Sleepy Heads

Here are our boys watching cartoons. S didn't wake up till 9:45!!! That is very unusual for him and then he came out saying "Tractor. Tractor." He wanted to watch Bob The Builder. S usually has no interest in watching TV at all, it's his big brother that is always wanting to watch cartoons and being told we've had enough. But I thought they looked so cute with their sleepy little faces watching Bob that I had to take a few pictures.

"Good Job" Stars

As you can probably see in the background of these pictures, it rains a lot here. So, I have to figure out activities that we can do inside ALL THE TIME, which means that things get messy pretty fast. Luckily my boys love to help, love stickers and love to be told "good job!" (Who doesn't like a good pat on the back?) So, I made them a "good job" chart where they put little star stickers every time they do something good: help me with something, make something, are quiet for scriptures . . . (You can see the stars behind them on the fridge in the kitchen.) Anyway, they thought it was pretty cool and B keeps telling me "We need another good job project."

I can't believe how big he's getting. He did a really "good job" vacuuming on his own. He didn't really need my help. I was quite impressed.

S was not about to be outdone by his big brother. He had to take his turn too! He did pretty well, but the vacuum was a bit heavy for him.

And here are my little chefs making banana bread!

First Swimming Lesson!

B had his first swimming lesson today! He was sooo cute and so excited! It went about the same as soccer: We had a very, very happy boy who just wanted to play and not necessarily listen to instructions. (As you'll notice in the videos.) He did great though. He kicked his legs, went under water, blew bubbles, and helped the teacher set up the ropes as dividing barriers. He sure didn't want to go home when it was time. S got special Papa time while I had B at lessons. They went out and got a treat together and then unfortunately ended up at the mechanic. The mini-van is having trouble all of the sudden! But both boys were happy to have a little one-on-one time with one their parents and B was absolutely darling about swimming lessons!

Too Cute

I couldn't resist taking S picture as he sat eating breakfast. He's just too darn cute!

Going Away Party

Before leaving Virginia some of my friends from the library threw our family a goodbye party. It was really a lot of fun. I loved working at the library and the people there were awesome. I'll miss everyone a lot! Thanks Amanda for hosting!

Amanda, Michelle, Adam, Anne

Kari & Suzanne

Soccer

I wish I had a few pictures to accompany this post, but I was in such a hurry to get out of the house on time that I forgot my camera. =( B had his first day of soccer today! He was so darn cute. He couldn't have been more excited. He grabbed a ball and yelled "Look at me Mom! I'm scoring a goal!" and he took off as fast as he could, kicking the ball to the goal net, and back again. As far as listening to directions and doing what the other kids were doing, he wasn't really interested. After 30 minutes of running up and down the court "scoring goals" he tried to do what the other kids were doing but was still more interested in scoring goals. Our only really embarrassing moment was when the "coach" told the kids to kick their soccer balls around these little cones and B went running wildly down the line and kicking each cone as hard as he could! Sweet little S wanted to play so bad! I felt sad. I brought a ball for him and thought he'd be okay kicking it around with me, but he followed his brother right out onto the field and said "I play too! Play too!" But it was only for 3 to 5 year olds so I couldn't let him play too. =( But B had so much fun. He's been asking all day to go back and as soon as we got home he devoured his lunch then fell asleep for almost 3 hours!

Visitors

My brother and his family came up for a visit a few weeks ago. It was so good to see them. I got to meet my cute little nephew, Lucian for the first time. My boys must have really enjoyed the visit because one night after they left B woke me up at about 1:00 in the morning and asked "Where's my friend baby Lucian?" I was really expecting to be asked for something to eat or a drink of water!

Cory & Lucian

Uncle Brett playing with the boys

Brett & Cory actually came up for a Renaissance Fair, so here they are modeling their costumes for us. Cory made them herself. Pretty impressive, huh? I sure can't sew like that!

Ouch!

