Installment 2: The Dirty Face Brothers

Here is part 2 of my Dirty Face (and arms and legs) photo session with our boys the other night.



Our oldest beautiful-eyed boy has his first cavity! :( I was hoping we could dodge this bullet, but alas. He's following in him mama's footsteps. Actually, the cavity is super teeny, and we are going to take care of it right away so hopefully it won't be too traumatic. The dentist won't even need to use novocaine or needles, thanks to laser dentistry. Crazy!



Elijah's quarter jar has ONE quarter in it currently. Yep, that's it. Apparently Ken is not enough motivation to keep poop out of his pants. We'll keep trying.



So here are our upcoming big dates in the next few weeks:
Oct 25th: IEP meeting
Nov 3rd: Dentist
Nov 7th: Cardiology appt



I haven't mentioned this in a while, but Elijah is still in weekly physical therapy. He loves to go "pway" at Vicki's "house." We are glad he finally sees it as "playing," as that has not always been the case. I remember the months and months of TEARS that occurred before he realized that we weren't trying to torture him. He also gets some PT and speech attention through his school that we believe hugely benefits him. His teachers and therapists are truly awesome! I just saw a note on Elijah's daily report the other day that said they were teaching him to get up from sitting on the ground using a kneeling transition (as opposed to using just feet and hands with butt up in the air). I love knowing that the people caring for him are keeping THAT close of an eye on the details. I know I always say this, but he is in the best hands!



Let's see, what else. Elijah still begs us to be tickled constantly. He loves saying goofy nonsense words and giggling his head off. He is still into knock-knock jokes (please tell us some new ones!). He and I have a new thing where we go lay in the grass after Sam is in bed and find pictures in the clouds. As much as this little boy pushes my buttons and tests his boundaries, I love him (and his cute, snuggly little brother) to pieces!

Installment 1: The Dirty Face Brothers

This first photo is an exception to the title. Elijah and I went to his cousin Kaleigh's birthday party last weekend. That boy was in HEAVEN, getting all kinds of love from his cousins and aunties. He had tons of fun in the bounce-house, too!



I have about 50 Dirty Face Brothers photos to share, so I will start with this first batch of Sam. Who is his Mother, anyway, and why doesn't she wash off his face?!



I'll start with sharing some words Sam is saying...
up (UMP)
Yo Gabba Gabba (oo-GLLAHLLA-GLLAHLLA...still with tongue sticking out of mouth)
Elijah (uh-ya-ya or uh-da-da)
magnet (da-de)
raisins, blueberries and cereal (BRRrr...???)
cheese (deez)
shoes and hat (iss...add a cute lisp to the "s")
airplane and car (brrrm brrrrm)
puppy (uff uff)
cow (booooo)
Dada
Mama
go (GGgooooooo)
play (bay...and he simultaneously does the sign for it, which is so stinkin' cute because he just wiggles his fingers all around)
eat (he says this when he is hungry OR thirsty)
all done (ah-duh)
peek-a-boo (uh-boo)



Sam started doing a funny dance the other day. He leans his head over to touch his right shoulder, and then smiles. That's it. It's simple, but hilarious.



And Elijah...oh, our strong-willed little Elijah. Some weeks it seems like we are making Potty progress. Other weeks, we regress. He knows when to go and what needs to be done. He just doesn't do it. But he's great at telling me, "Mom, I pooped mine pants!" It is sooo hard not to get frustrated, especially when I KNOW that he knows. Ever since Kaleigh's birthday party on Saturday, Elijah has been obsessed with the idea of having a Barbie doll. He asked me a thousand times on the way home if he could get a Ken doll. So we are using that as incentive. If he goes pee in the potty, he gets one quarter. If he goes poop in the potty, he gets two quarters. If he has an accident in his pants, one quarter gets taken away. If he gets TEN quarters, we will go shopping for a Ken doll.



School is going really well for Elijah so far this year. He has made many leaps with social skills. The other day his teacher wrote that he spontaneously was asking other kids questions, which is just huge for him. I noticed at Kaleigh's birthday party that he was doing the same. I heard him ask her, "Kiwi, what's your teacher's name?" and then, "Kiwi, what's your favorite color?"



The other night I was in the kitchen making cookies and Elijah was helping. I was having him put M&M's on a few of the cookies. I heard him say, "One pwus one equals two! One pwus two equals fwee!" I said, "Elijah, are you doing MATH?! What is one plus three?" He said, "Four!" I called over to Dan and said, "DO YOU HEAR THIS? Our four-year-old is doing math!" What the heck!



