Box him up!

John was joking with the kids and asked them:  "Which one of you three should we give away?"

Gregory had 3 verbal reactions in the next minute as he processed:
1) NOOO!
2) Clare!
On more thought 3)Put Thomas in a box, seal it up and mail him back to the baby factory!

Weekly Arboretum Visit

We've been going to the Dallas Arboretum once a week for about a month now, and we love it.  I keep expecting the boys to get bored, but it is such a relaxing, open place with so many things to do.  They can play on the grass, explore the kids' area, or feed the numerous fish, birds or squirrels.   It doesn't take much to make them happy.  And it is so beautiful and peaceful that it always refreshes me.

To make it even nicer we've been going there with a couple of other moms and their little ones.  It is wonderful to have a planned outing each week with people who understand you and where you are with your kids.

I'm enjoying the changes in the plants and the things the arboretum has planned for the upcoming months.  It looks so different every time we go.

Wordless Wednesday

Sheer Joy at a Church Fair

No More Monkeys

I taught Gregory "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" today.  He picked it up quickly and sang it to John tonight.

Then he proceeded to jump on daddy and the couch.  To our (and his) total shock he somehow lunged headfirst over the back of the couch.

Comforting a crying Gregory afterwards, we started singing

"One little Gregory jumping on a couch

He fell off and bumped his head

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said:
No more Gregory's jumping on the couch."

Through his tears Gregory started laughing.  I don't think he'll be jumping on the couch anytime soon.

Random Camel of the Day

Clare has a new reason to beg for toys, and the little guy to the right is the reason.

This is Humphrey the camel - a Beanie Baby that Clare won at a fair on Saturday.  He's tiny and quite cute.

Because of his cuteness (I guess) Clare has decided to start a collection of camels.  Since camels are somewhat unique and educational, I have decided to support this idea.

Usually Clare wants to collect My Little Ponies, or Littlest Pet Shop or other toy sets which would require us to invest in toys that we find every time we go to the store.  Since I don't want to hear about her collection every time I'm at Walmart, we've always said no.  Even in the case of a dog or cat collection, there is simply so much merchandise I don't want to go crazy.

Camels are different somehow.  We can spend some time researching and finding books about them.  They seem to be rarer and like they would be fun to hunt for.  Since they don't seem to be a current hot pick Clare might even be able to afford some herself.  I can't imagine the random camel things out there, I've never even thought about camels before yesterday.

So if you know of any great camel resources  or if you see one out and about, let me know.

Morning Musings

It's about 8am Monday morning and neither of my boys are awake.  John took Clare to school and I'm wondering what to do with my free time.

Normally I would take this opportunity to do some cleaning, but Thomas is asleep on my bed.  I'm afraid that if I leave my bedroom and go get involved in anything, he will wake up and crawl off the edge.

One option would be to move him to his pack n play.  However that would definitely wake him, so instead here I am, typing quietly while he sleeps.  (It's so rough...being forced to spend time on my blog ;)

Thomas is getting so big.  He's working hard on walking taking 4-5 steps at a time and then deciding that he'd rather crawl.

He has a sense of humor too and laughs at all sorts of things.

John was watching him yesterday.  He was playing quietly and then started laughing.  John glanced over and Thomas had grabbed his Blackberry.  Knowing that he wasn't supposed to have it, Thomas was laughing at the fact that he had gotten something past his father.  In a few months he might understand that if he's quiet he gets to keep the forbidden toy longer.

He plays little games with me such as our bug game.  Gregory has a nasty looking black bug.  When I put it near Thomas he laughs and backs up a foot or so on his bottom.  I will playfully chase him around the floor with the bug while he laughs the whole time. 

I'm pretty sure he knows it is a game since when his 'nice' siblings drop the bug he scared of on his leg or lap, he just looks at it with a disinterested look.

Clare is trying to teach Thomas to dance, and Gregory is teaching him to butt heads like a billy goat.

He loves his siblings and tends to follow them when they run off to play in their rooms, rather than being stuck with his 'rents'.  He is also going through some separation anxiety, so the same child who goes off exploring by himself in the house will cry like the world has ended when I leave the room to get a basket of laundry.

He gives kisses and bites...I definitely prefer the kisses, and has been heard to say words like sneaky and kisses - just not with any constancy.  We're probably just reading into his sweet baby noises.

All in all, he is growing up way too fast and in about a month my baby will be 1.  I'm so thankful for quiet moments like these, where I can reflect on the gift that I have been given in him and also on the gift of Gregory and Clare.  How blessed we are!

Wordless Wednesday

Lemons

For my chicken recipe on Sunday night I needed 1 lemon.

The store however only had them in large bags.  I believe I ended up with 12 or so.

This fact reminded me of a scene from a movie that John and I like to quote
(I couldn't find the exact scene, but this trailer for the Break Up gets the gist)

So I decided to make a 12 lemon centerpiece.

For some reason the children were obsessed with the centerpiece and played with it and the lemons all night.

We eventually had to take the lemons away from them with the promise that I would make lemonade today.

Which we did.  It was delicious.

So for $3.00 I think we got our money's worth.

Painting Pretzels

I meant to make pretzels with the kids Holy Week, and we didn't get around to it until Saturday night.

The recipe I used came from The Fairies Cookbook.  We used thawed yeast rolls, food dye, and q-tips. 

The kids loved painting them, even if Gregory's was very green and just green.

By the way, have you seen that you can now link directly to Amazon with a Blogger tool.  Technically you can make money with it, but I like how easy it is to link to images of books or products I want to post about.  I'm planning on trying this tool out and seeing if I enjoy it, or just find it annoying.

April Showers

Sometimes you just have to go out and play in the rain!

Soccer Shots

Clare is understanding soccer more and playing better. Go figure that our daughter needs to be a little more assertive (aggressive) on the soccer field.

Attic Adventure

For some reason Clare and Gregory think attics are magical places filled with adventure, which is why they ask my Aunt Janet to go into her attic every time we visit.

Mermaid Magic

When we last visited the arboretum there was a mermaid photoshoot. The lady was so sweet to let Clare have a picture.

For the rest of the day Clare kept asking if she was a real mermaid.

And if you're interested in a functioning mermaid suit you can check out mermagica.com

Bow-wow

The other day the big kids and I were playing a game and Thomas got bored. He crawled off and started playing with a few toys.

I heard him making a weird noise and glanced over.

He was holding one of the puppies in the above picture and barking at it-BOUGH-ROWRRR.

It's so fun seeing babies blossom and pick up on some of the world around them.

Oh Deer!

Visiting with the Folks

For the next week or so, I will be catching up with the blog. I've broken up many of the pictures from my grandparents visit into different posts so they can be enjoyed longer.

This cat is pumpkin, who loves to be around the kids, and hates to be left out of the action.

Belated Easter Pictures

We had a wonderful Easter with my grandparents, aunt, uncle and the rest of our family here.