This week

I decided to tackle my pile of fabric, iron it all and organize it. It has been so much easier to make my bow ties and headbands now that I can just grab the fabric I need instead of sifting through a huge pile. I started putting some listings up on my Etsy store and I already had my first sale! It was so exciting! My goal is to put 10 new listings up a week, so I've been working on making some 4th of July ones recently.

Saturday we spent the morning in New Smyrna downtown. First we went to the farmer's market and looked at everything there. James loved looking at all the fruits and vegetables and figuring out the ones he knew. Of course, when I tell him that something is really tasty (like a squash for example), he always says, "Wellll, it's not yummy for me!". So even though he knows what most fruits and vegetables are, don't be fooled. He won't eat them to save his life.

After the farmer's market we walked over to the New Smyrna Beach historical museum. It is a free museum run by volunteers, full of information, pictures, and artifacts about the town. It originally started as a colony in the 1700's so there is a lot of history to look at!

Right as we walked in, one of the volunteers was starting a scavenger hunt tour with a little girl so we did it with her. She and James had a card with pictures of things throughout the museum and when they found it they got to check it off and learn more about it. James was racing around and wanted to touch everything in reach, so I got a little frustrated with him, but the volunteer was really patient :)

At the end of the tour they had a little gift shop and one section had an entire line of Datil pepper products! Datil peppers are basically only found around this area of Florida and were a main ingredient in the New Smyrna and St. Augustine colonist's diet. We had a Datil pepper plant in our garden but one of the few frosts we had killed it and Anthony has been wanting a new one ever since. I bought him some pepper jelly and a packet of heirloom datil pepper seeds. When I told him about it, you should have seen how happy it made him! Who knew he had such a farmer streak inside of him? He seriously loves planting things in our garden.

After the museum we had a picnic by the park. Rett was so happy to be eating food finally :)

James always insists on being silly/goofy when I take pictures of him. Also, we are back to wearing the Optimus Prime costume every. day.

Sunday I was getting ready for church when I spotted this weird short hair sticking straight up from the top of my head. When I looked at it closer I realized it was a gray hair!! Holy cow!! I'm not even 30 yet! I told Anthony I should name this hair "James". If anyone is doing this to me, it's him :)

Anthony went with us to the pool for the first time in forever and it was soooo nice having a parent for each kid. James eventually let Anthony take him into the deep end and pull him around while he kicked his legs. Now he tells everyone that he is an "awesome swimmer with my daddy". Rett tried out one of the Y's puddle jumpers for the first time and he loved it!

While we were there, about every 15 minutes Rett would walk out of the water and go towards our things on the beach chairs to eat some crackers or raisins. Anthony noticed and asked me what he was doing. He couldn't believe it when I told him! He isn't as bad at home, but for some reason when we are at the pool or the beach, his appetite goes into overdrive. It takes a lot of fuel to maintain this cuteness!

James has discovered that he loooooves popsicles. He has such a cute way of saying it, when he asks for one, he says, "Can I have a pox-ill?" He has discovered that his favorite type of popsicles are the long skinny ones in clear plastic from back in the day. Usually he lets it melt so that he can drink the "pox-ill juice". 

For a few days James had been asking to ride his "motorcycle" (big wheel) on the road, so yesterday we went for a walk around the neighborhood. He refuses to use the pedals because he says they are too hard, so he just pushes his feet on the ground. The only other time we have taken his motorcycle on a walk, he got tired and I had to carry the huge thing all the way back home. I warned him that I wasn't going to do that this time...

Of course, when we got about 1/2 mile away from our house, James stopped and said, "Whew! I'm tired!". I took pity on him and let him sit while I pushed him from behind with Rett's car. It actually worked pretty well as long as James remembered to steer :)

James and Rett were both invited to a birthday party for one of his friends from church. We played at the pool and then had pizza and cake at the park next door. The birthday boy loves bunnies, so as a present his parents borrowed a bunny from a friend so that it could visit their house for a few days. It was the hit of the party! They all loved to touch him and investigate him while he was in his cage, but then they let him out and everyone chased him around. It was awesome!

Rett loved running around with the big kids, but I caught him playing by himself on the playground and took a picture. All I have to say to get this face is, "Boo!". I love this handsome boy!