Jack and the banana

From the laundry room, I heard Jack in the kitchen saying "Sorry my sunshine," and when I looked out to see what was going on, he was staring at his banana, about an inch from his face, and began going "Argh, mmm, rar," as he crammed the whole thing into his mouth like an animal. At least he apologized to the banana before he ravaged it. Heh.

Hearing myself...

As I changed Sam's diaper this morning:
S: "Ow, mommy, you huwting my wegs. Ow, ow, ow. Stop it mommy. Weave me awone, I need a wittle space. I need a wittle bit of space."

Whoops. All I could do was laugh. I think I said that to them this very morning. Something along the lines of "Hey, you guys have had 3 breakfasts already and I haven't even had my coffee yet. GOOOOO to the playroom and leave me alone to eat my breakfast. I need a little space."
Somehow it sounds so much cuter coming from a two year old.

Overheard

Last night Jackson was in time out for being generally fussy and asking about a million times for a snack even after having a bunch of snacks and being told he had to wait for dinner. Sam sat at the kitchen table watching Jackson who was stranded in the time out spot in the dining room. Sam dangled his legs from the chair, kicking them softly and looking around, and stared for a few seconds in Jackson's direction, and then the taunting began.
S: with a finger pointed, "Jashon, you in time out ...you stay dere and don't get up or mommy spank you heinie."
J: "SAM, NOOOOO. Mommy will NOT spank my heinie."
S: still pointing his finger, "No, YOU, Jashon. You stay dere and don't get up. You bein nasty."
J: "SAM, NOOOOOO!"
S: "No YOU, JASHON. YEEEEEEEEES!"

I let it go on a few seconds more, then told Sam to leave Jackson alone in time out. After Jackson's time out stint had ended, Sammy was wandering around doing his usual shenanigans, namely smacking everyone he passed. After getting about 6 people in the room, I said
"Sammy, stop that. It's not nice to hit people. Do you want Mommy to hit you?"
S: "NO."
J: "YES, I think you should."
Aaah, brotherly love.

Easter at church

Sam kept stopping midstride to watch the television screen above me, and Jackson would run into him. They would laugh, roughhouse a little, and then take off again. Cute, but probably only to their mother!

This is the way I actually spent the church service on Easter Sunday. The boys and I always end up in the lobby, and they LOVE to run cars on the "track" that goes around the ministry desk. What's that you ask? Was it noisy, obnoxious, and probably inappropriate? Why yes, it was, thankyouverymuch. BUT, they weren't screaming, so Happy Easter to all!

Going to church on Easter

Our little family in front of Mimi's house
We look so calm, don't we. Funny thing is, I had already lost: the house keys, the baby pacifier, the camera, left 28 things inside and had to run back for them, and church was starting pretty much while we were taking these pictures. It was a little hectic. As usual, heh.

I love that in so many pictures, Sam is staring up at Jackson.
This one would have been ADORABLE, if not for Jackson huddled up and complaining that he was "COLDY." C'mon! I need cute pictures. Sheesh!
Olivia, however, is always ready to pose for the camera. That's my girl!

Olivia's preferred sleeping position

Ever since Livi has been able to roll over, she prefers to sleep in this position. It is terrifying. But, every time you roll her over, she finds her way right back to this. Ryan and I have often said if she was our first child, we would probably never sleep. We would stay up all night and watch her and roll her over and fret over the weirdness and possible suffocation of her preferred position. Now, however, after the THIRD, we are too tired to stay up all night, and seeing as how she has slept this way for many months now, unscathed, we are pretty much used to finding her fast asleep and totally face down. I still can't resist photographing it though. My mother has pictures of me passed out all over the house,(in my highchair, in my swing, sitting up against the bars of my crib, into my food, etc,) and I still love to look at them. I hope she'll feel the same way someday.

What did the Easter Bunny bring this year?

For Olivia, two summer hats, two pairs of shoes, and some candy (to share with Mommy)

For Jackson and Sam, personalized superhero capes with their initials on the back, Lightning McQueen cars (which they have carried around nonstop since they received them), a mess free painting book, a pair of flip flops, a metal watering can with three gardening tools for the small vegetable garden I am planning to work on this summer, and way more candy than necessary. Jackson loved all the toys, wore his cape for three straight days, and asks every morning if we can garden today. Sam dove straight into the candy. No, seriously. He didn't even LOOK at anything else, just started stuffing the stuff into his mouth as fast as possible. Then he hit a white jelly bean. He started to sputter and gag. He insisted on spitting it out. He said "Pwah, pwah, YUCK, I don't rike white jewwy beas. Dere YUCKY!" and he proceeded to weed out and THROW every offensive white jelly bean across the room to get it as far from him as possible. Even after church, he made proclamations of his great disdain for the dreaded white jelly bean.

Uncle Mikey and Aunt Ana sent beautiful stuffed bunnies and small bags of yummy chocolates for each child, and I put them with their baskets. They're so cute, I think I may put them out every year next to the baskets.

