Friday, May 28, 2010

Summer




Ahh, the lazy days of summer ... perfect for little boys! They can try to climb into the pool with their big brother ...


...splash around in the pool if they are the big brother ...


... mow the lawn ...


... or just rip the grass up and throw it ...


...play for hours in the sandbox ...


... ride their bikes ...


... fly down the slide over and over ...


... swing as high as the sky ...


... so much to do, such short summer months!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Funny Face

The boys got some funny glasses from Grandma and Grandpa. They've had a good time being strange with them ... although it is, of course, completely out of character for them to be so silly.

Or not.

Whichever.





Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Good-bye, Second Grade

We weren't scheduled to finish school until the first Friday in June, but as the weather got nicer Ethan got more and more motivated to just be DONE! So we doubled up on some lessons and this last Friday was his last day of second grade.


We celebrated with a Mexican fiesta (to cap off our final geography study). Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner, and Ethan made tacos almost all by himself. We also exploded the volcano that Ethan had made for our final science unit. I had his history, science, and geography binders completed so he could display all his hard work this year.

This was a good year in a lot of ways, but also a difficult year in some ways. Having two very active little people who love to ... um, let's go with *experiment* ... and who need virtually constant supervision has stretched me more than a little. We've worked out some changes, though, and I'm optimistic about next year!

Ethan has done very well in his subjects. He's discovered a love for geography, particularly mapwork. His handwriting has improved dramatically, and he's really enjoying cursive. He'll tell you that he doesn't like math, but he does well in that, too - he just thinks there are too many pages in each lesson!

He told me this morning that he loved summer vacation, and he's certainly been making the most of it so far! He is cheerfully doing the handwriting and math exercises that we'll keep doing all summer, though, because he's big enough to understand that will help ease the transition into third grade.

My goodness. Third grade. When did he get so old?

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Alex's pet germ

The month of March was a sickly one for us. We ended up talking a lot about germs and why it was important not to share sippy cups and what makes us sick and so on. Apparently more of our "germ" talk stuck with Alex than I realized.


This is his pet germ. He's petting it.


If you're very careful, you can hold it this way. Now, in this picture, it may look to you like it's really just a tiny ball of wadded up toilet paper. Please don't believe that. This, my friends, is a GERM. And a treasured pet germ, at that.


And he loved it.



At least until he lost it.

Friday, May 14, 2010

I'm going through some of the pictures we've taken and haven't gotten posted, so these are from earlier this spring, too. Here is Ethan at swimming lessons.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

When Dad dresses the boys

I've heard tales of horribly mismatched outfits when dads dress their children, but I have evidence that it doesn't always happen that way. This is a picture from earlier this spring.

Monday, May 3, 2010

All his ducks in a row

I recently helped my cousin Laura a little bit with a shower that she was throwing for her niece. The theme of the shower was rubber duckies, and Laura used a lot of them in her decorating. As we finished cleaning up after the shower, somehow I ended up with a whole bag of duckies to take home to my boys. They were absolutely thrilled! Alex decided to line them all up.


Well, he lined a bunch up, anyway. He does have the attention span of a two-year-old!


And what do you do after you have all your ducks in a row? You jump over them, of course!

Friday, April 23, 2010

The new living room

We've almost finished our living room makeover (doesn't that sound fancy?) so I thought I'd post some pictures. Since I know my readership (if you can call it that!) we'll start with the sleepyhead boys that came into the living room as I was taking pictures this morning.


Alex with a shaft of sunlight across his face, but an impish smile:

Without the sunlight or the smile:

Ethan pretending to sleep:

A shot that shows the furniture and floor, as well as the boys:

From the other direction:

And finally, one with no one on the couch:

We're pretty happy with the way it turned out. Luke is working on our end tables yet - he carefully took each of the old school desks off the runners, and he is going to make runners for each one. We'll then be able to set them around individually. The furniture arrangement may change when we have those finished, too ... we'll have to see!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Is it bedtime yet?


Benny was up a dozen times or so last night - he has a cold and isn't sleeping well.

He has shared his cold with me. It's only fair, though, since Alex shared it with him.

The dog pooped on the floor during the night, and I ended up cleaning it up at 5:00 this morning. Out of carpet. After he kicked it around trying to bury it.

Alex and Ethan were up shortly after 6:00.

Alex spilled an entire pitcher of juice on the floor.

We had company this morning that brought my boys lots of leftover Easter chocolate. (Very nice of them - also messy and sugar-buzz-inducing.)

