Luke Cooks!

After a week of patiently waiting, Luke finally had his turn at cooking class. He was so proud to wear the apron and chef hat this am, he was dressed and ready to go a good ten minutes before I was. I had even more time to spare, but felt guilty knowing he was so excited about leaving.

Today we made rice crispy treats. Luke loved the opportunity to wash his hands as often as he wanted and probably spent an equal amount of time in front of the sink as he did on his stool mixing ingredients together. He did not seem to care for all the butter needed to put on his hands so the marshmallows don't stick, but he loved being allowed to taste the ingredients as they went in the bowl.

Coming home was adorable. He greeted Jax with a hug for once (usually Jax is the hugger) and the boys were so excited to see what "special treat" Luke had made for them. Everyone couldn't sit at the table fast enough. Luke was like Jaxon, asking what everyone thought and even asked Nana, "Is that good, Nana?".

When Don got home from work today, Lucas was the only one awake from their naps. I put out two paper plates with the rice crispy treats on them and he and Luke sat down and ate their snack. It was so obvious how much Luke loved sharing his treat with his daddy. A precious moment to remember for sure.

3 against 1

I watch (more like hear) this video and can't decide whether I am horrified that the kids are trying to take Don out, or laughing because they are actually taking Don out.

Cooking Class with Jax

Today was Jax's turn to go to cooking class. His new cooking clothes were courtesy of Targets $1 bin and Nana's embroidery machine. Pretty good deal, don't you think?

Today's class had us learning to make crepes. He got to break an egg and add in all the ingredients. His face lit up at the idea of being able to wash his hands as often as he wanted to, and that excitement was only compounded by the fact that Ms LeAnn blows soap bubbles on you as you wash your hands.

It was so neat to focus and Jaxon and see how other people respond to his excitement and big smiles. I know he is pretty special, but it is cool to see other people realize it too.

When class was over, Ms LeAnn mentioned there were extras if anyone wanted more. We grabbed one and brought a crepe home for his brothers and Nana to try. He was so proud of his "special treat" and asked his brothers, "you like it, Wy Wy?" and, "That good special treat, yeah Luke?".

Speaking of Luke, he can't wait for his turn. He has asked about his turn to go three times today and loved wearing Jax's apron while helping me cook dinner tonight. When I made him take the apron off to go play outside, he hesitated for a few seconds before agreeing to take it off.

I love that they are excited about this as I am.

But it smells GOOD!

One day last week I noticed Jax's face was dry. It was a passing thought before something else distracted me. The next day my mom noticed it was so dry, it felt scaly. We wondered how this was possible. It has not been windy and they get baths almost every night, complete with a lotion rub down. Thankfully, after a few days of super moisture lotion, his cheeks were back to their normal smoothed state. It was fixed and forgotten. Until today.

When the boys wake up from their naps, they come in our room and veg out a bit. They like the novelty of using our bathroom to do their business followed by watching tv from our bed. Then we all cuddle a bit until they are ready to venture out and get a snack.

Today Don and I were playing with the boys on our bed and as Jax was giggling madly while rolling around, something good smelling waffed past my nose. Not being able to pin point the smell from where it was coming from, I held Jax down while sniffing out his little neck. Then I recognized the scent. It was Don's deodorant!

While trying to figure out the logistics of why Jax's face smelled like Don's deodorant, I came to the conclusion that Jax must have been playing around with it while in our bathroom. When Jax was asked about it, he became a little embarrassed. Quickly wanting to get the talk over with -and not wanting to act like it was a huge deal- I explained why he couldn't put deodorant on his face. Can you imagine how that would dry out his face?

AH-HA!

Yes, this wasn't the first time he smelled like this. Dimly a memory of this happening before a week or two ago -a couple days in a row- surfaced. The scent wasn't as strong then, so I guess I didn't think as much about it at the time.

But now Jaxon knows, no more putting on with Daddy's deodorant, no matter how much he wants to be like Daddy.

Paris

This past Friday night Don and I had our first night away from the boys since they had come home from the hospital. Nana had offered to stay at our house for the night to simplify everything and Don and I were excited to start planning our night out.

