Blanket

Last night we (I mean the whole gang) watched National Treasure 2 together. Alex as usual was cold so he went and got his blanket. Andrew then decided that he too was cold and got his blanket. (Yesterday it reached 98 degrees outside.)

Andrew asked if I too was cold, so I played the game. He draped his blanket over me and Seany who was sitting on the other side of me. Then he got bored and went to hang out on the cool couch with Daddy and Alex. Seany said, "Heyyyyy, I wanted that here."

"Well go get your blanket then."

"Ok." Stomp, Stomp, Stomp super fast.

"Mommy, Mommy I did it! I got my bank it." And then he draped it over the both of us in sort of a balled up tangled fashion and said, "See Mommy, my bank it."

Teeth

Ryan always assumes I'm talking to him -- much like Andrew always does.

"Go brush your teeth and go potty," I told Andrew and Alex last night.

"OK, Mommy!" Ryan cried as he darted past his brothers to be first into the bathroom.

When I got there a couple moments later, I found Andrew brushing Ryan's teeth. His hand holding on to Ryan chin, saying, "Good, now say 'Ah again so I can get the backs.'" Ryan smiled at me as he was being such a good boy.

Water Water Water

So this morning, Alex and the neighbor girls went for a bike ride to pick blackberries. After they came back, the had waters and otterpops from the garage fridge (or so I thought).

A bit later Alex and Andrew went to another kids house to play for a bit. Sean and Ryan and I decided to walk a bit (explore). Just as we crossed the street, Ron (the guy in charge of dealing with all my complaints) pulls up.

He explained that he saw Alex with 2 girls at the model house. One girl climbed in a window and reappeared with 3 waters. Then they split. He said that the models windows and doors where on a silent alarm system that would cause the police to show up when ever its armed even if deactivated after it goes off.

I agreed to talk to Alex and the girls. But I still can't figure out what's the deal with the window. There's no screen on it. The windows are the same in our house so you couldn't open it from the outside unless it was left unlocked. I asked about it but this was brushed aside. What if next time it wasn't 2 8 year olds and a 6 year old? Am I crazy to think that Richmond should be more concerned about this?

Anyway, as soon as Sean and Ryan fell asleep, Alex and I walked over to the model where he replaced the 3 waters and apologized for stealing them. He was very embarrassed especially since it was the 6 year old who did and not him. Then I had to explain that he accepted the stolen water and stood by waiting for her while she pilfered them.

The 6 year old girl was grounded but no consequences for the 8 year old girl. What happened to accountability?

My Ferrrrr

There is a show on Disney, Phineas and Ferb, its a hit at our house. Everybody loves it -- the kids, the twix, and the mom (Daddy will watch it if its on). Premise: step-brothers Phineas and Ferb are going to make everyday of their summer vacation their "BEST DAY EVER." The older sister, Candace, is always trying to bust them -- but they don't care and love her anyway. The pet platupus, Perry, is actually a secert agent up against Doofenschritz.

Very funny. Very clever. LOVE IT!

Ryan was stressed to the max. I was answering an email. "MOMMY! MOMMY!" he cried.

"What?"

"My Ferrrrrrr, (WAHHHHHH!) My Ferrrrrr. (WAH!) (WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!)"

"Your finger? Something happened to your finger?"

"NO! (WAHHHH!) MY FERRRR!"

I listed everything I could think of all to a no followed up by crying -- toes, legs, shoes, Sean, nose, hair, head, ears, belly, drink, Food, Friends, -- all no, no, no.

Mark hears all this, "Ryan do you want me to turn on Phineas and Ferb."

"YES!" sigh.....

Random Zoo things

Alex was fascinated by the polar bear arm and pelt -- the claws felt like pieces of dried wood.

The elephant trunk.

A tiger turtle.

Seany caught in a giant spider web. Andrew said many times that the giant spider eats people and although he knew it was fake he would NOT play in the web.

Ryan gave up just before the playground and spent most of the rest of the visit snoozing.

Things the kids and I touched: hissing cockroach.

