Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Feeding the Ducks


Wanting to do something fun outside yesterday, I decided to take the boys to the pond by the old apartment and feed the duckies. On the way we stopped and got ice cream at Harry's. It was so fun and such a beautiful day. Until...




Jude got stuck in this tree. Do you see the look of fear on his face? I took this right as he was figuring out that he was stuck.  At first I thought he was just being dramatic. Not so much.  He was STUCK! Really stuck. I threw the camera down and went to help him out. As I tried to get his knee unstuck Liam ran over to the VERY edge of the water to see the duckies some more. Yikes!  I had to leave Jude in the tree screaming at the top of his lungs, go get Liam, put him in the stroller and go back to rescuing Jude. I really thought I was going to have to call 911. Finally Jude calmed down enough to listen to me and do as I asked him and the knee came out. (Poor little guy had bruises all over his knobby little knee.) We hugged for about 5 minutes after he was out of the tree and then went to see more ducks, waterfalls, and stone teddy bears. Whewww... what an adventure.


I snapped this photo after the tree incident. He looks much better, don't ya think?  The boys had so much fun until they began to meltdown from playing so hard!

The Closest I'll Get



to ever having a little girl! ha ha ha.  Don't worry, I just did this while Ma was here for a little entertainment and relief from the heat. I would never take Liam out in public like this!

Keeping them Occupied



Upon returning home from the grocery with a trunk load of groceries, I found a styrofoam bowl in my car. I HATE styrofoam anything.  It never goes away! So, instead of tossing it, I thought I would use it to keep the boys occupied while I unloaded the groceries.  I made a list of things for them to find in the backyard and put into the bowl. Once they found the objects, they got a sucker! It worked and I got all my groceries unload while they "played!" Win - Win!  

PS - the bugs were a bit of a challenge (go figure) but we went to the front yard together and found a TON of roly polies!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Farewell Old Friend

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we announce the death of our beloved Pinky Toe.  He was a good fish and we will miss him very much. Yesterday we saw the first signs of Pinky Toe and his demise. He wasn't swimming around happily like he usually did. He was just floating up to the top of the water for air and then going into his house.


When we told Jude that PT was sick and might not make it, he got very upset. He began to cry (pretty hard) poor little guy.  Jude has such a sweet and sensitive heart. It is a gift that allows him to love his brother and others so well and something that will probably cause him great pain in the future. We explained that PT would go to heaven to be with God and his other family members. Jude's response, "sniff, sniff..." Then I told Jude that Pinky Toe would probably be swimming in a HUGE bowl with gold pebbles and rubies and that all his food would probably taste like cupcakes. Jude looked up at me with big eyes and gave me a big chuckle! Then asked, "really?" "Sure" I said, "why not...it's heaven!"


After Jude settled down a bit, we said some prayers for God's will to be done and asked Him to take good care of PT if it was "his time to go." Then the doorbell rang. It was Miss Amanda, the boys' babysitter, and after a minute or so, all was right in the world again.


Today we said a few words, Adam did a mouth trumpet version of Taps and we flushed Pinky Toe (Spiderman Pinky Toe Fish) down the toilet. Farewell Old Friend...we will miss you.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Hip Hoppin' Fun

Easter - it's filled with so much more than it needs to be.  I am so glad we did the resurrection rolls this year.  That will be a tradition from this point forward.  Bunnies, baskets, candy, etc. Geeze - it's almost like another Christmas.

This year and last were so much fun. I am guessing it will get better with each year the boys age, until they outgrow it.  Last year we were with the Fishes on Easter. Missed them this year. This year, my family came over and spent the day with us.  I hope and pray the Rasmussens will join us next year. (I did a very poor job on invites this year - sorry Karen!)  So, since over  half of you missed out on the fun this year...thought I would do a recap through images and a few notes because there were some really notable moments!

We went to church Saturday night!  It was PACKED! This left Easter Sunday wide open - nice! We had family over for brunch, easter egg hunting and a movie.

Baskets: check


Shooting hoops to warm up for the hunt:

Found a beautiful robin's feather while warming up:


Hunting and helping hunt!:


The sweet scores:


Eating the found treasures:

Please note the blue drool that is forming on Liam's shirt and dripping out of his mouth. He opened about 4 eggs in a row shoving the contents of each directly into his mouth with minimal chewing! I had to pull a wad of jelly beans out of his mouth because it was stuck in his teeth and he couldn't swallow the wad was so big! See the photo above? I'm pretty sure he was about to choke!

Jude actually showed a little more reserve this year. He's getting so big.  He said, "I think I'll wait a little and eat more later so my tummy doesn't get sore." Good idea!

A movie (The Blind Side) and cupcakes took place for the "big kids" while Liam napped! (Jude surprised us by putting on his football jersey since the movie had a lot of football in it!)  My mom use to make us an Easter bunny cake every year with coconut, icing and jelly beans.  This is a treasured memory for me and below is my version for the boys. We will also include our resurrection rolls every year! I don't want them thinking that Easter is about eggs and bunnies. It is about new life, hope and the promise of a future with our King forever! Amen!




Friday, April 2, 2010

Cloudy Inside and Out

Well, we're at day 5 without Daddy and it's really getting to all of us! Praise the Lord he comes home today, barring any horrible weather. We're suppose to get thunderstorms here today; it's super cloudy and windy.  I was all ready to head out the door to make a Target run when I realized I jut didn't have it in me to take two fussy boys to the store. We decided to stay home and did the following:



1. Tent with glow sticks and popcorn!

2. Color - sorry no pics.

3. Dance like crazy people with the music so loud we could barely hear one another. (jude just runs around and tells me I'm not allowed to dance! Nice!)

4. Dinosaur pills! You just drop the capsules in super hot water and wait for the foam dino to pop out!

5. Watch Mater the Greater, Mater Rescue Squad and Tokyo Mater on YouTube!

It's now 12:40 and both boys are down for naps. That is where I'm headed too! I'll post pictures later when the camera battery gets recharged. After naps we're dying more Easter Eggs!

Other things we did earlier in the week while Daddy was gone:


plant herbs

get new sand for the sandbox

play with friends

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Quote of the Day:

This morning after Liam ate breakfast and while Jude was eating breakfast Liam was playing the electric keyboard dancing and being so silly!

Jude said to me and Ma, "He's silly. I'm cool!"

Ahh, out of the mouth's of babes!

Day 4 without Daddy and I am really getting tired. The boys have been amazing and so sweet which is a total blessing. The nights have been rough. I am on day 2 of less than 5 hours of sleep. I would covet your prayers!