The Snow Is Gone

Finally, the snow is gone. We have passed that point where I can start breathing easier, feeling more confident that spring has actually arrived to stay for a few more weeks before winter starts again. My favorite thing about the snow leaving is pretty silly....I love to see the clearly defined parking spaces! Each vehicle has its own space now.



Joey will be five a week from today. I don't think I'm handling this birthday so well. I have heart palpitations every time I think of him starting school this year. The only time I am away from his is during church, when he is in his class. Starting mid-August, he will be going to a full day Kindergarten from 9am to 3:30pm, five days a week. I can't stand the thought. I know that he will adjust much quicker than I, and that he will love school. He's been talking about it for the last year or so. Whenever he want to draw, he says he has to do his "homework". And I can't wait for him to make friends. We don't see anybody outside of church, and it is hard to form lasting friendships when you only see them for a couple hours once a week.

It is exceedingly difficult to try to get all three boys to cooperate for a picture. Joey and Nick are both so busy paying attention to Ethan, trying to get him to smile I can never get them looking at the camera. But they are so cute. The picture above is from Easter. They were certainly very handsome.

This picture was more silly than anything. As I was taking pictures of Ethan for his eight month mark, I realized I don't take many pictures anymore. Not the "everyday" pictures, at least. I only remember to get the camera out for an "occasion." So I wanted to get a picture of all the boys, just because. I was trying to stress, again, to Joey and Nick just to keep smiling at the camera, I would take care of Ethan. So they put on their goofiest smiles. Nick is actually saying, "Like theeeeeees!" I was laughing so hard could hardly take the picture. They truly are an amazing blessing.

I really don't have much to say at this point. We still miss everybody, and Joey is always asking if different people in the family can come over to our house. It is hard to explain how far the distance really is. We miss and love everybody.

Two-Thirds Of A Year

It's that time again. Yes, Ethan turned eight months old on Saturday! Eight months! He is now two-thirds of a year old. Time is a cruel speedster. He is such an adorable boy. To me, he is very much a mix of his two older brothers. He has the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Nick, but the same shape and structure of Joey. He also has a combination of each of their expressions and temperaments. He is still scooting around like crazy...not quite as quickly as Nick, but more adventurous than Joey. He has started pulling himself up on elbows and knees (not quite up to the hands) and will rock back and forth until he lunges forward. He will usually do this only when he is on our bed, which allows him to get up and over the pillows we barricade him with and get perilously close to the edge. So, no more unsupervised playing on our bed. If I put him down in our bed for a nap, than I must lay down with him for his own safety. It's what any descent, loving mom would do!

As is custom, here are the comparison pictures. Joey is up top, chewing on his fingers, stubbornly refusing to allow me to get a photo of his teeth. But a cutie nonetheless.
Nick was full of life at this time, smiling so big. This is the precursor to his face-scrunching smile.

And here is Ethan! He is laughing, squealing, and enjoying himself...not crying and screaming. I admit that the picture could look either way.

I just had to throw this one in. I kept trying to get a picture of him laid out on the floor to see how big he is, but he kept scooting closer to the camera to try to take a picture himself. This one cracks me up because it looks like he has a turtle mouth! I love those cheeks!

Vacation Pics

I know it has taken me a long time, but I do intend to put more vacation pictures up. Here are a few. I probably won't say too much about anything, unless a story needs to be told, but the pictures are enjoyable.Daddy and Nick looking cool.

In cartoons, when someone gets an idea, it is portrayed by a lightbulb over their head. Nick's comes out his mouth! How telling is that?
Angie ran around chasing Joey while holding Nick, leaving Steve to do all the work on the BBQ.

It was nice to have Ethan meet his Aunt Angie and Grandma Mary.

Aunt Taylor with Bug. Nick wanted to be with Aunt Taylor everywhere he went for the rest of the afternoon.

Somersault

When we were stuck in Seattle, there was not much to be had for entertainment. We didn't have any extra money, as we were spending it all on being stuck in Seattle. So the boys came up with there own style of entertainment. Mostly, this meant chasing each other around the room, laughing and squealing in delight almost at the top of their lungs. Frankly, I was pretty much okay with that. But Monday night, Joey started trying to somersault on the bed. It was hysterical to watch. In my experience, it would be considered normal to start a somersault either on your knees or from a squatting position with your hands down in front of you. But that is not how Joey did a somersault. The following pictures illustrate, frame by frame, how Joey does a somersault.

Obviously, these were not all from the same somersault...but I had to take several pictures to try to capture the whole thing. He cracks me up!

This is one of my favorite pictures because you can see all three of them are having the time of their lives wrestling with each other. Daddy's got Joey, but Nick's got Daddy! This is how Daddy settles them down before bed, of course. Thanks Daddy.

Dyslexia and Costco Calamity

I never realized how...um..."challenged" my husband can be. (Please read the humor in this statement and not take it to heart.)

I have been increasingly impressed with how much Joey is learning even without going to preschool. He is starting to read and write small words by sounding out the letters. The other day, he was showing Daddy his new skill with "og" words. He could write "frog" and then tell what other "og" words were. For example; log, fog, dog. Daddy pipes up with his own "og" word. "How 'bout God." I really tried hard not to laugh. Really, I mean it. I tried. But I couldn't help myself. In all fairness, he did come up with a word that had both an 'o' and a 'g' in it....just not in the right order.

Today he did our bi-monthly grocery shopping. He starts at Costco for those bulk items we get all the time, and then migrates to Fred Meyer for the smaller goods. I must say preface this story with the fact that I was not there with him. If I had been, there would be no story to tell. When Nick was telling me what happened, I started laughing after the first sentence because I just knew what was coming. By the time he was done telling me, I had tears in my eyes.

Since Nick usually does the shopping around the lunch hour, he will occasionally stop for a piece of pizza at Costco after making his purchases. So he parked his full cart next to all the other full carts of those taking advantage of the "snack shack" at Costco and stood in line for his order. He stood next to the cart to eat his pizza and drink his soda. Then he went to throw away his trash. Calmly, he came back to the cart and started heading towards the door. He got nearly all the way to the door, when the "owner" of the cart he was leaving with caught up with him to advise him that he was leaving with the wrong cart! I could not stop laughing. I could see it all in my head as he was telling me.

My husband is a wonderful man, and he is usually much more "put together" than these snippets show. But they are good for a laugh, so I wanted to share.