Puddle fun!

Every time it rains our street temporarily floods leaving behind wonderful flowing puddles as they drain away.  They are perfect for floating a boat down the street!

 Just in case running and jumping didn't provide enough wetness, there is always crawling....

 

 Or better yet, laying down!

 

Which usually ends with a different sort of water-play!

A Favor

Here are two Zach-stories from the past few weeks.



The other night while getting the boys ready for bed, Zach said,
     "Hey mom, will you do me a favorite?"
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Zach has also been very interested in sword fighting lately.  My mother was tired of getting her knuckles hit by our wooden-spoon-swords so she purchased two foams ones.  When she told Zach about the foam swords  he asked if she had gotten three so that Eli could have one.  She told him that she hadn't thought about that and had only purchased two.  The next week as they were playing with the new swords they had the following conversation:

Yia yia: "Zach, remember not to be too rough with the swords so that they don't break!"

Zach: "If one breaks we would need to buy another one.  Then you could buy two of them so that we would have three!!"

***He must get his math skills from his father.

Out of the mouths of babes

The other day, Zach and Eli were playing in the yard at my grandparent's house.  Zach was driving Eli around in a motorized jeep toy and I walked over to them to make Eli sit down in the car (see previous posts regarding Eli's propensity to injure himself). 

As I approached, Zach said, "Who are you coming to boss?"

Another one!

 No, not another one of those.....

...Another bruise and 'almost' trip to the ER for Eli!  This time it was a head first dive out of the crib.  We're still not sure how he managed, but needless to say, it was also his last night in the crib.  Thankfully, he is still adorable with a black eye!

Family Photos

4 1/2

We celebrated Zach's birthday while we were at the beach.  

Where does the time go?

 

Beach Boys

 Our family went to beach again this year and had a wonderful time!!  The boys were at perfect ages and abilities to enjoy playing together in the sand and water.  We would spend the first thirty minutes digging a tide pool and then they would spend hours playing in it and re-digging it as the water slowly broke it down.  It was the first time in years that I got to sit at the beach, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them play!  (Don't tell, but it was actually a relaxing vacation!!)  Zach was much more adventurous in the water this year and would wade out to about thigh level and let the waves crash into him.  Eli was more timid with the crashing waves, but it didn't really stop him from playing along the water's edge.

Watching the water come into our tide pool.

Laughter

Have I ever mentioned how much I love raising brothers?!?  It's true that most days are filled with them squawking at each other over some minor offense or injury but then there are other times when I catch them building huge towers together and both laughing when it falls over.  Zach is trying to teach Eli how to play pretend dinosaurs, and Eli follows him around and sometimes chases him which seems to satisfy Zach's requirements enough for now.

This is a meat eating dinosaur, and her baby, attacking a plant eater.

Dinosaur facts

 

The other day Zach was playing with his Aunt Stephanie when he quickly established his authority on dinosaur trivia.  Stephanie picking up a dinosaur said, "Oh, is the T-rex going to eat this duck bill dinosaur??"  To which Zach responded, "That's a parasaurolophus.  Can't you see the head crest?"

Hit it!!

Rocker Eli

Stage-check

"Bango"-check

Microphone- check

Personality-check, check

Beside myself

I have the very best husband in the world!  This past weekend Steve took both boys up to Lancaster to visit with some friends and left me home alone for 48 hours.  I enjoyed each and every minute of those hours of solitude.  I had been looking forward to weekend but I must confess that it exceeded all of my expectations.

While I was enjoying the peace of a clean, quiet home my boys were eating ice cream, staying up late and going to ball games with Daddy!  I don't think they missed me.

Quota

Eli is 18 months old and he has already met his childhood quota for trips to the ER.  Today marked number 2.  While playing at the sink this morning he fell off of the chair hitting the ground and somehow cut a gash in his forehead.  It bled a lot (as head wounds will) and it was pretty deep so...5 stitches later he was on his way again.  The ER gets some sort of medal in my book because we were in and out of there in 30 mins!!

Just another routine stop on the way to church. 

Nap time

I  think he might be tired?

This is what I'm up against...

While I was cleaning this morning, Zach was doing 'a little' building...  Here is his finished house!!

I do believe it includes every toy and piece of living room furniture that we own.  If you look carefully you can see the windows I cleaned, the laundry I folded, the furniture I dusted and the oven I cleaned!  All in a days work, right?!?

Duckpin

We took the kids duckpin bowling while in Rhode Island last weekend.  It was great because the smaller balls enabled both boys to bowl, they even had a ramp for Eli to use!  Eli had a lot of fun and after each 'shot' he would cheer and clap for himself and then give each of his cousins high-fives.  Zach would roll the ball down the lane and then intently watch its slow progress to see how many pins he knocked down.  I think both boys scored better than I did!