Visit with the Mays--Labor Day Weekend

Michael's parents came for a visit recently. They were here from Wednesday (the 1st) to Tuesday (the 7th). We had a fun time.

Here is Daniel cuddling with Grandpa

One highlight for the kids (and me!) was that Grandma took us to see Toy Story 3. The men stayed home to watch football and take care of Jonathan. Daniel really liked the movie. He had to hold Woody and Buzz!

Here is Andrew looking cute!

My boys!

Back to school after the long weekend

"Daniel, He's the Cheeky One"

The title is a Thomas the Tank Engine reference. Daniel loves it when I sing this line to him, because he wants to be Thomas. He still gets mad if he overhears me tell someone that he is 3. "No, Mommy, I'm #1 like Thomas!"

I was trying to get dinner on the table, and Daniel came to me with a box of Froot Loops and a bowl and asked me to pour him some. I said "no," so he went to Daddy.

Daniel: "Daddy, can I have some Froot Loops?"
Michael: "What did Mommy say?"
Daniel: "Mommy says no."
Michael: "Then Daddy says no, too."

Daniel: "Nathaniel, can I have some Froot Loops?"
Nathaniel: "No."

Daniel: "Emily, can I have some Froot Loops?"
Emily: "No."

So, here is his solution. :-)

I'm grateful that everyone backed me up on this one. He didn't even bother to ask Andrew, which is funny because Andrew might have said "yes."

"Ooh, that baby is so juicy!"

That's what a woman said about Jonathan the other day. He is 1 year old, 32 inches tall, and 33 pounds. She also asked if he is a boy or a girl, so I decided to finally cut his hair yesterday.

Pre-haircut

Post Haircut

My angel!

I bought a carpet sweeper so I would have something for quick cleaning and for the area rugs. Andrew saw the box yesterday morning (I had ordered it from Amazon.com) and he was not happy with me that I wasn't going to open the box before school. As soon as he got to the car at afterschool carpool he said, "What's in the box? Can we open the box?" Poor kid must have been worried about it all day. I told him I already put it together and that he could see it as soon as we got home. He was so excited! He is still obsessed with vacuums, and when he saw it he said, "Thank you, Mom!" He thinks it's a gift for him. He spent all afternoon using it all around the house.

My Babies are Growing Up!

The kids started school on August 9--which is way too early, if you ask me. They were all excited, though.
Papa, Nana, and TJ (my nephew--in the red and white shirt) came to visit last weekend. On Friday night, we celebrated Jonathan's birthday.

YUM!

Climbing on Papa

Then on Saturday, we celebrated Andrew's birthday. Papa and Andrew went to get a big load of sand for our sand pile. The kids had fun "helping" unload the sand and then playing in it. Saturday night, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. Andrew's been talking about going there for his birthday all summer. It looks like he had fun!

Daniel

Movie night--watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Andrew's birthday--at school with his teacher Mrs. Mills

Blue cake and blue cupcakes--well, blue inside anyway. He also wanted strawberries on top, but I added those later.

Rub a Dub Dub

...three (adorable) boys in a tub!

Jonathan seems to get bigger every day. He has this adorable smile that is so big he closes his eyes when he does it. He is a bit of a brute with the other babies at church. He likes to slap at people, and they sure don't like that. I know it's not malicious, but it's pretty embarrassing. He is such a sweet, happy baby. He turns 1 in one week!

Daniel is a little ladies man. Once, at Burger King, a little girl gave him her kids meal toy. The other day at the pool, a woman said he could keep a pool toy that he really liked. And then last night we were at a neighborhood get-together, and he walked over to us with a huge bowl of chips. I quickly took it back and said I was sorry that he took it. "Oh, I gave it to him," the lady said. I told Michael that Daniel can get women to give him anything. He said, "That's not a good thing!"

Andrew is still obsessed with cords. The other day, our DirecTV went out because of the storm, or so we thought. It wouldn't come back on even after the storm was long over, so we called customer service. The woman told us we should have a router box attached to one of our TVs, and we couldn't find it. Guess where it was? Andrew stole it! He unhooked it from the TV upstairs and made it so none of our receivers could get a signal. I can't believe he will be in kindergarten next week. I will be praying for his teacher. :-) He is so sweet and so helpful. I literally cannot cook or bake by myself if Andrew is in the house. It's like he has radar for when Mommy is making something in the kitchen and he will come in all excited and pull a chair up to the counter to watch and help. He knows what bowls and utensils and ingredients I need and he just gets them out for me without being asked.

Emily is such a sweet big sister. She's not great at cleaning up, but she is the nurturer and she is so sweet to her brothers. She can help Daniel get his shoes on and she will play with Jonathan and read stories to them. I am so grateful for my little girl!!! She will be a 2nd grader this year!

Nathaniel will be in 5th grade this year. At the school open house, it was fun to see a group of little girls whispering, "There's Nathaniel!" They asked him which class he would be in, and they seemed pretty happy that he would be with the same pair of teachers that they were. I don't know if I'm ready for all this! He is so helpful and responsible. I love watching him grow up.

Brothers and Shopping Fun

We have been having a wonderful summer. The kids love the new house, and so do I! Yesterday we finally put some pictures on the walls in the family room and play room. We also cleaned out the closet under the stairs that is a perfect baby play area. I can't believe the kids start school in less than two weeks!

Here is Jonathan, age 11 months, and Daniel, age 3. Jonathan is already wearing size 24months/2T.

Here are my angels in the checkout line at Sam's Club. And this is why I can never get through a shopping trip without hearing the phrase, "Wow, you've got your hands full!" People also usually seem to pity Emily because she is the only girl.

Today we were at Wal-mart and I panicked for a moment when I couldn't find Andrew. Guess where he was? Hiding on the bottom of the cart. Don't worry--I don't let him ride around like that. It sure keeps him out of trouble in the checkout line, though. :-)

Catching Up

Life has been a little crazy, but we are doing great. We closed on our new house on June 1. We first did some painting in the new house and then we finished packing the other house. We moved on June 12. We were blessed to have my dad and Debbie and TJ here for over 3 days to help (Dad did a lot of work helping us fix up the new house), and many wonderful church members were there to help us on moving day. We have been working hard on getting unpacked and settled in.

Daniel's birthday was on May 24. He was so excited about his presents and his Thomas cake.
I tried to buy him a "3" candle at the store, but he cried until I agreed to buy him a "1" because Thomas is engine #1.

I found this ride-on toy at a second-hand shop and I couldn't resist. It looks exactly like the one in the waiting room at our doctor's office, and he cries every time he has to stop playing with it. Needless to say, he was pretty excited about it.

The kids love to cuddle on the couch and watch movies together.

We had a great visit from Uncle Joe, my brother. Jonathan loved sitting on his lap, and Joe didn't seem to mind holding him. :-)