So, a few weeks ago the boys and I were "fishing" on the back patio when Papa came out with freshly cut cantaloupe for the boys! (I don't like it myself, but the boys LOVE it! What a thoughtful Papa.) After a few minutes they both started crying, then rubbing their eyes, then screaming, "It hurts!!!!" What the heck??? Then both of their sweet little faces started turning all red and swelling up like crazy. Finally we got worried enough that we were getting our shoes on to take them both to the E.R. when B asked for a Popsicle. So, we took them outside and let them have popsicles on the porch and they gradually stopped crying and the swelling stopped. It turned out that Papa had cut hot chile peppers on the same cutting board as the cantaloupe and not rinsed it off before cutting the fruit, so the juice residue from the chiles had gotten onto the cantaloupe and burned the heck out of our babies mouths and faces because the chile juice was also on their little hands! OUCH!

Fishing

When we drove from the airport to our new home B looked out the window at all the mountains and lakes and announced, "I want to fish." He would then ask every day if he could fish and told us his grandpa is coming to take him fishing. I think he got the idea from a Curious George book because he's never been fishing or seen anyone fishing. And I've never told him that his grandpa loves to fish, though he's right he does. So his sweet Aunt Shaunie sent him a little Lightning McQueen fishing pole for his birthday. He and S would sit on the deck for hours every day just taking turns casting. (Unfortunately the release button on the reel is no longer working.) We rigged S a little pole of his own with a stick and yarn. He loved that. One day we took them to a lake to pretend to fish, but when he discovered he had no hook and couldn't really catch any fish B was much more interested in wading. We'll have to learn to fish and take them for real next summer!

Around the House

These are just some pictures I've taken of the boys around the house in the last month or so.

I was unpacking one morning and I guess the boys got bored with it. I went looking for them and found them cuddled on the couch surrounded by unpacked boxes.

S disappeared one day and I found him cuddled up in the hall closet about to fall asleep. I think you may have noticed that he's very fond of his blanket and bottle. =)

They're still my great little helpers. I love the aprons! B said he was Santa Claus. As soon as he got his beard on he got to work!

My sweetie got me a massage table a few years ago and has taken very good care of me. We forgot to take the table down one morning and I came into the living room to find B giving his little brother a massage!

They are such cute brothers!

Happy 3rd Birthday B!

I can't believe he's 3 already. He is the sweetest kid. We're so blessed to have him. He was so excited about his birthday. He wanted to have a ride on the "black train" at the mall. He couldn't have been more thrilled. Unfortunately I didn't do a very good job of getting clear pictures! But I loved watching their happy faces. He loves Thomas the train and told us for his birthday he wanted a chocolate cake, some tracks, a Gordon train, and a train for S. Isn't that sweet that he'd think of his brother? So, we let him pick out which set of tracks he wanted, got him his Gordon train, and a musical caboose for S. He wouldn't let us wrap them. He wanted to open them immediately! They both loved their trains and the chocolate cake. We love having our little B in our family!

Somewhere to Play

I know, I'm over a month behind, but after we left our old home we had a fabulous week in hotels playing in swimming pools and on mini-golph courses, watching movies and just having fun. Then it was time for Nat to start work again so we left the hotel and drove up to the house we had rented. It was a HORRIBLE disappointment. There was NO LIVING ROOM!!!! Whoever heard of such a thing? The bedrooms were so small we'd be lucky to fit a bed in one, the yard was unfinished and dangerous, and only a chain-link fence and 8 feet away from the freeway! To top it off there was a horrible smell that was making me sick every time we came downstairs, but the kitchen was gorgeous. But who can live in a kitchen only? I hated it, the babies hated it. They had nowhere to play. Thankfully the landlord was a very descent soul and said he'd refund our deposit so my sweetie found us an awesome house closer to his work. We went to look at it and B announced he was staying there and he wasn't going back to "the broken house." We had to go back to the other house for a week though and he screamed and cried upon arriving there and S, who had fallen asleep on the drive, woke up and saw where we were and yelled, "No!!!" Both boys had diarrhea all week, which we found out was stress related since they didn't like where we were staying. But we made it to the new house and there is a wonderful deck in the backyard for the kids to play on and we've had no more diarrhea or crying at the thought of going home.

