Weekend Update

I finally got my hair cut. I was in dire need of a cut and especially a color, so I decided to be bold and get a color change. Not so sure if I can count it as bold being it is closer to my natural color than it used to be. Also, anyone related to my side of the family... If you click on the picture and enlarge it - do you see the face on Wyatt? I think while Luke got the Annarino smile, Wyatt got the Annarino scowl. :)

We have had some very active nights lately. The boys are just all into playing around with Don and they are so cute we don't want to stop, even though it is WAY past their bedtime. The giggles and smiles are just too cute!

Jaxon still has the "ow-ee" on his forehead. We are having major issues with him picking at it. At night when Don and I go check on them, we sometimes find Jax with his hand by his forehead. I am thinking he may actually subconsiously pick at it, like some kids suck their thumbs... any ideas out there to help?

The boys are doing well. T-R-O-U-B-L-E most of the time, and defitenly pushing their limits. We have been working on manners and all three are doing really well with their "tank you" and signing it, too.


I attached a few video just for your viewing pleasure

Ring around the Rosie- their version



A longer video of the boys just keeping themselves busy. Pretty cute stuff!


Rolly pollies in our midst..

Alpha Mom

Today my eyes have been opened a bit. It is the first day in almost two weeks I have had the boys all to myself all morning. Wyatt is swatting at me when I tell him something he doesn't want to hear (or anytime he wants), Jaxon is fake crying about silly things to get his way and Lucas is stealing toys from his brothers only to tell them "tank you" when they cry about it -as if to trick them into thinking they just gave it to him.

I know something is going on in their heads, but finally it dawned on me. In the midst of trying to find out which one of them is the alpha male, they are trying to be ALPHA of the house. How would they know any different (from a two year old perspective, anyhow) then to see who can bully up their way to the top of the ladder?

So as much fun as it is to let everyone do their own thing and have happy (for the moment) children, I am having to be a little bit more bossy today to put their little tooshies back in line. I am after all, the Alpha MOM.

New tricks

It is ironic to me that while I sit here typing at 9 pm - listening to Wyatt sing (more like yell) in his crib- I am about to write about how amazed I am by my monkeys.


On the way to dinner tonight we were driving down the freeway. Jaxon is just looking out his window and tells me "Mama. Mama, 'B'" After a second I realized he had noticed the letter "B" on a billboard we were coming up to. WOW! Then while we were in the restaurant eating, he was looking around and called out the letter "T" from the exit sign. Both of these were unprovoked, he noticed them on his own!

On the way home from dinner, I heard a giggle in the backseat. I saw that Jaxon had inadvertently splashed Luke with the straw from his cup when his straw flipped out of his mouth. Both of them were giggling about it and it made me realize they already have a knowledge of little funny things like that. It is so hard to explain but it wasn't a baby laugh, and it was just between them. It was beautiful.

And last but not least, tonight while Don had the boys give him letter toys out of the tub, he was surprised to see Wyatt now knows about 20 of the letters. Their little minds are picking up so much and learning so quickly. I am so proud of them!

Here is a little video of a minute of our day. Nothing exciting, but you can hear them say "thank you" and look at their cute faces :)

Summer Days

It has been over 100 degrees daily for what seems like months here in Las Vegas. The boys rarely get out during the day because first of all, it is too hot and second, I am
worried they will burn themselves just by sitting or touching something. Seriously, there are beautiful parks all over Las Vegas and they don't get any use until about 6 pm because kids legs and hands get burned from climbing on them. Cars are so hot when you load everyone in that their cheeks are all red and the babies are sweating before you even get the car started.

Thank goodness Nana has a pool. We have been going over for swimming and dinner a few times in the past week or two and the boys are really beginning to love the water. Lucas seemed to be the most worried, but even he has been getting a bit more comfortable and enjoying himself. I think that the boys being able to watch Cathryn jumping in and going underwater helps them see how much fun they can have in the pool.

Here is a little video of the boys jumping into Nana's arms from outside the spa. Little brave monkeys!

Don!

This past weekend Don ran upstairs to grab his wallet while I was putting the boys shoes on them. I remembered my earrings were upstairs and yelled up to Don to please grab them. Like little echos, we heard "Dooon! from all corners of the room. Tonight while I am on the computer, we hear Jaxon's little voice calling out - not to Dada, but to "Don". Don thinks it is hilarious now, but admits it would not be so funny if they were 4 years old saying it. :)

The boys are talking so much lately. Not sentences so much, but words to identify things they see. Animals, letters, names.. so many different words they know. They are even FINALLY beginning to say each others names. For a while, Wyatt has been saying "g-ax" for Jaxon, but that has been far and few between. Luke has begun to say "Why-why" for Wyatt and the rest is just a blur right now.

Another new thing is that in the past Wyatt and Jax have always gravitated towards each other while Luke would prefer to do this own thing. For the past few weeks it has been a free for all with all three of them playing together. Kisses and hugs are given freely to all and they all do silly things to make the others laugh. Just the other day I got them up from nap time and Lucas was still sleeping. Wyatt was distressed that Luke was left in the room and ran back to the bedroom to find out where his brother was. That really made me realize that finally they have all grown closer.

**I have to add one more picture for my brother :)

Family Night

I am feeling blahhh. I lost my creative mojo, haven't scrapped since my last post. But I do love all the alphabet ideas, so thank you for your help! To get back in the groove, I thought maybe tonight was a good time to watch the airplanes and try to get a good "A" picture.