Thanks to Ed, we got to stay at the Paris hotel here in Las Vegas and it was wonderful! The room was gorgeous and there was nothing as luxurious as not being on a schedule. With no worries about what time to eat, we hung out in the hotel room until we decided to get ready and head out. Sleeping in until 9 and being able to wake up at our own pace was heavenly.

It was a much needed, much deserved night out for us. Hopefully we think to do it again before another three years sneak on by.

Someone is in TROUBLE

Yesterday I was here, only 10 feet away from the boys room when I heard one of the boys talk about someone making a mess. Figuring they emptied their book cube, I wasn't too concerned. I finished posting my things on Craigslist and decided it was snack time. As I walked to the boys room, this is what greeted me.



The pictures do not do this mess justice. You are looking at 84 shirts and 24 pairs of shorts. With random amounts of underwear and undershirts thrown in for good measure.

To put it mildly I was "ooh ooh MAD" (any Barney watcher's recognize the phrase?). Wyatt and Jaxon blamed each other and Luke hid in the other room until things quieted down. Eventually the boys helped me put it away, watching me with big eyes hoping my head wouldn't explode right there in front of them. This is on the tails of writing with pen on my bathroom counter.

We honestly thought we were lucky and the stage of doing these things were long gone. We thought we cruised past it with no incidents. Ha ha ha.

No Fear

The past few weeks I have been taking the boys to a nearby park in the early morning to let them run off some energy. We only stay a little while because soon it starts to get too hot, it is still over 100 degrees here.

They have begun to really take to climbing on the rock formations the park has. The rocks are man made, but they are hard and steep all the same. The boys have no fear of them at all. They will climb up, resorting to crawling or scooting on their rear ends when it gets too steep for them, but they still keep going. When they get as high as I will let them, they find a semi smooth area and slide sown. The drop offs for the make shift slide is about three feet up in the air, and they insist the can do it "by myself!". So I will nonchalantly put my arm out and let them know it is there in case they need it. And thankfully, they use it.

When it gets too hot and their cheeks start getting red, we walk over to the water area and cool off. Until recently, they would just wander around the edges and occasionally put their foot over a water spray coming out of the ground. Finally I told them that if they didn't get their bodies wet (and cooled down), we would have to go home. That same day they began putting their heads in the jet of water and eventually they began running though the whole play area with the carefree abandonment kids should have.

Luke doesn't run through the water area yet, but he will put his head directly in the spray of water and drink the water as it drips down his face. Wyatt and Jax love running through the water sprays and then come running to me so they can dry their face on my shirt.

You can see it here

Little Ninjas

This fall Don was in charge of picking out a class for the boys to take. Having Don choose served a few purposes. First, he needed more time with the boys. With him working overtime this summer, the boys have really become Momma's boys. When they get hurt, it is straight to Momma. If they wanted anything, it was all about "Momma do!". It was bordering on ridiculous and for a Dad who had always been very involved with his children, I knew it had to hurt a bit for the boys to pass him over like that. They needed to be alone with Don and let him handle their needs.

Second, I didn't want to sign the boys up for totnastics again. With Preschool on Mon & Wed, and cooking on Thurs, I wasn't looking forward to a fourth day of driving out to the center. Which leads me to my third reason -I just flat out need some down time in my own house. Some quiet time to relax and take a bath or clean up around the house without the boys underfoot.


So today, the boys had their first Little Ninja class.

They learned how to punch out their arms and bow, as well as punch out one arm at a time and kick out their legs. Don said the instructor would have the kids punch at her open hands in front of them, and then she would squat low for them to hit her lowered hands to practice aiming while kicking. Wyatt had misunderstood and when she squatted, he also squatted and punched instead of kicking. :)

I am impressed with what they learned today, especially with the class only being a half hour. Don said the boys behaved well and he was really proud of them. Afterwards he took them to a nearby park to let them run. Then he took them to get smoothies.

Once they got home, we all laid down and watched Nemo in hopes of a quick nap. After that, Don basically had the boys for the rest of the evening while I was cutting material. Not once did they get hurt and demand to see me. They let Don handle all their spats and boo boos, and would only occasionally feel the need to come check on what I was doing.

