Numbers

After school earlier this week Evan sat down at the counter and randomly started writing numbers on a scrap piece of paper. He got stuck at 8 but after Jed worked with him on it for a few minutes, he was off.

He enjoyed this activity so much that I got out a notebook yesterday and gave it to him to write in. He was so excited to put his initials on the front! He sat down on the floor of the livingroom while the other boys napped and started writing again.

Not too bad for doing it all on his own! I wonder if he'll like writing words as much as numbers.

Its All About the "Cake"

The "cake" in all its donuty glory.

Seth's didnt last long.

Evan devoured his.

Kane took his time savoring every bite or maybe he was just being a toddler who takes FOREVER to eat.

Ford watched and was, fortunately, unaware of what he was missing out on.

Om nom nom.

Happy (Belated) Birthday!

Kane is 2! Since Jed has a new job and goes to work later this was the first birthday that we were able to wake the birthday boy up together (Evan and Seth helped too) and sing happy birthday. He loved it!

From previous experience we decided to keep the boys birthdays pretty low key until they're older. For whatever reason whenever you try to make a big deal over a younger childs birthday that child is bound to be super grumpy on that day! Its a rule of nature! So we celebrated with Mac and Cheese for dinner and a donut cake for dessert which has now become a family tradition I guess!

Kane had his two year doctor appointment. He got a finger stick and one shot... remind me to never schedule a yearly check up on a child's birthday again! After the appointment both he and Seth came down with fevers and sore throats. Poor birthday boy spent most of his birthday on the couch sick and whiney. :(

Fortunately right before he got sick I was able to snap these.

The thoughtful 2 year old.

The hip hop dancer 2 year old.

Silly face 2 year old.

Mischevious 2 year old.

Loving big brother 2 year old.

Hungry 2 year old.

Plays with his food 2 year old.

Sweet cheesy 2 year old.

Splash

To kill time today I decided to take the boys to a splash pad. I started getting everything ready to go at 9am but we didnt leave the house until 10:15. How sad is that?! Between packing everything, putting on bathing suits & sun screen, loading kids into the van and breaking up fights, it took me more than an hour to get out the door! Sigh. I was tired before we got there!

And to

top it


all off

none of them napped when we got home!

Girls, Girls, Girls

I walked into Seth's school to drop him off when another mom stopped me and said, "I just had to tell you, my daughter LOVES your son Seth, she talks about him all the time." I told her that was so cute and I was glad that Seth had made a good impression on her daughter. I walked away and towards Seth's classroom. No sooner had I walked through the door than at least 5 little girls were shouting, no, squealing, "Seth, you're here! Come sit next to me!" The teacher laughed and then said to me, "You know all the girls love Seth, especially the twins!" And then I watched as my son walked passed all the boys and sat down in between the twins.

We are in so much trouble!

My Sweet Baby Boy

One of Those Moms

You know the kind of mom who loses it and screams at her kids in public? I've always disliked those moms. Dont they know that they sound like psychos and that they're seriously over reacting? Dont they know they're giving all us moms a bad name?!

Since I've encountered a lot of those moms at amusement parks I've often wondered if those moms are drawn to them for some weird reason. That is until I discovered that in fact amusement parks create those, poor, poor, moms, or at least thats what I'm telling myself now. Everyone is hot, tired, hungry and overstimulated. Of course I'm going to overreact, of course my four year old is going to do something insane!

"Hmm, too many protective barriers obstructing my view, what should I do?"

"Oh I know I'll climb over them! Yes and give my mother a heart attack!"

I didnt actually panic until he was lifting himself up to the next wrung, at that point I let go of my camera and was the screaming crazy mom. Why?


Because he was teetering over 80 bajillion of these guys! Ok so maybe it was only 12 but still, scared. me. to. death.

align="center">Ironically enough a few days later I was encouraging him to hold one of these. Poor kid kept looking at me wondering when I was going to lose it again.

On a side note, I didnt berate him (I still think its inappropriate for moms to do that to their kids) but my tone and volume were at an intensity level I rarely reach and I was mildly embarassed afterwards.

Google

I sat down to check my facebook on my lap top when I noticed an internet browser open that I hadn't opened. I had an idea who did though.

Me: "Hey bud, were you playing on my computer?"