Luke is painting and putting new flooring in for me (he's a great guy!), but right now I have my refrigerator in the mudroom and the dining room table and chairs in the living room. I can't find anything and nothing is where it's supposed to be.

Benny got into the candy coloring as I was working on making colored white chocolate duckies for my cousin's baby shower cake. He has it smeared all over his hands and face and shirt. I got most of it off ... it was blue. Can you see it in the picture? The worst part is I was right there next to him! I just didn't see him until he had a mess made. I should've taken a picture then, but I was more concerned with getting it off.

Some days bedtime can't come soon enough!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Ethan and April Fool's Day

Ethan really doesn't care much about Valentine's Day. Too much mushy stuff. St. Patrick's Day? Meh, he can take it or leave it. But April Fool's Day? An entire day devoted to tricking people? Now that he can get into! He recently asked me if he could decorate some cupcakes, so we decided to make a delicious April Fool's trick - spaghetti and meatball cupcakes!


He did most of the decorating himself; I just showed him how to work the piping bag. The meatballs are hazelnut truffles, and the sauce is strawberry jam. He even got to serve it to Dad for supper!

Alex figured out by looking at his messy fingers that chocolate cupcake crumbs look like beard stubble - or "pokeys", as he calls it. So he rubbed some on his face and said, "Look Mama! Me have pokeys too. Mmm, me eat my pokeys."


New Floors!

Luke and Ethan spent the day putting new laminate wood flooring in our living room; they'll be doing the kitchen/dining area and the hallway one of these days. Ethan was a big help to Luke - he fetched and carried boards and also held the back down as Luke tapped it into place. That's what he's doing here in this first picture.



Benny and Alex were supposed to help by staying out of the living room. Benny decided he'd rather help by making a mess of the boxes that were blocking the doorway.


Alex decided he'd like to be outside and carry off Luke's tools. In an effort to keep him inside and occupied, I decided to let him lick the beater from the chocolate cake I was making.


It worked for a while, anyway!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Muddy Buddies

Good idea: Take the boys to the park on our recent spring break.


Bad idea: Take the boys to the park where there was more mud than I expected.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Biggest, Littlest, Middlest

I can't believe how big Ethan is getting. He's growing up in so many ways, and it seems like he surprises us weekly (sometimes daily!) with his maturity. He is so patient with his little brothers (usually), he's had an outstanding attitude toward school and chores lately, and we love seeing him develop into a young man. He's really been enjoying playing Mario Kart on the Wii, learning about the Amazon rainforest in school, and playing with his Lego Atlantis sets.


Benny has had a rough month. He's had two bouts with stomach flu, and we're so happy to see his appetite and cheerful spirits return. He's so expressive; his funny faces make us laugh all the time. He's a very inquisitive little person, and of course at one that means he's into everything possible! It's a challenge to keep up with him, but he brings a whole lot of sunshine into our days.


Then there's Alex, our bundle of energy, enthusiasm, and activity. He loves getting his picture taken, he's a natural clown, and he pays attention to every little detail. He also knows just how to encourage Benny into trouble while looking innocent the whole time. He's talking all the time, and he doesn't rest until you answer every last question that he has. He loves to find out what happens ... when you spit milk into the humidifier fan, when you drop a heavy glass penny candy jar onto the basement floor, when you pour water into the mixer while it's running ... and on and on.

Our house is busy, noisy, and occasionally full of glass shards*, but we are trying to enjoy every day with our biggest, littlest, and middlest!


*Alex was completely fascinated with the results of his drop-the-jar-on-the-floor experiment. To my chagrin, he didn't show the least bit of remorse for the devastation he'd wreaked; rather, he asked me to buy another jar for him to drop because the way it crashed was so NEAT!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Papa's "super" hat

I couldn't believe how early the snow melted this year. The first week it really started getting warm, the boys were anxious to get outside. Luke got their bikes out, and they spent a fair amount of time riding around in the driveway. Because there was still snow on the ground, I wanted Alex to wear a hat when he went out ... this day he came back with "Papa's super hat." It's a little big, but it looks good on him, don't you think?


Of course, he couldn't really see where he was going ... but he sure loved wearing it!


Big brother Ethan didn't think he needed a hat ... but he loved having his bike out again!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Haircuts

My mom recently gave all three boys haircuts. I didn't get any photos of Benny actually getting his cut, but here he is "ooohing" while watching one of the other boys.


Ethan hates the hair on his face!


Alex, sitting still like a big boy: