Christmas comes early

Last night we surprised the boys with their big Christmas gift, Tek.  Steve brought him home after he finished work for the day.  The boys reaction was subdued but slowly grew more and more excited as they realized he was here to stay.

Marcus slept through the unveiling but greeted Tek with a big smile once he awakened.

Eli was just excited to see a puppy and, as you can see from my blurry pictures, I couldn't keep up with his movements!  He does NOT like being jumped up on or having Tek in his face or being chased, so I anticipate a love/hate relationship between the two of them for a while. (Kind of like his father's actually.)

Zach thought that the puppy was cute but he thought that it was my mom's new puppy, Dodger. (whom we haven't met yet but will be coming home after Thanksgiving.)  After Zach understood that this dog was his Christmas gift, he said, "You mean we can keep him?!?" and then, "Uh, oh daddy!  You're going to have to pick up poops in the yard!"  Since then Zach just wants to be near Tek.  I'm sure the novelty will wear off but for now he is one excited boy.

For homeschool this morning I asked Zach to dictate a little bit about Tek.  He said, (with help for transitions), "Last night I was very happy because I had a dog!  I thought the Christmas present was going to be a dinosaur, but Mommy and Daddy got me a dog!!  We thought of names and we decided that it would be 'Tek'.  He is a black lab that is friendly and little.  I like it when he is with me."  Then he spontaneously wrote himself at the top of his picture, "Zach is plesd wf dady".

Seeing Tek for the first time.

"Oh! He's pretty cute"

Then, the motion started...

Wish I had captured Zach's face without the blurriness!

Big hugs for Daddy.

Never, EVER

Meet Steve.

Who has said, for all the years I have known him, that we will never, EVER own a dog.  He has a list of reasons why.
1. They're expensive.
2. You can't go out of town without dealing with them.
3. They poop in your yard.
4. They're expensive
5. They eat everything.
6. They require exercise.
7. They leave hair everywhere.
8. They're expensive.
Oh! and, 9. They're expensive.

I cannot state how strongly he was against us having a dog.  So this past September when he told me that he thought we should get the boys a dog for Christmas, I was very. Very.  Shocked.



So, Christmas came early this year (because that's when the pups were ready).

Meet Tek, short for Varitek, a former Redsox catcher.  He is seven weeks old and weighs 11.5 lbs.

I am pretty sure that Steve and Tek will never be best friends, but Steve has won major points in the eyes of his sons and wife.

Progress

 Marcus crossed the 5 month mark during hurricane Sandy.  While we were hunkered down at home waiting for the power to go off, Marcus started rolling from his back to his belly.  He has also been showing increased tolerance for sitting up.  Definitely not independent yet, and still mostly folded in half....but making progress.  While he may be making strides in his gross motor development, he is not with feeding.  I have been trying to get him to take a bottle so that I can go out without kids Friday night...so far he is less then impressed.

Party Hats

Did you know that if you get
enough party hats, you can create
a stegosaurus???  Apparently all
it takes is a little imagination
and really good elastic straps!
I love that I can't take any
credit for these creative ideas.

Fire Guys

Last week we took our first 'fieldtrip' to the fire station. We got a personal tour of all the trucks and one of the men put on all the equipment for the boys in the hopes that they would not be as scared if we ever needed them in our house.  The boys were super excited to go but they were very hesitant once we were there.  Zach kept asking if the alarm was going to go off and so he was unable to pay attention.  At the end of the tour, the 'fireguys' brought out some dress up firemen jackets and hats....then the boys decided it was a fun place after all.  

My Boys

4 months and.... normal!

Marcus is now 4 months old.  

He is able to roll from prone to supine, laugh and he smiles all of the time!   According to his recent doctor's visit, he is average for height, weight AND head circumference.  He's our first normal one. :)

Football

These are some recent pictures of my boys playing football in our yard.  Zach and Eli wear their football jerseys every Sunday afternoon, so don't be fooled that all these pictures happened on the same day.  Some are from two weekends ago with the Caslers and others are from last weekend when Uncle Dan and Aunt Jennifer came to visit.  There always seems to be a lot of huddling.

 

I like this picture because it becomes clear who is really having the fun.

