Do you remember those days?

Arnie had the paper out last weekend looking for sales. Jadon came by and saw the comics page and was thrilled to see some characters he new. Arnie gave him the comic section and he went to town. I can only imagine what he will be like when he can actually READ the comics.

Rub a dub dub, three boys from the tub!

Now that Carter sits so well we have been trying to bathe all three boys at once, due in large part to prodding from a friend of mine who bathes her three this way and swears it is easier. I don't know if it is easier, but it is definitely faster. The problem is getting all of them out and redressed afterward. My latest solution is just to have the big boys lay on the floor in their towels while I get Carter dressed. Carter, however, loves to do whatever the big boys are doing and hence, this scene resulted.

Skills in Progress

I feel like it has been a long time since we have been able to record a milestone for Carter. I remember from Jadon and Cole's younger days that the older they got the more the visible milestones began to spread out. I am sure Carter and the big boys often reach milestones that I take for granted or don't even notice until so much time has passed that it seems as if "they've always done that." Today, however, Carter reached a milestone that we all took great pleasure in watching him achieve. He finally figured out how to sit up on his own. He has been able to sit for months now, but once he tipped over or decided to crawl off and explore something, he had no way to get back into the sitting position. Now that he is pulling up and even cruising now and then, I was beginning to wonder if it was possible that he would be walking before he mastered sitting up, but today he put that concern to rest. Mission completed...next assignment: walking.

What is a plain restaurant?

For those of you that didn't know...a plain restaurant is a restaurant that doesn't have Chinese food, but still serves noodles. (definition courtesy of Jadon)

You can't write this stuff!

Here We Go!

As I sit here and write this I am watching Carter "walk." Thursday he started pulling up on things and already he is using semi-mobile toys as walkers. He is trying to grab the remote controls and videos we have on the entertainment center and has improved so much each day I really am wondering how far away we are from full blown walking! That said, he isn't standing on his own yet, so maybe I've still got some time. Neither Jadon or Cole pulled up this early and frankly, I don't think I am ready for a new walker yet, but we'll adapt!

A Day on the Farm

Ever since we got a book called "The Big Red Barn", Jadon and Cole have been obsessed with everything farm related; especially barns. On Wednesday we took a little field trip to a fantastic local (relatively local) farm.


The boys had a blast crawling through these tractor tires and running up and down the hills that surrounded them. We also saw a GIANT (probably 300 lb) pig, a Clydesdale, a bull, chickens, chicks, goats walking on planks above our heads, and ducklings. They had a backyard style playground, over sized tricycles to ride, train rides, wagon rides, pony rides, a bouncer, etc. It was all pretty pricey, so we stuck mainly to the free play stuff and the one thing we had most looked forward to doing.
Pick your own! I know lots of places let you pick your own stuff, but they had such a huge variety of things to chose from and the prices in many cases were less than the grocery store prices. Below, Jadon, Cole, and Carter (half asleep) are picking snap peas.

Cole shows off his prized pea pod!

Here, Jadon finds one of his own.

We were in search of pick your own grapefruit, which the sign at the front of the farm said were available, but we found this sign near all of the citrus trees. Oh well! We bought an "already picked" grapefruit on our way out.

Carter didn't think that picking your own fruits and veggies was nearly as much fun as the rest of us did. Oh well, he woke up happy and refreshed, so we couldn't complain.

We had a blast picking strawberries. They had so many and they were at all stages of readiness, so we know when we go back again, there will certainly be beautiful berries to pick.

We had an awesome time, but it was windy that day and we were very dusty when we got home. The boys got a nice warm bath and after that we feasted on all of our goodies: snap peas, broccoli, strawberries, grapefruit and an orange bell pepper (that Cole stuck his finger through at the stand causing Mommy to have to buy it). Yum! We had so much fun and will certainly be going back soon!

Say what?

Jadon has been singing "Let My People Go" incessantly throughout Passover. I am really impressed that he knows the lyrics so well, but there is one part that isn't quite right. Here are the first few lines...for your enjoyment:

"When Israel was in Egypt's land, let my people go. O' pretzel heart they could not stand, let my people go."


For those not familiar with the song, the actual lyrics are:

"When Israel was in Egypt's Land, let my people go. Oppressed so hard they could not stand, let my people go. "

I love 3 year olds! They keep me laughing all the time!

10 Months Old

Well, actually Carter was 10 months old two days ago, but who's counting? Carter's first year is just flying by and I just can't believe that it is time to plan the first birthday party. Yikes! Developmentally, Carter is still in the same place he was at 9 months, with a few exceptions. First of all, he is talking now! It is still unclear and he doesn't "perform on demand" yet, but will spontaneously say something now and then and will repeat phrases we ask him to say occasionally. His three favorite words right now are nana" (banana), "nyny" (night night), and dada. He also will say I love you, box, shoe, hi, hello, all done and mama (although I don't know if he is actually calling me or just asking for milk). Carter is also becoming VERY socially aware and loves to see new people and play games. He is still just a total love and a pleasure and we adore him more each day. This is such a fun time, but I already miss my cuddly little baby as he begins to dabble in the world just before toddler hood.

The power of prayer!

Well, I don't think it is any mystery to most who know me that I am not at all opposed to having a 4th child down the road. Jadon and Cole are not opposed to the idea either. In fact, Jadon tells perfect strangers in stores that we are going to have a fourth baby and it is going to be a girl (generally in response to someone commenting on the THREE BOYS dynamic of our family). So, the other day we were driving and Jadon mentioned something about our next baby...the baby girl. I tried to explain to him that we had no say in what gender the next baby would be and after some protest he conceded that prayer would be his only option for getting his baby girl. The next thing I know I hear mumbling and gibberish in the back of the car. I checked my rear view mirror to see Jadon with his eyes half closed trying to pray in "Hebrew" and amidst the mumbling he would throw in English interjections about the "baby girl." So it sounded like this:
um hee ma no oo foo baby girl hee nay mah go koo please a baby girl! When I realized what he was doing, I almost had to pull over I was laughing so hard.

It was where?

About 5 weeks ago Cole bit of the tip of the glasses (the part the goes over his ear). We never found the tip. At first I was worried he had swallowed it, but he assured me he hadn't and we never did find it. I had to take his glasses back to the optical place where the guy replaced the ear thingies on both side because he had gnawed on both of them. Last Friday, we were at my grandma's playing when Cole emerged from her bedroom holding something and mumbling something about ear wax. When I looked into his hand I saw the tip of the glasses covered in ear wax (yuck). Apparently, he had stuck his glasses in his ear, which is where the tip had decided to break off. We had NO idea until it worked its way out of his ear itself 5 weeks later. Yikes!