So to wrap it up, the boys learned some cool ninja moves, Don is quickly getting his "can do" status back with the kids and I spent about 6 hours today cutting fabric. I do believe we had a very productive day.

San Gennaro Fest

The other night we went on our traditional trip to the San Gennaro Fest. We have been going at least once a year since the boys were about 5 months old and last night we invited Leigha and Ed to join us.

We all had so much fun! The boys went on a couple car rides and towards the end of the evening all 7 of us went through the fun house complete with moving steps and a circling hallway. There were lots of booths to look at and amazingly enough,even though we didn't bring a stroller, the boys did great!

We had "authentic" Italian food and Luke was having so much fun he kept telling me, "We no go home now". The real highlight of the evening though, was the first ride they went on for the night. We were unsure of how they would react since it has been almost a year since the last time they went on one, but they did great!

So Tired

The boys had such a busy day. Wyatt had his cooking class while Jax and Luke went for a walk in the desert with Nana. They didn't have a nap since we needed them to go to bed early tonight, but they were still pooped from a late night at the San Gennaro Fest.

For the first time ever, Wyatt and Jax both fell asleep at the dinner table. We were sitting for less than 5 minutes, and both of their heads went down. At first I though Jax was pretending to fall asleep because it happened that fast. He was leaning his head and he was out. You can tell we just sat down since the majority of our dinner is still on our plates.

We ended up waking them up right after the picture and sending them outside to play in the fresh air. Poor little guys are just pooped from their busy schedule!

Cooking Class

Today was the first day of cooking class. It is six weeks long and each week I will bring a different child, giving each of them two turns. Wyatt's turn was today.

We made stuffed shells, which was a big hit with my little pasta lover! He got to taste the different cheeses and look at the shells before and after it was cooked. When he first saw the uncooked shell, he immediately brought it to his ear and told me he could hear the ocean.

After he got to mix in little parts and the stuffed shells cooked, we were able to eat our creation. It was delicious and also something I wouldn't generally think of cooking with the boys.

It was a great way to get the one on one that is really needed with the boys. Wyatt and I had fun on the way home, chatting about what we did and he kept reenacting how he "ate it all" like a hungry beast. Jaxon was very upset when I got home -he felt very left out and it took him over a half hour to settle down. But he will have his chance next week. Yummy!

9 years ago

Today is our ninth anniversary. Don happened to call me this morning at 9:09, the ninth hour and ninth minute of our ninth year being married. Coincidental, but interesting.

Don had surprised me with a beautiful flower arrangement and balloons (that the boys went crazy over!) along with a very perfect card. That was the end of our celebration for the night though, being it was my first night of class. We will continue to celebrate with a night on the strip, and our first night away from our house -boys this weekend. I am very excited and only a bit nervous. We will only be 10 minutes away, but far enough that we get to wake up after 7 am if we want to!


So after 9 short years, I am so thankful that Don is even better than I had thought possible. He has really been supportive lately, helping me to branch out and go to the MOM's dinners and start taking the stained glass class, not to mention starting a business with my mom. He is understanding of the fact that I need to regain a bit of myself and totally encourages me to breathe outside of the house, and even has the house cleaner than I left it when I get back!

He is my better half and I am so blessed to have him.

Do it by MYself!

The boys dress themselves for the most part. Writing that, I think to myself that is not true at all. They all can (usually) put on their shirts. Their heads may come out of their arm holes, but if I try to help them before they have exhausted all efforts, I get a nasty, "I do it myself!". More and more often though, they hit jackpot and get their shirts on fully by themselves. Usually easier done in tee shirts than their tank tops.

Underwear is another item we sometimes have to work on. Luke has no issues, since he still prefers the bigger blue underwear without the "penis pocket" -as we call it- in the front. Jax usually gets his underwear on without a problem, but the other day he had the waistband between his little cheeks, painfully yelping as he walked up the stairs to show me what was wrong. Wyatt still has trouble making sure his are not backwards. He lays his underwear out in front of him on the floor while talking to himself. "Penis pocket", he says as he makes sure he is laying them out in a way he can just slide them on, penis pocket on top.

So slowly, they are learning and getting into the groove of dressing themselves. They are much better at undressing themselves (Wyatt loves to be naked, ask anyone who has come to visit my mom while we are there and a mostly naked Wyatt has gone running through the room) but we are making progress.

