week!