Things the kids touched (not Seany as he fell asleep and not I as I was holding Seany): king snake that eats rattle snakes (not Alex snakes creep him out), bearded dragon (lizard/iguana type thing), and a possum. Andrew really wanted to touch the trantula but they wouldn't let him because it gets scared and stings you with its little hairs. As an aside, I have touched a trantula.

Let it be known, I'm not the complete wimp certain peeps (Mark) would have the world believe.

Face Painting

The tiger, Andrew. While waiting in line for the train, Andrew noticed a boy staring at him. So he asked him, "Why are you looking at me?" He wanted the answer, "You look like a tiger." But the kid was so startled at being addressed that I think he and his mother thought he was being rude.

The snake, Seany.

The other snake, RyGuy.

The cheetah, Alex. I tried to convince Alex to get a something on his arm, because I thought stuff all over his face would make him uncomfortable. Two minutes after the picture, while in line for the train, he asked if he could wash it off.

My four animals -- Ryan, Andrew, Alex, and Seany.

Alex's favorite animal at the zoo

The bald eagle. At the bird show, they had a chicken do the chicken dance under the flag. The handlers cut the dance short when all of a sudden premier bald eagle wanted a piece of that chicken.

The chicklets met a leopard

Lunch.
Seany and Ryan at play.

Gorillas

Alex.
Andrew.
Ryan.
Sean.

We didn't actually get to see the gorillas -- they were in their inside space and it was so stinky at the doorway that Alex refused point blank to enter.

Zoo Zoo Zoo

Alex and Andrew earned a free day at the Hogle Zoo by walking/running 26.2 miles (a marathon) over 3 months. Actually, they did it in less than a month because we go for a walk everyday.

I wanted to get a snap of Alex and Andrew together in their t-shirts. The twix obviously assumed they should be in the shots as well and spent the entire time disrupting my attempts to get a good picture.

This post courtesy of Penny

Jazmine up front, Josh in the inflatible, Alex walking in back.

Alex and Jazmine.

Andrew's ear.

Auntie Erin, Andrew, and Josh (across from him).

Alex and Andrew went up to the creek for the Devlin 4th of July weekend celebrations. Penny emailed me the following. Anyone else with pictures of my oldest chicklets, please pass 'um on. I'd love them!

I think they had a good time. They were very polite to
everyone. Andrew shared his potato chips with me. He'd give me a
couple, then when I ate them ask if I wanted more. He'd ask "do you want
more?" and I'd say "yes, please" and he'd hand them to me and I'd say "thank
you" and he'd always say "you're welcome."

For our anniversary, some reasons why I love Mark

He's makes me laugh. Even when I'm mad at him, he can make me laugh. Its very frustrating to want to throttle the guy at the same time he's forcing me to smile.

He's a great dad to our boys.

He will occasionally help with chores around the house without being asked.

He's a wonderful husband and lover.

He usually does what I ask when I ask. Although sometimes I have asked five or six times.

He wants to provide for us, even when he got laid off he took whatever job he could find until he could get back into his professional career.

He makes time for me to read everyday.

Thank you, sweetie.

Tucano's

Mark's grandma and dad took us ALL out to dinner Saturday night for our wedding anniversary, Tuesday July 15.

Grandma really wanted to go to the place where they had the 'swords' complete with swishing motion through the air. It was place Grandpa Jim had really enjoyed and hoped to come back too.

So off we went. Delish. Delish. Delish. I've never seen such a tiny woman put away so much food. Even Seany ate like there was no tomorrow. Seany even ate 4 bowls of cantelope/strawberry salad.

Thank you, Great-Grandma.

Music at the Park

Payson is great! We're so happy we moved to an actual city with stuff happening.

Last night (Sunday, no less), we walked to Memorial Park (1 mile away) and while the kids played we got to listen to the Payson City Band play some well know pieces.

Alex climbed, slide and climbed some more. Sean & Ryan did a bit of this and a bit of that. While Andrew, found friends and together they collected beetles. At the end of the night, he and his friends made plans to meet up again next Sunday night.