This eye wound wasn't from football but a spill off his bike.
A classic Eli, because I didn't even know it had happened.

"No, I'll be 6!"

Throughout this past summer, whenever we mentioned that Eli was turning 3 in September, he would jump in and correct us that he was turning 6.  He has stuck with it most fiercely until just recently when he allowed that he would turn 3 then 5 THEN 6.

Well, last week he did, in fact, turn 3 (or 5 or 6 depending on who you ask).  I was even able to plan and execute a mostly-cool cake!!  (I think I finally struck a nice balance and hit a skill level that was 'just right'-which means I used props to make my cake look good.)   Steve was on call to pick up a back-up-cake if mine failed.  Amazingly it wasn't needed and Eli loved his train cake!

He had a fun birthday and enjoyed opening many train items, plus an excavator, small piano, tambourine and books.
Happy (shhhh) 3rd Birthday, Eli!

Let's take a moment and be amazed at my skills! :)

ish

I read a new book to the boys tonight, and I immediately wanted to share it with the one other person who would 'get' it (especially the bit at the end).... my grandfather.  And that made me miss him so much.  Here I am, one year since his death, and I am brought to tears because I will never be able to share these beautiful discoveries with him again.

Instead, I will force them on you.

ish 
by Peter H. Reynolds

Ramon loved to draw.
Anytime.
Anything.
Anywhere.

One day, Ramon was drawing a vase of flowers.  His brother, Leon, leaned over his shoulder.
Leon burst out laughing.  "WHAT is THAT?" he asked.
Ramon could not even answer.  He just crumpled up the drawing and threw it across the room.
Leon's laughter haunted Ramon.  He kept trying to make his drawings look "right" but they never did.
After many months and many crumpled sheets of paper, Ramon put his pencil down.

"I'm done."

Marisol, his sister, was watching him.  "What do YOU want?" he snapped.
"I was watching you draw," she said.
Ramon sneered. "I'm NOT drawing! Go away!"
Marisol ran away, but not before picking up a crumpled sheet of paper.
"Hey! Come back here with that!"  Ramon raced after Marisol, up the hall and into her room.

He was about to yell but fell silent when he saw his sister's walls.....He stared at the crumpled gallery.

"This is one of my favorites," Marisol said, pointing.
"That was SUPPOSED to be a vase of flowers," Ramon said, "but it doesn't look like one."
"Well, it looks vase-ISH!" she exclaimed.

"Vase-ISH?"
Ramon looked closer. Then he studied all the drawings on Marisol's walls and began to see them in a whole new way.  "They do look.... ish," he said.

Ramon felt light and energized.  Thinking ish-ly allowed his ideas to flow freely.  He began to draw what he felt- loose lines.  Quickly springing out.  Without worry.

Ramon once again drew and drew the world around him.  Making an ish drawing felt wonderful.  He filled his journals...tree-ish, house-ish, boat-ish, afternoon-ish, fish-ish, sun-ish.  Ramon realized he could draw ish feelings too.  peace-ish  silly-ish  excited-ish.  His ish art inspired ish writing.  He wasn't sure if he was writing poems, but he knew they were poem-ish.

One spring morning, Ramon had a wonderful feeling.  It was a feeling that even ish words and ish drawings could not capture.  He decided NOT to capture it.

Instead, he simply savored it....

                                                     And Ramon lived ishfully ever after.

It's Frank!

Look who came to 'visit' yesterday!

We had front row seats for the whole afternoon.

Food Allergies

Tonight, Zach came in from eating dinner on the porch and said,

"Mom!  We have a problem.  ..........   I think I am allergic to squash."

When I grow up

Recently, Zach announced that he wants to be a police officer when he grows up.

Not to be outdone, Eli quickly chimed in with, "When I grow up, I want to be a firetruck!"

It begins

This week was our first week of homeschool!  Overall it went really well, but my favorite part of the week was today when Zach read for the first time!!!  His first sentences were, "The rat sat on a mat"; "The fat cat is on the hat"; and "A cat is at bat".



After the first sentence that he read, he looked up at me with amazement and we both nearly burst a seam.  It was so wonderful to share that moment with him!!