Tiger Cub Scout

Robert recently joined the cub scouts.

 

 He really enjoys it and several of his classmates are in his den.

 

 

Tonight, I took him to our first den meeting.  The theme was communication, so we started off by playing a version of the game telephone.  You know, where the first child whispers something to the next, who it turn whispers it to the next child, etc... until you reach the end and find out the message has changed.

For the first round, the message was "Thomas the turtle turns 29 this Tuesday".  The boys excitedly shared the secret message until it finally reached the last boy.  When the last boy was asked what the message was, he replied "Doody Head".  Tried it again with a second secret message and we got the same result.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this is what happens when you get a group of 6 year old boys together.

Sunday morning treat

My church offers cookies and juice after the mass each Sunday, which is great because it helps my boys behave in mass.  I am constantly whispering in their ears during mass: "Knock it off or you won't get a cookie and juice afterwards." It usually works.

This morning, 3 yr old Jack had trouble behaving and lost his juice privilege but was allowed a cookie.

After mass, we were outside with our cookies when Robert took Jack's cookie, thinking he wasn't allowed to have it.  Of course, this resulted in tears and screams.  The priest came over and asked Jack what was wrong.  He walked Jack back over to the cookies and gave him four.  Then he led him to the church office where they have a huge basket of lollipops.  Jack silently followed him and picked one out. 

When we got back outside, Grandma Maureen asked him who gave him the lollipop.

Jack looked at her with big eyes, in awe, and said "God!"

Happy 4th of July

We started the day off with Robert's swim practice....

Then we got the kids dressed for the 4th of July parade

Robert rode in the swim team's truck, filled with water. 

They threw candy to the kids and splashed water on everyone.

And Jack rode his bike behind the truck, with me and Alex.

After spending the rest of the day at the pool, we had a fun evening of shooting

off fireworks with our neighbors.  Happy 4th of July!

I'm hiding my car keys

Being the little brother, Jack seems to think he can do anything his big brother can do.  For example, Jack is now jumping off the high dive at our pool.  At age 3.

His daddy was jumping off the high dive during break with another dad, trying to splash the kids on the side of the pool.  Somehow, Jack climbed up the high dive unnoticed until he was standing at the end of the board.  All the kids at the pool cheered him on and so Jack jumped.  It was only 2 weeks ago where he refused to get his face in the water.  Now he is jumping off the diving boards and dog paddling to the side.

Jack also tries to sneak sips of my Coke when I'm not looking.  He is constantly asking me for his own soda.  The other day we had this conversation (oh, and Jack now INSISTS that everyone call him Big Boy):

ME:  How old are you?

BIG BOY: I'm three!

ME: Well, I'm sorry, but three year olds cannot drink soda.

BIG BOY:  I'M NOT THREE!  I'M SIXTEEN!  I can also drive.  I just have to put your keys in the ignition and turn them.


OK, now that worries me.  I think we are going to have to hide the car keys from now on so I won't find my minivan driven into the front of my house.

California

Jack and I flew to California to spend time with cousins Ryan and Ellie while my sister gave birth in the hospital.  She gave birth to a beautiful, perfect little girl named Lauren.

We had lots of fun.  First, we headed to Hermosa Beach:

Ryan and Jack loved to run from the waves.

Then, we played with rocket balloons and Ryan's favorite, the stomp rocket

Jack was very excited to meet baby Lauren.  He insisted that he was going to take Lauren home with us.  I guess I didn't explain our purpose of coming to CA and he assumed it was to get a baby.

 A kiss for cousin Lauren

Baby Lauren with her Aunt Colleen

Not only did we have fun visiting family and meeting the new baby, Jack also became potty trained.  Finally. When we got to CA, I took his pullups off and told him that nobody wears them in CA.  Surprisingly, it worked and he remained potty trained even after we left CA.



Ladies Man

Last week, a friend emailed to tell me that Robert told her daughter that he wanted to marry her (they are in the same kindergarten class).  Very cute, I know. 

However, I didn't have the heart to tell her that it is just his line he uses on all the girls.  He tells them what they want to hear, and apparently 5 year old girls want a proposal.  Robert has agreed to marry most of the little girls in our neighborhood and a handful of other girls in his class.