The other day Luke walked up the stairs yelling, "Look, I did it myself". When I asked him what he did, he told me, "my socks. I did it myself".

No, you Rock!

I am not sure how the phrase, "You Rock" has become a daily saying we have at our house, but it is one that has come to mean good things. When the boys use the potty, we tell them they did a great job and the ROCK. When Wyatt goes poop, he will excitedly tell us he ROCKS! (included with his little fist shooting up into the air). When they clean up the living room, or are super helpful, I thank them and tell them that they really rock.

Really. Maybe it started with our Guitar Hero phase. Ahhh, yes I think that must have been it. At the time, we were even trying to get them to do the "rock and roll" hand gesture with the phrase. It is all coming back to me now.

Anyhow, tonight I was gone to my triplet mom dinner and Don stayed home with the boys. While they were eating dinner, Jaxon noticed his chair was rocking a bit.

Jaxon: "Daddy, my chair rocking. Look Daddy, it rocking".
Don: "Let me take a look at it buddy"

Don takes the coloring book out of underneath the chair, evening the seat back out.

Jaxon: "It not rocking anymore.
Daddy fixed my chair!
You rock, Daddy.
Daddy ROCKS!"

First day of Preschool

Today was the day. All three boys proudly sported their little animal back packs they had received for their first birthday from Gram Robinson, waiting for Nana and I to walk them into the school....

Don and I have been talking up school for the past two weeks. They were going to go back to school and see Mrs Theresa. Wyatt would ask me, "M-Mommy coming, too?" while nodding his little head up and down. I would answer that I had to go to the store while they were in school, but they would be together and Mrs Theresa would be with them. She was their teacher from the Mommy and Me Discovery class we took last spring, so it helped knowing they had a familiar face to look for.

Nana usually makes a visit over here on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but made a special stop over here this morning to see the boys off on their first day of school. While I was driving, the boys sang along to their new favorite car music, The Laurie Berkner Band while making their matchbox cars dance.


Finally, we were at school and the boys were all ready to go inside. Jax ran up the side walk and raced to be the first one to hit the automatic door button. Knowing it could have made or broken the morning for him, I was glad he had reached it before the other two. After filling out a bit of paperwork and getting the general system of signing the kids in and out of class, the teacher invited us all inside.

Nana and I helped the boys find the seats with their names on them and then showed the boys where the bathrooms are. Back at their seats we got them started on a worksheet where they could trace circles with crayons. Thankfully all three were seating by each other, so between Nana and I, we were able to give each child the help they needed without anyone feeling left out. After a minute or two, the boys were seated and tracing, so we gave them a kiss, told them we were going to the store and would be back in a little bit.

And the boys were totally fine with it. I was totally fine with it. Nana, on the other hand, was a bit nostalgic. I think it was eased into for me since the boys were familiar with their school. They have take classes there before, had the same teacher before, and this past spring, taken the gym class that I would sit outside of and wait for them. They had a great transition into this and I am so thankful that they felt comfortable enough to be able to enjoy the experience.

They all have their projects from the day along with some worksheets we can work on with them in their back packs. When the boys saw Don, they rushed to show him their backpacks and the work they did inside of them. They have not talked much about it -which cracks me up since it obviously means more to me then them- but they said they want to go back and that is all that matters.

Interview Wyatt

Wyatt is a wild man. I have noticed a wild streak showing more often, but really became apparent while I was taping this. I considered doing it over, but eh, this IS who he is today. Let's celebrate it and pray he "relaxes" a bit more when he has things to fill his days with. :)

Interview Luke

Here is Lucas. He is true to form in his video. A bit shy, doing his own thing, but a smart little boy. Luke has much to say, but takes him a bit to see if you are really interested in hearing it all.

Scrapping

So these past few months I have been working on my scrapbooking more than in the past. Mostly because I am on two design teams this past month and in the months to come. This basically means I get the products for free, in exchange for using them and showing of my layouts in the digital galleries. It is a win win. Especially since I am motivated to beat the deadlines and it pushes me to document the memories I have been meaning to preserve.

