Joey's Beach Birthday

lSharks mouth gift shop

The USS Lexington--a retired air craft carrier docked along the beach. It was so fun to sit on the huge anchor, walk through the ship, see the airplanes, and push all the buttons in the hands on cockpit!

walking the plank

Those cute "Top Gun boys!"

All the ladders going from level to level

Two cute captains

Kimball steering the ship. He was convinced it was really a yo-yo

The huge ropes on the back of the ship

After dinner at Joe's Crab Shack we took the boys to an amazing park on the beach. They loved climbing in,over, on top of, and around everything.

Then we took our tired family back to the hotel. The boys wer so excited to sleep in a hotel. They couldn't stop jumping from bed to bed. We finally got them to sleep at 10 and Peter and I watched Napoleon Dynamite on the DVD player. Neither of us got much sleep because we thought it would be good for us to each sleep with one of the boys. That was a bad idea. We got poked and kicked all night. Next time we'll let the wild sleepers share a bed and we'll sleep in peace :) Joey was lying on the ironing board bed extender I made to keep Kimball from crashing on the floor all night.

The next morning we headed for the beach. We all had a blast findng sea snails and playing in the sand and water, and jumping waves in the ocean.

It was such a wonderful weekend! It was so sweet to see the pure childhood joy the boys had doing such simple things. It was great to have a mini vacation with just our little family!

Joey's preschool graduation hat. He wasn't able to be in the program because we were flying back from UT that day.

Sweet Joy

Today Kimball and I went grocery shopping while Joey was at preschool. Kimball is insistent on pushing the cart completely unassisted. He goes nuts when I even lightly touch the cart to guide it away from objects/people. He immediately pushes my hand away and tries to reassure me by saying, "I'm not gonna crash mom."

By the end the cart is really heavy and he struggles with all his might just to keep it moving forward, standing on his tippy toes to see over the top. Yet he still refuses even a little help. I am afraid people will think I'm making him do it. I put my hand on the cart when I see people looking at us so they can see him push my hand away and know I'm not abusing him--he's not really my midget slave :) But his fierce independence and willpower make me smile. I know they are traits that will give him the strength to overcome this world. That makes me happy.

Then at the end, when we were almost done. He runs off to the end of the isle and with his back to me, starts doing his "booty shake"--bent over, bum wiggling all over the place. It just made me so happy. To see my sweet, wild, independent son doing his free spirited booty shake right in the middle of the store.

It's one of those moments I hope my heart never forgets.

Happy 5th Birthday Joey!

Joey, you were so excited to have a spider cake with gummy worms caught in the web! You insisted on his name being Joe, not Joey because you are getting older, just like Uncle Joe.

You wanted a race track for your birthday. You and dad and Kimball had lots of fun racing the cars down. You jumped the cars right over Kimball's head.

You must be part ninja because you can catch a fly with your bare hands. If I hear one buzzing around, I send you after it, and in a few minutes you come back with a live fly, wiggling between your fingers. You then graciously set it free outside. Iasked you how you learned how to do that and you told me your teacher Ms. Monica taught you at school. Something tells me that you really didn't have a lesson on fly cathing though :)

Happy Fathers Day

Peter was so happy to get a dutch oven and recipe book. He immediately texted the other scout leaders to tell them of his new treasure.

Thanks for being such a great Dad! For chasing those hyper boys around the house, taking Joey on his father-son dates, leaving sweet notes for them when you go on a trip, having scripture time, and teaching them to be kind and loving!

Kimball waiting for a bite

We had steak, roasted potatoes from our garden, spaghetti squash, and grilled peaches.

Rhubarb Pie

Splash Time

Cute little boys! I love them!

I have given them both haircuts after these pictures were taken :)

Caterpillar cacoon

The big, green caterpillar starting it's cacoon. It was so amazing to see fine silky threads appear and magically enclose the chubster.

Kimball somehow tied the worm onto the stick. Such a boy.

Showing his Shamu stamp (the re entrance stamp for Sea World he always has to get), but really I think he just wanted to flex.
The boys love to play and splash around in the yard. I filled up the water cooler and they had lots of fun splashing around. I loved that it was still March and already warm enough to be out having fun in the water.

feeling cold

Flood waters in our back yard

Water gushing out of the neighbors fence.

Kimball has an obsession with locking doors. Unfortunately, he likes to lock himself and Joey and I out of the house when Peter is not home--AGGHHH! This day (the second time it happened), Peter was going to be home soon so we only had 45 minutes until he got there. But for some reason, Peter only had his car key, no house key. We spent an hour trying to jimmy-rig the back door open. Right before the locksmith and Sally with food/water supplies got there, Peter told me to pull really hard on the door one last time while he spilled the credit card in. i pulled with all my might and the door swung open. poor Peter forgot to move his head though. There was a big blue knot on his forehead for a while.

We have since hide keys to prevent future incidents.

Our lovely pet. I had no idea that caterpillars shed their skin. I looked in the jar and thought it had died. It was just growing.

Here's our second pet. he started out green and tiny and ended up huge ans fat. He is now in the process of metamorphosis, and sits writhing in his cocoon in the jar on our kitchen counter. we all cannot wait to see him come out transformed!

Assortment O Fun

Kimball's first lesson about not picking things from the garden until they are finished growing. This was in tended to be a juicy red tomato. Roly poly mania

Sweet Uncle David and cousin Cohen sent Joey and Kimball airplanes. The boys loved them, but wished they were real airplanes to bring David back again.
Saying Kimball LOVES cereal would be an understatement. I don't think he could live without it. Life and any blueberry/strawberry frosted Shredded Wheat are the top two.

This is the crazy thing I found wiggling through our carpet while I was changing Kimball's diaper. Maybe it was the fact that we had previously had a cat with parasites, or that I was changing a nasty poopy diaper, but it freaked me out. I thought for sure it was a parasite, burrowing through our shag carpet rug awaiting a new host. I bravely grabbed it with a wipe and saved it in Tupperware until Peter came home and told me it was a baby snake. That was better than a parasite, but gross. How did a baby snake get in my carpet?

Happy Birthday to Me

I had only 2 requests for my birthday 1. A trip to the beach with out the kids 2. A CD with the song "Come Thou Fount."

Peter and I went overnight to Corpus Christi. It is always so nice to have a relaxing trip to the beach. We didn't sleep in however because we went on a 30 mile bike ride to prepare for the triathlon. It was amazing to ride right along the beach and see the beautiful scenery--especially all the huge mansions lining the coast.

When we got home the boys gave me all 5 CD's Peter had gotten me of my favorite song. It was a great Birthday!
We got to celebrate my birthday dinner with Sally, Joe and Caleb. Peter made a wonderful dinner and then gave me a delicious ice cream cake. He knows how to win me over :)

First Fruits of the Garden

At the end of April we were able to pick the first fruits of our labors. They were few, but delicious. It has been so fun to plant, care for, and harvest a garden with these cute boys. it's always exciting to see what suddenly, or slowly appears.

sThose were the best potatoes we have ever eaten!

Potatoes, carrots, tomatillos, butternut squash, cabbage.

The blue picture is the "roly poly pool." It is a luxury express route to heaven for those little critters (but I think they might take a long stroll through the other side first for how they destroy my garden). It's a fun challenge for the boys toee how many rolly pollies they can get into the "pool."