Skydiving season is getting slower and slower with each passing week. Things for me have been, well, nutty. I won't get into that or my brain will explode.



Elijah has an IEP meeting next week and a cardiology appointment coming up in early November. All will go great, we pray!



Installment 2: The Dirty Face Brothers coming soon!

Croup: Season 4, Round 3 (Elijah)

Not kidding, Elijah had another croup episode last night. For the third night in a row! Dan got up with him and had to give him half of an epi neb, and after that everything was fine. We had to get a refill for racemic epinephrine today since we had depleted our stash!

Hoping for no more of the croup crap, as I call it!

A quick funny..
I think I mentioned that Elijah is going to be Superman for Halloween. He looks ADORABLE in his costume, and can frequently be found zooming around the house with it on. He has been asking me what the rest of us are going to be, and I keep saying I don't know. I asked him what he thought we should all be. Here were his thoughts..
Mommy = Spiderman (we could be superheroes together!)
Daddy = SuperDan! (love it)
Sammy = A ball
So apparently we are all destined for superherodom except for Sammy the Ball. :) I found a cute bumble bee costume for Sam to wear, and I could tell Elijah was a little bit disappointed that I didn't find a ball costume. That is, until we all saw Sammy wearing his costume and could hardly stand how cute he looked! Even Elijah was gushing.

Hope you are all healthy! Enjoy the weekend!

Croup: Season 4, Round 2 and Round 2.1 (Elijah)

Elijah was up at 9:30 with croup again last night. And then again at midnight. We gave him a neb each time. This morning he still had stridor, although it was sounding better. Sammy still has a bit of stridor, too.

These boys!

Croup: Season 4, Round 1 (Elijah) and Season 2, Round 1 (Samson)

How did we get so lucky to get two boys whose bodies love to get croup? Elijah had his first round for the season last night, but it was extremely mild. An epi neb wasn't even needed, and this morning he seemed just fine. He did do a bit of coughing in the middle of the night, but not the typical scary coughing we normally hear.



Sammy, on the other hand, has had croup since Saturday. There is quite a difference in the boys' varieties. Elijah's croup is usually intense and scary, but it lasts a short time (with the help of medication and cold air). Sam's croup is not as serious, but nothing we do gets rid of it! It's not serious enough for epi nebs, so we have tried cool air, steamy bathrooms and regular nebs. None of those things help one bit. I took him to the doctor yesterday because I wasn't comfortable with the stridor I was hearing still after three days. He got a shot of steroids that has seemed to relax his airway a bit.

I'm hoping it's a promising sign that Elijah's croup was so mild and that he waited until mid-October to get his first episode! Usually we've seen three rounds by this point in the year.

Catchin' up...again

I'm behind! Waaaayyy behind! On everything! I'll attempt an update in between some recent photos (Sammy was in bed, so forgive me).



This past week has been an odd one. My Grandma Ruth passed away, which has been a sad thing to understand. She lived a long, great life, which we are all thankful for. It is still strange to contemplate the end of a life. I have such fond memories of my grandma from when I was a kid. I spent some time with her at her (then) cabin in Northern Minnesota, and I will never forget the smells that emanated from her kitchen. She made the BEST brownies and cinnamon rolls. She was an awesome lady and she will be missed! Heaven was lucky to receive her!



In addition to that, we have just been plain busy. Dan is trying to work as much as possible as the skydiving season winds down. I'm trying to do about 5,000 things at any given time. The boys are busy and curious and exploring and inquisitive and sassy and sick.



Well, Elijah is finally healthy, but now Sam has croup. He handles it with much more grace than Elijah (less drama), thankfully.



Elijah is getting excited for Halloween. He wanted to be a "scary witch," but we have talked him into Superman instead. I got him a cheapy little Superman costume today and he fell IN LOVE with it. He put his costume on and watched his reflection in the tv as he zoomed by. It was super cute. I'm not sure yet what Sammy will be for Halloween this year. Nothing in the Target aisles screamed to me.



I keep forgetting to mention that Elijah's bald patch has started growing back! About a month ago, I noticed some hair growth on the spot on his head that had grown bald after his recent heart surgery. Since then, the circle has completely filled in. THANK GOD.



Some more exciting news is that Elijah can basically read! He needs help with the bigger words, but can read most little words on his own. The other day he said, "Mama, this says, 'little!'" That's when I knew that he was serious about his reading.



