Somewhere...Over the Rainbow?

After a rain storm the other day, we saw a beautiful rainbow behind our house. Sean went out to get a couple pictures.

When he came back in, Jack wanted to take some pictures of the rainbow as well (remember our budding photographer?). This is Jack's version:

Dirt

We've all been playing in the dirt lately. In an effort to get some landscaping done before our sod is laid, we've spent nearly every evening over the last two weeks working outside. Sean scoured the neighborhood for boulders to use for a retaining wall. This project proved to use more brute force as well as creativity than he bargained for, I think. The final result looks fantastic, though. We followed up the wall with prepping the soil and finally getting about 20 plants into the ground. The kids helped us a little last Saturday when we were planting. By helped I mean dug holes in the garden, filled pots with dirt and followed up with plenty of water to make "fixins" for mud cake as Jack likes to call it. Jack is a little more cautious when it comes to getting dirty than Wesley is. Wes just dug right in.

After the mud cake, we let them play with the hose...

on the driveway...

in their underwear...

kind of like a very cold outdoor shower...

brrr.

Wanna Hear a Story?

...says Jack on our way home from Grandma and Grandpa's house last night. Usually we're the ones telling Jack the stories so this was a welcome change. "Sure," we replied and the following tale ensued:

Once upon a time there was a boy named Jack. One day Jack and Grandpa went to the cabin and went swimming. They were swimming along when all of a sudden - SNAP! (complete with hand motions) - an alligator came and ate them. The end.

New Dos, New Attitude, New Skills and a New House

The boys got haircuts this week. I was committed to keeping Wesley's hair long (to preserve the soft blond curls), but with summer looming I decided to go short in an effort to keep him cooler. We tried a new "barber" (as Jack calls it) and the cuts turned out great. Plus we saved $6 over going to Kids Hair.

Wesley is sharing a teddy graham with you

About a month after Jack turned 3 I thought, "Who are you and what have you done with Jack?" This is because may angelic, compliant, sweet 3-year-old turned into a crabby monster. And this has been status quo until last night when, once again I thought, "Who are you and what have you done with Jack?" He was polite during dinner (not having a tantrum because we interrupted his play time), he was ready and willing to take a bath that didn't involve constant reminders not to splash water outside the tub and a tantrum when it was time to get out, he put on his pajamas without whining about how it was too hard and he went to bed without telling me over and over that he was afraid or thirsty or that it was too dark or... He'll be 3 1/2 on Saturday - maybe we're on the downhill slide into an easier year being 4.



Elise turned 5 months old yesterday. The newborn stage is not my favorite and I'm always relieved when my children pass the 3 month mark, but this time going from 3 months to 5 months went way too fast. Elise has had some new developments in the last few weeks. Since baby girl loves to eat (check out the rolls on her arms and legs), she had me up twice a night for a couple weeks and, at four months old, I was not on board with that plan. So we started cereal. She started younger than both Jack and Wesley, but she's bigger than they were at this age so we dove in early. She's doing great with the cereal and we've added bananas and prunes to her menu too. She loves it all. She has also learned how to sit on her own which makes her a much happier baby when it comes time to play. Jack especially likes this stage of Elise's development because, being a new sitter and all, she occasionally tips over, which always elicits rolling laughter from her bigger brother.

Oh, and we moved three weeks ago. The million dollar question has changed from "Are they all yours?" followed by the obligatory "You must be busy" to "Are you settled yet?" The answer is a resounding "NO." I had a goal to have all the boxes on the main floor unpacked by the end of the first week. We still have boxes on the main floor. I don't really have unpacking goals anymore. Real life crept in and now we're lucky to get one box unpacked each week. (See below for a funny tangent that just doesn't fit here). The "to do" list has extended beyond reality so we just ignore the list and do whatever we feel like doing at the moment.

Last weekend we focused on landscape. Now we have a half-built retaining wall and a bunch of boulders sitting in our front yard.