The other day I did a lift off a beautiful layout that caught my eye. I switched it around here and there, and am thrilled with what I ended up with.



This one means a lot to me since Don and I hit our first rough patch ever in the past 10 years we have been together. It lasted all of a week, but it was so disconcerting not being on the same team for that period of time. But we came up with a resolution and moved on and are stronger for it. It feels good to overcome and be reminded of all the reasons I love him.

Just thought I would share.

The new fan

We have been having issues with a fan in our room. It got so loud that it would wake us up from a sound sleep long enough to make us get up on our bed and hit it, trying to knock it back into balance -eventually waking each other up as well.

After going to three different Home Depots, we found one that took the four year old fan back and exchanged it for us at no cost. (insert excited squeal here).

The boys loved digging into this huge fan box. But not as much as Don loved all the extra help the boys offered. Eventually the five of us finished the fan and now the boys exclaim when they walk in the room, "Daddy fixed it!"

New Business

My mom and I have decided to go into our own business. Our supplies are purchased and this weekend I will be in the midst of setting up my work area in the guest room. I am excited about the prospect of bringing some income into our household and really excited to be doing something crafty with my hands. We are having name issues. Every name I come up with seems to be taken and I am trying to decide if it is wrong to add the word "the" to the beginning and add and "s" at the end to make ours separate. ie- "fuzzy bear" vs "the fuzzy bears".

We need a name so we can start our website and get business cards and such. Using such a close name is not how I would prefer to do it, but I am running out of options... what do you think? Is it all free for all since someone else is bound to have thought of "the (top 100) perfect" names first?


I will show the product after we get a few under our belt. :)

Interview Jaxon

I know I have been gone for a while, but I am hitting a bump with what to write. In the mean time I will let the boys entertain you for me.

Here is Jaxon. This is a good video of him since it shows what a happy guy he generally is. He is always a smiley boy like this and is really excited about life.

Water Park Fun

Two days this past week we have spent playing in the water at near by parks. Last week we were invited to join Nana's friend Debbie with her grand daughters at a big water play area. It is not a pool, but has many different areas of water spraying. The boys had so much fun playing with their new friends Katie and baby Laura.


Yesterday we met up with their new friends to play at another water park, but this one was a huge wading pool. It had an entry like the beach (minus the sand) and was very shallow all the way around. The boys loved it! Luke loved being so free in it without worries of it being too deep. All three would laying on their bellies and army crawl, pretending to be sharks.


We had so much fun that when Don came home, we woke the boys from their sun induced nap and went to the water park again! It was nice to have Don see the boys enjoy themselves in a different element.

First Haircut

Last night I did it. After debating about it for over a year, I picked up the clippers and finally gave all three boys their haircuts. Each of them were champs, trusting me so much they actually argued over who could be first. When they got antsy and tired of the hair falling in their face or up their nose, Don bribed them to sit still with small pieces of fruit roll ups. They did a great job, I am proud of all of us!

Preschool

For a few weeks Don and I were debating on if the boys should start preschool yet. We feel that since they just turned three, it wasn't high priority on our list yet. Preschool seems too old for the boys. Then we found out the way preschool works is if you are not enrolled in August, you couldn't exactly just sign up and come in in January. The currently enrolled children get first chance of coming back, so you have to be on a wait list and hope some drops out. In our case, three someones would have to drop out.

Then we began to have second thoughts. No preschool until next August? The boys will be four by then, but will they get bored at home for the next year? Our house is getting smaller every day. I know they are restless and I know the they are loving the classroom environment from the other classes we have been to. Then we got hit with a road block, and found out the boys would have to be potty trained. Well, that marked us out for good. After our disastrous attempt at potty training, I wasn't about to force the issue again. It just wasn't in the cards for us. Days after we decided we would have to wait until next year, the boys were basically potty trained.

So this morning (at 6:00am no less) was the online registration for preschool. It is very competitive and only about 12 spots open, which I needed to reserve 3 for us. At 5:51 I began compulsively refreshing the page to see if registration was open yet. Refresh. Refresh. refreshrefreshrefresh. Seriously. For 10 minutes straight. When the clock hit 6:01, I could feel my heart beating, wondering, it is 6:01! What kind of #$%^ game are they pulling? Worrying the new page was stuck, I added the Alt button to my refresh regimen. Refresh.refresh.refresh. Finally at 6:02, the site was open!