Loose teeth and ice cream

The first of the uppers to vanish.
Its in his belly.

We had ice cream for dessert with Great-Grandma and Papa Pat. All of a sudden Alex's mouth was bleeding and he was in a panic. NO tooth! The tooth fairy requires a tooth in exchange for a sparkling dollar bill! (Yes, tooth fairy dollars sparkle in this house.)

We wrote her a note:

Dear T-Fairy,
My tooth is in my belly. Hope you have better luck at the
next kid's house.
(Heart), Alex
PS Please kiss my little brother, Andrew.
PPS Papa Pat didn't get anything when his last baby tooth fell out at
age 55, please compensate him.

Yes, I helped compose the note.

"T-Fairy" came through with a buck for Alex and nothing for the Papa. After all the drama the night before, Alex didn't even mention his dollar. I had to ask and got a fleeting, "Yep, I got a dollar."

Sticker fiend

Ryan has a certain fondness for stickers. He loves to peel back the slick paper and put the sticky back against something. This day, he moved stickers around his legs for hours.


Once he knew he wasn't in trouble, the 'cheesing' began.

Mark's 3 day weekend was spent...

Painting the garage.

The walls.

And the floor.

Good job, Sweetie.

Braver Soul than I....

Two nights ago, we went for our usual family walk to the three parks along the half-mile trail by our house.

Ryan pooped at park #2. He had no replacement diaper as we ALL walked. I took off the offensive diap and walked it to the garbage can. Ryan remained diaperless.

On the way home, he got very tired. Mark decided to carry him. Mark carried him on his shoulders, in typical Daddy and son bonding. Had I carried RyGuy, he'd have his back against my chest with mini-wiener pointed out and away from me.

I reminded Mark that the boy had no diap. Mark replied, "I trust my son."

And guess what RyGuy didn't pee on his Daddy's neck. Good boy...

My wedding band

I have a wedding set -- engagement ring and wedding band -- very beautiful. The most beautiful ring in the world.

I also have a plain wedding band to wear when being housewife/mom of tots. My plain band went missing when I found Seany sitting on my dresser.

I searched high and low. I grilled him. I emptied out the garbage, I refused to vacuum. I did not find my missing band.

Seany ate a very messy peanut butter & jelly sandwich. I stripped him. As he's shorts came off, out of his pocket came my ring. He laughed hysterically.

In the days of the twix...

Everyday sort of blends into the next, especially when its 100 degrees outside.

Last night the twix went 'swimming' in their blow up pool.

Today they had playgroup. At playgroup, they decided to impress -- Seany said words like 'shicker (sticker),' 'tacker (cracker),' etc. Ryan colored his 'ish (fish)' bowl like a true professional and even asked for 'more shickers.'

I realize it doesn't sound much but for these two chicklets it was quite a successful day!

Happy 4th!

My favorite of the twix pictures thus far this year -- Seany on the left, RyGuy on the right.

Two happy campers looking at me.

Seany at the computer desk.

Ryan at our bed. I know they are ugly sheets but their so cool in the hottest bits of the summer.

Dirt comes in

Load #1.

Yeah, the bobcat did that.

Load #2.

Pictures of regraded backyard coming soon!

After rock removal

My hat's cooler than your hat...

Seany.

RyGuy who spent lots of time putting all the "dars" on his hat and then showed Mark where each and every "dar" was.

I like my youngest youngest...

Sir Ry.

GIFTS for the TWIX

They're very own picnic table! We're looking at Seany.

And now, we're looking at RyGuy.

And the twix got their own car. Seany is filling it up.

And neatly puts away the gas hose thingy.

Toy Car

Saturday, we had a neighborhood yard sale -- I made $65! I spent $5 on a red and yellow coupe for the twix to play with.

Nona and Papa related the information to Alex and Andrew.

Papa: "Mommy & Daddy got a little pedal car for Sean & Ryan at a yard sale."

Andrew: "Just 1 car?"

Papa: "Yes."

Andrew: "Well, they're gonna fight about that!"