What a party!

Yesterday we went to a "little" 3 year old birthday party.  Only come to find out it was more like a state fair!  They had 3 big bounce houses set up, 3 tents for eating, tons of food and an ice cream truck that came (after having birthday cake!).  The children were allowed to pick any ice cream they wanted.  As you can imagine, it was somewhat like kiddie heaven!

The hosts invited everyone from Chris's
work so it was nice getting a chance to meet everyone again.

Peter and friend about to take
down a tent?

Look at that smile!

Pete was so proud of his
Ninja Turtle choice.

James picked a watermelon pop.  Although you can't tell
from this picture, the popsicle was about a foot long!

Hmmm... it did make feel feel a tiny bit guilty for not having a party for Peter's 2nd birthday but... I got over that feeling pretty quickly.  Where do you go from "here," I wonder?  A wedding?!  :) 

Feels like summertime...

It's been in the mid-80's all this week, with sunny, blue skies, so we've spent lots of time outside.  We bought a new fire pit, set up the tent, and grilled out on Saturday afternoon.  The boys had a great time!

Gabby and Petey 

James taking a quick rest break.

Gabby, Henry, Peter, James, Christian & Jonathon

Dirty boys!

Henry and Jonathon were making mud pies.  Naturally.

Getting ready for S'mores...

Having fun

Silly Pete

Zombie James

Sunday turned out to be just as beautiful so the boys helped Daddy wash both cars and got completely soaked in the process...

We're off to a 3 year old birthday party soon (complete with a bounce house and ice cream truck the invitation says).  I'm sure the boys will have a great time.  Hope you are enjoying a sunny, fun weekend too!

Beginner's Day...

Today was Beginner's Day for all area Kindergartners.  From 9am-1pm today, the kids learned what it means to go to "big boy (or girl) school" and for us parents (mostly moms) to fill out paperwork, listen to the principal, and vice principal, and kindergarten teachers, and nurse, and counselor talk about various school programs, and watch in amazement as our weren't-they-just-babies?-babies walk with confidence from activity to activity with broad smiles and anxious anticipation.  

Thankfully he still turned around to look for me.  I'm not sure my heart could've taken it if he hadn't.

My sweet boy.... almost 5!

I love this picture... Gabby isn't so sure
and Henry is taking it all in too.  Although we arrived
separately, they immediately found each other.

Welcome, beginning Kindergartners!

All of the children took a bus ride around
the parking lot.  A bit funny, for sure, but Henry
was tickled pink by it!

"Are you coming, Mom?"

Oddly enough, Henry sat in James's lunch seat.
They have assigned seats and it was interesting
that Henry's mock class sat in the same spot as James's 2nd gr class.

He was confident, but aware of my presence.  When I dropped him off in his assigned classroom for today, he quickly surveyed the room and turned to me and said, "Mom.  I like it.  I really do."

So why, then, did it take everything in me to fight back tears in order to look at him and say, "Me too, babe.  Me too."

Additional Evidence...

Peter has taken to saying words like, "butt crack" and "poop pee!  poop pee!" whenever he's asked to say "I'm sorry."  Of course no child performs on cue, but here's a small sample of life in Peter's world...

A few things to note:

1) Peter's crazy ab muscles.  That kid is solid.

2) Henry singing "I'm sexy and I know it" in the background.  Also inappropriate and evidence of poor parenting.  What type of mother lets their kids listen to that kind of music, anyway?

3) That is an all-fruit popsicle.  

4) Yes, that is me making more excuses for more less-than-stellar-parenting.

Why, that LITTLE...

shitbird!  Yup.  I said it.  And I'll say it again.  Peter is a little shitbird!  Okay, okay... right.  I should use a more PC term.  Fine.  Peter, my darling 2 year old, is a monster!

Evidence...

Chris has this large, glass jug he's been collecting change in since before we got married.  Even though it is tucked away, inside our walk-in closet, behind THREE bedroom doors, Peter still finds a way to purposefully drop things into it that don't belong.  Like... toothbrushes.  At least 5 toothbrushes are down there.  My lipstick.  A $5 bill of mine THAT I WAS NOT PLANNING TO DONATE.  And today... my expensive tweezers.

Does that face look remorseful to you?
Nope.  Me either!

That little....!!!!

See all of those things that don't look like change??
All courtesy of Peter.

He scares Slash.  Like all of the time.

