i can feel him, mama!!

william is totally digging the new baby. i had to write that sentence now because i'm not sure if i'll be able to once "new baby" actually arrives.

anyway, he loves to poke, prod, rub, and kiss on my belly all the time. his favorite thing to do is put his ear on my stomach and listen to what "new baby" is saying. he is apparently quite the talker. obviously, he takes after william...

a few days ago, i was lying in the floor (i can't remember why), and william squats down beside me and puts his hand on my belly. "is he moving right now, mama?"

"yeah. just wait a minute, and you can feel him."

"ok. let's see what he tells me." and then he proceeds to put his ear on my belly. at that point, his hand slides north. way more north than where a baby would be located. he starts rubbing. i start laughing.

"i feel him, mama! i can feel him! he's bouncing up and down!"

there's just nothing like being violated by a 3 year old!

85 degrees...

...finally!!!!

because that grass is his baby

this afternoon, i looked out my back door to see this...

i honestly had no idea what to do or say. so...i just grabbed my camera instead.

i'm certain that this incident is 100% his daddy's fault because:
1) i, in no way, shape, form or fashion could have taught him this.
2) i have heard of an incident or two like this occurring on the golf course recently.
3) the aforementioned event on the golf course has never happened while i've been there.

since i concluded that it was daddy's fault, i let daddy talk to him about it when he got home. from my spot in the kitchen, i couldn't make out the whole conversation. but, i'm pretty sure the main point was something about it "killing my grass."

i was kind of hoping it would revolve around a better theme, like...
"this is inappropriate."
"keep that thing in your pants."
"they make potties for that sort of thing."

but obviously, "it will kill my grass" hits a little closer to home for the 3 year old age group.

maybe i should handle it next time. as i cautiously avoid the dead spots in our backyard!!

i'm a little worried about the teenage years

he seriously asks for 10 pancakes on sunday mornings. and he eats all 10. sometimes more.

what am i supposed to do when all 3 of them ask for 10? i think 30 pancakes plus whatever mom and dad eat is a little excessive for a single morning. IHOP is about to become my new best friend.

god made dirt. dirt won't hurt!

especially if it is in a big ol' pile a few feet from your front door!

easter weekend

this weekend was jam-packed with plenty of stuff to do. poppa and kakki came to town on friday and brought these ginormous easter baskets full of goodies. despite the fact that there were swimming trunks and all sorts of toys in them, wes just wanted to eat the candy. william was close on his heels in that regard!

on saturday, we went to country club for the lunch and easter egg hunt that they have every year. they had a fire truck, a police car, jumpy things and games for the little people to play. it doesn't take much to entertain these two...


and, we actually got a picture with the easter bunny this year! this was a complete 180 from last year when a certain little kid would run away in fear screaming from the poor rabbit. that bunny got hugs and high fives from my two! who would have thought??


when it was time for the hunt, they were supposed to get 10 eggs each and quit. william had no problem with getting his quota.


poor wes apparently isn't scrappy enough. this is his lone egg that he ended up with! but, he didn't mind a bit. he was just as happy with that one egg as he would have been with 10!


after the hunt, snow cones added to the sugar high!


then we came home and crashed on the couch...


on sunday morning, the easter bunny left a few things to eat and play with before we headed off to church...


again, wes couldn't have cared less about the stuff in the basket. he just wanted the eggs!

before heading to church, i had to get a pic of the little people dressed in their sunday outfits. william was excited to show off his new watch. i was just glad that he didn't have to wear the bunny ears to church. and yes, i actually had sandals for wes to wear. but as we tried to squeeze his feet into them amid the screaming and squirming, i gave up and resigned myself to the fact that the kid just has fat feet. so, no sandals. just brown oxfords...on easter sunday. it was either that or maroon crocs.

but hey, he would have been cute in maroon crocs, too!

kickin' off easter

well, the easter festivities started around here yesterday with william's party at school. he made some bunny ears which haven't come off of his head except for shower time and sleep time. and one scary moment when wes ripped them off and threatened to destroy them. but mama helped us avert WWIII. thank you, very much.

waiting on our egg hunt instructions at school...


out in the field...


snack time. yes, still donning the ears...


and today, i decided to get all martha stewartish and dye eggs with the little people. alone. without daddy. pregnancy must be making me crazy.

william liked the egg-dipper thingy (i am all about some fancy terminology). and then he decided to lick it after he dipped it. he realized quite quickly that he didn't like straight vinegar so much.

you'd think he looks patient in this picture. until you saw the red dye that was everywhere shortly after this.


showing off the finished product...

so, all in all, it went fairly smoothly. except for the red and green hands on the little one. the purple teeth on the older one. and the broken slat on the blinds in my kitchen. i'm not quite sure how that last thing fits into the process of dyeing eggs, but you can't rule anything out around here. oh...the joy.

teaching them to play with fire (and marshmallows)

since it is apparently not going to get hot and stay hot outside, we haven't gotten around to turning our fireplace off. and since it was too chilly to do anything outside the other night, we decided to make s'mores. in the fireplace. in our house.

mama doesn't do anything remotely related to camping. yes, i did girl scouts for a year or two. but that was just for the cookies. and then i realized that you didn't have to actually BE a girl scout to get the cookies. and i was outta there!!

so, i let the eagle scout in the house take over the s'more-making duty. he can unravel a coat hanger like nothing you've ever seen. and, the boy can roast a mean marshmallow. yep...all those badges came in handy. (you do get a badge for marshmallow roasting, right?)

getting it all nice and gooey...


mmmmmm...


oh forget the roasting, and just give him a "maf-meh-woh!"

durn it!

he figured it out...



and if william will get out of the way, this is the end result...



he's not the most graceful kid, so i'm trying to prepare for a trip to the ER. we're obviously moving on from mushrooms to playground equipment. *sigh*

did i really just say that? (round 2)

1) "why is there spit on my floor?"

2) "the dishwasher is not a toy!"

3) "do not hit your brother with that robot!"

4) "yes, it is dark in my belly." "no, the baby doesn't care that it is dark." "yes, he is going to come out in a little while." "no, he is not getting out through my bellybutton." "go ask your daddy!"

5) "stop ramming that dump truck into my door!"

6) "i don't know where snot comes from."

7) "stop licking me! we don't lick people!"

8) "get your hands out of your pants." (with 4 boys in this house, i'm quite certain i'll be saying this for the rest of my life.)