Ahhhh....pool!!

Our pool opened over Memorial Day weekend, but it's been rainy & a little too chilly to take advantage. Well, the thermometer finally climbed high enough for us to venture out. The water was pretty cold (or at least Scott told me it was!), but Scott & William got in the big pool & practiced jumping off the side, going under, and swimming. Daniel hung out in the little pool a bit, but once he went into the big pool, he had to get off, put his towel on and "warm up". He never went in again!

Notice William's new summer haircut. We took them to the "haircut place", as they call it, and I told the hairdresser that we used a 3 on William. Well, I forgot to tell her that we leave his bangs long, so after I took Daniel to potty, I came back & that is what we had! He loves it. He took one look in the mirror & said, "Mommy, I look like Calvin (our friends who moved to Kuwait--check them out here). He then proceeded, in his typical chatty way, to tell everyone in the place, "My NAME is William, but I LOOK like Calvin!" He was so proud of his buzz cut.

From outside pics

From outside pics

From outside pics

And here are a few pics of the big ones in the backyard & in the kiddo pool on a couple of different days:

From outside pics

From outside pics

From outside pics

From outside pics

From outside pics

Goodbye to friends...again

So, with the military, it seems as if we're always saying goodbye to someone. And, contrary to what you might think, it never gets any easier!! Our good friends, Michelle and Jason, and their two little boys, Stephen and Peter, are heading out of town soon. They're only moving 3 hours away, so we are hoping to get together with them every now & again once they're gone! Stephen & William were in the same class at school this year & have gotten to be good buddies. We went over to Michelle & Jason's this weekend to help them clear out their fridge for the big move. Stephen has a dune buggy type vehicle that the big boys had tons of fun driving around. Daniel wants one for his birthday!!

From outside pics

From outside pics

And, here is Stephen on their drive-on firetruck:

From outside pics

Daniel & Peter (who just turned 2):

From outside pics

The three bigger boys having popsicles:

From outside pics

From outside pics

And Peter on the firetruck--he's such a happy cutie-pie!:

From outside pics

Uncle Chad & golf

So, Scott's brother, Uncle Chad, came out to visit over Memorial Day weekend. My sister was still here, so there was more than enough attention to go around! For once, we actually outnumbered the little guys. Of course, Scott & Chad had to break out the golf clubs (probably b/c William hounded them incessantly after they played one afternoon & he wasn't allowed to go--broke his heart, let me tell you!!!) William wanted to hit it all by himself, but Daniel wanted Uncle Chad to help him, so he ended up hitting it a little better than his older brother. Of course, then William needed Uncle Chad help, too!

Here are William & Chad:

From Uncle Chad's visit

From Uncle Chad's visit

And Daniel (I had a hard time getting a good angle):

From Uncle Chad's visit

From Uncle Chad's visit

When they were done, William had to carry his own bag back to the garage:

From Uncle Chad's visit

The big boys:

From Uncle Chad's visit

And Uncle Chad with Colin:

From Uncle Chad's visit

More Aunt Laura pics!

So, here are a few more pics from Aunt Laura's visit--they're really just cute pics of Colin, but who can resist those??? As you can see, he did a lot of sleeping on her. I just love the last one, where he's cuddled into his blanket. Keep your fingers crossed for us (me???) that he sleeps this well when there's no "special aunt" to hold him all day.

From Aunt Laura's visit

From Aunt Laura's visit

From Aunt Laura's visit

From Aunt Laura's visit

Happy one-month BD to Colin!

 

So, it's been a month since little Colin arrived! Not sure where the time went, but he's a month old. Here is one of the pics our photographer Kate Neville took of him when he was 10 days old. He's already grown so much.


And in the same vein, William and Daniel have been completely fascinated with "when they were babies". So, William & I watched some of their baby videos during Daniel's nap today. He couldn't stop giggling over him & Daniel trying to crawl & talking "like babies", as he called it. He couldn't seem to grasp that when he was a baby, there was no Daniel. He kept telling me that he must've been going to get Daniel when he walked out of the camera frame. SOO sweet! So, I'll be posting some of our favorites over the next few days. Stay tuned for some "oldies but goodies"!!

William's "special aunt"

Aunt Laura came to see us for almost a week. What fabulous help!! In this picture, she's been in my house for all of 30 minutes. I went upstairs to put William down for a nap as he was VERY grumpy & she managed to get the baby to sleep on her and then read Daniel a book. I thought very seriously about hopping a plane to ANYWHERE since she had it so under control ;-)

From Aunt Laura's visit

Another shot of her curled up with the baby. It's hard to tell because of the blanket, but she's got her knees curled toward the edge of the couch & Colin is sleeping in the space between her stomach & her knees. It's a pretty sweet pic!

From Aunt Laura's visit

Close up of Colin in the same pose:

From Aunt Laura's visit

Random Colin cuteness:

From Aunt Laura's visit

From Aunt Laura's visit

And, we gave the very stinky baby a bath. He LOVED it at first, but then got a little chilly:

From Aunt Laura's visit

From Aunt Laura's visit

From Aunt Laura's visit

And, here is the baby just after he wasn't so stinky anymore. Ahhhh....BATHTIME!!

From Aunt Laura's visit

And, a couple of shots of Aunt Laura and Mini-me. I swear, I don't know how I managed to give birth to my sister's child!

From Aunt Laura's visit

From Aunt Laura's visit

And, here is William, being super-happy because he got to sleep with his "special aunt" (otherwise known as his godmother!) for two whole nights. He thought he was so grown-up, getting to sleep in the basement with her. He informed her that when he was 30 (his "grown-up" age these days), he would drive her around in our van & she could sit in the front because she was his special aunt. He then proceeded to tell her that I would have to sit in the back & that she couldn't touch the steering wheel b/c he would be driving. The things he comes up with!

From Aunt Laura's visit

And, a couple of shots of my little man demonstrating his awesome head control. Notice how low she's holding him. You only have to put a hand under his little hiney & he keeps his back straight & controls his head. And, he does it for A WHILE, not just a few seconds. Pretty large feat for a not-even-one-month-old!

From Aunt Laura's visit

From Aunt Laura's visit

Another school year gone

Another school year has come to an end. It's amazing to think that William only has one more year of pre-school before kindergarden. Where has the time gone? I swear, a minute ago he was Colin's size!! William loved his teachers this year, Mrs. Pinson and Mrs. Erickson. Here they are, but note William's distracted self. I couldn't get him to smile at the camera for the life of me--he was too excited by everything going on.

From End of the school year

And, here are Daniel's two teachers, Mrs. Frank and Mrs. Smith. William also had Mrs. Frank last year & she's a favorite of both boys. William had to stop frequently at Daniel's classroom many a morning to update Mrs. Frank on the goings-on in his class. Mrs. Smith has a little boy in William's class & she was new as a teacher this year. Daniel loved her! We will definitely miss having one in the Turtle Class as Daniel moves up to the Fish and William becomes a Frog!!

From End of the school year

Here is William on his way up to the stage:

From End of the school year

And, here is Daniel, unhappy as he can't sit with us (as usual!). He didn't sing his song this night either!

From End of the school year

Here is the obligatory Mommy & Colin pic:

From End of the school year

And, then William actually still & smiling for the camera--we must have bribed him with something:

From End of the school year

And, Mommy & Daddy with the two big boys--again, no one was very interested in picture taking:

From End of the school year

Handstands

So, William informed me today that he can do a handstand. Where he saw one, I have no idea, but I immediately asked him to show me. He walked over to the island in the middle of the kitchen, put his hands on the floor, and walked his feet up the side of the island. Pretty ingenious, I thought. Here was the finished product: