A Day at the Park

Caroline and Eli came to play at the park today. We had so much fun!

First stop...pink petals in the air. James and Eli loves running through the snowing petals.


James loves Caroline. It is so cute! He likes to smile at her. "Caroline is so silly" or "I love you Caroline" or "Caroline is so sweet". James is smitten. His favorite was pushing her on the swings.

All four kiddos together. Somehow we never quite got the perfect group shoot, but I thought this one was pretty cute!

Luker loves the slides!

She is so sweet and happy!

Here is another group shoot. Such sweet kiddos!
Oh we had so much fun!

Favorite memories from today:

* Eli cleaned the entire playground with a small piece of pine needles. When asked what he is doing, "I am cleaning!" What a good helper!
*James pushing Caroline on the swings.
*Auntie Emily teaching us to roll down the grassy hills.
*Lots of slide races and going down the slides face first.

All in all we had lots of sun and giggles and happy kids.

Best Buds

Some of our favorite people are in town this week. Eli and Caroline, we sure wish you guys lived closer!

At dinner James couldn't settle down until we moved him next to Eli. Seriously, these 2 are best buds.

And Caroline is so sweet and cute! James was very insistent that he wanted to see both E-rie and Carowine for dinner.

Mr. Man being a little naughty under the table. He said he was an alligator. Whatever.

Eli looking for buddy James.

Where is Luke you ask..well somehow I didn't snap a picture of him. But I know someone else did...help me out guys! He did enjoy making eyes at Caroline and trying to get in on the action with the big boys. Little Luker is not one to stand by and watch, he wants to play too!

I had a really really really fun time!

We got to hang out with Eli this morning. He and James became fast friends, you may remember seeing pictures of them together when they were little.

Well these two little toddlers are fast moving and full of action. They move so fast, it was hard to get a picture of them in focus.

On the way home James said "I had a really really really fun time with E-rie. We need to go back to E-rie's room to play some more!" (Three reallys means BIG fun!)

Cars and Flowers

The boys have been so independent lately. James says "Mommy will not play" or "Mommy will not sing". Ok goof ball, Mommy will just sit and put her feet up.

Pretty pink flowers. There is something really nice about all the pink flowers in our garden, especially since our house is full of snails and puppy dogs tails.

Mr. Luke with his hat backwards. He did that all by himself, a little rascal in the making!

James has been a big jokester lately. He likes to call me "sister bear" and giggles when I exclaim that is not my name. He also is calling John "daddy-rascal". Luke is getting into the act by shaking his head no for everything, then giving us a sly smile. These two pranksters sure do keep us on our toes.

Hot Hot Heat

It is officially spring here as the bulbs and trees are in full bloom. Our flowering cherry tree took all of 3 days to POP! I love this time of year!

The past 2 days have been hot. Yesterday it was 93, today it should be a touch warmer. Ugh! Let's just say if we are going outside it is best done in the morning. Lots of chalk art decorates our walkway.

And James helps me every morning as we take pictures of our "pink flower tree". Luke is still snoring up there in his room.

Goof ball James. He is so silly and sweet in the morning.

Mr. Weatherman says it should cool off tomorrow when we get some rain. And next week, all in the 70's. Now that is much better then this 90 degree nonsense.

April Fools

We only had one April fools trick played on us, and boy was it a good one....

We came downstairs after naps around 3:00 yesterday to a loud ringing noise. I checked all the usual suspects (ie smoke detector, appliances, blah blah blah). Couldn't find the source, but did determine that you could only hear in on our main level. Hmm, weird right? The ringing is really annoying so the kids and I leave for an impromptu afternoon out.

We go to Walmart, have a milkshake, wave to a fire engine and see the roosters at our local nurserey. Really fun outing, but when we return 2hours later the rining is still persisting. Although John is home now, and it is his problem. Go Daddy! John can't locate the source either, except he narrows it down to coming from the dinning room. We check in with our neighbor, nope not from his house. Seriously, this ringing is driving me nuts.

Finally we notice that it seems to go up and down frequencies when the dimmer for the chandelier is moved. So we turn off ALL the power to our house. Yup, still ringing, albeit a little softer then before. The kids and I retreat to Micky D's around 6:30 for a really healthy dinner and a break from the ringing. John determines we need to call in an emergency electrician because we can't sleep with the ringing. Great. Halfway through our chicken mcnuggets John calls and says he figured it out and canceled the emergency $300 just to come to your house emergency electrician. Guess who was the culprit......


Yes friends, Revin' Evan. We don't really understand it either. Somehow this battery operated toy went on the fritz and somehow the sound was amplified to this terrible ringing noise. John noticed that the noise got really soft when he moved all of James' toys from the dinning room into the living room. So something in our dinning room amplified the small sound of a toy with low batteries 50X to a lound obnoxious ringing. Any electrical engineers want to shed some light on this one? Thanks Revin' Evan. April fools on us.

And, some pictures of the boys enjoying the neighborhood. We love spring!

Funny Boys

Luke's cutest thing ever: More please. (He signs this with the sweetest little grin. Now if only I knew what he wanted...)
Grossest thing ever: Luke was brushing his teeth and dipped his toothbrush in the toilet.

Recent Jamesisms:
*Daddy go to big work in silver car.
*Daddy has coffee, Daddy needs to take a sip.
*Good job Mommy! Mommy is a good mommy.
*Thank you for lunch. You're welcome.
*This looks delicious. Mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm.
*Puppy, he is a good puppy doggie. He is a black Clifford.
*Daddy put head on red car, James put head on Mater. (James' pillow has a picture of cars)

Brothers

Today....

*Luke fed James half of his waffle. Not with fingers mind you, but with his fork.
* James covered Zion with a blanket and told him to stay in bed until the clock turned yellow. (James has a color changing clock for nap and bedtimes)
*James and Luke played on the toddler playground. James didn't want to go down a slide until Luke had gone first. "Luke's turn!"

Loving the way these two interact together!

Spring is here!

It's time to stop and smell the flowers!

And take lots of long walks to the park. (only holding onto one hand, go Luker!)

I find that I am lacking in much news to report. The boys are loving the warm weather and I am loving a new food blog. Loving that blog a little too much. This morning we tried to make Ms. Humble's raspberry ginger ice-cream but my ice-cream bowl wasn't cold enough and it just didn't work. Although James loved pushing all the buttons to help. We did however successfully make some yummy pound cake.

And just for fun, some of the strange things I found myself saying today. (Thanks Emily for the idea!)
1. James don't bother puppy when he is going to the bathroom.
2. James don't touch Clovers backside.
3. James don't put sticks in your mouth, you are not a dog.
4. Luke, don't eat Mommy's grocery list.
5. Luke I will not help you sit on Clover.

The list goes on and on...see any patterns forming?

This and That

Some news from our house to yours....

1. James is starting to ride and pedal his tricycle. WOHOO! It has only taken us a year to finally convince him it would be fun.2. Luke is walking everywhere! It is so much fun to see him being so independent. Although our quest to re-baby proof the house is underway.

3. The weather has been so warm that we are wearing shorts! Yes shorts! The boys have the cutest legs.

4. Luke continues to be an adventurous eater. (Sorry no picture for this one). Last night he demanded that he dip his bread in the garlic olive oil. He even went back for seconds and thirds. His favorite snack right now is mashed avocado with chips.