Sammy is still obsessed with balls and airplanes. He tries to say "Elijah" now, which comes out "uh-DAH-DAH." He also does the "How big is Sammy?" "SOOooo BIG!" Which sounds like, "DAAAHHHHh! DA!" Our sweet Sammy. He is such a sweet, snuggly little guy.



Thanks for checking in on us! I will try to do a better job of posting on here. Thanks for being patient..



By the way, Elijah wakes me up in the middle of the night to tell me that it is pink frog's birthday. My response? "HAPPY birthday, frog. Now go to sleep!"

A day of parenting that I will not forget

Friday I photographed a wedding for a friend while Dan worked, so Dan's mom picked the boys up from daycare and kept them overnight. Saturday morning I picked them up, feeling quite exhausted and a little bit sick myself. When I got there Elijah started grabbing his ear and saying, "What's that sound, Mama??" Elijah never complains about sounds (unless it's his brother), so I knew something was up. I loaded up the boys and went straight to urgent care. The story that follows is something that will be forever etched in my mind..

The line at urgent care was long. 'Tis the season for sickness! I kept Sam in my arms because I knew that setting him down would be like opening up a lion's cage. Twenty minutes later, I had to set him down. My arms were killing me. Sammy immediately ran down and around the hallway where I couldn't see him. Ugh! I told Elijah to stay in line and I ran and got Sam, who kicked and screamed about being in my arms.

We got sent back to a room pretty quickly when the lady at the front saw how much pain Elijah was in. But then we waited for the doctor for 25 minutes. By this time, Sam had explored every part of the room and had grown bored. Elijah was having a hard time staying upright and kept asking me, "Mommy, pwease take care of me!" He wanted me to be holding him and he kept pressing my hand over his ear, but I couldn't do that consistently when I was also making sure Sam wasn't trying to crawl into the trash cupboard again.

The doctor came in and took a look in Elijah's ear and said, "Sooo, he must have been up all night crying?" I said, "No, I don't think so!" Dan's mom had said that he had slept great the night before. The doctor said it was a bad ear infection and that he was surprised he hadn't complained about it until now. Poor guy. Elijah kept asking the doctor to make "that sound" go away. The pressure inside his ear was causing it to ring.

We went out to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription and before we got to the counter I looked down and saw Elijah's "puke face." I didn't act quickly enough and suddenly vomit was everywhere. All down Elijah's coat, and on the floor of the pharmacy. I tried to clean it up with Sam in my arms, but just couldn't do it so I set him down. I grabbed some Starbucks napkins from the counter and wiped the carpet and removed Elijah's coat. As I was wiping Elijah down, I saw Sam run by like the wind with a box in each hand. I scooped him up, took away the boxes (one of which had already been chewed on) and grabbed Elijah's hand. I went to the counter, Sam wailing, Elijah asking me to "pwease take care of him" and a pukey jacket tucked under my arm. I asked for paper towels, a plastic bag and to please fill our prescription quickly.

We went back to the waiting room to wait for the prescription to be filled. I sat Elijah on a chair, where he wobbled back and forth. I set squirmy Sam down and he ran around the room in circles until he got bored, 3 minutes later. At that point, he kept arching his back and falling onto the floor and writhing and crying. Nothing I did made him calm down. So I held Elijah and we, along with a handful of other people, watched the Sammy Circus.

I saw Elijah's puke face again, and this time I picked him up and ran to the bathroom. Luckily, at this point Sam happened to be writhing on the floor near the bathroom so I ushered him in, as well. Elijah made it to the toilet just in time. I washed his face and hands and we headed out to the waiting room for more of the same.

When our pager went off, we went to the pharmacy to pick up the medication. Again, I had to set Sam down because I couldn't juggle everything. In the time it took for me to pay, Sam had found two Carmex containers and was finding great joy in banging them together while cruising up and down the aisles. I removed the Carmex from his happy little hands, which quickly turned unhappy. I got the three of us to the car as quickly as possible.

The car ride home was quiet. Either Elijah was enduring his pain in quiet, or some sort of miracle had happened. I hadn't dared give him his medication since he had vomited twice. When we got home, I got him situated on the couch with a "frow-up bowl." I did some unpacking and cleaning and looked over to find that I had not explained the throw-up bowl very well. Items dirtied in Throw-Up Episode #3: all articles of clothing on Elijah, all articles of clothing on myself, three separate blankets, the couch, the carpet, the rug and the foot stool. The throw-up bowl remained sparkling clean.

After this, I figured he was done throwing up for a while, so I put him down for a nice long nap. When he woke up, he was ready to eat toast and drink water and take medicine. He has been feeling fine ever since!

