Let's Climb!

You can't get much better than a cool climbing tree and awesome friends to share it with. We had just that with the Williams on Sunday night!


Mike and I played several rounds of tag with the kids. They were ecstatic!


I helped Griffin climb the tree. His expression seems to be saying, "I'm really doing it!"


Noah was so excited about climbing the tree. He actually yelled, "take my picture! TAKE MY PICTURE!"


Noah's favorite friend Jack gave him a bear hug as they were waiting in line to climb the tree. How cute is that?


We climbed and swung until way past the kids' bedtime. Gotta love these carefree summer nights!

Mike, Miles and Noah went to see the movie WALL-E this morning. They all loved it. Miles wouldn't tell me about the movie -- he wanted to draw about it instead. Should I be prepared for a portrait of his first crush someday?


We spent the hot afternoon in our baby pool. Griffin and Miles loved it.


Griffin was a daredevil on the slide.


Noah refused to play in the pool. He informed me that 'pools aren't fun anymore. The only thing that is fun is Zip.' (He's referring to the guy he's holding that he just got from the 'treasure box' last night. Nothing can compare to the intense passion for a new toy!)


Mike was a rock star and cleaned up the pool (...all of our mess, come to think of it) when we were done. Miles told Mike several times today that he is "so cool" (e.g. after watching Mike juggle apples and oranges). I gotta up my game!


As usual, Miles kept Griffin safe from looming danger (much to Griff's dismay)


I swear, this bathing suit is Griffin's size.... And, don't let this picture fool you -- at 13 months, we're still eagerly awaiting his first steps!

One Mean Batman & One Airplane

Miles was surprisingly willing to pose for a picture tonight -- but, as soon as the camera snapped, he said, "Wait! I need to be a mean batman and Noah needs to be an airplane." Well, there you have it.

Mind Your Manners (if you know how!)

As we were leaving swim lessons today, Miles said, "Mommy, David said to the swim teacher, 'ok, sir" (he then burst out laughing, since his teacher is a female). I said, "That's silly. What should David have said instead?" In all seriousness (and quite proud of himself) he said, "ok, woman!" I laughed and a lady walking by us said, 'He just sounds like my husband!" As we continued our walk to the car I gave the boys a refresher lesson on 'sir' and 'ma'am', who you'd use each for, and that its a very polite way to speak. They appeared to be soaking it all in. When we got into the car, I strapped Noah into his carseat and smiled at him. He flashed back a huge grin and genuinely said, "thank you, man." Looks like we'll need a few more lessons tomorrow.....

Toddlers or Teenagers?

The majority of time, Miles and Noah act just like 3 and 5 year old boys --- for example, last night we played "horse" after Griffin went to bed and Noah insisted on wearing one gardening glove and Miles insisted on wearing only flannel pj pants (totally makes sense...everyone needs some level of control, right?). However, lately, they've been blurting things out that only teenagers should say! Last week, Noah and I were hanging out and I tried to do something silly (dorky?) to get him to laugh. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "mom. that's not cool." A few days later Miles and Noah were talking at the kitchen table. They were having the cutest little conversation and I just wanted to soak it in. Miles looked over at me watching them and said, "Ah, mom? I'm talking to Noah." To make matters worse, Mike witnessed the entire exchange and just shook his head and laughed. Alas, maybe I'm doomed to be an uncool. :)

Griffin is teething (molars - ugh) so we had to leave the house to distract him (and us!). We headed over the Space Kidets, which is where we celebrated Miles' 5th birthday. They have jumpies, mini-golf, arcade games, skee ball. Surprisingly, the owner remembered us and let us in free. Even better!


Noah was ecstatic. He kept yelling, "Batman to the rescue!"


Griffin loved skee ball and had pretty good aim -- even with two at a time.


Noah taught himself how to play PacMan. In this picture he is literally screaming at a ghost for eating him. The competitive desire to conquer starts early!


Check out the intensity while Miles 'drove a motorcycle like dad'!

Suit Up!

While Mike and I were unpacking from our sprint trip to Raleigh, Miles and Noah were mysteriously quiet in their room. When I went to check on them they were quite a sight -- Miles had dressed Noah up as Woody and suited himself up as Buzz. It was quite a sight! I yelled for Mike to come quick before they changed -- and he did his part to help Buzz 'fall with style'.

Quick Trip To Raleigh

We spent 24 hours in Raleigh -- much too short but full of fun. The boys had a blast playing with Mason and Mike and I were way overdue on QT with Shannon. We also got to see the Larsons (including JuJu and our sweet god-daughter, Sydney) which was an extra treat!

Celebrating 20/20 Vision!

My intra-lasik surgery was a huge success! I went from 20/400 (legally blind!) to 20/20! Now its up to me to wear eye shields or goggles to bed for a week, keep my eyes completely dry for a week (except for the eye drops which last for 3 weeks) to make sure it stays that way.

With Mike out of town, my mom & Dana were on hand to help. We celebrated by having lunch at the Original House of Pancakes. Miles went straight to work coloring his place mat. Noah ordered chocolate chip pancakes and cried when they arrived cooked inside. The waitress promptly brought him a little cup of chocolate chips and that became his lunch. Griffin enjoyed the meal most of all --- Gram fed him water straight from a glass and then accidentally fed him a huge piece of fruit (Dana got a huge kick out of it). YumYum!

Filling the Summer Days.....

We filled our morning with ninja turtle play (aka rotating between sword fighting and 'holstering' swords to your clothes), "food art" (can you spot us all? Noah insisted on being bald!), a quick gymnastics class, then a 'monster party' (dressing up, eating monster food, drawing monster pictures, etc..)

By 2pm my brain froze. I could not come up with any ideas for practical, innovative fun that 3 different aged boys would enjoy. Yikes! We went through the checklist. Pool? Deathtrap. Sprinkler? Water Restrictions. Playground? Equipment is 100+ degrees. Library? Griffin is in a destructive phase. We all agreed that we had no other choice but to rejoin Charlotte At Play. It rocked! The kids ran/crawled around, used their imaginations and can't wait to go back. Perfect-o!

Happy Father's Day

The boys were so excited about Father's Day! Miles drew pictures all week and hung them in the kitchen windows to decorate for Mike. Noah announced on Saturday that we'd need party hats and a cake in order to really celebrate....so we loaded up at the party store with party hats and Star Wars themed games and accessories. After church, the boys made a chocolate cake for Mike...and we all devoured it while Griffin napped (the downside of being only 1!). We spent the afternoon at the pool and the evening at our rigged up 'water park' in the backyard. It was a great day!

Vroom Vroom!

Mike and Jonathan spent some guy-time on Saturday and rode Harleys to the mtns. Mike came home with ASU t-shirts for the boys -- and is already dreaming about which one will attend App State.








The boys loved "riding" the Harleys. Miles said, "I want to ride one when I'm 10...no 13!" Noah looked at him sideways and said, "well, I want to ride one when I'm 3!".











Miles used "protection" as they took off.





I loved, loved, loved Jonathan's t-shirt. It says on top: "Got your tickets?" and underneath with arrows pointing to his biceps it says: "To the Gun Show". Awesome gift, Trish!