More pool pictures.... because OMG I love tutu bathing suits and goggle faces

The rainy season seems to be over and we are savoring each moment in the sunshine! That means LOTS of pool time! Parker has become quite the fish and Miss. Avery continues to love swimming the entire pool in her puddle jumper. Both kids LOVE to jump in. Parker is great at jumping in and swimming to the side but Avery scares me! She likes to jump in and land on her rear end so she kicks her feet up, leaving me with nightmares of cracked skulls. 

{Knock on wood} so for, she hasn't had any accidents! 

Parker loves swimming with his BFF Joanthan. They share a mutual affection for all things Iron Man.

 Avery and Isabella are queens of the pool.

Avery likes to scare the high strung neighbors with her swimming skills. 2 people have already "saved" her this summer from drowning.... except she's swimming properly with her face in the water... not drowning. Bless their high strung hearts.

We've been trying to get to the pool each day for about 2 hours. It wears these kiddos out and mama enjoys adult conversation with the neighborhood ladies. PLUS... it's 2 less hours they're destroying my house ;) SCORE!

Water gun fun!

He is my neurotic child who only likes to jump on "the number 3 and sometimes 4".... I feel ya buddy!

She looks so preciously nerdy! Love her!

Only 1 more month before preschool starts! Better soak up these less scheduled days now!

Splash Pad Fun{ish}

This morning, I packed up our crew and we headed to Blakeney for some splash pad fun with my friend, Meredith and her twins. It's a tiny little splash pad but there are lots of places to sit and eat, a futuristic dysfunctional playground (but at least it's a padded place to run) and most importantly, a STARBUCKS! Thank you, Jesus... Amen.

The kids enjoyed the splash pad for a bit but then Parker declared "this is too small"... so apparently he has outgrown this activity...or maybe we're just a bit grumpy today from lack of sleep but regardless, the camera was in tow to capture the less whiny moments.

 Who needs a small splash pad when you've got a gigantic fountain!? They were SO tempted!

 One fought the urge, one didn't.... I'll let you guess.

Splash Pad Fun

AND then we started to whine and run in opposite directions. Such is life sometimes, right?! The good news is that we got out of the house, were on time, I got a yummy Starbucks, I enjoyed some adult conversation and a little Vitamin D. Hopefully this afternoon after naps/quiet time, we can get some pool time in! ;) This mama is SO excited for SUN!

Parker the Fish

This sweet boy has become quite the little fish this summer!

Much to my dismay, he has given up swimming with his puddle jumper.... which means I have given up tanning by the side of the pool with a margarita. {tear} Currently I would categorize his swimming as "controlled drowning" but he seems quite pleased with his new skills. He can swim correctly but he sometimes forgets to use his arms or kicks both legs at the same time like a mermaid butterfly kick. It's pretty adorable, actually. 

Parkerman knows he can touch in the "number 3" so he'll find a "3" on the side of the pool and jump in there then swim back to the wall or steps. He also does this little jumpy thing which was my goal for this summer. I wanted him to understand that if he can't touch, to jump and breathe when his face is out of the water. Thankfully, he's mastered this so my stress level at the pool without both kids in flotation devices has dramatically decreased. Avery wants her puddle jumper on before we leave our house most days and I'm PRAYING that we have another summer of that! She's SO short that I don't think the jumping method would work for her!

Parker likes the idea of goggles... especially Iron Man ones but he doesn't like tight things so he basically ends up wearing them around his neck as an accessory instead. It makes me giggle ;) 

We've tried dive sticks but he usually just throws them to older kids and thinks its funny to make them fetch them... then we accidentally leave said $9.99 pack of 3 Iron Man dives sticks at the pool and despite Sharpieing our names on them, we never see them again so I'm the mean mom who has stopped bringing toys to the pool because they never seem to come home with us. {longest sentence ever} Thankfully, the kids have just as much fun without them and spend more time swimming in the pool than playing next to the pool with their toys. It also eliminates the "No mine" meltdowns... so really it's a win/win!

We haven't gotten to the pool as much as we planning to this summer due to the RAIN... and RAIN... and did I mentioned it has RAINED?!  ...Like so much rain that my garden has drown.... literally. Thankfully, the next few days should afford us a few hours of sun each day for some pool fun with friends! These 2 cuties are ready for blue skies and blue water!

Meet Ivy

Ivy made her debut today on facebook and instagram and I promised a blog post to "explain!" No, I'm not crazy to have 2 kids, 3 dogs, 7 seahorses and I'm not sure how many fish at this point... I needed Ivy as much as Ivy needed me ;)

Ivy is a 2 pound, 5 month old purebred yorkie. She is from a breeder in Kannapolis, NC that breeds Yorkie show dogs. Ivy's mom is on the smaller end for a show dog and Ivy's dad was not show quality as he was only 3 pounds... but in the words of the breeder "the teacup size yorkies sell better so we thought they would be a good match." Tragically, her parent's names are UR Princess Jasmine and Pitty Pat's Mr. Mingle.... no I'm not kidding. I couldn't bare to put either of those names in her name on the AKC registration form so she's just "Ivy Wise..." the least creative name AKC registrars will ever see. Anyways, the breeder thought "Princess Jasmine" would have 1 or 2 puppies but she had 3 itty bitty ones instead.The breeder thought they would die because they were the smallest puppies she had ever seen but all 3 made it! :)

Because the mom was so small and there were 3 puppies, there just wasn't a lot of room so each puppy was born very small. As they grew, the breeder started to notice they they all had problems walking normally and they took a while to learn to eat solid food. She babied them terribly badly and carried them most everywhere. Because of this, Ivy has low muscle tone and scoliosis from being crammed in a tiny womb with her 2 sisters. 

