Blog? What Blog?

Well, I suppose that we're well beyond the stage where the kids do something cute and we rush to the blogging machine to document every memory.  You can probably tell this by the frequency (or infrequency) of postings lately.  It's not that the kids don't do noteworthy things anymore.  Certainly not.  Every day they make us laugh about something...like bath time moments ago when Sam grilled me about the topic of nipples.  Short answers would not suffice.  He wanted biological origin and etymology of the word.  But mostly he just wanted to say nipple over and over because it made Anna laugh hysterically.  Most everything they do makes the other laugh hysterically.  They're best buds...and a comedian's dream audience.

Our neighbor, Gage, completes the Three Amigos.

Nanna saved my jersey from 30 years ago so I could pass it on to Sam.

We had a garage sale, and all 5 Bartkowiaks spent the night to help us put on the greatest early AM savings

extravaganza ever!

Watching a show the morning after their sleepover.

We went on a nature hike yesterday.  The kids were scared to walk in the woods, so they insisted on holding hands.

Yet strangely enough, they weren't scared at all when I showed them this little guy on the trail.

There's much more to share, but sleep is calling.  Thanks for reading.  Thanks for taking an interest in our lives.

guest post by Matt

July Happenings...

So far this July has been pretty busy.  Last week my friend Erin (from One Sweet Day) came to visit.  We stayed very busy and I was worn out!  Wednesday was the fourth so she brought cookies and krispy treats.  Aren't those cookies gorgeous??  They tasted great too, I would know...I ate like ten just to make sure! We shopped, ate, baked, ate, swam, ate, and then ate some more.  She showed me how to frost sugar cookies, and we also made brown butter rice krispies.  Those were awesome!  

The kids frosted cookies with Ms. Erin, they loved it! 

 Don't quit your day job Sam!!  Can you tell he decorated an "S"?

 I would love to say that I decorated all of the colorful cookies, but it was mostly Erin.  I did a couple of them.  It is hard work!

Saturday we headed to Galveston to the Aquarium.  This is Sam at the shark tank! Not sure why he is making that face.  It might be because we told him we would feed him to the sharks if he didn't behave.
 Just Kidding :)

 The kids loved it and we can't wait to go back.  The weather didn't really cooperate so we didn't do as much exploring as we had hoped.  This is Anna with her shark passport.

My handsome guys.

Daddy tried to feed Sam to the shark, I guess he wasn't behaving!

Then we tried to lock the kids in a cage.  See why this was such a fun place? :)

Beach Trip 2012

We went to the beach!  We LOVE our annual family trip to the beach.  The kids cry when we leave, and ask us all year if we are going back soon.  We spent our days at the pool mostly with a few short trips down to the beach.  Most of our sand time happened at night!

 Best Buds!

 Airplanes

Sand Angel!

Sam is a fish and swam all over the pool like a pro!  He also turned a major potty training corner while we were on our vacay, he started going with out having to be asked.  By the time he left the beach he was a potty trained little boy.  We are so proud!

My beautiful girl!

 Anna got a hold of Matt's underwater camera and took a hundred pics of our condo, including a few of herself in the mirror wall!

 Aunt Jessie and Matt took the kayak out a couple of times.

 Me and Lil Sis

This sweet little girl had a blast playing in the sand and waves this year.  This was a surprise because she usually does not like to get dirty or sandy(don't know where she gets that?), and is still very wary of the water!  For some reason the waves did not scare her and she jumped right in!

Sam is THREE!!

This week we celebrated Sam's third birthday!  I can't believe he is already three!  He is such a sweet, fun kid and I love that I get to spend my days with him and big sis.  He is creative, he loves to sing, dance, and swim, and he has NO fear!!  We will have his big family party in LC this weekend, but since his birthday was during the week we decided to have a couple friends over for pizza and cake.  He was super excited to see his friends and "share cake with everyone!".

Neighborhood Pool Fun

While Mommy is away, Daddy took the kids to the neighborhood pool for the first time this year.  You can really see how Sam has learned from his swimming lessons.  The child is fearless.  He refused to wear his floatie, and he just wanted to jump in the pool over and over again.  He even took several trips down the slide!  Anna still likes to take it slow.  She had a good time putting around in her panda floatie.  I have a feeling that she'll be done with that thing by the end of this Summer.

guest post by Matt

Water Day

It was Water Day at the kids' school yesterday.  The school set up all kinds of things that spray, squirt and soak.  With Mommy out of town, Daddy had the good fortune to witness the festivities.

Here's a picture of Sam playing in the giant bubble machine:

 Then, it was popsicle time!

Sorry.  No pictures of Anna.  She doesn't care too much for unstructured playtime.  She was a grumpy little attachment to my leg for the entire hour that her classmates played.  Instead of playing with friends, she preferred sitting on a step in the shade.  I think she may have inherited her Daddy's wallflower gene.

guest post by Matt
...Back to work for me!

Playing in the Rain

Right after dinner, it rained.  There was no lightning, so I let the kids experience one of the simple joys of childhood, playing in the rain.  They had a blast.

guest post by Matt

Painting for Fun

Jenn decided that the master bedroom needed a new look, so a-painting we go!

guest post by Matt

Swimming at Aunt Jessie's

Summer doesn't officially begin until June 20, but we can't wait that long.  We went to Jessie's place and swam in the slightly frigid water in her pool.  Sam, thanks to his swim lessons, takes to the water like a salmon.  Anna loves the water, but still likes the safety of her panda floatie.

When it was Daddy's turn in the pool, Mimi, Jennifer, and Jessie lounged at the water's edge and soaked up all the sun's rays that filtered through the grayish skies.  When Daddy could sneak away, he enjoyed digging a sizable hole in Aunt Jessie's homemade guacamole dip and watching LSU smash Ole Miss' sorry Sunday pitching.  12-3  Geaux Tigers!

And here's another picture of Sam swimming underwater:

guest post by Matt

Samuel Proctor, Trumpet Virtuoso

This morning Sam surprised me with a serenade.  This performance was entirely unprompted.  This is a talent that he has developed and perfected entirely on his own accord.  Each day our children delight us by sharing new-found skills.

guest post by Matt

The Cootie Cloud...and San Antonio

So we have had what I call a "cootie cloud" above our house for the past several weeks.  Most of those weeks Matt has been out of town.  Oh, how I love cleaning up vomit and diarrhea while managing the house all by myself...NOT!  This is in no certain order, but this is what we have been dealing with: stomach bug lasting 5-7 days, strep throat, and a horrible upper respiratory virus that ends in your eyes.  Anna was the only one with strep, but both of the kids had the stomach bug (not on the same week), and both got the upper res. virus.  I thought they had a bad cold then pink eye but the doc set me straight!  Matt and I never got the stomach bug, but we were lucky enough to get the virus.  I am knocking on wood, but I think the cloud is lifting.  I started cleaning up puke on April 2nd, and as of right this minute it has been a full 72 hours since I have broken out the "puke bucket".  Now, on to the pictures...don't worry there are no pictures of bodily fluids!  We went to see Shamu last weekend.  I was on the tail end of the virus, my eyes were red and looked horrible but I had booked the mini vacay and we were going!!  Plus we went with a couple of great families and the kids were really looking forward to it, we needed it!

Looking at the dolphins swimming. 

Waiting for the show to start!

Watching Luke come down the big slide.

Me and Stinker 

Sweet Lily

I may post more pics later, for now we are off to swim lessons...