Quickly, as fast as my shaking finger would let me, I type in all the magic numbers to sign into my account. Then even faster, over to the preschool class. Holy crap, only 8 spaces left in. Add to basket, add to basket. Wyatt. 6 spaces left! Add to basket add to basket. Jaxon. 5 spaces left! Crap! Add to basket, Laura. Shoot! Argh, I clicked on the wrong name! Lucas, click on check out.

After I got my credit card info typed in I sat there all bug eyed and the suspense of the processing page was too much to bare. Finally the heavens opened up on me and the screen said my transaction was complete!

So as of 6:04 this morning, the boys are going to preschool 2 hours a day, twice a week! Woo hoo! I feel like jumping around waving my arms in the air like Rocky after he finished his run.

Preschool, here we come!

Life is a blur

I am still here, and we all are doing great, just been busy. I try to think of something to write about and realize I can barely remember what we did today, let alone yesterday. No pictures to show for it either.

We have been trucking along with our free Tuesday movies at Regal cinemas. Monday morning I took the kids to my moms house and stayed until 7pm. For the first time ever, the boys skipped their nap. very liberating and wow, was it nice to have them fall asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. Not like tonight when Jax caome out twice because he "had to go potty". Five minutes apart.

Tomorrow calls for a fun day at the water park with Nana's friends, the same ones we played with Monday at my moms house. All the kids played downstairs with a sitter while all the adults went upstairs and did crafty things. Surprisingly, the boys did really well, and it was fun to hear them being kept busy by someone other than my mom, myself or Don.

I feel like my to do list is getting longer everyday. Laundry to be done, vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms (a daily chore now that we are potty trained, but their aim could use some help), and there is so much to scrap. Everything all sits unfinished, as only about 10% of my list is getting done.

But the boys are happy, Don and I are happy and life is good. At least the parts of it that I remember.

Baseball

After the boys started playing tee-ball with my candlestick holder, Don and I decided it was time to teach the boys about baseball. Sure, they had played it on the Wii -but they had never before actually hit a real ball with a real bat.

We took out the baseball bats, balls and tee ball stand they had gotten at their birthday party and had a picnic dinner at the park. Our dog, Belle was so perfect on this outing since she is a master ball fetcher. The boys would take turns placing their balls on the tee and swinging away. They did really well for their first time, actually managing to hit the balls without knocking down the tee every time.

Here is a video of Wyatt and Luke taking turns. Keep in mind this is the first time they have ever played on a tee. Do you hear Jax cheering them on?


After they had their fill of pizza and baseball, we played in the playground for a bit. After taking care of our dog, Belle, I turned around and saw Don encouraging Wyatt to run by the swings, while his brothers were swinging! Thinking I had to be having a nightmare, I took a video to be sure. Listen to Don calling Wyatt "Frogger" and also be sure to notice that Luke and Jaxon are in big kid swings! Look how high they like to go!

Sleepy Boys

Since they have been in toddler beds, Jax has taken to cuddling with Luke at night. Sometimes I wake late at night or very early in the morning to Luke tiredly telling him, "My blanket, Jax! That's mine!". And on those occasions I will get up and put Jax back in his bed. With those few exceptions aside, the boys really love to sleep in the same bed.

A few nights ago, we saw that Wyatt was joining their party. Jax is usually across the bottom of Luke's bed, and Luke will be crunched at the top of the bed. This particular night, Luke had his head at the foot of the bed by Jax's and Wyatt was upside down in his bed so his head would be close to his brothers. The following night, Wyatt made to move to Luke's bed.

This has lead to some late night giggling, but it is sweet to hear and usually we don't mind. On the nights we need them to go to sleep quickly, one of us will stay in their room for a few minutes to make sure they are quiet before we leave the room. And of course there has been many a nights that we have to go in and restore order with threats of taking away the cars they are sleeping with or separating them and sleeping in the baby bed (this still works even though we no longer have a crib up!).