See? A day I will never forget!

Minor sickies

This is how we know when Sammy isn't feeling well.



He's not tearing around the house!



Sam had a little bug for a few days last week. That, combined with getting some shiny new molars, had him feeling out of sorts. He has been sleeping A LOT. In the past week there have been a handful of days when he has slept from 6:00 pm until 8:00 am! Whoa! Elijah, take note!

On the weekend mornings when Sammy slept in, Elijah and I were able to spend some quality time together. Breakfast, tickle-time on the couch (his favorite), knock-knock joke sessions and reading books. Then, the second Sam got up, Elijah would break down and start whining about everything. So it clicked for Dan and me this week. It's Sam! A good chunk of this behavior we have been seeing from Elijah is stemming from having to share us with Sammy. Now that Dan's work schedule is slowing down, we will have more time for one-on-one Elijah and Sammy lovin'.

What else has been going on.. A friend of ours was seriously injured last weekend, but he is doing great, considering the trauma he endured. We are hoping and praying for good news with each passing day. I am shooting my first wedding on Friday! Aaahhhh! I'm nervous, but so incredibly excited about it! Dan is trying to skydive as much as possible as the season winds down. Elijah woke up with a bit of a cough this morning (boo). Sammy can now say "play" (comes out "bay"). We are loving this yummy fall weather!

I will end with a few of Elijah's favorite knock-knock jokes..

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Al!
Al who?
Al give you a kiss!

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Howie!
Howie who?
Howie gonna eat our ribs tonight? (and I proceed to "eat"/tickle his ribs..)

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Doe!
Doe who?
Doe-n't show me your armpit! (and I proceed to tickle his armpit..)

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Bee!
Bee who?
Bee careful or you'll get tickled! (I think you can guess what follows..)

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Cargo!
Cargo who?
Cargo beep beep!

Proud!

Can you see what on this page made me cry tears of happiness?

Handsome boys

This is what Sammy does when I ask him, "Where is Sammy's nose?" Close, Sam!



And he's starting to draw/color now! Instead of eating the chalk and crayons.



Playing together? Nah...just playing in the vicinity of one another. I'll take it.



Playin' outside.



HANDSOME boy!



I caught Elijah drawing with chalk in the garage and asked him what he was writing. He said, "Wook, Mom! It's me and you!"

Hunger, destruction and laughter

Any chance he gets, our Sammy fills his deliciously chubby belly with food. :)



Overall we had a good weekend. Elijah and I experienced some very low lows on Saturday. His behavior was off the charts for a chunk of our day. It made me question my parenting skills and at the end of the day I was feeling pretty beat up and sad. Sunday was much better, thankfully. He is so incredibly strong-willed and he pushes his little limits as much and as often as he can.

I did make note of some more funny things that came from Elijah's mouth. During one of our weekend meals, he dropped a spoonful of yogurt onto his ankle by accident. He said, "Oh no! Mom! I spilled yogurt on my temple!"

Since he drinks soooo much whole milk, we have started serving him almond milk on occasion as an alternative (he's not a huge fan). Every time I put a glass of milk in front of him, he asks what kind it is. The almond milk we got over the weekend is vanilla-flavored. He has a difficult time saying the word "vanilla," so he says, "Mom, is this whole milk or gamilla almond milk?" It's so stinkin' cute and I refuse to correct him.

He has started doing this thing that drives me crazy. I will say a sentence to him or to Sam or to myself. An example..we will be in the car, and I'll say, "We're almost home, Sam!" Elijah will copy me and say, "'We're almost home, Sam!'" and then he'll say, "Who said that?" "Uhhm, I did, Elijah." "Oh. Mama said it?" "Yes." So the other day on the way home from the dropzone, Elijah asked me how long it takes to get home. I said, "About an hour!" He repeated me, using this gravelly, old-man-ish voice: "'About an hour!' Who said that, Mom?" I just about died laughing. Great, so I sound like an old man who has smoked his whole life?

And Sam continues to demolish our home. Our living room becomes a war-zone in about 10 seconds. He works on the destruction between eating breaks. He constantly wants a pile of raisins on the chair that he can graze and for the Fruit Loops box to be on the floor and to remain open so he can scoop his hand into it.

Our boys are keeping us busy! They are so much fun, even while they are making my grey hairs sprout like crazy. I wouldn't change a thing!

Preschool Year 3 has begun!

