The White House

• Quinn almost always addresses us when he has something to say:  \”Mama, I think I\’m hungry\”, \”Papa, I\’m going to do it all by myself\”, \”Mama, the pattern goes blue, green, lellow, lellow\”.
• When Quinn wants you to do something with him, he will say \”Mama, you and me are playing hide and seek\”.  He may even try a different approach by telling me (in front of Don), \”Mama, me and papa are going to go upstairs and play basketball\”.  Last night Don got home from work late and Quinn said \”Papa, you and me are going to go outside and play golf\”.  I said something to the effect that it was too late.  So Quinn came over to me and put his hand on my mouth and said shhhh.  Then went over to Don and \”whispered\” in his ear \”Papa, you and me are going to go outside and play golf\”.  
• If you don\’t understand something he said such as \”Papa, you and me are going to go upstairs and play oweiruy\”. And ask him \”Play what?\”.  He won\’t say the \”oweiruy\” word again he starts all over again \”Papa, you and me are going to go upstairs and play oweiruy\”.  Cracks me up every time.
• Quinn talks about igloos quite a bit and calls it an \”egglayer\”.  Don\’t try to correct him because he knows the correct pronunciation is \”egglayer\”.  
• \”Mama, a-b-c spells cat\”.  \”No, you spell cat c-a-t\”.  \”No mama, a-b-c spells cat\”.  
• Our once adventurous eater now loves all things non-nutritious.  His favorite foods are PB&J, Mac & Cheese, Oodles of Noodles, and Rice.  He seems to really dislike my cooking these days if it\’s not one of those items.  Last night I made a rice and orzo dish with pesto and he said \”Mama, I don\’t want the green rice, I want the grave rice\”.  Grave = gray and I\’m assuming he\’s talking about white rice.  Although he still loves most fruit and a handful of veggies like cukes, tomatoes, corn, green beans, broccoli if he\’s in the right mood, mushrooms, and lettuce.  I know it\’s a phase and at some point he will be more willing to try more foods. 
• Quinn is doing great without diapers with only a couple of accidents here and there.  He now enjoys standing up for #1 but is highly resistant to going #2.  His body language is a sure sign he needs to go but then he will say the magic words \”Mama, my tummy hurts.  I think I need an apple\”.  #2 on the way!

We had a fun filled Fourth of July that started with a couple of hours at the Westfield Pool.  Quinn really enjoys swimming and will belly flop off the side of the pool and swim to us over and over again.   Don has been encouraging him to use his arms but he likes to keep them by his side and use his legs as his only propulsion.  We\’re happy that he\’s happy in the water and I\’m sure his swimming skills will continue to improve over the summer.

On the way home from the pool we went for a drive to encourage Quinn to take an afternoon nap. Success!  While he was sleeping we ran by the park in Cranford where we planned to see the fireworks.  Don jumped out and set up our area with beach chairs and a blanket.

We returned to Cranford around 6:30 pm and took in the very small town festivities.  The slides…

and obstacle course….

and the train ride.

Don set us up perfectly right next to the lake.  There was no room in front of us for people to sit so we had a clear view of the fireworks that were being shot off on the other side of the lake.

How many fingers am I holding up?

This was Quinn\’s first time seeing fireworks.  He was pretty excited at first but got bored quickly.  Regardless it was a great night out.

Happy Fourth and Happy Birthday Ross!

I got an urge to change over our kitchen wall shelves to a summer theme.  I had seen a free download for a patriotic print that first inspired me.  Then I saw this at a super discount store.

So I resized the download to a 16\” square and had it printed on poster paper at Costco.  I was really impressed by the quality for the price.  I think it was a 20×24 poster for $5.99.

You can see my trusty ModPodge.  I cut the poster in strips to the right size and affixed them to the painting with ModPodge.  I added some white paint splotches to make it not as brand new looking.  Then gave it a couple more coats of ModPodge.  I think it turned out pretty nice.  

I also took a favorite image of Quinn from beach week and affixed it to a 6×12 canvas.

I also printed and framed a picture of a starfish that I took in St. John. I have to say that I\’m kinda digging our summer wall.