A few little things...

Big Brother has started to say a few things that really crack us up.  I wanted to make sure that I got some of them on the blog before he stopped doing them and before I forgot.

1.  He calls sandwiches shammits.  If you aren't listening correctly it really sounds like a not so nice word for a 3 year-old to say.
2.  If there is food on his plate that he doesn't particularly like (which, let's face it is pretty much everything or so it seems), it is "pretend food" and should not be eaten because it is not real.
3.  If you ask him if he wants to do something and the answer is no --- "nope, no thank you mommy, no thank you" is the response you will get almost every single time.  At least he is nice about it.
4.  He thinks baby sister is coming from Texas.  Every time we talk about her he asks when we are going to TX to get her.
5.  His favorite lollipop is the "wheel barrow lollipop".  Not sure which one that is?  Neither was I until I looked at the different pops in the bag.  It is rootbeer.  I have never met a kid who really even liked the brown lollipops, much less considered that flavor to be a favorite!

Farm Trip

Have I mentioned that we have been having the nicest August weather-wise ever?!?!  I don't ever remember August being this nice here, but this year we have really lucked out.  The boys and I enjoyed several outdoor picnics last week.  One day we went out to the farm with some friends of ours and let the  kids run and play and see all the animals they cared to see.  Big Brother was really interested in poop this particular day.  The entire drive to the farm he asked me if different animals went poop and what it looked like.  We spent part of our time at the farm in search of cow, horse, chicken and sheep poop.  Ahhh the fun of little boys!

he loves riding the tractors! 

little brother and his friend Miss G, they were so cute and held hands and walked around the farm.  :)

Picnic Lunch

Last week I thought it might be fun for the boys if we went and had a picnic lunch with their Daddy in the middle of the week.  We brought him lunch, played for a little while and enjoyed the beautiful day that it was!  The boys really enjoyed seeing their Daddy while he would have normally been working and the Mr. really enjoyed getting a break from work for a bit.  This is definitely something we will have to do again!

he loved that they had a sandbox at the playground! 

Morning Fun

The boys love to watch TV on my bed while I get ready in the morning.  I have been trying to document more of our every day lives, especially now since our normal routine will be changing up here pretty soon!  The other morning while the boys were "watching" Lightning McQueen, I decided to snap a few pictures.  Things can go from calm and peaceful here to two seconds later loud and rowdy.  I love being a mom of boys and love watching these two guys play together.

watching Lightning McQueen 

now it's time to get crazy!!

Everyday Fun

One of the things we have been doing a lot lately is just spending as much family time as possible.  We are really trying to enjoy and savor each moment with two children as possible.  The weather has been really cooperative as well and we have been able to spend lots and lots of time outside!  The boys love our evening walks and love going to different neighborhood playgrounds every evening.  

wagon rides -- this thing is HEAVY!!

a new favorite -- basketball!!!

it had been years since the Mr. and I played b-ball.  We had so much fun!

ooh Daddy has ups! 

Joy!

his favorite way to do the big boy swing

oh yes, I played basketball too.  I even stayed and shot hoops while the kids went to the playground.  I am sure it was a sight to see! 

Our Trip to the Aquarium

Last weekend we took the boys to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  We hadn't been out there in quite a long time and we knew that they would really enjoy it.  One of the nice things about the aquarium is that there is also a dolphin show that you can attend.  The boys really seemed to enjoy watching the dolphins jump out of the water and splash some of the audience members.  You can spend as much or as little time as you like checking out all of the different fish and birds that they have there.  We didn't actually get to spend as much time there as we would have liked (our dolphin show was at a bad time) and we were ready for lunch and figured we wouldn't be back.  Anyway -- we had a great time and enjoyed spending a fun day together!

he loved the bubble tubes!

I love watching them -- they were in awe

he found Nemo! 

be still my heart - I love these men!!!

this was a mandatory shot as I have a photograph of me pregnant with each child and this fish.  

I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet...

So the other day while I was in the middle of writing a blog post, I felt a little tremor.  At first I thought that I was having some sort of convulsion.  Then I noticed the entire bed was shaking.  Since the boys were napping, my first thought was that one of them was up, shaking my bed and I just didn't hear them come into the room.  Then I see the rest of the furniture in the room shaking like crazy and it hit me -- OMG Earthquake!!! What the heck am I supposed to do when there is an earthquake?!?!  Doorway, right?  But I have 2 kids and I don't exactly move fast at 38 weeks pregnant!  The shaking stops and the boys were fine -- they woke up from all the shaking, which is saying a lot because they can sleep through pretty much anything.  They say it was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake, which may not seem like much, but to those of us who have never experienced an earthquake, it was a lot -- and SCARY!  The Mr. was working in the big city that day and his first thought was that there was an attack.  He didn't think it was his building but nearby.  I cannot imagine how scared so many people were at first.  Luckily, it appears that everyone was safe and there were no major injuries or damages.

Next up -- Hurricane Irene.  I guess we don't get a break around here this week!

Our Day With Grandpa J!

My dad recently had the opportunity to do some work in this area.  He was only here for a couple of weeks and only had one day off.  He chose to spend his one day off the best way possible, with us!  The boys were beyond excited about Grandpa J coming to stay at our house.  They got his bed all ready and then proceeded to jump on it like crazy!  They really had a blast.  Grandpa J arrived after they were already in bed but as soon as the boys were up for the day so was their Grandpa.  We started the day off with a nice hearty breakfast, then went to the store for a new toy, to the playground, out to lunch, home for naps, cooked dinner on the grill (little brother even devoured a steak), made some delicious brownie sundaes, went to another playground and then capped off the night with a fireworks show of our own.  I don't think we could have had a better day!!!  We really enjoyed our visit and can't wait to see Grandpa J again! 

Big Bro requested strawberry ice cream (his favorite)

big boy doing things on the playground like his big bro!

way more fun to slide on your belly!

almost there! 

looking for his bubba - "Dy-Annnnnn"