Our biggest boy started his third year of preschool this week! I cannot even begin to explain how much Elijah loves school. AND how good school is for him! There are definitely exceptions to the statement I'm about to make, but overall, his behavior was much-improved this week. There were a handful of times when no whining occurred when he was asked to use the potty. There wasn't as much angry yelling at Sam. And he even did strange things like throw away his garbage without being asked.



Like I said, the week wasn't ALL good. He hit his good friend Paige at daycare yesterday, so we made a very big deal about that. Last night he got no privileges and lots of talks about how hitting is never ok.



I have compiled a few more Elijah funnies to share. He got a toy from the prize drawer at PT this week, as he does every week, that is a monster figure (Mikey) from the movie Monsters, Inc. When Elijah got home from PT that night, he insisted on watching Monsters, Inc. We turned it on and Elijah got situated in "his spot" on the couch and set Mikey on his lap. When the movie started, he said, SUPER excitedly, "WOOK, MIKEY! IT'S YOU!" That made Dan and I giggle.



Then later, he was wearing his Big Brother hat from Grandma (Sammy has a Little Brother hat), and he asked me very seriously, "Mom! Where is Mikey's 'Big Monster' hat?"

And I haven't forgotten about Sammy! He has been into EVERYTHING. I call him my little tornado. I will be getting all of the books put back onto the bookshelf that he has pulled off with his chubby little hands, and I will turn around to find that all of the toys have been removed from the toy box. Elijah has never been like this, so it is a different experience for us!

Sam is officially finished with his bottle and morning naps. I was a bit sad to put the bottle away. My baby is growing up! He is starting to look more like a toddler and less like a baby. This is a very fun age. I love his warm, chubby sweetness. And all of the words he tries to say. And the way he says BRRRM BRRRM and signs airplane every time he hears anything that sounds like an airplane. And the way he rolls around with his blankie like it's the best thing on earth...while sucking his thumb, of course. And the cute way he walks. And they way he tackles Elijah because he loves him so much (despite the fact that the feelings aren't always mutual). And the softness of his skin. And the fact that he runs to his chair in the kitchen after he hears me say, "Let's have some lunch, boys." And the way he attempts to say Yo Gabba Gabba every time the tv is turned on. And even the way he squirms and screams when his diaper is being changed.

I am planning to bring the boys out to the dropzone for the night on Saturday. We haven't been out there much this last part of summer. I'm looking forward to getting out of the city. Other than that, we just plan on staying low-key and enjoying each other! Thanks for checking in. I'm off to do that thing that I love so much called RELAXING!

Sammy's 15-month well visit...and a few more funnies..

I brought Sammy to his 15-month well visit today. I could not keep that boy contained in the waiting room. If I turned my head for one second, he would run down the hallways and into the rooms. I used the fish tank as a distraction, but he still managed to slip away from me.

He weighed 24 lb 15 oz (55th percentile), he was 32 inches tall (75th percentile) and his head circumference was 18.8 inches (66th percentile). All of his activity has brought him down a bit on the weight chart, but that is normal.

As always, the only concern was the little bump on the side of his face. It has changed in size and color in the past few months, so we need to get back into the derm in the next month or two to get it looked at again.

When it was time for shots, I held his little arms down so he wouldn’t fight. Well, guess what. He didn’t even flinch. No crying, not even a single blink. And there were three separate needles! Tough Guy Sam. It’s so funny to constantly see how different Elijah and Sam are. I’m sure we will see more and more as they grow that Elijah is our dramatic, emotional child and Sam is our easy-going, unemotional child. But he still certainly knows what he wants. If a toy is taken from him that he really wants, he will most definitely let you know about it.

Dr. Judy gave Sam the tongue depresser after peeking inside his mouth, so he had it in his hand on our ride back to daycare. I turned around and Sammy was poking it into his eye (ouch!) and then in his ear. Checking everything out, just like the doctor did!



I remembered a few additional things I wanted to include in yesterday’s post…

For the past few months, Elijah has acquired the knowledge that “dangit” is not my favorite word for him to say. Dan and I have let him know that we don’t want him saying it, which of course attaches negative meaning to it and provides an opportunity for boundary-testing. Our clever boy has stopped saying “dangit,” but has now started saying, “bangit.” Close, but not the same word, Mom! I have banned “bangit” in the past week due to malicious intent and over-use, so now he will say things like “schplangit” or “pa-kaynit.” That boy..

