Hi

Guess who can say 'HI' and is pretty proud of himself.  He tried to say it last Wednesday, but by Friday he had fully mastered it and it's pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.  Hopefully this is the beginning of a whole new vocabulary.


He's a big fan of shoes and socks lately.  When we were getting ready for bed, he opened his sock drawer and pulled out three pairs of socks and brought them to Scott.  Once we decided on one pair, he said 'sssss' then sat down and tried to put them on his feet.  

Enchiladas and ice cream

Tonight, and old friend from college was in town for business, so we met for dinner.  She may have not known how 'interesting' dinner would be with a 3 year old and a 1 year old, but she does now!  The boys were very good, they just got antsy at the end when we were chatting. There may have been a few shrieks from Liam from time to time, but I've learned to let those go and not worry about what everyone thinks.

Our friend learned all about Mario and his brother Luigi, Karsten learned about not double dipping his chips, Liam learned that chips and salsa are quite tasty and we were reminded that an hour or so is about the max time for the boys to sit still and be relatively quiet.  It was a quick visit, but still fun to catch up.

On the way home, we decided to stop for ice cream since the boys were good at dinner.  Since Liam can't eat ice cream on his own without wearing it, Scott got to sit in the backseat with the boys to help them eat.

Outside fun

Liam loves to be outside. If Scott runs outside to turn on water or get dinner off the grill, Liam is instantly at the door saying 'DAAAA' and wanting to go outside.  He'll go get his shoes and sit down waiting for someone to help him.

While Karsten doesn't like to get dirty, Liam doesn't mind it at all.  He climbed into the garden, plopped down and started digging (aka flinging dirt about).




The boys have started hugging each other and it melts my heart each time they do it.  It's so sweet.

Cleaning Partner

Cleaning the house is more fun with this cute little helper!

Swimming Fan Club

Karsten was excited to show Grandma and Grandpa how he could swim. It was a good day to watch because he got to float on the kick board thingie (official term) and the pool noodle.  After he finished his turn on each item, he came back to the steps looking so proud of himself!
 



Liam got to wear the life jackets this week.  He fought it quite a bit at first, but then finally relaxed and was able to float.


Coming over to check and see if we saw his most recent swimming feat.


His favorite part of swimming lessons is picking up the rings.  The first time he went completely under to get the ring, he jumped out of the water and said 'MOMMY, I GOT MY WHOLE SELF WET!' and was so excited!  Finding the yellow ring is an added bonus since it's his favorite color!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa

Linda and Leland were here this week to watch the boys while Gail was on a much deserved vacation. They had lots of plans to play outside, dig in the garden, go to the park, slide down the slide, and generally enjoy the outdoors.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with those plans and they only had one nice day to play outside. Instead, they played with cars, did puzzles, threw balls, played hide and seek and had a great time inside.

Captive audience

The boys love it when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit.  As soon as they walk in the door, they're bombarded with a constant stream of 'GRANDMA, look at this.' or 'Grandpa, can you help me with this.'  They're immediately playing ball, dinosaurs or trucks.  I wish I could say that meant that Scott and I plopped down and watched with a happy smile on our faces.  Nope - that means that we watch with a happy smile on our face while we get other things done around the house! :)

One of the boys started playing catch with grandma.  This meant that the other little guy was immediately ready to play ball.








And because playtime isn't complete without trucks, cars or motorcycles, they raced motorcycles.

Wordless Wednesday - Reading with Papa

A detour

I was driving to work this morning and suddenly heard a loud POP sound.  I looked in the rear view mirror and didn't see anything that I may have hit.  I checked my tire pressure and saw the pressure on the back drivers side was plummeting rapidly.  I debated about pulling over on the side of the road, but decided to chance it and drive slowly to the next exit.  By the time I got off the ramp, the tire pressure was zero.

Thankfully, roadside assistance made it out in about 30 minutes to change my tire and get me back on the road.  One look at my tire and the guy said 'Well darlin', looks like a new tire is in your future.'  DRAT!