Evan: (Big bashful smile) "Yes, you were napping." (I took a nap on the couch while the little two were sleeping and put some cartoons on for Evan and Seth)

Me: "What were you trying to do?"

Evan: "I wanted to play games. (long pause) Mom, how did you know it was me?"

Me: "Well, sweetie, typing your name in the web browser kind of gave you away."

Evan: "What?"

Me: "I have super powers."

Evan: "Oh."

Vacay

Our first day was spent here. The older boys loved it.


Kane needed some encouragement and reassurance.

Ford, he slept pool side.

Day two: Sea World.

Day three and for the rest of our vacation we were blessed with a cabana! Seriously there's no better word to describe it than blessed. They brought us a bucket of ice for our drinks, we had a shady place to eat lunch and somewhere for Ford to nap. It was lovely!

It was no where near the splash area, though, so the boys had to make due with the plain old pool. I know you feel bad for them. However, a nice woman who was leaving the resort donated a blow up jet ski to us. I wont mention names but someone decided that the kiddie toy could withstand a grown man jumping on it. Unfortunately, he was wrong and the top popped.

Seth is a glass half full kind of kid and turned the broken toy into a "surf board".


Then he Wiped Out!

Gnarly dude!

Mommy, are you laughing at me?

Kane learned his lesson watching his older brother and clung on for dear life.

Then our cue to head back to our room for afternoon naps arrived.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Thats a lot of candles grandma!

We love and miss you mom!

Our vacation was so fun and so exhausting!

I will post pictures maybe tomorrow, maybe, when/if I have the engery.

We came home to our cat trapped in our bedroom for the entire time.

He's fine thankfully. Toilet water, yum. However he peed all over our room. Ick!

I'm sleeping on the futon and Jed's sleeping on the couch.

Jed starts his new job tomorrow. Very exciting!

Evan and Seth cant wait to go back to school tomorrow.

I get to clean up our bedroom.

Can I go back to the resort? :(

The Big Pool

We're visiting the resort that my sister works for. We're having a blast! Thanks for hooking us up Trace!

Hey Seth, check out the floaties on that girl.

Lighting

Our Labor Day weekend came to a screeching halt when Kane developed pink eye Saturday night/Sunday morning. Well, at least we though he had pink eye, turns out its an ear infection thats backing up into his eyes. Still we didnt want to take any chances or scare anyone so we stayed home.

During nap time yesterday I decided to take Ford out for what I thought would be a really cute and fun photo shoot, Ford wearing a cloth diaper while laying in a basket of cloth diapers (they were clean, I promise). I was going to do it in the playroom next to windows for good lighting but outside it was overcast and the cloud cover was thick so I thought I'd try the backyard. I took everything out there, set up and then went in for Ford and the camera. As I walked outside the sun poked through the clouds and harshly beat down on what was going to be my cute little scene. Since there were clouds everywhere except the one little hole I decided to wait for the sun to disappear again. I waited, and waited and waited. The clouds that were so thick only moments ago were evaporating. As a last ditch effort I held an umbrella over Ford for a few shots.

He really didnt like the brightness or the heat.

Squinty

Mom, this is torture.

I finally gave up and brought everything back inside. Since it was very bright outside I decided to try using the window. I kid you not, as I was getting things set up clouds started covering the sun again and my light started to disappear. I gave up on staging my photo threw everything into the basket, put Ford on top and tried to get one decent shot.

Too dark. :(

Maybe another day.

What does a stay at home mom do in the wee bit of spare time she has? She takes pictures of her kids and edits them, of course!

Beach Day

I think this is the third year Jay and Jamie have gotten a condo on the beach on Labor Day weekend. Its becoming a tradition and one I think should continue for a very long time! :)

Ford's first trip to the beach! He was so good.

Playing catch.

Then Evan and Seth headed out into the surf with Joe and Jon

To go boogie boarding.

It didnt go well...

Evan recovered pretty quickly and was ready to try again.

Seth, not so much

But he was fine and found more predictable activities, like laying on the sand and letting teeny tiny waves rush over him.

And this kid spent as much time as he could with his cousins learning to "surf" (see the video in the previous post).

Kane on the other hand,

Still hates the water.

Thankfully Uncle Jay was there to rescue him!