We decided on Little Caesars for a dinner that we could pick up on the way and eat while we watch the planes. But it was waaay too hot to eat were there was no shade, especially on the hot concrete, even though it was 6 o'clock. So we changed plans and decided to take the kids a half mile up the road and eat picnic style. Without a blanket, napkins or anything else, we walked over to a nice shaded area and ate our pizza while the boys ran around -first trying to feed the birds by throwing food at them, and then later they (Wyatt, really) progressed to chasing the birds around.


It was so peaceful and nice. There was no one around us at all, the boys had plenty of room to run and be boys. Don caught a praying mantis and they were amazed by their first bug up close like that. A bit after that, the sprinklers went off in the areas very close to ours (my camera thanks the sprinklers for not going off in our area). Jaxon is not a big fan of the sprinklers, he has been caught in ours a few times and he just freezes up, not sure what to do; so I carried him and Luke out without getting "rained" on, but you can tell from the picture, they were not thrilled at the little bit of water that did catch them.


After everyone was in the car, off to the airport it was! Ten minutes was about all it took, but I got a few pictures I think will be great with a little photoshop help (hahah)

Even the car ride home was nice as Don and I listened to the babbling in the back seat. It was a great family night and hopefully having the "A" picture taken now, I can get back in the groove!

A bit of randomness

We have gone over to "play" at Cathy's house a couple times this past week. The boys play so well together and they all seem to enjoy each other. Last night we brought Cathryn with us so she and Leigha could have a little girl time without all the babies in their way.

I can't say enough how lucky I was to meet Cathy while the boys were in the hospital. It is such a blessing to know someone who goes through just about the same things each day and can relate to some issues that other people would never even think of. And the fact that we can have 8 children all together and the loudest sounds we heard all night were of them giggling and playing loudly, speaks volumes of how well our lives mesh.

In other news, I had gotten tired of the boys pulling books of their shelf so they can lay down in it and go "nye-nyte". As cute as it was, putting the books away five or six times a day was getting on my nerves so I had an idea. With a little brainstorming and the help of my strong handy husband, we made ourselves a bookshelf to hang on the wall.


And lastly, my scrapbooking is coming along pretty well. I still don't have all my pics on discs like I need to, but I keep forgetting to buy DVD's since a wise person told me they hold many more pictures than a regular CD does. Right now I am working on a little ABC book for the boys, but I am having troubles coming up with pictures for the other 2/3rds of the alphabet. I am not wanting to use more names, but if you all can help me think of pictures and words for A,C,E,G,H,I,K, N,O,Q,R,S,U,V,X,Y,Z you would be my heroes!

Fourth of July

My parents have lived in their neighborhood for about 13 years now, and every year there are two or three holidays they like to get together with some other neighbors to celebrate. This year -like many before it- Don and I chose to celebrate the Fourth of July with some of those family friends. It is truly good food, good friends and good times rolled into one.
After eating some delicious BBQ that Louis cooked on the grill, we just hung out back under the patio where (thankfully) Cynthia and Steve had misters on. The temperature was up past 110, so the misters were a perfect way to help us all enjoy each other.
When it started getting dark outside, Don and I took the boys and followed Mom and Dad out front to watch the fireworks. As soon as Jaxon heard the first big BOOM, he ran right over to me and made it pretty obvious he didn't much care for the fireworks this year. Nana wasn't feeling to hot either, so she volunteered to take Jaxon over to her house and keep him inside there. Lucas and Wyatt, on the other hand, really loved watching the fireworks. They tried to scoot closer and closer to all the action on the street until it made us nervous and we pulled them back. Shortly after that, we saw it was almost 9 o'clock and time to get them home.

This year was really relaxing, and it was so nice to catch up to all the people we seem to only run into at these neighborhood parties.

Signing Time! in Las Vegas

Rachel from Signing Time! came to Las Vegas last week for a show! We packed up the kids (Michael too!) grabbed some dinner on the way and had a great night! The songs were awesome and it was so neat to see the boys "get it" that Rachel was right there signing and singing in person. They loved the whole outdoor picnic/concert idea and stayed pretty busy the whole evening between eating their dinners, dancing or playing with Cathy's kids.


When the concert was over, Rachel was sticking around to get some pictures taken with her fans. Cathy and I thought it made more sense just to wait and let the kids play instead of waiting in the seemingly hour long line. When the line was almost gone, we grabbed the kids and got our picture taken with Rachel, her daughter Leah, and Hopkins (the frog). I am thinking Mike thought he was too big to stand in there with us, but we all had a great time!

Here are some videos of the kids dancing to the music

Changes

A few major changes in the works for us. First off, the other afternoon the boys were waking from their naps. We generally let them chatter for a bit and then go in their room to get them. I hear a thump and then Jaxon opens the door and walks out. Less than 2 seconds later (and no thump!) -Wyatt follows right behind him! Jaxon is the one who fell out last time and we have seen him stretch up and lean over the crib sides before. So the crib tents are up now. Only Jax's gets zipped, but the other two tents are ready for action if needed.

Also, we bought potty chairs. Jaxon occasionally tells me when he is pooping, so I figured I would take that as a sign to start teaching him. They already ready a little potty book and sometimes I ask Jax if he would like to sit on the potty. He loves it so far, but it is still a novelty. Tonight before putting them in the bath, we sat them on the potty chairs and Lucas went pee! It was just by chance, I know... I don't even think he knew, but it was a start.