The first time this happened, he was about 3 1/2 yrs old.  He was over at his friend Tess's house for dinner.

ROBERT:  Tess, I'm going to marry you one day

TESS:  Ummmmmmm

ROBERT:  We're going to get married!

TESS:  Well, I'm not sure...

ROBERT:  Yes, we are!

TESS:  I'm not sure if you're the one.

ROBERT (getting agitated):  Yes, Tess, we will get married and you are going to have a baby in your belly!


He has since moved on to wanting to marry Tess's older sister.  I can tell we're going to have a lot of problems when Robert is old enough to date.

Monkey Butt

Monkey Butt is a new word in our house these days. 

To encourage Jack with potty training, we bought some cute monkey underwear from Target.  He loves pulling his pants down, sticking his butt out and yelling Monkey Butt.  He also likes to stick his rear end in my face and insist I take another picture of him with my iphone.

Not only that, he is insisting I call him Monkey Butt instead of his usual nickname, Baby Jack.

Normally, Monkey Butt is the kind of word that I would not allow my boys to use in our house.  But, Jack is 3 and I am so desperate for him to finish potty training.  So, I think I'll let it slide for now.

I feel like I need to document this so when Jack is a teenager and wondering why his nickname is Monkey Butt, he'll be able to see that he gave himself the nickname.

(I'm not sure why blogger is displaying my photo sideways.)

New Year's Resolutions

At dinner, we were talking about resolutions and trying to come up with one resolution each.  Alex and I mentioned the usual:  lose 10 pounds, stop biting nails, stop chewing gum, etc...  Pretty boring stuff.

Last year my resolution was to drink more beer.  I didn't do too well with that one.  We still have beer in our fridge from 2006.

Robert says "I am going to stop being a sassy child".  I like that resolution!

Robert then asks Jack what his resolution will be.  Jack pauses and you can see him thinking it over in his head.  He then says "I am going to start drinking soda!".  

Not going to happen, little man.  But I give him props for trying.

Kids' Christmas Party

Last night, we hosted a small Christmas party for the kids in our neighborhood.

In the morning, I dropped a fire extinguisher on my bare foot.  I actually didn't drop it; it fell from on top of the fridge.  As I sat on the floor moaning in pain, Jack came over, gave me an ice pack and told me I should go to the hospital.  Robert agreed, but added that I absolutely cannot go until after the Christmas party that evening.  Fortunately, I only have three badly bruised toes and did not have to go to the hospital.  The Christmas party was on!

Pure chaos.  That is the best way to describe the party.  Fortunately, friends Meghan and Ben stayed and helped out.  I did manage to take a few photos:

The kids devoured our pathetic looking gingerbread house.  I'm glad it's gone!  Everytime I looked at it, it reminded me how I will never measure up to Martha Stewart.

  Maddie and Robert eating the gingerbread house

Everyone made a snowman decoration to hang on a tree or put on their window.

Meghan and Keira

Good morning!

Santa

I thought I'd step it up this year and have the boys actually dressed nice in matching red/green plaid shirts for the photos.  I was so proud of Jack for not crying or running away from Santa.  And, he actually spoke to Santa for once.  It was just the word "yellow" to indicate which lollipop he wanted, but it's a start.  While he made big improvements over previous visits to Santa, you can tell by the photo that he isn't very happy being forced to sit on Santa's lap.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The Christmas Tree is up! 

I finally won and we got a fake tree.  At first Alex and Robert were opposed, but now that it is decorated they have come around and love our new tree.

                                                 

In our house, Christmas season is also the time for crafts...

 Worst Gingerbread House ever! 

I love to bake but I hate to decorate.  I am not an artist.  Robert and I did this together, but I am the one who did the icing.  Oh well, the boys LOVE the house because of all the candy.

Worst Handprint Tree ever.

I think I am going to have to paint over this and try again.

Here are some Fred the Elf pictures from this week:

Fred is wearing Robert's shoes

Fred replaced our family photos with his own.

Riding a dinosaur

Playing a game of bowling on our wii.  Surprisingly, Fred is really good. 

 He bowled a few strikes.  Robert was very impressed!

