Trading TV for Trails

Michael captured a few pics during a recent weeknight hike. Gray likes "mountain biking" while we walk the 1.5 mile trail. He's getting a lot faster and more difficult to keep up with, so he has to ride up ahead a bit and then circle back toward us so he stays in sight. His favorite part is hitting the brakes to make skid marks in the dirt. Somehow that never gets old. He's also been learning how to pedal standing up which he thinks is a super awesome trick.

Rite of Passage

We've reached another life milestone...Grayson's first slumber party! He was invited to spend the night with his cousins Luke and Jack, and jumped at the chance to spend time with two of his favorite people.

Aunt Suzanne set the bar high, making them an awesome sleeping pallet, letting them stay up late to watch the Lego movie and bringing them popcorn and snacks to their hearts' desire. The next morning, as they were riding to go get donuts, Grayson told Suzanne it was the best day ever.

Afterward, they road big wheels and jumped on the trampoline before heading back to Norman for lunch and some swim time. What more could three little boys ask for?

All tucked in and ready to watch the Lego movie!

Eating some lunch before hitting the pool

Summer's unexpected joys (and challenges)

With August nearly upon us, we've been trying to soak up every bit of July and what remains of summer break. Grayson is enjoying his last week of camp and I've been trying to keep him entertained indoors in the afternoons while we had a stretch of 102+ days.

He made a few paper airplanes one day at camp and has been obsessed with folding all kinds of different styles of planes. We broke out a couple of paper airplane books that Nana gave us a while back and went to town.

Cooling off with some banana/peanut butter/chocolate smoothies while we fold some new paper airplanes.

We've had a rough patch of things breaking lately in the heat. Our AC had a leaky pipe, then a few days later the pool pump sprung a leak. Michael's bike that they commute on also had a part break unexpectedly which needed some attention. Daddy and his mini-me have been busy with all the handyman work. Daddy is also installing some new lights in the living room so we can finally mark everything off our list with that part of the house. I'm very lucky to have such handy fellas!

We finally had a break in the heat for a few days and took an afternoon road trip to explore some county roads with the windows down. We found the Edge of the Earth, which apparently is in Cleveland County, OK in case you were wondering. 

We also stumbled across a local wildlife management area and explored a few dirt roads. Gray inherited his daddy's love for off-roading. I happened to look back in my side mirror and caught him riding with his head out the window soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the breeze on his face.

Family-style birthday fun

My mom and I recently celebrated our birthdays and decided to do something a little different. We had a family dinner at Shogun's, a Japanese hibachi steakhouse, where they slice up and cook everything right at your table.

Gray loved watching the chef flip rice into daddy's mouth from across the table and turn a sliced onion into a flaming volcano. He also enjoys any excuse for using chopsticks. I was so busy watching the show that the chef was putting on that I only snapped a few quick pictures.

How we roll

Gray is currently attending a four week "land and ocean" camp at a local Montessori school. He loves every minute of it, but most of all he loves riding there each morning with daddy. It's several miles away and the best part is, when he gets tired, he can stop pedaling and let daddy do all the work! It's fun to see both my guys enjoying this daily ritual and building memories together.

Splashing through summer

It seems as thought we've been living in our swimsuits lately. Between planned and impromptu parties, we've managed to swim daily for the past several weeks. It's a great way to ensure certain little kids sleep well!

Bouncing on a water blob at Cora's birthday party. Courtney saw how to make this on Pinterest and it was a hit to say the least! 

Jack jumping off the diving board for about the fiftieth time

Liam, Luke, Jack and Gray having a backyard picnic. I love these silly boys so much!

Braham ready for some dinner...swimming really works up an appetite!

Gray having a little rest between his morning and afternoon swims. Rough life!

Long overdue updates

We've lived in our house eight years this November and have been tackling a list of renovation projects since day one. Every wall has been painted, many of which required wallpaper removal as well. We've updated counter tops in the kitchen and bathrooms, changed out lighting and many other small projects along the way.

One of the biggest undertakings on our wish list was replacing the white berber carpet and laminate wood flooring that ran throughout two living areas, a dining room, plus the kitchen and hallway. We also wanted to update a wall of built-ins that had been installed in the 70s.

We'll I'm happy to say that both of these projects can officially be marked off the wish list! Here are some before and after photos.

Built-ins before (can you tell I took this pic around Christmas?)

Gotta love that 70s detailing on the drawers. Despite our hardware updates, these needed more help than we could provide.

The carpet on the other end of our living room right before we moved out the furniture to install the wood floors. Who puts in white carpet? Crazy people, that's who!

First order of business was to update some trim on the cabinets and Michael installed wall tiles on the old wood paneling for visual interest. We tried adding the wall tiles up top by the crown molding, but it didn't look right so instead we decided to texture that paneling and paint it the wall color.

Ahh...I loved seeing these drawer panel details go!

New trim with clean lines and updated hinges

Primed!

Final coat and new hardware

After! We are still shopping around for something to replace the track light, but since updates are never ending, I decided to go ahead and post. We also hung new curtains which you can see a peek of on the right. 

Here's the other end. We installed a new Nelson light fixture over the dining room table and rearranged part the furniture layout. I'm loving how easy the wood floors are to maintain compared to that white carpet! 

We still need to touch-up some of the baseboards and do a few odds and ends, but we're very excited to finally see our vision come to life. Next up...gutting the master bathroom!