Double Trouble

Two tiny boys, ages 3 and 1 1/2 are completely adorable as well as totally exhausting. Yesterday was just one of those days. I was still trying to unpack boxes in our room when B comes running in "Mom! S opened the red box!!!" What red box? So I followed him into the kitchen where I found S had dumped red jello all over the floor. It only took 6 moppings before I finally had it all cleaned up. They had to be put in the tub because they were all covered in red and I couldn't have red dye all over the carpet! So after they were cleaned, I had to take a shower because I was all covered in red jello too. I kept peeking out of the shower curtain every once in a while to make sure they were staying out of trouble. As far as I could see they were sitting on the bathroom floor talking to each other. Then suddenly I hear, "Mom, we're doing a special project! Don't worry, we're cleaning up the mess." Aaah! Now what??? I grabbed a towel and came dashing to see what was going on. They had unhooked the hose from the toilet to the water supply and the bathroom was flooding everywhere and they were trying to clean it up by drinking it!!! Water was soaking into unpacked boxes that were stacked in the bathroom, my clean boys were now soaking wet in toilet water, I had to get out the wet-dry vac. Then I had to rush to unpack the spoiled boxes, then there were tons of towels to be washed. Just one thing after another. When S tried to pry the child safety off of a socket in the kitchen and stick a fork in it and B laughed (I stopped him just in time) I totally lost it and started bawling my head off which made the boys start crying hysterically. Sweet little S climbed up on my back and started trying to rub my shoulders and kiss me better. So, my poor N came home to no dinner, nothing cleaned that was supposed to be cleaned, and K and the kids bawling their eyes out. What an awesome day!

Coming Soon

More pictures will be coming soon. I promise. I've taken several. We just got our computer up and running a few days ago and I'm still running around unpacking, and trying to keep the kids entertained. But I'll get the pictures up within the next few days. Thanks for checking our blog. =)

We've Arrived

This will be a really quick post. We're still waiting for our stuff to arrive so this is the first time I've had access to a computer. We made it safely. The trip was absolutely awful, but it's over now. The kids did great. Mommy got really sick and ended up with a sprained ankle and an infection too. We've already had 2 Urgent Care visits for Mom. =( But it's absolutely gorgeous here. Nat's really enjoying his new work location and it should work out to be a much better schedule for our family. We will be moving into our new place tomorrow and our truck should be arriving early next week so I'll start posting again in the next week or two!

Farewell Beautiful Virginia

Our time in Virginia has come to an end, but we've made some beautiful memories and wonderful friends here. Here are a few of our memories . . .

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

"I'm Happy"

B is such a funny little guy. When he gets really tired he gets all snuggly and repeats over and over again " I love you. I'm happy to have you. I'm happy. I love you." So yesterday he didn't take a nap and by about 3:00 he was a crazy mess, in time-0ut about every 5 minutes. So, I gave the boys a bath at 6:00 and was getting them in their pajamas. B was so tired he was sobbing and in the midst of gasping for breath between sobs he wails "I'M HAPPY!!!" I couldn't stop laughing. What a sweet little guy trying to convince himself he's happy in the midst of his misery. He went immediately to sleep.

Nat's Birthday

It was nice having N home for his birthday. He took the day off work. We didn't do anything too exciting. Poor N. I was just too sick, he even ended up making his own birthday dinner. But here are pictures of our mini celebration. He got a French movie and a remote-control helicopter. My brother-in-law had one when we went out to visit and the boys thought that was so cool that that is what N requested for his birthday. The 3 of them have had a great time flying it every morning. It's the first thing they do when everyone wakes up.

Water Fun

We got invited to a water party for Bixente's friend's birthday. It was a miserably hot day, but their backyard was shaded and they had tons of fun water activities so it actually felt good to be outside. The boys had a blast. Bixente's been asking if we can go to another party all week long!

The Fifes and Drums

We love watching the fife and drum show sometimes that they have every evening at Colonial Williamsburg.