We had been casually looking at hypoallergenic small dogs for a little while and narrowed it down to a few breeds. Thursday night we turned down a dog we had inquired about that was just not for us. She was too young and was going to be A LOT of work to train! On Friday, the kids and I went to see another puppy that was a bit older than the Thursday dog but still young. She was described as "spunky" and believe me... I have enough spunk with 2 kids and a cocker spaniel so I turned that dog down too. We were looking for chill and snuggly. The breeder asked if I'd be interested in a 5 month old Yorkie that was teeny tiny but with mild special needs and it was love at 1st sight! I didn't know quite how "special" she was until we tried to get her to walk later that night but we didn't care. She was ours and we loved her immediately. 

The next morning, I took her to the vet to get checked out. We knew something was "off" with her but didn't figure it out. The vet diagnosed her with scoliosis and low muscle tone, which is why she walks funny. Compounded with being in a new environment and being anxious, she was walking super hunched over. Thankfully, her blood work came back great and Miss Ivy got a clean bill of health with instructions to keep her on the thinner side for her back and exercise her for her muscle tone. Now that she's more comfortable with her new home, she walks more normally, less hunched and even pounces and runs like a puppy should!

She is amazing with the kids. They absolutely adore her! 

I have to admit... I knew I'd love her but I didn't expect to love her enough to put her in my new Coach purse to take her shopping for a harness! 

She sleeps most of the day, she hasn't barked ONCE, she doesn't puppy bite, she sleeps through the night and is somewhat housebroken. She's pretty much the perfect dog. Ellie and Moses love her! Ellie treats her like the puppy she never had!

She enjoys her new, orange polka dot fluffy dog bed, her Bil Jac small breed puppy food (girl can EAT!), tiny squeaky balls and above all else.... a dish rag being pulled across the floor. It's the simple things, right?!

 

Tonight she's getting a good bath because tomorrow she gets to meet her nana, poppi and 95 pound Yellow Lab Aunt Peyton.... which I can only imagine will be like meeting a giant to this 2 pound princess.

So, am I nuts to have 2 kids, 3 dogs, 7 seahorses and countless fish? Maybe.... but I wouldn't trade it for a thing. I love this blessed chaos, I call my home!

Summer Pictures - OUTAKES!

Yesterday, I posted about our fun, family photo session with Heather Marie Photography. We got some great, frame worthy photos! We also got some great candid shots of wardrobe malfunctions, toddler cracks, eyes being rolled and man parts being held. 

This post should be titled "true life: The Wise Family"

 This would have been the CUTEST picture of the 2 kids if Parker wasn't.... well.... you know.

This photo actually made the "great shot post" yesterday but... let's be honest... that's my butt. I obviously need to be more self aware!

Parker doing his best "Iron Man" while Avery is... well... my child. Clearly not the most lady like! 

I wish you could see Daniel's facial expression up close in this picture. It's the "this is cheesy... I am done. Can I have another Krispy Kreme?" face. 

Stopping to admire airplanes! 

Photobombed by the kids! 

Not only do I love Parker's look of bewilderment at this sister, I also love that he's holding the flower Avery attempted to pick.. and ended up uprooting the entire plant.

My 4 chins in this picture were enough to make me want to delete this photo from my hard drive but I saved it, just for your viewing pleasure. 

I'm not sure what exactly was going on here but my hair looks nice...

Apparently when I jump in the water, I look like a gazelle.... (side note... when I wrote "gazelle" I spelled it gisele because spelling is obviously my strong suit... or maybe I just wish I looked like "Gisele" when jumping in a lake! A girl can dream... while her eating Krispy Kreme) 

And last but not least, I present you.... 

My favorite part of this photo is Parker "swimming" in the background. He looks like he's sneaking up behind her to pounce! 

I cherish these photos so much! They aren't perfect or frame worthy but they're mine. It's my crazy, fun, wonderfully blessed life that I'm so glad I live and have photos to remember these moments by!

Summer Family Photos

If you've read the blog for a while, you know I LOVE having family photos taken! It's about the only way to get all 4 of us in the same picture. I seem to be the only member of our family who enjoys having family photos taken but twice a year (sometimes 3 times) I subject my family to 45 minute of torture to satisfy my need to have pretty pictures.

Daniel is usually easily bribed to smile, Avery typically chips up when made to laugh and then there's Parker.... Parker HATES family photos. So much so that he refused to wear his puffer vest for our Christmas pictures last year that really made him look like I picked him up off the street and threw him in our family photos. He didn't coordinate one bit. It got to the point where he'd cry when he saw the photographer because he knew it was picture day. As much as we love her, we actually had to find a different photographer so he wouldn't bust into tears the second we pulled into the picture location.

I get professional photo anxiety because I want a pretty, framable family photo SO badly but Parker is either pouting, Avery is running in the opposite direction, Daniel is rolling his eyes or looking off into space and I'm usually fake smiling as if I don't notice the chaos unfolding around me. For this photoshoot, I decided to go in a completely different direction. Instead of posing and smiling, let's just play! I hired Heather with Heather Marie Photography to capture lifestyle shots with pretty light.  As a mom of 3 beautiful, rambunctious boys, I figured she'd be most likely to crack a smile out of Parker! Would you believe, he was the cheesiest of us all!

The results speak for themselves! We met her about 50 minutes from our house at 7am (yikes!) with the kids in PJs, Starbucks in hand and fresh Krispy Kremes! We sugared the kids up, changed their clothes and started playing. We had a blast! I had a hard time deciding which to frame! Thank you Heather for these special treasures!

Get excited... Heather also included some out takes for me that I'll share next!