Either way, I think it is sweet that they like to stay so close, even in the wee hours when they would be so much more comfortable with their own space in their own beds. They are so lucky to have each other.

Typical Day

Today we had a typical summer day.

First thing this morning I woke up to both Don and Wyatt in bed with me. Wyatt must have snuck in early in the morning, but thankfully he knows to close his bedroom door when he sneaks out, so the morning sun doesn't wake his brothers. About ten minutes after I noticed Wyatt was in our bed, I felt Jaxon slowly climbing into my side of the bed. Quickly I tucked him under my arm, telling him it was still "night-night time". Jax quietly used my arms and face as a road for his Doc Hudson and when I finally realized he was not going to go back to sleep, I told him he may go downstairs and play quietly.

Soon Wyatt stopped snoring and woke up. He wakes up quickly, as soon as his eyes pop open, he is going 60 miles an hour. Luke was still sleeping in their room and Don opened his door to slowly wake him up. Once everyone was up and ready, we headed over for breakfast at Einstein Bagels.

After the boys "help" Don get our breakfast and orange juice to the table, it is time to eat! I get a spinach bacon panini that I split with the boys. Jax ends up having most of their half while Luke and Wyatt tear into their Asiago bagels covered with cream cheese. Sometimes we take this over and have breakfast with Nana and Pops as well, but not today. We have errands to run.

After a few stops, the boys are asking about Nana and Pops so we decide it is a beautiful day for a swim. They just swam yesterday at Brain and Charlies birthday party (the party was so much fun, too!), but it is so hot out and swimming sounds like fun.

So over to Nana's we go. Wyatt's eyes get big and his head is nodding yes when he asks Nana, "You go swimming too, Nana?". How could she say no to that? So in she comes with us.

Luke is getting much braver in the pool, even holding his head back in the waterfall to let his hair get wet. Sometime he puts his mouth in the water to drink or try to blow bubbles. I am not sure which he is doing. Could be both. :) He likes to jump in from the side of the pool, but tells you to "come closer, closer" and has to be practically holding your hands as he jumps in. Once he is in, he likes to hold on to us while kicking to makes us pull him around like he is a speed boat.

Wyatt is still making more of an effort to not swim, than he does to learn how to swim, but he is still having fun. He likes it if I take his arms and dance around in the water with him while singing the alphabet or jump up and down so he can feel the water rush up against him and then drop back down. He also jumps in from the sides to us when we say the first couple lines of the Humpty Dumpty rhyme, making his jump when we say, "Humpty Dumpty had a great FALL!".

Jaxon is a wild man in the pool. But I think that surprises no one. He likes to jump in from the high side of the pool, with his arms and legs spread open in a huge belly flop position, but with the biggest smile on his face while he does it. Jax is able to hold on to the side of the pool with both hands and walk his hands around the entire pool -telling us all the while, "I be careful!".

Nana made the boys some pot stickers and tater tots in the shapes of letters. When they were done eating it was time to go home. The boys are still napping (3 hours later) but I know they have had a busy day and will be getting up soon. It has been a great day and I hope we have many more like this before the summer is over.

Trained

Do you know what Jax is doing?


USING THE TOILET!

That's right, we are potty trained! Not sure how it happened without a full blown potty training boot camp again, but it just happened. One day about a week and half ago, I decided it was time to try Luke in underwear again. I asked him if he'd like to wear underwear or a diaper. He decided underwear. His brothers heard and decided they wanted underwear also.

We have plain blue potty training underwear and Disney character underwear and the deal was if they could keep their blue underwear clean and dry all morning or evening, the next shift (after bed or naps) they could wear the Disney ones. By the first evening, two had Disney underwear and the last one caught up the next day.

We have had a couple accidents, but not many at all. 95% of the time they are waking dry from naps as well, so I think we are almost all the way there.

I would like to thank the makers of M&M peanut candies as I know the motivation of 2 or 3 little morsels was enough to make them run to the bathroom when they needed a sugar fix. Bob the Builder, who supplied the cooshie potty seat upstairs. Also, I can't forget Mr. Licorice, who the boys loved as their reward for their um, number 2 acts. And lastly, The Cool Sippy Cups, who didn't complain once that we kept them put away during the first week of training. What a great team!