who's who at 4 months?

Can you figure out who is who?  

backyard swing

Because of the placement of trees in our back yard - three HUGE ones- we've decided that a swing set  just won't fit. :(  bummer.  I have fun memories of playing on the swing set in our back yard.  I remember my sister, the neighbor kids and I spent lots of time on it so I'm sad that we don't have room for one at our house, but I did find a Little Tikes tree swing on clearance last fall and decided it was a must have.  We hung it up on one of the trees in the yard in the fall but it was a bit tricky for the boys. I'm excited to say that they have both mastered it this spring!  Levi seems to enjoy it just a bit more than Isaiah, but they both have fun on it. 

This is how several late afternoons have looked, me pushing Levi and Isaiah holding the baby.  Isaiah is such a good big, big brother.  He is so helpful with the baby and is almost always very happy to hold him when I need to get something done using both arms since Titus still insists on being held or entertained most of the time!

Egg Hunt #1

I caught word of a huge Easter Egg hunt at a local church and thought it would be a fun place to take the kids.  The boys were so excited on that Saturday morning when I told them where we were going.  Levi kept going on and on about the "Easter party."  It was a crazy event and so very crowded, but we did have a great time.  The boys each participated in their own egg hunts Levi in the 3 and under group and Isaiah in the 5-7 years group.  Levi was a little hesitant to what in the world was going on and really didn't seem to care how many eggs he picked up, in fact, I had to encourage him to actually pick them up.  Isaiah was a little more into picking up the eggs, but wanted to open them while he was going to make sure he got the eggs he wanted!  I was able to get him to stop worrying about that and just get some.  Isaiah even found a golden egg (Levi didn't and didn't even seem to care!).  Each boy stood in the stands while the other child hunted and Titus slept in the stroller - that worked out pretty good!  Other than the hunt we also got to look at and hold (Isaiah only, Levi didn't want to) baby bunnies, jump in the bouncy house and the bouncy slide (Levi once again cut in front of everyone and helped himself to the slide!! naughty boy!).  We met up with our friends Erica, Caleb and Elise and ran into Grandma Cindy, Dakota and Khia but only for a second when we lost them in the crowd!  It was a crazy, fun Easter party! I'm sure my boys will want to go again next year!!

baby toys

I got the baby toys out and put them in a bucket a month or so after Titus was born.  They really just sat there until about 3 weeks ago Isaiah decided that Titus (who we all refer to as TyTy or Ti-tee now :)) needed to play with them.  They looked so sweet sitting together and playing.  As the days go by, Titus gets more and more interested in the toys.  He enjoys holding on to things - especially my hair - ouch!  These days and months keep flying by!

by the way - isn't the 2001 teal sleeper great? haha.  Got that at a garage sale before Isaiah was born! :)

happy bath time!

This winter bath time was like pulling teeth at our house.  Isaiah decided that he just got way too cold when he got out of the bath and he absolutely hated baths and all out refused to take them.  It was a awful struggle to get him in the tub ALL winter long.  Of course Levi decided to agree with Isaiah and began to hate baths shortly after him.  Once I finally got them in they enjoyed them as always (they still bathe together) and spent 20-45 minutes playing together in the tub, but the crying/fussing/whining began as soon as they were tired of the tub or it was bedtime and I had to get them out - "I'm too cold" or "It's way too freezing" and other complaints came.  (Our bathroom even has a heater attached to the fan and I'd turn that on and get the bathroom VERY warm- didn't help!)  It was NOT any fun for anyone - and I will admit my boys got fewer baths this winter than I would have liked, but sometimes you do what you do to get by, right?  (Don't worry they weren't ever stinky! haha)  Along with the big boys hating the bath, the baby hated it too so he ended up showering with me so we could at least get through his without tears.  Well, a month ago or so we decided to try the baby bath again and he liked it!  In fact he smiled through most of it!  The boys were happy to be in there with him too - but of course whined all the way out of the tub.  

I'm happy to say that last night we did do baths and I'm pretty sure it was the first time since at least November that there weren't complaints of being too cold - hooray for warmer weather! :)  Maybe we are in the clear and will go back to loving our baths?  I sure hope so because as dirty as these boys get playing outside they are going to need to start the nightly bath routine again!

box house

Mark got several very big boxes from a local redemption center as he was working on his new laser tag course.  A few of the boxes made it to our garage and the kids decided to claim them as their new toys :)  Luckily Mark was okay with this and helped them create a little fort.  They had fun in this house for several days and went all out and painted it.  What fun!

