Little bro's b-day

It is Jason's birthday today and as we are all scrambling to get ready for his party, Ethan decided to play dress up.




I couldn't resist taking a picture even though I know someday he is going to do the whole "Oh Mom" thing with the frustrated voice and deep sigh. I can't help myself. He actually was a great help woth blowing out candles and opening presents and sharing party favors with everyone. He did insist on having his own party hat and we accommodated.

Showering at school

So today was an interesting one. When we got to daycare to pickup the boys, I grabbed Jason and Jeff went to get Ethan. We met at reception where I got to hear about Ethan's latest escapades. They have a star system for behavior and E has been doing great getting 4 or 5 stars and Ethan has been so proud of his improving scores and gets so excited telling me he got "5 out of 5, Mommy!" But alas, today he lost a star at the very end of the day. Why? So glad you asked. He was playing in the sandbox and got dirty so decided to take a shower in the sand box and use the sand as his "shower spray" (and hair spray). When he realized this did not really help to make him feel any better, he went inside and grabbed the hand soap and put that in his hair as shampoo. Needless to say, his appearance was not much improved by this attempt either.

We are also still repeating everything I say....and many things I would prefer he not say. Why do they sound so much worse out of his lips than they did when they passed mine? For example...Jason has this wonderful habit of tossing peas, carrots, corn, (whatever) off his tray just to watch them fall. He leans WAY over so he can watch the entire trajectory. Now, the first 12 times he did this was sorta cute in an annoying way. Now at 1500, I am losing patience and the word "No" or attempts at redirction are met with a steady glare and smirk. No lie. So this one evening after going through my 12th napkin and 40th pea, I said "oh for pete's sake, jason....keep the food on the plate and eat it" and had to hear for the next week, "oh for pete's sake, oh for pete's sake, oh for pete's sake" ad nauseum...and to a catchy tune.

Ethan has one more lovely habit....throwing your discipline back at you. Jeff tells him he is getting tired of the bad behavior and playing around at the dinner table and E shoots back, "Well I am tired of you too Daddy." Does he WANT to make it to a teenager?

Memorial Day

We headed over to Michael's today for some hospitality and a swim in his pool....which was a bit cold still. BRRRRR! The kids loved it anyway and we all got to relax and enjoy the family and the day. Jason loved the water and the floats and was violently against coming out even when his lips were quivering with cold. Here are a few shots of him enjoying the water and following in his father's footsteps. Floating around the pool and having people bring him drinks. :-) Lucky for him, he had Aunt Marie.



Jeff and Grandma relaxing poolside:


Uncle Mikey and Ethan:

Jason's first trip to the zoo

For the holiday weekend we braved the crowds and headed to the zoo to check out the new elephant and rhino exhibit. It was a great day to go since it was raining early and then cleared up.



The exercise was needed and it was amazing to see the animals in their simulated natural habitats. I can't describe how vast it was. Of course, I loved the giraffes the best (as always). Ethan seemed to like the elephants and monkeys and Jason just took it all in with his usual style. The silent gawking type.

Here are some great pics of Jason and Jeff navigating our trail followed a few shots of the elephants. We could not get Ethan off of the baby elephant - he is such a ham! Both kids wanted to be picked up at all the good vantage points to get the best view so we got out workouts.








We stayed mostly on the African side and ate lunch late having hotdogs and fresh lemonade. I tried to take Jason on the carousel but he decided no way once we got on so E got to ride twice. All in all, it was a nice family day and made me remember all the times Mom and Dad took me to the petting zoos and farms in upstate NY. I loved those times. I hope the boys appreciate these moments as much as we do.













This was one of our favorite non animal items. Jeff loves anything that flies, drives etc and Ethan can't get enough of "driving". Notice Jeff and Jason watching from the other side as I took this pic of E in the helicopter. Jason was not as enthralled and was satisfied in his stroller with his snack.







So I tried to buy Jason a cool hat but he still insists that hats are for throwing. Jeff got one instead and then we bough some ice cream dots and ate them before the trip home.

First 3 wobbly steps

We were walking towards Mommy while holding her hands and I backed away slowly and carefully let go....he took a good two steps and the third was starting to tilt but we did it unassisted and before our first birthday. We still don't say much except Mama and Dada (and Duh for his rubber duck) but we are flying around the house now and at 28 pounds, his Mom is VERY relieved. Carrying him from place to place was building biceps but killing my back. Oh...and we have learned to shake our head "no". Nice! (sarcasm) It goes so well with the head throwing temper tantrums that are attributed to me since supposedly I did the same thing. Go figure that this is also one strong willed baby. In other news, we still are toothless on the top and gumming all our food. Quite successfully given his size but it makes for a lovely old man look since we are still mostly bald. And we had our 2nd trip to the emergency room for our first (and only) tumble down some stairs. I was blocking the steps on our back deck by siting across the opening and he was cruising on the furniture heading away from me and towards Daddy. I got distracted and turned for one sec, got up, started heading down the stairs to get Ethan, and Jason beat me to the bottom. My heart and stomach were interchangeable and I felt dizzy. He was totally unhurt if you can believe it. I feel we were blessed but the Doctor mentioned something to Jeff about "fat rolls", "lots of cushion" and "decent amount of padding". We took some great pictures this past weekend at Sears. If you are interested in perusing, check out my slide show on Kodak Gallery.

Spring pics

We had school pic proofs come back and they were adorable except that Jason was teary eyed. I felt so guilty since I had been away when the pics were taken and couldn't be there as I was for E's first school pictures. So this week we took them to Sears to get new ones. Jeff deserves a medal for humoring me but this was part of what I wanted for Mother's Day. Riding my horse and sleeping an extra hour were the others but that is a story for a different time. Here are some of my favorite shots.





For more, see my Kodak gallery.

Aunt Jean comes to visit

She took a last minute flight just to see the boys and to celebrate Mom and Dad's anniversary. We had a great visist and the boys just adored her. We took Mom and Dad out to dinner (with the kids) and did some shopping and visiting with family. I so love having her here and miss sharing all the little day to day items with her. I want my boys to feel about her the way I do and have her as an integral part of their lives. Visits like this really help. Here are some of the pics we took and there are more in my Kodak gallery if you want to peruse.







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