Because he is ALWAYS hollering about something!

I'm not exaggerating.
He is always going on and on and on about some
injustice he's suffering (usually at the hands of his brothers).

And ever since he's started sleeping in a big boy bed, he doesn't want to take a nap.  Unless it's in the car...

Think he transfers to a bed once we get home??
Think again.

 Or when I'm making dinner, at 6pm, on our bedroom floor...

Who wants their kid "napping" at 6pm?
That's right.
NO ONE.

He cries like someone has set him on fire if I leave the room for more than a few seconds.  If I go take a shower or, God forbid, have to pee during the day, my partner is two steps behind me.  Sometimes he even brings entertainment while I'm in there...

Here he is setting up football men.
I guess he figured it was going to
take me awhile.  ;)

He literally goes "Rainman" on me until I give him popsicles.  "I wan snack.  I wan pop.  I wan snack.  I wan pop.  I wan snack.  I wan pop.  I wan snack.  I wan pop."

YES!  YES!  YES!
Have one!

He doesn't share...

But then, thank God, bedtime always comes and, like I've said before, I'm reminded of why I love him so...

Welcome home, Slash!

We "adopted" (read: spent waaay too much money on) a Bearded Dragon pet last week!!  To back-track... my mom really wanted to get Henry one for Christmas last year since he shows so much interest in animals.  But since we'd just adopted Charlie, I told her I needed a bit of time in between pet adoptions ;) and asked her to hold off.

Fast forward to March when Chris happened to be walking around Pet Smart with the big boys and came across this guy...

This is a full-grown "Beardie" as they're called and the woman who owns him when on and on about how much she loves them and how friendly and "social" they are.  The boys (biggest one included!) were sold!  Chris sent me several frantic texts to "Hurry up and come see this thing!!"  I cut my shopping-next-door-trip short and came to find the boys walking around with this guy on their shoulders!

By that afternoon, Mom had sent us a check for half the cost and we were well on the way to owning this home for our new pet.  For anyone who knows Chris, you know how much he LOVES a project to research!  By dinner, our Beardie even owned a hammock to sunbathe in.  

We had to wait until everything arrived before we could pick our Beardie up of course.  We named our first one "Spike" and here the boys are watching him eat crickets.

Only he never actually ate them and became sick and dehydrated.  Who knew I should have given him water via a syringe if he refused his water out of a bowl (like that's what I need to add to my daily routine!).  So... we had to return Spike in order for them to mend him back to health.

Fast forward to this past Saturday, and we now own this "fancy" Bearded Dragon (yup, there are different categories) and made a family vote to affectionately name him SLASH!  :)

Here's Slash soaking up some rays in his new home...

Can you see him on the left, enjoying
his hammock?  It's his favorite spot!

Our new guy is much more fiesty than Spike (probably because Spike was on death's door) but hopefully he'll settle in and enjoy his new home and "family members."  Although we did catch Pete water-boarding him (ha ha) so there are no guarantees.  Welcome to the jungle!

Playing catch up!

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog.  We were in Maryland over the Easter holiday and then our good friends, the Shaws, were visiting us the past few days.  All that to say, time on the computer has been very limited.

Here are just a few pictures I took on my iphone since I forgot our "real" camera at home.  The best part about the trip up to MD was this... the little boys slept almost the entire way and James hardly made a peep (he is a great little traveller!).

Megan was home from San Francisco for the first time since last summer so it was great seeing her again!  Megan, Mom, and I went out for dinner on Friday night to celebrate Mom's recent birthday.  We had such a nice time, just us girls.  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture together, just this one I snapped while they were in the bathroom...

On Saturday we had lunch with the Midberrys and the boys had a great time collecting Easter eggs and celebrating with Grandpa and Ita.  On Saturday evening, Chris, Megan and I were able to slip away from the boys (and chaos) and check out a new restaurant in town called The Founding Fathers.  It was somewhat pricey but delicious.  On Sunday morning, the Easter Bunny brought the boys baskets and hid eggs around the house and yard.

We all had a wonderful day celebrating with more family over at Aunt Judy's house later that day.  We were sad to miss a few faces (Laura, Keith and their kids, Sheila, Marc and their kids, and Debbie) but I'm still serious about planning a "family cruise" this upcoming year!  Who's in?!

If this doesn't summarize our trip to a T, I don't know what else would...