The week before that we were focused on window treatments. The windows are still bare (except for Jack's because it was vital that we stopped the sun from coming in his room at 5:00 each morning prompting him to come in to our room with a rousing "It's morning, Mommy, it's morning, Daddy" no matter what day of the week it was). The good news is, the week that we focused on window treatments, we placed an order for blinds that are supposed to ship tomorrow so by the end of next week we should be able to stop flashing the neighbors every morning when we get in the shower.

This week I've been focused on toys and getting them put away. Of course the organizer in me sees all the toys that need to be sorted and grouped according to age, color, size, set, owner and manufacturer (I'm only being a little dramatic here) and it prompts me to want to spend hundreds of dollars at Pottery Barn Kids on multiple fashionable yet functional storage units (check out the Cameron Wall collection). Instead, I'm making due with what we have and dreaming big about the day when we win the lottery (except we don't gamble) and I can buy all the toy storage I could ever want and need...I guess I'll always just dream.

Next week? Finally getting my clothes put away. (I'll let you know how that goes).

Tangent:
The city of Shakopee has a welcome wagon type of program and one of the representatives visited last night to drop off a folder of materials. She saw the toys in the family room and said "Oh, you have a little one." "Three little ones," I replied. "Oh, how old?" she asked. "Three and a half, one and a half and 5 months," I said. Then with an astonished gasp she replied, "Oh, bless you. You're a super mom." I began to wonder why she thought I was a "super mom" because I had so many children. Why didn't she just think "Wow! She's fertile."? And this is how the story ties in above: Real life with three young children doesn't allow me to be a super mom. Many days, we just get by.

Mr. Crabbypants

Is this the face of a boy who doesn't want to go to school or what? Unfortunately this isn't just Jack practicing different expressions, but how he actually looks most mornings before school.

I can't remember exactly why I was in trouble here, but I was in trouble...

Ansel Adams He Is Not

Jack has proven that he can be gentle with the camera so we've started letting him take some pictures. For the most part, he's mastered the art of holding the camera steady while pressing the shutter button and most of his photos don't turn out as one big blur. He does, however, have some trouble framing his shots.

Here you see a gallery quality photo of Sean's arm.

Just in case you can't tell, this is the camera strap across Jack's knee. Very artistic...

A day in the life of Mommy?

This morning as I was looking through the photos Jack took, when we got to this one he said, "Oh, I was taking a picture of the Veggie Tales movie." Interesting subject...

Here is a series of pictures of Elise. He did a great job photographing her legs and tummy...

When I told him he should try to get her head in the picture, this is what I got...

It's a little difficult to get good shots of your subjects while sitting on their lap...

After tiring of the same shot of the dining room (I'll spare you the monotony), I encouraged Jack to set up a scene with his toys and photograph that. Below you see the Playmobil guy in the "water" being rescued by the helicopter, police boat and conveyor.

Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones Baby

Monday consisted of a doctor visit, a picnic dinner and an appearance by Skippyjon Jones (if you don’t know this naughty kitty boy, visit him here).

Elise turned 4 months old on Sunday and was in for her 4-month check bright and early Monday morning. She weighed in at a whopping 18 pounds even – that’s the 99th percentile. In other words, she weighs more than 99% of all other 4-month old baby girls. If you recall, she was in the 99th percentile for both weight and height at her 2-month check. At 26 ¼ inches, she’s dropped to the 98th percentile for height now. Many times when people see her for the first time they remark, “She’s healthy isn’t she?” After this doctor visit, I can conclusively answer, “Yes.”

After naps the kids and I headed to the Galleria to meet Sean for dinner and to listen to Judy Schachner, the author of the Skippyjon Jones books, read her most recent publication, Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones. A visit from a larger-than-life Skippyjon himself was an extra surprise.

Both boys were a little hesitant to go close to Skippyjon without Sean, but not nearly as scared as one little boy near us who started crying hysterically as soon as he spotted the big kitty 30 feet away. He made our boys seem brave.

Since we were there early we got a good number for the book signing (4) and were able to get all of our books signed. We also picked up a couple classroom activity packets that contained, among other things, a fun reversible mask. Jack is modeling the Skippito Friskito mask below. The other side is Skippyjon Jones. Maybe I can get Wesley to model that one.