A mini-adventure in a simple walk around the block. Who knew?

We've been trying to get out a little more often for walks - especially since Leo is getting sooo fat!

Luke ususally decides that it is his turn to walk the dog and takes this responsibility very seriously...

Until, we come to the mailboxes! As soon as he spots the mailboxes all bets are off and the leash is quickly tossed to the ground while his fat little legs move as fast as he can make them toward the beautiful, metal treasure.

I am tempted to one day just sit and see how long he can occupy himself at the mailboxes. He gets such a kick out of them!

After, I coax him away from the mailboxes with the hopes of maybe seeing some cows I realize that the sunblock is missing. Hmmm....where could it have gone to? Oh, yeah, the mailboxes! I run over and get the sunblock of out the package box and we're back on track. Until Luke spots a pipe sticking out of the ground....

He tried to stick the sunblock can in there but I guess it didn't fit.

A little further down the road he finds a stick! It is for this reason that Chris has nick-named him "little Judy" after my mother. It seems like where ever she goes (and I do mean WHERE-ever) she finds treasures, a.k.a "junk" that she has to pick up.

Just a wee bit farther down the road and they spot a fire hydrant! Yay! Down goes the stick while they explore.
Ok, so, they're done with the fire hydrant (nothing to open and close or twist or stick stuff into)... and he's got the stick back! Hmmm....how am I going to get rid of this thing!

Oooo...more mailboxes. Good opportunity to "lose" the stick.
What is so fun about mailboxes? Even Jaden is interested.
Ahh...puddles! What is better than a puddle of water?
The end :)

Boys will be boys, so I'm learning

The heat is officially here in Texas! High 80's to 90's are a regular occurrence now and the heat index has already been at 100 degrees! Our focus (well, mostly MY focus) now is on how to keep everyone cool and occupied. There will certainly be days when it is just too hot to be outside for long or the mosquitoes will be too vicious but today was a nice day and I decided to break out the sprinkler. I don't even want to try to estimate what my water bill will be this summer - Jaden has learned how to turn on the spicket himself :) - but whatever it is it will surely be less than the cost of me losing my sanity. When they are cooped up in the house too long the boys become destructive. They have way too much energy and need a release. They start jumping on the furniture, throwing anything and everything, and literally bouncing off the walls (and into them). Fortunately, we have a bonus room with lots of toys that will be our retreat on the too hot to be outside days if we don't have another air conditioned space to go to but until at least Friday that is a problem. The air conditioner is broken up there and there is just one little window that faces the direct sun in the afternoon so it gets really, really hot!
I can't blame the kids for breaking it at least :)

Thank goodness for water sprinklers and baby pools!
Jaden is figuring out how this thing works. He's got his hand on Blue's ear and it doesn't take him long to figure out he can direct the flow of the water...

Poor Luke! He's at Jaden's mercy. I have to be on constant watch of those two. It can wear a person out! Good thing Luke is pretty resilient. He was very uncomfortable last night and I thought he might be getting an ear infection. Maybe he just had water in his ear...

All that little brother tormenting can make a kid thirsty!

My silly Jaden

This is play doh. He was putting it on his nose - not "in"his nose as this looks! It just cracked him up :)

Baby "g"

Finally - Luke's one year pics!

Warning: there are a lot of pictures here. I loved them all and had to share.

I also wanted to make a note of his stats at one year:

He is 32 1/2 inches tall (above the 95th percentile).

He is 28 pounds 7 ounces (above the 95th percentile).

And for what it's worth his head is 50 cm.

One more thing...He is awesome! He is a beautiful, beautiful little boy :)

More sweet baby pics

Night time activities

Chris and I must be heavier sleepers than we think. This is twice now that we've woken up in the morning and thought that the other helped one of the kids with something during the night. It's strange because both of these nights Chris and I have both been up and down at different times during the night. It's hard to believe that we missed something.

The first time, Chris woke up in the morning and found the kitchen chair over at the counter in front of the dishwasher. He thought that was weird. Why would the chair be over there? Then, when he turned around he noticed the soda bottle on the kitchen table and some spilled all over the table, chair, and floor. "Ahhh"....he thought, "someone was thirsty and decided to help themselves".

So, we got a little nervous and installed alarms on the doors just in case the night wanderer got an urge to explore out of doors.

This morning when I woke up Chris and Jaden were in the kitchen eating breakfast and talking about eating pizza. Since Jaden fell asleep really early last night and missed supper I figured he woke up during the night and he and Chris ate some pizza. (I had fallen asleep in Anna's room after reading some books - we were a tired group!)

It came up again when I spoke to Chris on the phone. I was wondering what time Jaden actually woke up to eat. Chris told me he thought I had given Jaden pizza and was a little annoyed that I let him eat it in bed with him because he woke up with sausage in his hair!

I didn't give him pizza! Luke woke up during the night and when I went in to calm him down I feel asleep in there. He's got a noise maker and humidifier running so I didn't hear anything.

Apparently, the little guy went into the kitchen and got Anna's plate off of the table from dinner and helped himself to some leftover pizza that was sitting on the stove and took it back to eat in bed with Chris. I don't know whether to be proud of him for being so self-sufficient or scared to death that he is up doing these things and we haven't even noticed!

I swear all of the nights that we wake up for some reason (to use the restroom, get a drink of water, which is often) and we check on him he is knocked out. He and Anna are ususally cuddled up to each other.

Maybe we need to set up some booby-traps as a back up.

The progression of a sugar high (in pictures)

I didn't manage to get any Easter pictures but I was in the mood to play around with the camera while they were stuffing their faces with chocolate. It's funny how happy they seem while they are eating it and then how fast they turn in to raging monsters or a heaping pile of tears after. Huh? So, why do I keep buying it??? Note to self: quit buying so much candy. Next year I think I'll tell the Easter bunny to bring books and crafts.

There was even sharing...

Life is good...

Want some?

There it is! The meltdown. Didn't take too long did it?

What?