I had apparently hit a piece of metal that put a big gash in my tire.  I'm thankful that the boys were not in the car with me - any other morning and they would have been with me, but Linda and Leland were here watching the boys.  I'm also thankful that my tire didn't pop and cause my car to veer off the road.  It ended up being just a small detour on my way to work.

Wordless Wednesday - The Future is Bright

Gardening with Grandma

Scott's mom has quite the green thumb.  Her yard is full of beautiful flowers and her garden is full of yummy vegetables.  Scott got his green thumb from her - and it's thanks to both of them that our house plarts thrive and our yard always looks great.

Karsten does not share their love for working in the dirt - he enjoys being outside with them; however, he does NOT like to be dirty.  Linda found these adorable Mickey Mouse gardening gloves so Karsten could work in the dirt and stay clean.  Brilliant.  She also brought some gardening tools with Mickey and Donald heads on them that were a hit!  They were ready to work in the garden - now they just need the rain to stop!

Wheels

Our boys enjoy anything with wheels - cars, trucks, dump trucks...you get the idea.  Now that the weather is getting nicer, Karsten wants to go outside and drive his car after dinner.  When all things work as planned and dinner doesn't take forever, we're able to spend some time outside playing before the bedtime routing.

Taking a drive


When his jeep isn't charged completely, it needs help getting up the driveway.  Times like this, Scott gets to push both boys up the driveway.




Showing me how these cords make his car run.


Liam just chilling as he gets pushed around the driveway.

Safety First

Scott and my dad were blowing insulation into our attic today, and Karsten decided to try out the safety goggles my dad brought over. Starting them young - safety first!

More Swimming

The boys are having a good time at swimming lessons.  Karsten is getting much more comfortable in the water.  He's relaxing and floating on his stomach and back with the teacher's help.  

He used to hold his head above the water so he wouldn't get his ears wet; however, now he's getting them in the water!


Liam's favorite part of swimming lesson's is watching people. :)  He's getting more comfortable in the water which is about as much as we can hope for at his age.  For the first few lessons he cried when he got in the water, but he's been doing better lately.

Giddyup

The boys have so much fun playing on their rocking horses, and lately, they've been wearing their hats while they ride.

Karsten's poor hat has taken quite the beating.  It's pliable, he bends it and pulls it over his face, and this is the result.  It is rather misshapen.

Karsten wanted me to ride the horse with him AND wear Liam's hat.


Liam likes to take the hat on and off.


I bent Karsten's hat back into shape and asked him to look at the camera.  He looks so serious!


Giddyup boys!

Big Helper

Karsten finished putting his shoes on this morning then brought Liam's shoes over to him.  As soon as Liam saw his 'shhhhs' he plopped down on his bottom to have his shoes put on.  To my surprise, Karsten said 'I'll help you Liam', then he tried to get Liam's shoes on his foot.  He said 'Mommy, this is a tinsy bit hard, can you help'.  Melt my heart!

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Haircut

Yard work

Scott had a long list of outside work on his list for the weekend, and thankfully the weather and nap schedules cooperated.  He was able to get a few things done without his little helpers, and he saved a few of their favorites for them to help with.

Who doesn't love spreading mulch.  Watching them try to lift the bag was hilarious - Liam would pull and pull then grunt.  Eventually he brushed his hands off and walked away to give Karsten a chance.


Liam was excited about mowing.


Karsten quickly claimed the lawnmower so Liam couldn't use it.


So I grabbed this popper in the hopes that Liam would accept it as a mower substitute.  Thankfully he did - and I have to admit that I'm not too disappointed about having it as an outside toy now!


Working hard!




Yard work can get boring, so the helpers eventually found their way to the swingset.  I'm not sure what Liam was looking at on the ground, but as soon as Karsten saw him looking down and me taking a picture of him, he was doing the same thing.


awww.


A few tasks got crossed off the list, a few remain, but we had a good time, and that's what matters.