Pictures from the last few weeks

I've been meaning to post these pictures on the blog for a while but was just too busy.   Here are some pictures from the fall season:

We had beautiful weather this past weekend, so we took a trip to the zoo.  The boys' favorite part is the playground they have at the zoo; not the animals.  Jack was disappointed the pigs weren't at the kids' farm.  He is obsessed with pigs ever since watching Charlotte's Web.

Having a snack with the neighborhood friends

Robert's swim lesson.  He has really improved the last few weeks with his arm strokes for the crawl. 

Family came to visit for my big 40th birthday.  This is the only picture I have.  :(  Hopefully, my sister will send me her copies soon!  Here is a picture my sister holding Ellie, Ryan, Robert on the phone, Alex and Jack.  Every day Jack tells me how much he misses his cousins.

Fred the Elf returns!

Fred the Elf arrives each year after Thanksgiving.  He watches the boys during the day and flies home to Santa at night to report back.  Robert was very excited to see Fred return.  He thought it was hilarious that Fred the Elf was fishing for goldfish in our toilet.

Jack, on the other hand, does not like Fred the Elf at all.  As I was telling him the story on how Fred tells Santa if he's been a good boy or not, he had a look on his face that read "Oh crap, I'm in big trouble!"  Jack is a typical rowdy younger brother and he does have reason to be concerned.  Hopefully, Fred will do his job and keep Jack in line these next few weeks.

Thanksgiving 2011

The boys did their Thankful Tree again this year for Thanksgiving. 

Here is Jack's:

And Robert's tree....

...notice that he is thankful for GIRLS!

The week before Thanksgiving, I was tasked with making pilgrim costumes for Robert's kindergarten class.  Long story short:  I missed Back to School night and was volunteered to be room mom.  While I'm not very crafty, I do admit that the costumes didn't turn out so bad and I enjoyed helping his class with their Thanksgiving Feast.

 Robert was happy to wear his again to Thanksgiving dinner:

We had a delicious dinner at Grandma and GrandDad's home. 

After dinner, it was time for the boys to beat up their uncles.

Jack and Uncle Brent

The boys with Uncle Tim

 And, some brotherly love:

The boys with their GrandDad

Primal Mud Run

My friend Shannon and I ran in the Primal Mud Run this morning in Warrenton.  It is basically a 4 mile obstacle course. 

We had to scale big walls, wade through freezing cold creeks while carrying a heavy sandbag, but the most fun part was sliding down a huge Slip-N-Slide down a mountain (well, it was fun until it dumped you into chest-deep ice cold water).  And, since it was a mud run, we had to army crawl through mud underneath barbed wire. 

The experience was very cold but lots and lots of fun. 

I'm trying to talk Alex into running it next year with me, but he tells me that none of that sounds like any fun.  I have a year to try to change his mind; I think I can do it.  :)

Super Mario Brothers

Robert had been telling me for weeks that he wanted to be Luigi for Halloween (from his favorite Wii video game).  So I went to Target and was very proud of myself for grabbing the very last Luigi costume, as well as an evil Mario costume for Jack.  Moments before we left for our annual neighborhood potluck, Robert tells me he wants to dress as a Power Ranger like he did last year.  As you can see from the pictures, I said 'no way!'.

Super Mario Brothers

Keira found it more comfortable to be in her stroller during the potluck.

Jack and his friend Drew

Max.  The cupcakes were delicious!

Friends Keira, Jack and Drew hanging out at the potluck

Who knew Luigi had such big muscles?

And the most difficult photo to take:  all the kids in the neighborhood

Jack's 3rd Birthday Party

Ever since Robert's birthday, Jack has been telling me EVERY DAY that he wants his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with Dora cupcakes.  So, I baked Dora cupcakes last night:

...and we went to Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday party.  His actual birthday is this weekend but there is no way I'm going to Chuck E. Cheese on a busy weekend.

Jack and Hayden playing air hockey:

Maggie and Keira.  They look adorable in the same outfit, but it wasn't planned:

 Brauna and Hayden:

 Brady and Drew dancing:

Max and Jack

 

Christina and Jack.  I think she was disappointed Robert wasn't there.

 After play time, we had pizza

Then, Jack got to meet Chuck E. Cheese in person!

All the kids were excited to meet him, except Keira

 Jack blew out the candle. 

These are the only kids willing to leave their Dora cupcakes on their plate and come up for a picture with Chuck E. Cheese: