Driving Instructor

I thought it would be a few years before we got into driving lessons, but Mario Kart for the Wii has been quite a hit at the house, especially with Matt. We're still working on driving on our own, but for now he does a great job of holding down the accelerator button while Daddy does minor things like steer.

Bro Time @ the Museum

Shawn and I made our first trip to the museum Monday with 3 mobile children. I must admit, there was a small part of me tempted to dress them all in neon yellow shirts so I could keep track of them since Shawn hasn't installed the gps units in their shoes yet :) But it went really well. As you'll see from the pictures, they tended to split with 2 going one way and 1 going the other, and I think everyone had a good time.

More Than Meets the Eye!

Our Little Bookworms

Jake Trying to Hang with His Big Brother

Jake likes to do whatever his older brothers are doing. This usually ends with Ben or Matt yelling something like "Daddy, Jake keeps trying to eat all my Legos!" Here Jake joins Matt in the always-fun game they call "Chasing." Matt was nice enough to take it easy on Jake. My favorite part is Jake carrying the hat so he can match Matt carrying Monkey.

Jake the Double FIsted Drinker

He takes after his brother

 

Matt Helps Out.

Apparently he remembered how fun it was when he got to go for a ride and wanted to make sure Jake had the same fun. Daddy's back definitely appreciated it.

Not Quite Yet Big Guy

IMG_0918.JPG, originally uploaded by wetzel9.

Jake checks out Ben's new booster seat.

It's Good to have a Twin Brother!

Matt & Ben's Bedtime Questionare

Every night at bedtime just before I leave the boys bedroom I have the following exchange with Matthew:

Matt: Will it rain tonight?
Me: No
Matt: Will it thunder?
Me: No
Matt: Will it lightning?
Me: No
Matt: Will somebody blow our house down
Me: No
Matt: Will somebody be in our house?
Me: No
Matt: Will bad guys come?
Me: No
Matt: Will Swiper come?
Me: No
Matt: Will there be snapping frogs?
Me: No
Matt: Will bad dinosaurs come and eat my shirt?
Me: No

I really want to ask him about some of these, but its bedtime and I've already gotten them drinks of water, explained what we're going to do the next day, and indulged repeated requests for tuck-ins. So I close the door and wonder why he's only worried about "bad" dinosaurs or who the heck might be in the house.

Sometimes he also calls Jess up to go through his pre-bed checklist.

The Great Swing Set Project!

It took almost an entire month, several shipments of replacement or missing parts, and many many hours of help from family and friends, but at last, the swing set is up and ready for some serious play time! It started with the spot staked out...

... then the fort was assembled...

... the inaugural trips down the slide... ... and finally all swings are a go!

We owe a HUGE can't-thank-them-enough "Thank You" to Gammy, Papa Coop, Patti, John, and Leonard for all their help in getting the swing set put together and help taking care of the kids!

My Recent Obsession with Instagram

Jake's First Haircut

Mom... *what* is going on here? The "Before" Shot Ummm... I'm trying to watch the Backyardigans here. Haircuts are fun! The "After" Shot ... such a big boy now!

Jake - Freeze!

...his vision is based on movement.



Oh no - there's two of them!



Nice T-Rex. Who's a good little T-Rex?

Down by the River

We spent one of the last nice days hanging out downtown along the River. Matt and Ben actually refer to this area as "The Place with the Pink Lemonade" since I bought them some one of the times we were down there. They also refer to baseball games as "The Place with all the Peanuts." Jake seemed to have a lot of fun hanging with his older brothers.