A Little More Birthday Fun

The boys don't play well together very often, but Luke has really impressed us with his ability to share his new presents with Andy. I don't think Luke has even had a chance to touch this car yet.
Thanks for the awesome card! We finally had Luke's party with his friends.

Eli spent most of Saturday in his car seat, between the birthday party and the beginning of t-ball. He transitioned to all formula, all the time this week and he is much a happier, more flexible baby. This makes for a much happier, more flexible mama, as well.

I missed Andy's first t-ball game due to the birthday party, but Steve said he did well. He was fascinated with his uniform shirt because he has a number 2 on the back. He was pretty excited about the post-game refreshments, too.

I did the thing I said I wouldn't do this weekend: totally overscheduled my children. It was exhausting and fun, but I hope it doesn't become a frequent occurence.

An Uninvited Guest

We went to Grandma and Papa's for Easter. Grandma was kind enough to make a cake for Luke.
Emily and Andy, hunting for eggs

Luke and Allie, busy collecting eggs

So we had an unexpected and much despised guest over the weekend: the stomach flu! Andy and I didn't feel well on Saturday, but I really thought it was related to something we ate.

Boy, was I wrong.

We unknowingly exposed the whole family on Easter Sunday. Sorry, kids.

These pictures were taken when everyone was still feeling well. The weather was miserable but everyone persevered in the gusts of wind to find their eggs. The rain held off until evening.

I didn't take any pictures of Eli on his first Easter because he decided to scream all afternoon.

We all took turns holding and rocking him. He never got sick, but he certainly was miserable.
We had to cancel Luke's birthday party with his school friends. That's back on the calendar for a later date. Poor fella. He was so sick yesterday that he didn't even care.

Hopefully we are all on the mend.

The Birthday Boy

Luke's new favorite Lego creation and the bane of our existence. They spent several hours working on this, but pieces keep falling off and aggravating the Lego engineers that live here.
A chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, adorned with Lego guys...he didn't want any cake. Glad I didn't invest much time and effort in the preparation. Luke is definitely not someone who is impressed by culinary skills or fancy meals. Good to know.

Not only was it his 6th birthday, but also his first day of spring break. Except for Steve, who had to work, we all spent the day in our pajamas and Luke spent plenty of time playing the Wii.

He wanted to stage a photo shoot with his new Lego guys. Since I write this blog, I have limited Lego guy photo submissions to one.

Happy birthday, Lukester!

Week 16 and Other Good Times

This picture is so telling: Andy clowning around and Luke snuggling up to Eli. Luke is totally smitten with Eli, tells me 10 times a day how much he loves him. I try to imagine the kind of adventures these 3 will have together someday...
Week 16: a cooing, smiling, drooling bundle of boy

Andy's latest obsession: Costco strawberries

We went to visit Auntie Heather and Uncle Scott on Saturday. Andy was permitted to put his paws on Aaron's Lego creation for a few minutes.

Steve's idea of a good time: the new 2010 Mustang!

Our friend works for Ford and was able to bring this baby home for the weekend. He was kind enough to take Steve for a ride and pose for a photo op.

Is it Spring or Not?

He's at a great age for the park: can climb and slide without help, eager to try new things, entertains himself by taking his hot wheels cars down the slide with him. There's a lot joy in being Andy.
Fueling his water addiction

This is Eli's first big trip to the park. He was a good sport about hanging out in his stroller for 2 hours. The weather was perfect!

Luke's idea of a great day: no school and a trip to his favorite park

It's Business as Usual Around Here

This is week 14 for Mr. Eli...his major achievements are frequent smiles and cooing to get someone's attention. It would be nice if he would work on his night time sleep-still waking up once or twice. We are definitely ready to put the newborn phase behind us.
Surprise. Another picture of Andy holding a car. He loves these automobloxs Aunt Holly and Uncle Stowe sent for Christmas. He takes them apart, mixes the pieces up and builds a hybrid. He also likes to take the rubber off the wheels and stuff them down the heater vent. I've spent more time than I would care to admit fishing little rubber circles out of the vents in the family room. Yesterday we went outside in the balmy 60 degree sunshine and found our neighbor and his 5 year old shoveling gravel out of his truck to make a dog run in his yard. He let Luke and Andy climb in the back and "help". Luke and the other little boy found other things to do, but Andy was in heaven. He got out the diggers and the dump trucks and moved the gravel all around the truck. I was going to take a picture, but I was a little embarrassed that he was still in his pajamas at 4pm.
Sorry, no picture of the eldest. He is presently shunning the camera and stressing out about St. Patrick's Day. I tried to tell him he's irish and he should just embrace it. He will have none of it. I think a little girl in his class told him she was going to pinch him. We explained numerous times that if you just wear green, no one will pinch you. He is not at all convinced. I'm probably going to have to bribe him to get him on the school bus tomorrow.

Nope, Just a Giant Noggin

Eli and I spent most of Monday at Mary Bridge children's hospital getting an MRI of his head. I always get a little stressed navigating outside my usual territory. I'm not that familiar with Tacoma, finding parking, getting inside the hospital. Who designs the layouts of hospitals, anyway? As I was leaving, I decided I should be thankful I felt lost most of the day. I sat next to a woman whose 8 week old baby was having his 4th MRI. I'm glad the children's hospital is a foreign land for me. That means we have (mostly) healthy children. The results came back quickly and everything is 'unremarkable'. I guess that's doctor-speak for normal. As we suspected, it's just a giant noggin.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...Andy continues to entertain us with his antics. Typical middle child, he's always good for a laugh.

I came downstairs this morning to find Luke fully engrossed in his new Star Wars books at 6:20am. Although I'm not a fan of SW at all, I'm glad we are raising the next generation of book worms.