A day at the beach

Summer comes to an end this weekend as the big boys head back to school on Tuesday. The beach has been our second home this summer and we have thoroughly enjoyed it! This little guy will be my buddy while his big brothers are in school all day. :)

Ethan turns 2!

Our baby boy turned two years old today! I can hardly believe how quickly these past two years have gone. Ethan brings so much happiness to our family. He can make all of us laugh so hard with his funny expressions and his mischievous actions. We celebrated his birthday over the weekend because Grandma and Grandpa were here from Phoenix. This is birthday season in our house. Matthew turned eight last month and Jay turns six tomorrow!

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch yesterday with our good friends, the Lunds.  Ethan is fighting a little cold and was a little grumpy for pictures, but we really had a great time!  We rode the train around Irvine Regional Park, and the boys played in the bounce house and rode the John Deere tractors.  All the boys even walked through a spooky house.  It was perfect for little kids.  Everyone picked a pumpkin to finish our afternoon.  This did make me miss the real pumpkin patches out in Connecticut, but the boys can't tell the difference.  

18 Months

Ethan turned 18 months old last week.  This baby of mine is growing up too fast!  He often tries to mimic his two older brothers.....sometimes I wonder if he realizes that he's only 1 1/2!  He makes us all laugh; he also makes us all crazy sometimes!  His smile is contagious...we sure love this little guy!

Enjoying a frosted sugar cookie.

Ethan didn't want to miss out on jumping off the rocks in the pool.

A typical boy showing off one of his many wounds.

Ethan took an infant survival course because we have a pool in the backyard and we wanted him to be pool-safe.  At the conclusion of his course, he was thrown into the pool with his clothes on.

On the teeter-totter with big brother.

Right after a big-boy haircut:

Enjoying the beach!

First Day of School

Ahhh.....the first day of school.  A day filled with tears of joy and tears of sorrow (for Mom) all at once.  Luckily, these two boys LOVE school and were so excited to get started.  Matthew entered the 2nd grade and Jay is starting Kindergarten.  Probably the most noticeable difference in our home is Ethan.  Who knew the two older boys were so helpful? Ethan is now hanging at my feet the entire time they are gone.  I have become the designated ball-thrower, hot wheels track-builder, and wrestle-mania partner.  Good thing I'm not a girly-girl!

Here's a few pictures from the big day:

Your token first day of school shot on the front porch:

Jay beaming as he heads into his new classroom:

Matthew looking sly as he carries his load of supplies:

Jay with his best buddy, Chase.  These two were selected after 3 days of school to move into the Kinder-1st grade combo class.  The teacher quickly realized that these two are a package deal...and if she was going to move one, she better move both!  Looks like we will have another "first day of school" on Monday when they start their new class.....

Farewell summer!

Our summer comes to an end this weekend (although we will continue to have summer weather for awhile her in SoCal), and I am so grateful for the fun memories we have created as a family.  

Clay and I started the summer off with an amazing trip (sans children!) to the Mediterranean where we spent two weeks visiting France, Monaco, Italy, Greece and Turkey.  It was an incredible experience that we will treasure for a long time.  Many thanks to Erin and James for coming to our home to watch our kids....we wouldn't have been able to do it without you!!  (And we'll probably be calling you again.)

The rest of our summer has been filled with lots of fun and sun!  Swimming, trips to the beach, swim lessons, summer camps, friends, more beach, barbecues, Katie's wedding, an impromptu family trip to Hawaii, Disneyland.....did I mention swimming?  Our new swimming pool in the backyard has been a HUGE attraction.

I am always a little sad to see summer come to an end, but I also look forward to the scheduled lifestyle that returns with the start of the school year.  Here are a few snapshots of our summer fun!

Another day, another fight

Oh how entertaining it is to have a house full of boys.  Yesterday was no exception.  After an afternoon of swimming, the two older boys were upstairs in their bedroom changing their clothes.  I was down in the kitchen cleaning up when Jay came down sobbing hysterically.  

I (thinking Jay was the one who was hurt) asked with a sigh, "What happened this time?"

Jay was able to curb his tears long enough to tell me that he had hurt Matthew really badly.  He said that he whipped Matthew in the back with his wet swimsuit and he was really hurt.

I start into my regular spiel...."Why do you two always have to hit each other?  You know you can really injure someone....yadda, yadda, yadda...."

Jay snapped back at me, "But Mom!  I thought Matthew was tougher!  And now I think I have weakened his powers!"

I guess that will be one less superhero in our home.

(By the way....Matthew is absolutely fine.  He had a red mark on his back that quickly disappeared.  Maybe his "powers" will be restored.)

I'm Back

This blog has been pathetic (to say the least).  Life kind of got away from me in the spring and early summer!  Here's a little taste of what we've been up to the past few months (in no particular order):

Keeping this little man out of trouble:

Learning to ride one of these:

Celebrating four birthdays in February and March:

Losing lots of teeth!

Spending LOTS of time here:

and here:

Now we are fully immersed in summer vacation and loving every minute of it.  Another post will be coming soon showing some of our summer adventures!

Love letters???

I was looking through Matthew's backpack after school yesterday...going through his piles of papers....when I saw a cute little handmade card among his things.

This card was obviously made with some effort. There were cute little flowers and hearts on the front and my first thought was, "Oh, how cute. Matthew got his first little love letter from a girl."

Then I opened it up and this is what it said....

"Dear Mathyou
I can tell sum times you tadil. Can you plees stop. Love Shelby
SP hope you have a grate day!"

Translation (with a little help from Matt):

"Dear Matthew, I can tell sometimes you tattle. Can you please stop? Love Shelby P.S. Hope you have a great day!"

Looks like we need to have a little chat about how to impress the ladies.

11 Months

Yikes! Where is the time going?! Ethan is growing too fast. He's taking lots of steps now....but not fully walking. He continues to be a joy to have around. He giggles and laughs, splashes like crazy in the bath, eats too many strawberries, makes huge messes and tackles his brothers. We are truly blessed to have him in our family.

Ethan's Path of Destruction

Ethan is at that fabulous stage right now.....the one where he methodically makes his way around the house and empties every cabinet and drawer in sight. Even Matthew is getting a little annoyed by it. He told me...."Mom! You have got to get some locks for our kitchen cupboards and drawers! Ethan is getting into EVERYTHING!" Jay just thinks it is funny and actually helps put everything back in its place. Except he wouldn't fish the TV remote out of the toilet. I guess I should be grateful for that. :)