I have mentioned many times before how much Sammy loves his food. When he eats, you can hear a constant stream of “Mmmmm-hmmmmm-aahhmmmmm-mmmmmmm-ohmmmmmm” coming from his side of the table. Elijah gets tired of it, so I will hear him whisper, “Stop saying ‘MMMmmm,’ SAM!” Poor Sammy. Innocently enjoying his food and his brother is telling him to be quiet. :)

We are looking forward to a beautiful weekend! We have a few fun items on the agenda. School starts Monday, so we are looking forward to that routine for Elijah. He is soooo stinkin' excited! Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for checking in.

Cuteness

I'm playing catch-up again. I hate neglecting to write down all of the cute things the boys are doing and saying.

Elijah has been Mr. Inquisitive. Here is a typical conversation:

"Mom, remember that guy's name?" (referring to a guy driving a truck next to us at a stop light)
"I'm not sure what his name is. We could make one up for him."
"Remember his name?"
"How about Ralph."
"Mom, where is Ralph going?"
"Hmm, maybe he is making a delivery?"
"What delivery he gonna make?"
"It looks like he's driving a truck with groceries."
"Where is he bringing the groceries to?"
"Probably to the grocery store."
"Then where is he gonna go?"
"Probably home."
"Where's his home?"

And on and on... He's curious about the world! The funny thing is that everyone is "that guy." The little girl at the park? That guy. The puppy walking down the sidewalk? That guy.

The only tv show that Sammy seems to enjoy is Yo Gabba Gabba (Isaac would be so proud!). Every time I turn on the tv, Sam attempts to say "Gabba Gabba" in his cute little Sammy way. Imagine saying it while sticking your tongue completely out of your mouth for the Bs. It sounds something like GLAUHHLA-GLAUHHLA.

Last night we stopped by Elijah's school for open house. He is sooo excited to start school again. He played for a bit in his classroom, said hi to his teachers and was not at all happy when we had to leave. I am not kidding when I say that he asked at least 100 times on the drive home when he could go back. The boy loves school!

Sam has been obsessed with two things lately. Balls and shoes. Well, he has always loved balls, but the shoe thing is new. He asks for balls ALL THE TIME. He opens his palm to the sky, as if to say, "Where could all of the balls in the world be?" When we are at home, he walks over to where our shoes are by the door and points and says, "ISS." "Yes, Sammy, those are shoes." First he picks his shoes up and shoves them toward his feet, continuing to say "ISS" until I put them on him. Then he will bring me my shoes, one at a time, and point to my feet until I put them on.

Sam also says UP now, but it comes out MMP. Every time he hears an airplane, he makes the sign for airplane and says BRRRM BRRRRMMM. I'm convinced that he is mad at me for leaving him last weekend. He has not been the same with me since.

There's more, there is always more cuteness to speak of, but I'm out of time. More later..

State Fair and more

This may be close to the longest I have ever gone without writing a post! We have been busier than usual, it seems. Dan and I went on a long-weekend, no-kids getaway. His parents graciously agreed to watch the boys while we were gone. Everyone had fun, all around. It was good for all of us.

We were able to make our yearly trip to the State Fair again this year, and we had a great time pigging out. Here are some photos from our adventure..

Sammy, crying for more food..



Posing with Oink Booth crowns. Sammy's first!



Beautiful eyes..



And another set of beautiful eyes..



Elijah loved the carousel. So much that a meltdown took place 10 seconds after this photo was taken. You can see the meltdown beginning to form..



The slide was a hit, but only after it was done. Can you see the terrified expression?





Ok, getting tired. Getting reeeeeally tired..



And both were out, just like that.



Both boys are doing well. Sam is growing like crazy, in every way imaginable. He is still obsessed with balls. He constantly asks for "BA?!" He is starting to attempt more words. And I swear he is mad at me for leaving him over the weekend. He hasn't given me the time of day since we returned. :( I hope he gets over it soon.

Elijah, our strong-willed little Elijah, oh how he continues to push our buttons. This potty training thing is getting ridiculous. Imagine a full-blown whine-fest/tantrum every time we ask him to go sit on the toilet. And we are still cleaning our share of poop out of underwear these days. I feel like it will never end! He starts school next Monday, and I am so thankful that his teachers are willing to take on poop, as well, as opposed to putting him back into diapers. They are wonderful for agreeing to that. Actually, they didn't even agree to it. They offered!

What else is going on...Dan's work should start slowing down soon. I have been keeping busy with work, boys, photography, cooking and blogging. The boys are keeping us on our toes. I feel like the summer was oppressive in so many ways and that that is finally lifting. THANK GOODNESS. I was not The Summer of 2011's hugest fan.

I hope you all are doing well! Thanks for checking in on our family. More later...