Time with family

The cousins all love to spend time together, and I know the kids will all look back and have such fond memories of their childhoods, family, and shared experiences. This is Mimi with 9 of her current 11 grandchildren. This group ranges from age 10 down to 9 months. Holidays are crazy, but lots of fun!

Easter Egg hunt AGAIN

The second Easter Egg Hunt of the season took place at a church where there were 25,000 eggs. That's right...25,000! It was cool to watch the kids move down the field like a swarm of locusts. The kiddos had great fun, and Sam got really competitive once he stopped opening each egg and trying to devour the candy inside! I must've told him a million times to wait until it was over and THEN we would have a treat! His sweet tooth is outta control!!

Going to Mimi's for Easter

Sweet, quiet, baby girl...
Sam expressing his glee...
Ack! What is Jackson DOING?

Sharp tooth with bling

Connor Shoes

SO I decided to put some shoes in the boys' Easter baskets. You know, something sandal-ish to announce the start of Spring and warm weather. I've done it each year. And besides, the other 18 million things I have for their baskets just will never be enough. I went to Children's Place last night and scored some cheap flip flops, and then my neighbor mentioned some cute imitation Crocs at another shoe store. Sam and I went into the shoe store today while Jack was at school, and as soon as he saw them, he said "Wook, mommy. Connor shoes!" and pointed right at the shoes my neighbor suggested; the same ones her son (and my kids' idol) wore all of last summer. I figured I'd try them on him to make sure I was buying the right size, but then he refused to take them back off. As I watched him stumble around the store, tripping over his feet, I started to wonder if this was a good idea. BUT, as my neighbor pointed out, our kids leather sandals were FUNKY by mid summer last year from foot odor, and the crocs (ish) shoes can be cleaned out and deoderized really regularly. I was running late to pick Jackson up from school, and just discovered Livi dropped a diaperload of disgustingness that needed immediate attention, so I gave up and let him wear them out. Now, because I wasn't the FIRST mother there for pickup, (I was still 6 minutes early by the way), Jackson was hysterical when I arrived and could scarcely be comforted. When he got to the car, immediately Sam started showcasing his Connor shoes. "Wook, jashon, I got CONNOR shoes. Wook at dem!" And Jackson immediately wanted HIS Connor shoes, too. When I put them on his little feet, he was beaming. "Do you like them?" I asked. "Like them? I LOOOVE them!" he declared, and totally made my day. Then they ate Lightning McQueen fruit snacks the whole way home (you know, the ones I bought this morning because Sam dropped his pacifier UNDER the shelves at the grocery store and there was no way I could let him put it back in his mouth- I mean the floor is one thing, but under the shelves- that's another). Spoiled? Never.

Easter Bunny requests

Smiling group photo
Olivia meets the Easter Bunny (with bonus photographer booty!)
Mommy and Jackson tell the Easter Bunny what they want
Sammy and Mommy are excited to tell the Easter Bunny their wishes!
Hoppy Easter, everyone!

We visited the Easter Bunny last night so the boys could put in their orders for basket fillers. So far, they have changed their minds several times, so they will be getting pretty much everything they asked for and a bit more. I'm a sucker. I mean the Easter Bunny is, wink wink.

Easter Egg Hunt with Neighbors

Industrious Jack...as always!
Smiley Livi
Exhausted baby
Go get 'em, Sammy!
Olivia's first egg
The boys show off their full baskets
Filthy Sam....ah, the joys of boys!

On Saturday our neighbor held an Easter egg hunt just for the kids on our street. The boys had a ball, and it was so nice to get out in the sunshine and spend some time with our fabulous neighbors!

Spooning with Spidermonkey- true love!

We found Sam all curled up with his Spidermonkey the other night. It was painfully cute. And while we're at it, I included at shot of each of them sleeping. Aaah, sleeping kids. Love it.

Chuck E Cheese Potty Celebration

Jack with his infamous potty training chart...all filled up!!!

On Wednesday, March 12, we finally took Jack to Chuck E Cheese for his potty training success! He was SOOOO excited, and kept saying "Thank you so much Mommy and Daddy for pizza for dinner. Thank you SO much Mommy and Daddy for Chuck E Cheese. I LOVE Chuck E Cheese!" The kids were all as good as gold, sharing tokens and taking turns. They even picked out decent prizes at the end of the night. Thank heavens potty training is done for one!! Hurray!

Twubble

Overheard from the time-out spot:
"Jashon, I in twubble. BUUUUUUT"
"Come on, Sammy. You can come out of there now."

"Short pants"

I am loving this fabulous warm weather- its 78 degrees today and the boys are happily playing outside. We met some friends at the playground this morning, and it was still a bit cool- long pants and long sleeves. But this afternoon they were hot in their clothes, so we changed into shorts and short sleeves, and they were thrilled. They stared down at their legs and have been running around barefoot. I keep hearing them say "I have on SHOWT pants. See?" Come on Spring!