IN the ZONE

The Imagination Zone that is. Today I am so super grateful that God has given me creativity as a means to escape my desire to explode sometimes!  Earlier today the boys were screaming, yelling, crying and all sorts of other yucks. So I told them we were having a Bear Grylls lunch - worms and eyeballs!

I cut up ham and cheese into strips and piled them onto their plates, Then I placed grapes and balled up rolls to the side. The kicker... baby alligator! AKA - giant dill pickle. Once the alligator came into play, we added some alligator poop! AKA - Pirate Booty.

Jude refused to play along and told him he needed to "get in the zone!" He asked what the zone was and I told him, "The Imagination Zone!" And thus a new Fish Family tradition/saying was born!

BOYS!

They love to play dress up. I  know this is no news flash, but there's been a LOT of this lately and it has been hysterical.

Oh my gosh, they were so cute with baby Charlie. They were loving all over him - at times, near crushing him. And if they can't get a baby of their own with the help of Mom and Dad...they'll try regression. Lovies were grabbed, pacis and thumbs found and all laid on Boo Boo Bear from some cuddles.

I LOVE MY BOYS!

Oh Summer - It's a Love/Hate Relationship

Summer is here in full effect and this is the first one in two years that Jude has been with me pretty much every day (no summer school). Jude + HEAT = Mommy Creativity

We've had color week. (Hits and Misses) With a major hit at Target doing a color scavenger hunt! We've had Things that Go! week which brought merry-go-round rides, train rides and train sightings. Liam absolutely loves trains and "Merry-go -gos."

All indoor activities and most of them in the malls. Can you tell Dallas is addicted to shopping? Grapevine Mills was awesome. We rode a train, played in the book store with the trains on the train table, saw an "aligator", watched TONS of fish swim around and saw two huge "elephants"! The animals were motor operated and the kids loved it. Thank you Rain Forest Cafe.

We've also tried a few new things.

Mommy tried to turn food into a camp ground.

Jude attempted color by numbers - this was awesome!  I told him what to do and this is what came out. He colored the numbers only, not the area. Gotta love the mind of a five year old.

Jude also tried some sweet new accessory trends - Power Ranger belt buckle and two different socks (this one is a staple, but the first time it's been caught on film - I think.)

Everyone Poops...

But today - Liam went POOPie in the POTTY!  Wahoo!  I can't believe it.  He did it all on his own. His own idea. His own prompting and his own flushing!

This is big time people.  Really big time.

Hooray!

Eavesdropping and a Diaper Change

Eavesdropping:
Rushing to Adam's aid tonight gave me the biggest gift ever and it's one that I hope I never forget - hence my writing it down here.  The boys (all three) were in the shower and Adam thought Liam wanted out. He didn't. On my "way out" Jude yells "mommy, I love you!" As I was picking up dirty clothes I overheard Adam say, " That was nice Jude." Jude replied, "I do. I lover her soooo much!" With the most sincere heart.  It brought tears to my eyes - literally!  Then Adam replied, "you should tell your Mommy that everyday you know that?! It means a lot to her. When you think it, you should say it." "Ok," said Jude.

WHAT?  I have THE best family in the world and am blessed beyond belief!

Diaper Change:
The other day I  was changing Liam's diaper and wiping his bottom. He said, "don't touch it!" I said, "touch what? Your bottom?" Then he said it. The funniest two words to complete that sentence... "my penis!" I laughed. HARD.  To which he replied with a big grin, "don't touch my penis!" Ahhh, boys. You gotta love 'em.

Fourth of July

Fishing.
Swimming.
Jet Skis.
Fireworks.
Hot dogs.
Donuts.
Late nights.
Movies.
Birthday celebrations.

Really?  Does it get any better than that? I guess it could have been better if Liam didn't climb out of his pack-n-play three times the first night we were there! Uggghhh!  Oh well, we had a BLAST!

Racing in the Rain

What does a Mommy do when she has a headache and her husband has just phoned to say he has to work late?  Let the boys play in the rain!

brrr...it was a bit cold in the rain.

They got warmed up by running around in circles. I have video and tried to load it, but it didn't work! Sorry!

Here's big brother telling Liam how the race works. Liam got so hot he decided to shed his suit.

Even though these are blurry, I thought it should be noted that Jude got his first black eye. It actually looks great in these pics. It was much worse. He was running in the house, tripped on his toe and fell eye first on the floor. Only my kids...geeze, we're accident prone. xo