However, it is now ignored in our garage and makes it a tight squeeze to get the baby seat in and out of the van...we may have to have one more fun day with this and say goodbye! :)

giggles

Shortly after the first smiles came the first giggles.  The below pictures were taken on March 19 about the time the giggles started.  He is so sweet and cute when he giggles.  Notice the big dimple you can see when he smiles :)  It is starting to appear on the other side too.  He definitely has his very own appearance!  He's such a happy little boy (when he is held and given attention that is!:) haha), so easy to love!

Saint Patrick's Day -- Elise's party.

I'm not really sure what Saint Patrick's day is all about, but it is kind of fun to wear green or catch someone who isn't - especially for a 3 & 5 year old.  The night before the boys both made sure to wear green pajamas so that when they woke up they'd have green on right away :)   We were definitely a green family that day.   Unfortunately the sun made this picture not so good and the boys were exactly the same amount of un-excited about getting a picture taken as they were about wearing green!

baby made sure to have his green on too :)

 We spent the day in North Liberty celebrating this little lady...

 who turned one a few days before.  Hard to believe that a whole year came and went by!  We walked to the park - only to leave about 5 minutes later because 3 of the 5 children had to go potty (and the other 2 are in diapers!) and we never made it back!  

We did, however, spend hours outside and even made a trip around the block.  I think just about every toy in the house was played with - or at least dumped out at some point... What a fun day with the family!

sandbox

  A few times in the middle of March Levi had asked if we could get the sandbox out, but I'd pretty much just avoided it.  Two years ago we had the sandbox out and it was a mess - the boys ended up making big piles of sand all over the yard and the grass all around the box was ruined so we just never got it out last year.  (Not that the kids didn't ask -- one of them even told our doctor at their check-up we hadn't gotten it out for the year -- and that was in August or September, haha). Well, one night in the middle of March my mom was watching the boys so Titus and I could make it to a mom's night out with some girlfriends of mine while Mark worked.  And what do you suppose Levi did?  He asked grandma if they could get the sandbox out as I was trying to scurry out the door :) My mom asked if it would be okay and I figured, it's pretty much inevitable and this would get me out of doing the work so I said, "sure!"  and when I got home they had the sandbox out and full!!  Levi has LOVED it for these past few weeks and has spent lots of time all on his own enjoying it and more time with Isaiah and Caiden too.  So I'm glad we decided to get it out this year - and I think the new spot on the pavement will be better - Thanks mom for taking on this one for me! 

and yes, this is a snowboot out in the middle of the yard when it is shorts and t-shirt weather - Levi can't give up his boats just yet!  and pay no attention to the huge crack in our concrete -- we have some major work that needs to be done with our steps -- yikes!

Spring Break!

So I was planning this post all of spring break and even the weeks after I still remembered what went on each day, but now my mind has slipped me so.... he's a half written post about what spring break looked like around here! :)

Isaiah was off school for a week of spring break the middle of March.  I tried to do something just a little special or at least out of the house for each day of break.

Sunday:
We went to see the movie Puss in Boats at our local movie theater.  Every Saturday and Sunday during the colder months our theater has a program called Frosty Flicks and play a relatively recent kids movie for just $2/person.  We hadn't gone all season until the Sunday of spring break.  The boys loved the movie and thought it was fun to go to the movies (we don't go very often!) and Titus enjoyed his first theater experience! :)  Mark was working and I figured it was a family friendly environment so baby came along.  He was a bit wiggly in the middle, but all and all no one seemed to notice or care.

Monday:  ??

Tuesday: The boys, my mom, Caiden and I spent the afternoon at Hartman Reserve.  We walked along all sorts of trails and then landed back at River Hills School to play at the playground.  The weather was beautiful - a perfect day to spend all afternoon outside! Again.

Thursday:  We spent another beautiful day outside at Southdale Elementary school park.  The boys love this park and are always excited to go.  Titus slept through it and I got to sit and enjoy the sun!  We then headed home to spent the rest of the afternoon  playing in the driveway!

Friday: The weather was still amazing!  Isaiah and I colored a picture together outside while Levi played in the front yard.  A much less eventful day, but still wonderful all the same!