A day at Lake Peachtree

One of the rare moments

Where the boys aren't fighting over toys.



Usually, it goes something like this:


Evan is playing with cars. Grant is playing nearby.

Grant moves within inches of Evan.

Evan feels threatened and takes all of the cars, including the one in Grant's hand.

Grant screams.

I tell Evan (in a calm and loving voice) to give the car back to Grant.

Instead of handing the car to Grant, Evan throws it across the room.

I tell Evan (in an even more calm and loving voice) to stand up, get the car and hand it back nicely to Grant.



Wash, rinse, repeat.

You know you're a mom...

...when you go to pick out your clothes for the day and inside one of your "clean" bras is a wood chip. A wood chip, I assume, from one of the zillion parks we go to on a weekly basis.

Grant-zilla strikes again

We've got a climber!

Later that evening...

After the birthday festivities died down (ie, the cake was gone), the kids were sentenced to bed. After all, it was NOT their birthday! Someone (Jason) had the bright idea that maybe all three kids would sleep in the tent. It worked. For about 5 minutes. Maybe 10.

Woman turns 30, and lives to tell the tale

30th birthday party. Enjoyed lots of friends at the house, Jason's great cooking and crazy, crazy kids. Thanks to Jason for sweating over a hot grill and playing referee to five children under 5.



The kids really didn't care whose birthday it was, as long as there was cake.

He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me...

Ahh.... the relationship between siblings.

Baby's new 'do

It was time for a real hair cut -- we broke out the clippers.

Where have we been?

I know, I know, it's been a super-long-time since my last post. But that's because we were gone! So stop your complaining and enjoy the pics from our trip to Indiana. (PS: if you want to see different pictures of the same trip, visit Amanda's blog.)


Evan & Papaw in the pool on the only day that it was warm enough. Can you believe that it dipped into the 50s while we were there?!



Grant was nicknamed Grant-zilla during this trip. Something about eating wheels off of cars.

Aunt Alex smooching on Grant.

What's so funny about this picture is what happened just before the shot. The boys were in an all-out-brawl over the ball. It was Evan's first. *Sniff.*

I'm pretty sure there's something that says that children shouldn't handle explosives. Ah well, it was the Fourth of July after all.

Uncle "Clem" and cousin Ethan on our fishing trip.

Evan's first catch! Can you see it? You may have to squint.

Evan and cousin Brydan (sporting his summer mohawk).

Golf

Welcome Baby Connor!

Just a quick note to say, welcome to the world to baby Connor Joseph, who was born early in the morning on Saturday. Congratulations to DJ & Heather... we're so excited to have another boy in our group of cousins (4 and counting....)! We can't wait to meet him.

I CAN grow new life!

No, I'm not talking about my children; I'm talking about this:

How to have a fun Father's Day

Make homemade calzones with Dad; clothing optional.

Admire homemade calzones.

Hang new kitchen light fixture (because Dads like to fix things, right?).

Play hide & go seek in the pantry.

Not pictured is the card, breakfast, lunch, gifts and Dad's-day-out golf.

Road Trip Rules

One quick picture

Because I'm tired and I have way too much to do. The kids & I went on a week-long trip to Hilton Head, Virginia, back to Hilton Head and then home (Jason was in Philly to pass his AAE certification, woohoo!). All in the car. Whew! It was great fun, but now it's catch up time. So anyway, here is a quick pic from our trip. More to come later (after Kim and Rachel e-mail me the pics that they took). PS: the matching shirts in the pic were made by Papa, special for our trip. You can't see the back, but it's a funny list of rules that we all had to follow on our road trip. More later, I promise.

Evan's birthday... and a note on turning 3

Well, let me start by saying that Evan had several wonderful birthday celebrations over the course of the weekend. Let me also say that turning 3 has been tough. Apparently, since Evan skipped the "Terrible 2s," fate would have it that he hit the "Turbulent 3s." It had to come at some point, right? I won't go into details, but I'll just say that we had some very high highs and many low lows. For your sake, I'll only show pictures of the former.



Birthday morning: the present that almost ruined Evan's birthday. After some quick thinking on my part, wire and electrical tape, all was better. If you would like to join me in my boycott of Fisher Price, please contact me for details.



The birthday shirt!

Lunch with dad at a restaurant that overlooked the runways at Hartsfield-Jackson.





The birthday dino cake!


Birthday celebration at the bowling alley with best friend Tai. We opted out of the multiple children party and kept it sweet and simple.




Post-party, the boys came back to our house and played outside in the sprinkler... they had a blast!

And, for fun, a sweet picture of little Grant who was a trooper throughout the birthday celebrations.

Birthday prep

On the eve of Evan's 3rd birthday, much has been done to prepare for the momentous occasion. Like:


Cupcakes for school.



Handmade birthday gifts (does not include the Little Einsteins rocketship from Target).... I'm still working to perfect my applique skills, but I'm hoping Evan won't be too critical. Pictured is a hooded towel, a drawstring backpack with goodies (sewn in vintage Lion King fabric--he's really into that movie now) and his birthday shirt. This year's theme (by request) is dinosaurs.

A birthday surprise for when he wakes up (shhh, don't tell!). (and yes, I'm using Thomas paper and a Mickey balloon even though the theme is dinosaurs, gasp! So un-Martha of me.)

Party cake and other photos to come after the weekend... stay tuned!

What bad habits do

See my cute little thumb sucker in the previous post? Well, this is what his bad habit has done to his poor little thumb. Kinda blurry, but those are blisters. Blisters! From sucking his thumb! This is going to be a long and bumpy ride, I can just feel it.

Baby shoes, take 2

Remember this post (way way back) about Evan's shoes? Well, now you get to see them again on Grant. They fit a lot better on his nice and normal (not super-duper wide) feet.